good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the deanery garden on this easter monday for those of you um across the world who may not know we in england on the monday following easter day have a bank holiday and that means that work stops for most so there is almost an eerie quietness about the precincts this morning we've come out to give the girls their breakfast they weren't with us on saturday because we had many more things to think about but on this day we're out here and there's activity here as you'll see but mostly people are taking a rest this morning and maybe many of you are as well it's been a long journey for us as a garden congregation and welcome to all of you joining us wherever you are on this day a long journey through lent but today after all the celebrations of easter day yesterday we begin another kind of journey and the pilgrimage theme is writ large over today when we get to our reflection i shall be reading from the account of saint john yesterday i was when i spoke to you thinking that having read mark myself john would be reading the cathedral and i'd not check to see that in fact the archbishop was preaching on the same mark gospel so four times yesterday mark 16 verses 1 to 8 was read and today i'm going to john 20 as you'll see but that's a good point to begin for this sense of a new journey starting off on the 40 days leading up to pentecost many of you have been involved in little notebooks it may be a habit you would like to continue then continue to do so and and just grab a sentence from what we're reading in psalm or scripture and continue to with all the the uh things as though as one might pluck a twig from the garden and take it in or at this time of year pluck a flower from the garden before that because they're everywhere and i hope during this week we shall have a chance to see some of the spring flowers and think about them but for today we're at the beginning of john 20 when we get there and that's very much the beginning of our pilgrimage there will be other things to think about in our reflection things that are happening in our world things that have happened in the past but for the moment one can still say to each other happy easter for this is a reflective day on the resurrection which we've been leading up to for the days of lent we begin our prayers and bring your own concerns wherever you are in the world o lord open our lips and our mouths shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection know christ let heaven and earth rejoice alleluia blessed are you lord god of our salvation to be praised and glory forever as once you ransomed your people from egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your risen son may we the first fruits of your new creation rejoice in this new day you have made and praise you for your mighty acts blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our son on this fifth morning of the month is psalm 24 the earth is the lord's and all that fills it the compass of the world and all who dwell therein for he has founded it upon the seas and set it firm upon the rivers of the deep who shall ascend the hill of the lord or who can rise up in his holy place those who have clean hands in the pure heart who have not lifted up their soul to an idol nor sworn an oath to a lie they shall receive a blessing from the lord a just reward from the god of their salvation such is the company of those who seek him of those who seek your face so god of jacob lift up your heads oh gates be lifted up you everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in who is the king of glory the lord strong and mighty the lord who is mighty in battle lift up your heads their gates be lifted up you everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in who is this king of glory the lord of hosts he is the king of glory so we turn to the 20th chapter of the gospel of saint john and we are reading from verses 1 up to 10. now on the first day of the week mary magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb so she ran and went to simon peter and the other disciple the one whom jesus loved and said to them they have taken the lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him so peter went out with the other disciple and they were going toward the tomb both of them were running together but the other disciple outran peter and reached the tomb first and stooping to look in he saw the linen cloths lying there but he did not go in then simon peter came following him and went into the tomb he saw the linen cloth flying there and the face cloth which had been on jesus's head not lying with the lining cloths but folded up in a place by itself then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead then the disciples went back to their homes well we have begun six readings about the resurrection narrative and certain things and themes and activities and the way in which this will unfold itself become apparent from the beginning one notices a significant change even now remember the disciples before mary magdalene returns from the tomb which the women have found empty and come back to the disciples in response if one is listening to the earliest account from mark's gospel the response that is called forth from them by the young man who they see at the tomb who says to them he's not here he has been raised go and tell the disciples and remind them of what he said to them i go before you into galilee there you will see him and the women run away afraid and that's the first time yesterday that running takes the place of the slowness of grief but one of the themes that we shall see in these accounts certainly as we go through and i say we've got six mornings of resurrection narrative and we'll unfold them gently and as we go through them particularly the first three themes running begins now running running takes energy and energy has been completely lacking since the death of jesus there was enough energy in the women to know that there was one job they had to come and do and that was the anointing of the body of jesus they couldn't do that on the sabbath and as we read in sin mark's gospel they came early on the first working day of the week and when they came they found the stone already rolled back and then we see the same thing happening in this account in st john's gospel today the fourth of the gospels and the traditional reading in our book of common prayer for easter day itself these ten verses and the interesting thing is that they or marion this account runs back to tell the disciples and peter and john set out running and john traditionally thought to be the younger one outruns peter there is in the musee d'orsay in paris and some of you may have seen it a most wonderful painting by eugene bernould and it's simply called the disciples peter and john running to the tomb on the day of resurrection there's no joy in their faces and behind them a morning is dawning of an uncertain sky there are all kinds of tones in it which might suggest gold or might suggest an angrier sky and the hands of both disciples tell a story john's and john is resting white seem to be clasped in prayer i'm saying john that the evangelist never names the disciple just as he never names the mother of jesus the names of john the son of zebedee and mary the mother of jesus are not named they're always called by the writer the one whom jesus loved or the mother of jesus but let's call him john because that's the name the gospel bears and he his hands are clasped like that and his face when you look at that picture is looking as though he is praying that something he hopes for and believes may have happened peter on the other hand has a puzzling expression and his clothes are darker his face is is bearded his his eyes are open but there's a staring word quality about them all they know is what mary has said they have taken the lord's body from the tomb and they're running now and they've come to the tomb it's the easter morning pilgrimage beginning it's a pilgrimage which has lasted all those hundreds of years since that morning and continues for us in our hearts minds and bodies through our human life as the friends of jesus well they arrive at the tomb as we've heard and the most important thing about this is that john looking in sees the grave clothes there and doesn't go in but peter impetuous peter the leader of the group runs in he must find out what's happened who has taken the body where they've laid him what's happened and so he goes in and sees as we're told the grave clothes all unwrapped and i think we dealt earlier in our pilgrimage in lent with the symbolism of the way in which jesus was wrapped tightly by his mother in care as a baby and then wrapped tightly by friends in this gospel joseph of arimathea and nicodemus when taken from the cross and placed and now those bindings just as the bindings of his swaddling clothes as a baby were on loose to give him his human ministry now these grave clothes have been unloosed to give him the divine ministry which we now respond to and peter describes that clearly and john has written that down but john goes in next and we read that first and wonderful statement of belief he saw and believed two different experiences were not told anything about peter's state of faith and belief yet what we are told and perhaps this is a good symbol of pilgrimage what we are told is that they go home again we always have to tell pilgrims when they come here that they themselves will not end their pilgrimage until they've gone back to their own home and gone through their front door we watched last night at the end of easter day the most wonderful film it was called the fundamentals of caring and if you've got netflix it's it's worth looking up some of the language in it is quite ripe but it is a pilgrimage story uh and it's set in in in the present tense very much so and it's not overtly shall we call it a religious but it speaks massively of a pilgrimage of healing and reconciliation between four people who form in an odd way as the film um develops a family and uh the healing takes place it's a film full of feel-good factors and each one has something within them that needs to be healed but it's based around one member who's a young man called trevor who is suffering from duchenne muscular dystrophy and uh so this road trip film gives a sense not only of going off on the journey and not knowing what to expect and helping each other encouraging each other and picking up the various members of the family on the way but then of coming home and then going on from there i don't want to give too much away because there are moments of complete surprise and moments of laughter as it goes through but that's what pilgrimages are like you come to the point and you go home with different impressions we find that all the time pilgrimages tended to stop physically throughout this year of of uh pandemic but we're used to receiving pilgrimages sinclair or in huge groups and seeing different impressions there's a wonder at arriving but then of course there's the journey home and when one gets to one's own front door there's an end and a new beginning and this film last night is just one way in which a pilgrimage happens to this little peculiar quartet of people and as one goes through these stories this week we shall see how the different friends of jesus respond we'll see how important the naming of people by the risen lord is we'll see how important invitations are we'll see how important really ordinary things become we'll see how important also the uh realization of something absolutely wonderful and the desire once again of all of them to stay just where they are in this wonderful place and jesus knowing that this is a temporary situation they now have to take on the responsibility which we ourselves are part of of taking this gospel this evangel this good news out into the world it's the gospel of a risen lord now the other thing we find is that these stories are very intimate all the violence has gone away all the other characters who have been such a threat to them although we'll see when we get to the upper room that the the locked-in quality is still there because they're afraid and in certain ways that will remain until pentecost when they break out of that pod and go out and begin their ministry properly but for the moment it's a group of intimate friends in different situations and we'll enjoy that because we'll have time now in the northern hemisphere during spring but wherever we are in the world to see an unfolding of new growth new life new wonders and also unique vocations amongst people as they realize them these notebooks will be very different the flowers we pick from this will be just as challenging but we should be following a route which is peculiarly our own and again encouraging one another as this lockdown continues if i look at the things that have happened or are happening today let's go back first in 1811 robert rakes died who in england began sunday schools he was an anglican who began sunday schools and we think of sunday schools as an addition to the education that children were getting for robert rakes children weren't getting an education and the sunday school was a commission and a vocation of the church to teach the children to teach the way in which reading and writing and learning could also open the scriptures and soon after his death one and a quarter million children were enrolled in sunday schools and that was real learning the foundation of national education which went on in which the church played a massive part in in england so we give thanks for the vocation of robert rakes for his pilgrimage which he handed on to others and the way in which education is such an important part of developing the mental side of our humanity body mind and spirit the exercising of the mind and our intention in community being very benedictine our intention in community to exercise both body mind and spirit all three facets regularly each day in our communities which are given to hospitality 1827 saw the birth of joseph lister pioneer of antiseptics and that seems unnatural nowadays but all these things began quite recently in human history what else do we have we have in 1955 winston churchill retiring as prime minister at the age of 81 and uh so we think of that long line of services we can be forgiven because of his huge love of pigs and we remember his statement a dog looks up to you a cat looks down on you but a pig looks you in the eye and uh so he found healing in the pigsty as he went down and and uh fed his pigs like old lord emsworth in the pg woodhouse novels in the middle of the most appalling crises because ordinary things facts of the body can help the mind and spirit but we remember him retiring on this day at the age of 81 in 1955. well then also we remember in terms of acting ability and wonders that the death on this day in 2008 the actor uh charlton heston and uh i remember being taken it must have been in 1956 by my mother to the cinema the picture house she always called it um to see the ten commandments with charlton heston as moses and it was a wonder to see in it was the day before the days before we had colored television and there's a great big screen of the un the telling of the story the unfolding of the story of the plight of the of the uh israelites in egypt and then the great pilgrimage of the israelites through the desert after the plagues and the forging and the ten commandments with lightning on the stones it was all so dramatic at that time and we remember him also as an an actor in ben hur in el cid and in khartoum we're playing general gordon now and i used to think of that when i was myself in cartoon and looking up the the river where uh gordon with his telescope was was waiting for some kind of help to save the the the people there he'd sent most of the garrison away but was trying to look after the population of khartoum at that time well charlton heston made all those kinds of things alive for us in his acting so we give thanks for the ability of creative actors men women and children to to to give stories to us rather like the film i was describing last night the fundamentals of caring um so all of those things we remember as our new pilgrimage on this first day after the celebration of easter itself unfolds and we have both young and old here now as uh our little piglets are beginning to become brave so let's say our prayers on this particular day and let's give thanks for the celebration of easter and for the communities of our own families our extended families and also those who through life have helped us we send out a huge greeting sorry we send out a huge greeting to our friends in hong kong and in shenzhen and in so many parts of the far east where they're keeping the king ming festival at this time which is a time of looking back with respect for the past and going out to clean and and sweep the tombs and and and graves at that time bit like our all souls day in so many european countries where candles are lit in churchyards across uh across europe and uh then we think of people who are suffering from flash floods in indonesia and taimor and also uh we give thanks for the egyptian nation which throughout this weekend and many of you have seen it have rehoused so many of the mummies of their pharaohs in that golden procession which took place in cairo as they went across to the new museum all those things and with a again a reminiscence of the pilgrimage of the israelites as they left egypt at that time for some of these pharaohs were ones that appear in our old testament so let's say our prayers and you just find the book which is down here by you and uh we will say the collect for this day together and we're thinking on this easter monday of the anglican communion diocese of bendigo in the anglican church of australia the victoria province and we're praying for justin our archbishop and rose bishop of dover in this diocese and then also tim bishop at lambeth and today we're praying for the saxon shoreline and i'm sorry i should have prayed not for that i was on the wrong day the diocese of belize in the church of the province of the west indies so we would have prayed for bendigo twice tomorrow and i'm sure there's no harm in that um the the saxon shoreline is an interesting set of parishes beautiful parishes ordington bilsington bonnington canardington alston with snave rockinge and warehorn lovely places in kent and we pray um for the ministry of graham hulsel in the saxon shoreline benefits and all those who live in those villages here's the collect for easter day a colleague of resurrection which we shall use throughout this week lord of all life and power who through the mighty resurrection of your son overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him grant that we being dead to sin and alive to you in jesus christ may reign with him in glory to whom with you in the holy spirit be praise and honor glory and might now and in all eternity amen so as we think of our homes as both the end of pilgrimage and the beginning of pilgrimage uh because ends and beginnings have a wonderful way of enfolding into one another we say the prayer our lord taught us to say through our journey day by day in whatever language you want to use our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men moment of silence now as we say our prayers and bring our own intentions to them the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always are men so to all of you especially those who are keeping a bank holiday have a wonderful continuation of easter as we begin our resurrection narrative so good morning all of you young and old and enjoying your breakfast we've got all these little piglets taking nourishment from mummy there we are chemists leaned over to make it easier for them huh oh ah