good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this wednesday the 6th of april as we meet to say our morning prayers welcome wherever you are in the world and bring your own concerns your prayers and intentions as we worship together we begin of course with prayers for the people of ukraine we mentioned yesterday uh together those horrendous scenes which are being now shown to us from ukraine itself heartbreaking scenes of civilians who have been killed in so many numbers and so cruelly killed and also total devastation in the cities we can only keep that in prayer and it reminds us of what our human kind is capable of in evil as well as in good and we by our prayers and intentions try to redress some of that balance this morning that the graces of the kingdom of heaven which we pray for when we say the our father day by day a kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven that prayer becomes more urgent when we see scenes like this the colors of the flowers remind us of ukraine and we think also of all those who've left their homes left members of their families and are now being given hospitality in other places and those still seeking to escape the violence there pray for world leaders as they make decisions to support the ukrainian people and end this conflict well now we wanted to mention and this is much more for people on these islands we wanted to mention the sad death of june brown who for many many years has been a real national icon in the soap opera eastenders very very popular uh soap opera about a a community in the east end of london and all the characters if you follow eastenders are well known to you and it's been going on for many many years well june brown having had a very distinguished career as an actress early on she was born in 1927 and died at the age of 95 i think the day before yesterday and she played dot cotton in eastenders for 2 000 episodes from 1985 onwards i think and at that time um she was playing almost a matriarch of the whole square but she was in her character and in her own life a deeply deeply devout person and uh that was made much of in the series itself she withdrew only from eastenders when the pandemic began and uh that was because they were afraid for her health that that that time and at that time she was i think uh 93 and then she's recently died so we feel we've lost not only a wonderful actress but a character that we knew really well we are great watchers of eastenders and are actually at the moment completely up to date with it but it's a huge sadness that dot cotton has died and she remained a real character right to the end we were watching earlier to remind ourselves of june brown rather than dot cotton her appearance on a graham norton show with lady gaga and jude law and at that time uh she was the the the equal of any of them in humor and the way she she took on the the situation he had people in enormous fits of laughter since in 1985 this lady has been a part of everyone's family as eastenders.cotton please welcome the unique june brown [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh lovely oh my gosh she has a person an easy cigarette it's too fabulous sit down there you go you look so amazing show my legs well i thought i had to out do her you see you do you want to take a coat off oh dude take your time yes [Applause] i'm exhausted already but here's the thing uh yes are you familiar lady gaga with the eastenders no don't say yes donnie if you're not you're not and i don't blame you i am yes i actually am a very big fan of yours i just don't watch a lot of television no i don't watch anything but you're you are you are so fabulously dressed and i'm i'm i'm very honored to be seated next week i had to do it because i have a friend i'm staying with a couple of boys tonight oh yes and here are they straight he loves you no yeah no what do you ask me first i understood that she speaks my language yes oh you have to avoid things sometimes don't you darling you have to be very good at getting around questions that you don't want to answer oh i understand there'll be music shall i take your chair no no no you're ground there hey hey lady gaga guess what june's written a book uh about her life uh it is called before the year dot is it not no no mine i'm changing you're doing what's he doing cringing oh no when i saw bits of it in something or other i couldn't bear it and i haven't read it i wrote it but i haven't read it i understand yeah i do it's hard to watch yourself back or read yourself back because you have to read yourself too you criticize yourself you do chronologically did you have to go well in order because you see i haven't got a computer except for this and so i had to use this and i did go back 82 years you see didn't yes i know you don't believe it i did it in order no i don't believe i'm three months and three years of 90 do you know [Applause] i am quite healthy you're all right by the way these chaps you see i mean he really thinks you're something and the idea of you and me together was to him wonderful like all those mad people who do those things when you're doing your watching you know yeah i do know so that's what he said so i thought well i must go on and of course for you dear and we were in theaters opposite each other wyndham yes we were and but you had such a cue around your theater of young ladies to see him play hamlet you see that i didn't join the queue i didn't go to the next production but they weren't stars very good they were too so that was nice i'm so sorry i'm out of nowhere she's a star all i'm saying is all i'm saying is this this is a promotional opportunity we really should mention the book people will be crossed you are so cheap people will be crossed if we don't mention the book i know you won't but there's people at the back who will throttle me and throttle your promotion then go on get on with it i heard backstage this goes up just before you started eastenders so and i think no no it doesn't i'm going no i i couldn't do that long you see my life really it goes like it's pre-eastenders yes it's all before the year i think that's what a fantastic time isn't it before the year dot means a long time ago and i'm just having to explain it to him you don't mind i did understand the title but look at june brown look at june brown in it's such a heartbreaker looks like uh the girl with the pearly earring right here yes yeah don't make a hat out of it it's an emotional opportunity surprise i won't be expecting that will they attack you i just caught myself to myself i think i look like a zebra [Applause] my mother was always doing that i used to look like this she used to say and lift her face like that but you see i've lost 20 pounds writing this book you're kidding i am not kidding look you see this dress yes but it used to fit me well look oh wow i know and i can't afford to loot it if you could see me underneath this dress yes june it's not a pretty sight yes it is well just i think isn't it designed to be very safe i'm telling you no no not oh i did undone no i'm just tailoring it for you i have a safety plan what are you trying to do behind us she's making it form fitted picture hat for god's sake no no get get a bit further over dude looks rather good you move you move i'm wrong sorry graeme is this happening or have i been taking drugs and it is difficult to remember that there are two characters here june brown and dot cotton that happens when an actor actress plays the uh the role for so many years that you can hardly dissociate them from the character well there will be much to say about that but we give great thanks for all that she has given us on this particular day and may she rest in peace and rise in glory in the hope in which she lived the resurrection of our lord jesus christ so we're going to say our prayers now and then we'll go on with our reflection where here is woody wednesday and we are here in the orchard and the bluebells have come on a little since last week and in the lawns behind me well fratillaries and cowslips are growing up a pace and so the spring is coming on it's a blowy morning not a cold morning it's going to be a morning of showers and occasional sunshine so bring your own concerns wherever you are in the world as we start our prayers o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon us your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world 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 as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our son this morning is psalm 30. i will exalt you o lord because you have raised me up and have not let my foes triumph over me o lord my god i cried out to you and you have healed me you brought me up o lord from the dead you restored me to life from among those that go down to the pit sing to the lord you servants of his give thanks to his holy name for his ross endures but the twinkling of an eye his favor for a lifetime heaviness may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning in my prosperity i said i shall never be moved you lord of your goodness have made my hill so strong then you hid your face from me and i was utterly dismayed to you o lord i cried to the lord i made my supplication what prophet is there in my blood if i go down to the pit will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness hear o lord and have mercy upon me o lord be my helper you have turned my mourning into dancing you have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing o lord my god i will give you thanks forever it's a wonderful psalm for a morning like this and one remembers of course that verse heaviness may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning so let's go then to our reading from st john's gospel and this we are taking up from yesterday in course of our weekly readings but you will find it recognizable if you were either at the eucharist on sunday morning or have watched the eucharist online on sunday morning in the cathedral where i preached a sermon on most of these verses for this is john 12. today we are reading verses 1 to 11. on sunday morning the gospel was verses 1 to 8. so you may feel a sense of deja vu as you hear me talking about it and i'm sure there will be some repetition i have no idea what i shall say until we get to that moment but uh i ask your forbearance because we find ourselves in this very same passage and it's a wonderful passage to be in chapter 12 of saint john's gospel and reading from verses 1 to 11. six days before the passover jesus therefore came to bethany where lazarus was whom jesus had raised from the dead so they gave a dinner for him now martha served and lazarus was one of those reclining with jesus at table mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of jesus and wiped his feet with her hair the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume but judas iscariot one of jesus's disciples he who was about to betray him said why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor he said this not because he was he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and having charge of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it jesus said leave her alone so that she may keep it she leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial for the poor you always have with you but you do not always have me when the large crowd of the jews learned that jesus was there they came not only on account of him but also to see lazarus whom he had raised from the dead so the chief priests made plans to put lazarus to death as well because on account of him many of the jews were going away and believing in jesus this is a wonderful occasion jesus is coming back to the household of three friends whom he loves dearly and we've seen in the last few days as we read through the story of the raising of lazarus we've seen just how much he loved those three friends and we've seen how the word for the two words for love here's our robin good morning mr robin how are you this morning um we've seen just how much jesus has been very much aware of the support that those friends have given him and for a while he has gone away and kept himself safe with his disciples at ephraim for from all the violence that we saw which was being stirred up in the jewish council at that time and now he knows it is the time to come back for the passover is near at hand and he senses within himself within his own vocation he senses that he must begin that moment when the hour has come and come back to the danger of jerusalem so he comes back to bethany which we were told earlier on that's just two miles away from jerusalem and there the three friends give a great supper for jesus and it's clear that many are there this clearly was more than just a family occasion it was a village occasion and all sorts of people are there at the time but at the table reclining as they say i'm sort of lying slightly on one elbow in that the manner of that time um reclining there beside jesus was lazarus but all three of the dearly loved friends are mentioned martha served lazarus reclined beside jesus at the table and then mary is mentioned mary who had at the time of the raising of her brother had gone out to meet jesus as martha had but she had knelt at jesus's feet and her faith in him has always been profound one thinks of the little story in luke's gospel of mary and martha and here they are in those roles again master being practical and serving the meal mary now taking a part of the costliest ointment which she has saved to make a physical act of unity with jesus in his own vocation preparing him for burial jesus says but that actually is a precious activity for in three ways martha's belief which she is established with her eye-opening moment on the road when she meets jesus when he's coming to raise her brother from the dead and he asks her having said i am the resurrection and the life do you believe this yes lord i believe those words again lord i believe and martha has had that eye-opening moment and now she is doing her best in physical ways to comfort and surround jesus with the love and care of the three of them and their household but also of the community of bethany where we know jesus will go back with his disciples um each evening in holy week we have we learn that from the synoptic gospels as well and then mary comes and her brother lazarus no words from lazarus simply reclining there at the table with jesus a sign of jesus being the resurrection and the life in the present tense mary comes with that part of the costliest ointment which she had saved up and pours it over the feet of jesus and the house was filled with the scent of that costly ointment but it was a sent to jesus that was very poignant for his burial was being prepared if you like and in his mind there is a unity between his heart and mary's heart in her understanding of what he must now go through so as i said on sunday this in a way is the true last supper because there are three people there who understand totally the cost of what it means to jesus to be the anointed one and on this occasion he truly is the anointed one anointed with that precious ointment from mary who has kept it to anoint his physical human flesh as a preparation for burial and then for resurrection beyond when that human flesh will open up the world to a new kind of creation but that for later in the gospel for the moment what happens when mary pours that costliest ointment someone says judas says what purpose this waste this ointment could have been sold for a great sum of money and the money given to the poor now the evangelist gives us a take on this and says it wasn't because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief there would be more money in the money bag that his hands could pilfer well we accept that from this gospel and we accept that those words were spoken and we know that there is always a sense of people saying how much does this cost how much is this costing and the answer is how can you possibly quantify the total understanding commitment and love being shown here by mary whose eyes looking into jesus are saying i understand what this is going to cost you how can we weigh that well there is no weight in gold that can be given to that is rather like the price of wisdom uh in in the the book of job where shall wisdom be found and and uh it can't be reckoned for gold or or jewels or precious things for that kind of gift that understanding poured out physically having been saved up from the moment when she had sensed all that kneeling at his feet in the earlier occasion in saint luke's gospel when he first began to know the bethany household and to love them in a very special way lazarus and mary and martha and almost they replicate for us at this supper occasion that trinity of things which make up our humanity body mind and spirit martha is serving jesus's physical needs and having arranged i'm sure she arranged the whole supper and all the villagers there as well and having arranged that it was for his well-being and then lazarus in conversation reclining with jesus with a mental understanding but marry a spiritual understanding of all that must happen and those three parts making a hole for the bethany household truly a last supper because from that moment onwards jesus is going to enter jerusalem and already by reading the three extra verses this morning which weren't part of our gospel on sunday we see how once again the story opens up into a public arena hello tiger you've come too good morning um now the passover the jews was at hand and many went up from the country to jerusalem they're coming up from all over the country and also many people coming from overseas and other lands to be there at the um particular point when the passover will be celebrated and the passover meal will be eaten by so many uh and by jesus and his disciples as well so we're given a time point again and jesus now is going to set off and we hear that now the chief priests and the pharisees has given orders that if anyone knew where he was they should let him know and now at the end of this we get the chief priests made plans to put lazarus to death as well as jesus because on account of him many of the jews were going away and believing in jesus there is violence at the end of this story planned by the council and that violence will be enacted but for the moment we are in the comfortable surround of the bethany household whether outside in the evening air or inside we don't know but there are many many people there and one has the feeling that this was an a a place of of great celebration at the time and the only sour note is set by the what purpose is waste why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor and jesus then says and we get the sentence in other gospels in matthew's gospel and mark's gospel it's it's uh um leave her alone she has done a lovely thing for me and by pouring this out feet she has anointed my body for burial and in matthew's gospel wherever the gospel is read what she has done will be remembered mary of bethany here at the feast as told by the fourth gospel and we give thanks for that but we also have the insight that this is the first step for jesus along the way to golgotha and the way of the cross but before that and this gospel will tell us that he will say this is the moment when his hour has come so we won't think forward but we do give thanks for this lovely story on this particular morning here on woody wednesday as we read it together so let's just see two other dates that are significant on this april the 6th there are two artists i want to mention this morning one of them and they're both of the same period they're what we call high renaissance artists of the late 15th early 16th century the first is raphael and he was not only born on april the 6th 1483 he died on april 6 1520 at the age of 37 a really famous painter and architect of the high renaissance and very much admired for his clarity of form not only in architecture and the things he portrayed but also in the human form for the neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur that that humanity had been made in the image of god and therefore physically could reflect that in the doings of humankind uh is very much dear to the heart of raphael and you can see that by the human figures he paints and the groups that he paints groups of the holy family and groups of christian saints and certainly groups around the the calvary itself but he also um and he he had three periods to his life really uh the first was lived out in umbria the second in florence but the famous years were the 12 years in rome when he was commissioned to paint so many things within the vatican itself and they're still there whole rooms stanzas uh are painted by raphael and he painted them not only with gospel scenes but scenes of schools of philosophy the school of athens or scenes of the arts in metaphorical symbols uh parnassus or scenes of theological debate about the blessed sacrament one called disputer and those three scenes that i've just mentioned the school of athens parnassus and dispute are all in one room which many of you will have seen at the vatican stanza de la seniatora and that particular room shows the high point of rafael showing the capacity of our human condition physically to be active in creativity mentally to be active in philosophical discussion spiritually to be active not only in the pictures from the gospels that he paints but also in the pictures of seemingly people who could never come together thinking spiritually about the presence of christ given to us in the bread this is my body this is my blood and all of that lived out in raphael's painting he died too soon some beautiful paintings like madonna of the meadow painted in 1506 in florence and right at the end of his life the miraculous draft of fishes and and and the holy family and the transfiguration all of those transfiguration not even finished died too soon but beautifully human but with a spiritual dimension reaching out to her to draw us in just as the evangelist in the fourth gospel does with that story of the supper in bethany now the other who was a friend of raphael but from a very different part of europe was albrecht dura who was born in 1471 and died on the 6th of april 1528. so in fact eight years after his friend raphael and jorah was born and died in nuremberg so a different part of europe and by then uh when he died the stirrings of the reformation were beginning and that becomes fairly apparent in the way that diora is thinking that dura is most known for his engravings his altar pieces his portraits his watercolors his books uh pictures like in a in a a a woodcut um sin jerome sitting in his study which was done in 1514 and there at his feet it not only a dog but also the lion which was always a symbol of saint jerome and he's working away at one of his translations at his desk and full of signs on the the windowsill there's a skull and on a ledge they're also a crucifix and the skull perhaps being a sign of golgotha or of death and the crucifix with arms outstretched being a sign of resurrection for dura's works are always full of signs yet he was a beautiful watercolor artist and they mark him as one of the first european landscape artists but in his woodcuts he revolutionized the potential of that medium as well for we know him through his woodcuts and the exactness of his treaties on mathematics and perspective and ideal proportions all of those there you could look at beautiful little watercolors of a tuft of cowslips or a tuft of grass or a young hair i mean not a hair of the head but a hair like a rabbit just there a young hair he paints them in intense detail but at the same time we know jorah best of all from an an ink um sketch which he did as a preparation for another painting and that ink sketch is simply called praying hands and you remember the hands stretch out in prayer showing humanity at its best offering itself to the divine image so that physically those hands can do the work of jesus on earth now just that little sketch not even meant to be a painting that everyone saw a preparation for another painting but it's how we know diora best his last great paintings were human figures given to the city of nuremberg four almost life-sized figures of the four apostles saint john the evangelist saint peter mark and saint paul mark never really seen as an apostle but very much a companion of paul a companion of peter and the one to whom the first earliest gospel is attributed and there are signs in the hands of these who are now in the they're now in munich they were taken to munich uh um in the early uh 17th century and have never gone back to nuremberg but those four figures have in their hands signs sin john the evangelist at the at the absolute root of the gospel we're starting at the moment is holding an open book sin peter is holding keys sid mark is holding a scroll and saint paul a sword and a closed book and it was said that when jorah did it he was thinking of the four temperaments that in those days were thought to make up a human constitution physically and the temperaments were the sanguine and that was in john the evangelist the phlegmatic saint peter the choleric saint mark and the melancholy that's how dura saw it and those four humors those temperaments made up these human conditions and the um sanguine where we use that word that with the the the word derives from our bloodstream but sanguine meaning that in all sorts of ways um people can be open and i don't want to say optimistic but full of hope very sanguine about that situation meaning thinking of it positively and then phlegmatic means a oh well type of atmosphere which is given to the apostle peter in this by diora choleric means that you can flare up in a way where you know the face goes red and you're full of righteous anger or some passion this and then finally well i don't have to tell you what melancholy is and those four humors or temperaments were seen to be the four that made up and sometimes had to be rebalanced by physicians at the time that was how it was thought to be perhaps the best um portrayal of human figures so as far as jorah is concerned are his paintings of adam and eve and they are very much human figures the flesh that our lord himself took in order to save the world on the cross so let's say our prayers on this day when we are thinking of all those things from the separate bethany to the way in which two artists portrayed all that not the separate bethany but our human condition and its capacity to reflect aspects of the divine we're praying uh in the diocese today in a general way and so we pray for our archbishop justin and for rose bishop of dover and for emma bishop at lambeth and all the parishes of the diocese and in the anglican communion the diocese of eastern kowloon in the church in hong kong sheng kung hui which allows us to think of all our many very close friends in hong kong at this time uh and uh we uh think also of our kings school at canterbury in shenzhen not too far over the the uh the border from hong kong uh and not far away just to drive away so we think of jeff there the principal and the lockdown this very severe lockdown which is in place in china at the moment because of the pandemic so bring your own prayers your own intentions and as we say first the connect for this week then the lens and connect and then we'll join in the our father together most merciful god who by the death and resurrection of your son jesus christ delivered and saved the world grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory through jesus christ our lord amen and then the ash wednesday connect almighty and everlasting god you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may receive from you the god of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through jesus christ our lord amen so together in whatever words we like to use the prayer our savior taught us 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 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 so time now for your own reflections as we think together of our own preparations for holy week but also of the situation in our world at this time so [Music] said judas to marry [Music] and i'll wipe it away with my hair she said i'll wipe it away with my hair [Music] oh mary o mary you think of the ball this ointment it could have been sold and think of the blankets and think of the bread you could buy with the silver and gold he said you could buy with the silver and gold tomorrow tomorrow i'll think of the ball tomorrow [Music] my love who is going away [Music] said jesus to mary your love is so deep today you can do as he will tomorrow you say i am going away but my body i leave with you still he said my body i leave with you still [Music] the poor of the world of my body he said to the end of the world they shall the be and the blankets you give to the poor you will find you have given to me he said find you have given to me [Music] my body will hang on the cross of the world tomorrow he said and today and martha and mary will find me again and will wash all my sorrow away he said wash all my sorrow away [Music] the music you've been listening to was sung by the folk singer jan says harvey it's a voice many of you may recognize and know very well she's been very much a singer of folk songs and very much christian folk songs as well we remember her on radio 2 and on even the old program that used to come on to radio 2 at 5 to 10 in the morning just five minutes of a little spiritual thought for the day often accompanied by music and so we thank uh chances for this lovely song judas and mary i'm telephoning her this morning to get permission for this to be part of our morning worship flesh found himself having a long and interesting talk with her in the garden and i had in the end to go and find him to remind him that we had a morning broadcast to all of you to make uh but and i apologize to jancis this morning for having interrupted that conversation but uh i know that he'll bring her back and continue that conversation because uh she is always always willing to sing these kinds of songs and uh so we are going to put her website on for you to see and then uh you can you can write and even ask for permission or for songs of that kind if you are broadcasting yourself which will be a lovely thing for chances too if you want to commission a piece because she she does commissions for schools and universities and colleges then get in touch with her because she's very very willing to to write something and and sing it and we know the quality of all of that this morning so thank you chances for everything christ crucified draw you to himself to find in him a sure ground for faith a firm support for hope and the assurance of sins forgiven 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 amen well tiger this isn't really a very nice day now is it spotting with rain clouds everywhere and certainly mr robin has decided uh not to return to us for i think the wind is keeping him away should we go inside so enjoy this day yourselves and in preparation we need to look at the riddle and first of all yesterday i asked i'm only i'm the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen canned processed or in any other form but fresh and the answer is a lettuce it's not so much a riddle as a fact and then the other one i asked was i am the type of room you cannot enter or leave i rise from the ground below i could be poisonous and the answer to that of course is a mushroom this morning let me ask i jump when i walk and sit when i stand what am i and as a state in america i am round on both sides and high in the middle what am i it's twofold tomorrow yes answers uh here are lost worlds at words i mean and yesterday we looked at bramble so today we are on conquer and of course there's a chestnut tree which is beginning to come into leaf behind me here but very early times but here's the conquer page and very beautiful it is as well and the word conquer goes all the way down as an acrostic if i hold it like that i can see the poem and read it to you and show you the beauty of the conkers as they split out of their particular pod here's other words cabinet maker could you craft me a conquer oil its wood burnish its veneer set it glowing from within never not a chance no hope at all king then could you command me a conquer compel its green spikes to grow its white plush to thicken impossible impractical inconceivable engineer surely you could design me a conker refine its form mill its curves and edges manufacture me that magic casket unfeasible unworkable unimaginable realize this said the cabinet maker the king and the engineer together conquer cannot be made however you ask it whatever word or tool you use regardless of decree only one thing can conjure conquer and that thing is tree and one knows that very soon after you take the conker from its pod a few days later that beautiful and magic sheen has disappeared but here are two crows looking on at the conquers as they fall autumnal scene here we've got two crows like that corny crow and his wife in the garden so they're familiar birds to us lovely paintings in this book well thank you for being with us you always cheer us up thank you you