good morning and a warm welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this friday the 26th of february and it really is a warm welcome because the sun this morning is almost like spring sunshine how different from a couple of weeks ago but a pleasure to be sitting outside and inviting you into the garden this is a day which continues to be a day in which the whole world struggles against the pandemic which is engulfing us and gradually footsteps are being made towards a future when the life that we once knew so recently can in some circumstances begin again it was wonderful on the television to see her majesty the queen having an informal conversation with the chief medical officers of england scotland wales and northern ireland and as she did so she explained her own experience of vaccination and listened with huge gratitude to the contributions of those who were with her and gave on all our behalf the gratitude of the nations back to them and this of course is part of what's going on across the world with with leaders but also the queen described her own experience of vaccination and she did it to encourage others because she said that this is a battle we're all fighting for each other so please don't be nervous of vaccination but do it for the sake of others so that was a nice optimistic thing to be part of that conversation but at the same time i wanted to mention before we ever begin our prayers and this is very much a kent thing it's a canterbury thing really the um skier millie knight young skier millie knight who is visually impaired to a very high level i think she has five percent peripheral vision in one eye and 10 to 5 in the other eye and yet she's had the courage to be a paralympic skier and a winner of olympic medals in that way and we hear that she after a serious accident in austria has had three days in hospital and is reliving the experience of concussion which she had two bites of in 2017 millie was born in canterbury and went to school here at our king school our cathedral school here in the precincts before going on to loughborough and then to study here at the university of kent studying psychology but at the same time having a a burning vocation might one might call it to be somebody who was going to be an olympic skier despite that disability and impairment and she's been a a shining light in that way of breaking through the the uh disability that she feels that is is is very real indeed not feels but he's very real indeed but this morning we pray for her she's she says she's dizzy and exhausted but she's preparing for the 2022 winter paralympics in beijing and so get well soon uh and thank you milly for all the encouragement you give us and give young people to strive for the things that they believe in and overcome those things which seem to get in their way well let's say our prayers together on this this lovely sunny morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise hear our voice so lord according to your faithful love according to your judgments give us life blessed are you god of compassion and mercy to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of our sin your light breaks forth like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance as we rejoice in the gift of your saving help sustain us with your bountiful spirit and open our lips to sing your praise 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 does 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 psalm on this 26th morning of the month is a section of psalm 119 and i'm beginning to read the eight verses following verse 105. your word is a lantern to my feet and the light upon my path i have sworn and will fulfill it to keep your righteous judgments i am troubled above measure give me life o lord according to your word accept the free will offering of my mouth so lord and teach me your judgments my soul is ever in my hand yet i do not forget your law the wicked have laid a snare for me but i have not strayed from your commandments your testimonies have i claimed as my heritage forever for they are the very joy of my heart i have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes always even to the end so we turn to st john's gospel again and take up from where we left off yesterday i'm in chapter six now chapter six is a huge chapter of 71 verses and we shall be with chapter 6 until next wednesday but it is a hinge chapter in st john's gospel and also a hinge chapter in our understanding of the ministry of the anointed one the christ the son of man as he delights to call himself the emblem of our humanity able to restore in us the gift which is god's image to reach out beyond finite things into the infinite i'm starting at verse 16 of chapter six when evening came jesus his disciples went down to the lake got into a boat and started across the lake to capernaum it was now dark and jesus had not yet come to them the lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing when they had rode about three or four miles they saw jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat and they were afraid but jesus said to them it is i do not be afraid then the disciples were glad to and they wanted to take him into the boat but immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going on the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there and that jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples but that his disciples had gone away alone other boats from tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the lord had given thanks so when the crowd saw that jesus was not there nor his disciples they themselves got into the boats and went to capernaum seeking jesus when they found him on the other side of the lake they said to him rabbi when did you come here jesus answered them truly truly i say to you you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you at your fill of the loaves do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life which the son of man will give to you for on him god the father has set his seal we stop just there at that section remembering that there is hindsight to that of what we have read before and we read before that when the people who had been fed wanted to make jesus their king jesus withdrew himself alone not with the disciples and went up into the mountain to pray and it's from there he sees his disciples struggling on the rough sea and goes to rejoin them and the verse always reminds me of the verse of 107 psalm 107 which speaks of those who go down to the sea and ships and the rough waters and the staggering and the fear and everything else and then the they cried unto the lord in their trouble and he brought them to the haven that they desired well as always little verses from the old testament such as the ones we read this morning about the purity of the law of the lord and our delight in it are shown in our new testament in the writings of the evangelists constantly because of course they were in the heart and mind and memory of jesus at all times as he himself explores his vocation and that location widens and widens but at the moment he's doing what he's tried to do before and that is open people's minds in imagination to what is possible for them and what humanity can embrace and achieve body mind and spirit oftentimes children's books are better at telling us these stories and giving us the hint in imagination and it never surprises me that it's easier to teach from sometimes ridiculous illustrations which were written for children but become very profound indeed we did it with the little prince you'll remember but it's done so often with things like alice in wonderland or um the secret garden or peter pan peter pan has that aspect when suddenly an adult will become a child again and if you sat in a theater and watched in pantomime form perhaps at christmas time peter pan being acted then when we're appealed to from the stage if you believe in fairies clap your hands and it's the whole theater busts into rounds of clapping so that tinkerbell may live we do believe in tinkerbell tinkerbell will live it's an image it's a wonderful image and it comes from children and grandmothers and grandfathers of great dignity become children again when images like this are given to them so i'm going to read a passage quite a substantial passage this morning which helps me with understanding the way in which jesus is about to change his manner of teaching into images and metaphors and different kinds of signs with the great i am the seven i am statements i'm actually reading from a book which caused so many children to read books again and sometimes their parents and grandparents and their school teachers delighted in reading the book as well but as they did so in heart and mind many images came before them this is the first volume of harry potter harry potter and the philosopher's stone and it's harry waking to the new academic year which he's about to set off for at hogwarts school where he's never been and he's nervous his uncle and aunt uncle vernon and aunt petunia who are really miserable characters in the book everything is tends to be a good exaggeration so you really get the picture have no truck with what harry is going to do and so let's start just as they are the night before getting him ready with enormous frowns they don't really want him to go there but they don't want him with them either and so we'll find that uncle vernon is not very sympathetic to what's going on here we go where is this school anyway i don't know said harry realizing this for the first time he pulled the ticket hagrid had given him out of his pocket i just take the train from platform nine and three quarters at eleven o'clock he read his aunt and uncle stared platform what nine and three quarters don't talk rubbish said uncle vernon there is no platform nine and three quarters but it's on my ticket barking mad said uncle vernon howling mad the lot of them you'll see you just wait all right we'll take you to king's cross we're going up to london tomorrow anyway or i wouldn't bother harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep he got up pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizards robes he'd change on the train he checked his hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed saw that hedwig his owl was shut safely in her cage and then paced the room waiting for the dursleys to get up two hours later harry's huge heavy trunk had been loaded into the dursley's car aunt petunia had talked dudley into sitting next to harry and they had set off they reached king's cross at half past ten uncle vernon dumped harry's trunk onto a trolley and wheeled it into the station for him harry thought this was strangely kind until uncle vernon stopped dead facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face well there you are boy platform 9 platform 10 your platform should be somewhere in the middle but they don't seem to have built it yet do they and he was quite right of course there was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number 10 over the one next to it and in the middle nothing at all have a good term said uncle vernon with an even nastier smile he left without another word harry turned and saw the dursleys drive away all three of them were laughing harry's mouth went rather dry what on earth was he going to do he was starting to attract a lot of funny looks because of hedwig he'd have to ask someone he stopped a passing guard but didn't dare mention platform nine and three quarters the guard had never heard of hogwarts and when harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in he started to get annoyed as though harry was being stupid on purpose getting desperate harry asked for the train that left at 11 o'clock but the guard said there wasn't one in the end the guard strode away muttering about time wasters harry was now trying hard not to panic according to the large clock over the arrivals board he had 10 minutes left to get on the train to hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift a pocket full of money he couldn't use and a large owl hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do like tapping the third brick on the left to get to diagon alley at that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying packed with muggles of course harry swung round the speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys all with flaming red hair each of them was pushing a trunk like harry's in front of him and they had an owl heart hammering harry pushed his trolley after them they stopped and so did he just near enough to hear what they were saying now what's the platform number said the boy's mother nine and three quarters piped a small girl also red headed who was holding her hand mum can't i go you're not old enough jenny not now be quiet all right percy you go first what looked like the oldest boy marched towards platforms nine and ten harry watched careful not to blink in case he missed it but just as the boy reached the divide between the two platforms a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him by the time the last rucksack had cleared away the boy had vanished fred you next the plump woman said i'm not fred i'm george said the boy honestly woman call yourself our mother can't you tell i'm george i'm sorry george dear i was only joking i am fred said the boy and off he went his twin called after him to hurry up and he must have done because a second later he'd gone but how had he done it now the third brother was walking briskly towards the ticket barrier he was almost there and then quite suddenly he wasn't anywhere there was nothing else for it excuse me harry said to the plum woman hello dear she said first time at hogwarts ron's knew too she pointed at the last and youngest of her sons he was tall sin and gangling with freckles big hands and feet and a long nose yes said harry the thing is the thing is i don't know how to how to get onto the platform she said kindly and harry nodded not to worry she said all you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten don't stop don't be scared you'll crash into it that's very important best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous go on go now before ron um okay said harry he pushed his trolley round and stared at the barrier it looked very solid he started to walk towards it people jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten harry walked more quickly he was going to smash right into that ticket box and then he'd be in trouble leaning forward on his trolley he broke into a heavy run the barrier was coming nearer and nearer he wouldn't be able to stop the trolley was out of control he was a foot away he closed his eyes ready for the crash it didn't come he kept on running he opened his eyes a scarlet steam engine was waiting next to platform to a platform packed with people a sign overhead said hogwarts express eleven o'clock harry looked behind him and saw a wrought iron archway where the ticket box had been with the words platform nine and three-quarters on it he had done it [Music] perhaps a strange thing to read at this point of st john's gospel but not really for jesus has been struggling through the chapters with humanity's inability to grasp things which are out of their dimension and he's had the same trouble with wise people like nicodemus who has huge difficulty in understanding what jesus is saying about our capacity as finite beings to embrace the divine gift which leads us in spiritual imagination and reality through the gift of the spirit into the infinite dimensions encompassing body mind and spirit in imaginative creativity and as the children's story gives it to us one has to believe to break through to be courageous we talked about millie earlier how difficult it must have been for her to believe that she could break through and what bravery that needed to break through to be a paralympic medalist and to lead the way for so many at the same time jesus finds it ordinary folk like the woman at the well in samaria when he starts talking about living waters and the gifts that might be given she says but you've got no bucket how can you and your back instantly bang on to the flat earth like the crash in the harry potter films you'll know that just to make sure we realize what's happening the first time harry tries he crashes into the brick wall which is in front of him and has to try again believing that he will get through he doubted at the last moment believing he will get through and the disciples in the same way are quarreling in mark's gospel about bread when jesus is trying to feed them with the bread of life and in the same way that's happening here with the crowds around him jesus tries again and again to help people cross that dimension which leads them into the freedom which he sees written again and again in the old testament prophets in the psalms in the law in all its purity and yet they don't understand truly truly he keeps saying he said it again in this lesson verily verily in the old version very truly how can he emphasize more and yet they're not getting it and so soon we shall find in this chapter he tries another method and we're in the realm of imagery which might sound ridiculous because it's a land of metaphors and figurative language and yet sometimes we as adults find our spiritual imaginings and even our mental thinking better served by such means we needn't think about this this morning in full because we've got till next wednesday with this wonderful chapter but it is something that we need to grasp that sometimes we have to take a leap of faith to discover what not only what god wants from us but also what resources he can give us again body mind and spirit as we go forward in the journey the thoughts as you pluck your little image or word or own thought this morning and develop that in your mind or body and creativity or in your soul today and then tonight just write down just to remind you of how this step of your journey in lent took place this morning and have in mind if you like the psalm or the lesson or that bit of the children's book which becomes very profound once one begins to think of the imagery given as do so many children's books or you might have found it in something in the sunshine in the garden and green growing things at this time but somewhere take an action and share that gift when the time comes right let's think what we might do um and might think about if we look back at the dates of today now on this day in 1564 christopher marlowe who'd been born in canterbury and the baby was baptized on this day we know this from the records baptized in st george's church the tower of which still sans stands proud in the middle of canterbury the church itself was bombed and burned out in the baydeca raid of 1942 but the walls still stood nevertheless at the end of the war canterbury wanted to have a new beginning so the walls were demolished but the tower was left as a sign of what had been there and marlow was baptized in it now christopher marlow also went to school here so here's another kent person and connection and marlow is someone who is shrouded in mystery we we know some of the works he wrote that's definite it's thought he was a spy for the secretary of state francis woolsingham elizabeth the first secretary of state he died in a brawl in a tavern in deptford in 1593 aged 29. and he wrote most wonderful plays and his connection with shakespeare give us another detective story which i don't think will ever be solved i see the oxford edition of shakespeare does credit marlo as having some kind of collaboration with shakespeare in the play henry vi but we do know his dr faustus and we do know his edward ii and we do know his massacre in paris the story of the violence suffered by huguenots in the middle of the 16th century before they fled and came here to canterbury and they've worshipped here on sunday afternoons ever since in french by an unwritten agreement for them to worship and re quite recently a year or two ago we had the play massacre in paris performed in the crypt and the violence and noise in that silent place was a reminder at what the cost of keeping a place of safety and holiness for those in danger to be in what the cost in human terms can be if you want to uh get the flavor of marlow i always think that that the best poem to read and it'll conjure a day like this only in may is the passionate shepherd to his love come live with me and be my love it starts google it today i think there are probably six verses and they're so wonderful it will conjure up springtime for you as we give thanks for christopher marlowe well there are other things today are beginning in 1962 of the filming of dr no the very first james bond film to be filmed with sean connery playing that and ian fleming's books again a canterbury connection some of them were written here some written in a favorite part of ours the ducket pet bottom so here's a chance to give thanks for creativity and well-loved figures in in films um there's also in 747 an extraordinary date given 747 bc and it's an epoch beginning of ptolemy's navanasa era now you can go back far far before that with certain dates in in jewish history and also in egyptian phoenician history and chinese history but what you can't do is the exactitude of the way in which this begins and is catalogued and that gives us a sense that humanity loves to catalogue things and see development and so that these lists become crucial to historians but i'm hoping that our little lenten journal will become crucial to you to show you how in this year of pandemic 2021 your lenten journey unfolded and we did it together and then in 1616 and this is important um galileo galilei was formally banned by the roman catholic church from teaching or defending the view that earth orbits the sun he had been stopped from doing that some years before with dire threats if he continued he did stop but then he couldn't be silent about what he knew to be truth this is so often the case with so many holding something that in their mind becomes compulsive as the truth if one thinks of darwin and wallace and all their investigations and the sense of well it might upset but in the end this has to be known and you you you can think of many scientists and scholars in that particular dilemma and galileo in the end had to say but i'm sorry but this is the truth it was called the heliocentric form of thinking that the earth went around the sun the helios and they were insisting no it's geocentric everything revolves around the earth putting ourselves in the middle well humility paid out in the end but galileo was banned and threatened again with dire punishments and we remember that day um on in 1718 a norwegian bishop uh uh jaren gunneras was was born a great botanist and zoologist and a friend of linnaeus who catalogued creatures and plants again the desire of humanity to catalogue so that one has a foundation stone to go on through and uh gunneras died in 1773 but his name is perpetuated with the gunner the plants which we grow gunners here those huge leaves like massive rhubarb leaves and they're they're lovely for for shade for creatures underneath them around ponds then in 1802 and we can't go where we should with this because there's not time this morning victor hugo the french author and novelist was born and what we remember most and i know we'll come back to that because if it it compels us to eventually was the author of les miserables and all that that means so many lessons in that book that we shall return to and then a little quartet of americans which and their names speak of the popular culture of of america and how we perceive it as well the first levi strauss the us fashion designer the second he was born in 1829 on this day the second born in 1852 john harvey kellogg who was a doctor who wanted people to have good health through nourishment particularly poor children and in order to get them nourished he and then his brother will keith kellogg put together a diet which gave them things to nourish their frail bodies and those eventually became breakfast cereals so first of all we have the name levi then the name kellogg and then the name on this day 1846 born buffalo bill which speak to us of black and white westerns which so many love to watch and still do and they're still still made to a degree but buffalo bill conjures up a soldier and a hunter at that time and then in 1928 the musician and rhythm of blues singer and songwriter fats domino was born and we give thanks for those for that quartet of people giving us a popular image of how we think of the the united states when we're cheerful the jeans and the breakfast cereals and the the westerns and the jazz or the rhythm and blues music and this afternoon on our friday at five one of our children from the king school henry will play some jazz for us so it's put on at the end of today and uh sorry i'm i'm going wrong because of course we because our broadcast is now we give you last week so henry recorded that last week but you'll enjoy it hugely so do stay on and watch it and then finally i wanted to mention marie claire who on this day uh died in 2013 she was a world famous organist and teacher and her brother a fine composer jean alla who was killed in the second world war but she lived on through and i remember when matthew martin the composer and uh musician and organist was here as our assistant organist used to catch a eurostar and go to paris to uh jamaa olay and mary clara lam would give wonderful lessons and she used her as an at that time an image of of fine organ playing well all those things and as you can see we could go on and on but the most important thing this morning is to develop the spiritual imagination and make the leap which jesus is asking his disciples to do that the real gift may be received here's our prayer for today and we're praying today for uh the diocese of arkansas in the episcopal church as we pray for the anglican communion notice that we're going slowly these days on our list from dioceses beginning with a wherever they appear in the world and then for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and today for the buseboro parish now in the website of that parish which is a a collection of village communities and churches that they admit that that the the local community many of them wouldn't know the word busboro because it's an ancient title for that area but we can name the villages so that becomes important to shepherdswell barthriston coldred whitfield aethorn elvington waldeshare and pray for sean sheffield and the ministry there on this day so let's say the prayer for this week almighty god whose son jesus christ fasted 40 days in the wilderness and was tempted as we are yet without sin give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your spirit and as you know our weakness so may we know your power to save through jesus christ our lord amen so let's say each in our own language 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 and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen moment of silence now for your own prayers on this day christ gives you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourselves take up your cross daily and follow him 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 so okay me [Music] me um [Music] so [Music] uh so [Music] so do [Music] do hey [Music] uh do [Music] oh [Music] okay um [Music] me [Music] do [Music] so [Music] so [Music] uh [Music] foreign [Music] uh [Music] so [Music] you