good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of monday the 28th of february the last day of the month as we come to say our morning prayers and welcome wherever you are in the world let's begin of course with the situation with regard to ukraine because that becomes uh graver day by day and for so many of us there is enormous anxiety the whole world is very anxious at the moment about this and we ourselves are as we've done day by day and hour by hour across the world as members of this garden congregation undergirding that with our prayers for the ukrainian people for the russian people but also for all those world leaders who have an opportunity to make a difference to this and we pray for some kind of fruitful outcome from the talks which seem to be going to happen today and pray for all those who will be involved in that we can do no more we can pray and at the same time we can try to understand the situation better we see that there is a a letter signed by so many members of different faiths heads of different faiths sent to the prime minister about the immigration bill but it's it's asking for a kinder reception of those coming to these shores it's been signed by uh rose hudson wilkin our bishop of dover and by former archbishop rowan williams amongst all the faith leaders and at the same time it's it's just the right time because the reception of those fleeing from ukraine right across europe the reception of them in other countries and the giving of them of resources has become really a holy duty uh as the ukrainian people really fight and stand up for their quiet democratic nation until so recently and now a real war zone and a a a trigger point for all kinds of violence which is beginning to be anxious making for our world we were thinking this morning that uh if if there are young people or children who want to understand this situation in a safe place then there's no better place to go than bbc news round which uh if you tap that into google comes up and children can then and young people can be left to to have the news given in a way that is is not alarming but it's real and they can begin to understand the situation a bit better because it is a very puzzling and alarming and even frightening situations so bbc news round is a good place to go so let's continue we'll say our prayers for uh ukraine at the end and continue now with our daily prayer on this last day of the month the 28th of february it's an ordinary monday but it is the monday of the week in which lent begins and our elections because uh the lectionary is tidy and likes to start monday through our elections begin today so we're going to begin today our lenten journey through the fourth gospel and that lesson of the fourth gospel will be read by the lectionary at evensong but i wanted our journey to be a gospel journey we've done lots and lots of old testament and there's even a reference to that in the the psalm we'll use today the song for the morning but at the same time we are going to begin our journey through our st john's gospel the fourth gospel and we start that today and i'll explain that as we get to the reflection on that lesson at the end and also some suggestions as to how we might make the journey together as we did last year day by day creatively so let's begin our prayers on this ordinary morning i'm sitting here by one of our trees with the ivy growing up it and around me the ordinary noises of the garden at this time in the morning uh you can hear the water splashing in the the enclosure there remember the birds are having to be kept safe from avian flu and out of contact with wild birds but you can possibly hear the splashing of the hose as it goes into uh ducky's bath for the morning and this she looks forward to hugely normally on on ordinary days when they're allowed out she would make straight for the stream in the orchard but we try to simulate that a little bit for her on these days so if you hear water falling then that's what that will be with the hose going onto ducky in in in her special pond with the others around her there so let's begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made and as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen our hands to do your will that the world may rejoice and give you 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 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 are men our psalm on this morning of the month is psalm 132. now i said there was a reference in the psalms to what we were doing in to samuel and this is it this psalm which looks back to what we were doing yesterday when david was by his his own will and might saying this is my vocation to build the temple and nathan the prophet came to him and said no uh shepherd king it's not your vocation the lord is saying that the temporary tabernacle tent and shelter for the ark of the covenant which you have created and you have had carrying and journeying with you through all kinds of terrible situations and joyful situations you've danced before it and you've wept before it and that's how it will be and it will be your successor who builds the solid temple well here's psalm 132 which speaks of all that lord remember for david all the hardships he endured how he swore an oath to the lord and vowed a vow to the mighty one of jacob i will not come within the shelter of my house nor climb up into my bed i will not allow my eyes to sleep nor let my eyelids slumber until i find a place for the lord a dwelling for the mighty one of jacob now we heard of the ark in ephrathah and found it in the fields of jar let us enter into his dwelling place and fall low before his footstool arise o lord into your resting place you and the ark of your strength let your priests be clothed with righteousness and your faithful ones sing with joy for your servant david's sake turn not away the face of your anointed the lord has sworn an oath to david a promise from which he will not shrink of the fruit of your body shall i set upon your throne if your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that i shall teach them their children also shall sit upon your throne forevermore for the lord has chosen zion for himself he has desired her for his habitation this shall be my resting place forever here will i dwell for i have longed for her i will abundantly bless her provision her poor will i satisfy with bread i will close her priests with salvation and her faithful ones shall rejoice and sing there will i make a horn to spring up for david i will keep a lantern burning for my anointed as for his enemies i will clothe them with shame but on him shall his crown be bright that psalm is full of imagery imagery about david's intended vocation which he was too headstrong about images of the vocation that the lord really had for him and the way in which with the temporary tent it was pitched wherever his journey was and the ark was then brought from wherever it had been to be sheltered there and is now resting in the holy city on mount zion but at the same time nathan the prophet has said your son will build and we're now talking a temple in stone and wood and a glorious place but what happened to that temple later on in the journey of the israelite people it was totally destroyed and they were taken into exile and so it was with every temple that was built solidly but the presence of the lord beside his anointed one of the house of david never never failed until in a manger in bethlehem david's royal city the one who was the anointed one and in human form gave the quality of god himself the divine was born and yet he himself wandered from place to place until he went to find his destiny on mount zion and still walks beside us day by day well it's that journey of the anointed one jesus himself that we're going to be following in john's gospel the fourth's gospel and we're going to pick it up where the lectionary picks it up on this monday and i shall read this in the cathedral even song as the second lesson with chapter 3 of saint john's gospel and verses 1 to 21 it's a kind of beginning but what we're wanting to do is to stand beside those who are in conversation with jesus and hear what he is saying to them as we go through day by day and then i'll explain the way in which we'll try and remember that and also make it part of our daily life here is saint john chapter 3 verses 1 to 21 now there was a man of the pharisees named nicodemus a ruler of the jews this man came to jesus by night and said to him rabbi we know that you are a teacher come from god for no one can do these signs that you do unless god is with him jesus answered him truly truly i say to you unless one is born again it cannot see the kingdom of god nicodemus said to him but how can a man be born when he is old can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born jesus answered truly truly i say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit one cannot enter into the kingdom of god that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit do not marvel that i said to you you must be born again the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound thereof but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit nicodemus said to him how can these things be jesus answered him are you a teacher of israel and yet you do not understand these things truly truly i say to you we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen but you do not receive our testimony if i have told you earthly things and you do not believe how can you believe if i tell you heavenly things no one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven the son of man and as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life for god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only son of god and this is the judgment that light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest their work should be exposed but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that their work has been carried out in god well we've got here uh a passage at the beginning of john's gospel after the two chapters which we know fairly well because of the the long beginning always being our christmas gospel in the beginning was the word and then into the beginning of the ministry of jesus in galilee and at cana of galilee at the wedding feast which we've talked about so many times especially at epiphany but now we're in the heartland of st john's gospel and jesus is in jerusalem and nicodemus a member of the council of the country an important person who clearly has heard about jesus and is interested in what he's saying and himself like so many is hearing the prophecies of the prophets about the coming of the anointed one and wondering probably wondering is this the one so he comes to jesus and often you you have to take everything in the fourth gospel in about ten different layers which speak in different ways to you as you read it again and again through your life i wanted at this point to read a paragraph i love this paragraph and it's by nick king the jesuit who has translated the whole of the scriptures from the septuagint from the original greek and the new testament itself through and at the beginning of the fourth gospel he writes this wonderful paragraph and i thank him for it because it's it's beautiful but it's also so absolutely true as soon as you open john's gospel you are aware that you are breathing a different air from that which you encountered in matthew mark and luke it has often been described as a magic pool in which an elephant may swim and an infant may paddle my sense of it is that it is a journey into the mystery of who jesus is inviting us ever deeper as the story unfolds one aspect of jesus's identity that the reader might find helpful is to think of him as a being who performs on two stages the heavenly stage metaphorically up there which he leaves for a while to walk on the earthly stage metaphorically down here from which he returns but taking with him all those who belong up there the reader will do well to remember that this is a very rich gospel whose meaning emerges slowly over a lifetime of reading but we receive the whole book as one i very much believe that this fourth gospel comes from the community centered around saint john the evangelist st john the son of zebedee the apostle spoken of in the acts of the apostles as well as the fisherman called from his nets with his brother james at the same time that community developed and prayed together and there's a strong christian tradition that the aged saint john ended in ephesus there and was the one at the end who cared for the mother of jesus almost out of respect and affection never named the name mary is not given to us always the mother of jesus and when jesus is on the cross with his outstretched arms pinned to the cross in his passion and looks down and sees that disciple whom jesus loved also not named and the mother of jesus standing by gives them into the care of each other but says to his mother here's your son now and to the disciple your mother and from that moment onwards we hear the disciple took her into his own home all of that is going on but i believe also that lara pondler of this was added as people understood more and more of what was being said and revealed you can match this also with the letters of saint john later on in the new testament because so many of the themes are the same but don't think we're going to get all this in one go and when we finish our journey which will happen at the end of lent we will still be thinking we have a lifetime when what this is meaning will seep into us whenever jesus in john's gospel wants to say just listen very firmly i mean this really seriously he will say in the greek i'm in our main lego soy in king james verily verily i say unto you and here in this translation truly truly i say to you i think we had that three times in this conversation with nicodemus put yourself in nicodemus's place and think how we we think in human finite terms all the time it's what we are we are creatures of flesh and blood and we think in finite terms and jesus says to him the son of man did not come to condemn the world but that the world through him might have life now first and foremost let's think nicodemus comes to jesus by night and night and darkness in st john's gospel can mean ordinary light night and nicodemus coming secretly because he doesn't want people seeing that he's going to see jesus wherever he is staying and one can sort of picture them sitting by lamplight to see how many artists have but also night is a sign of not understanding or wanting one's activity to be secret you can take it on several levels but at the same time you have this taste of what is often called johannine irony jesus is quite teasing with nicodemus you are teacher of the jews and you come to me that kind of of teasing you'll get quite a lot of that in the conversations of saint john uh in in the gospel of saint john this fourth gospel with the way in which there are many conversations and some of them dealing with very deep things and the people at that time not understanding and certainly the disciples the twelves themselves often not understanding but realizing later as another scene is enacted and that sense of oh i see what that meant that that means there and we're beginning at this time we've already eavesdropped on uh the um conversation which we haven't heard between philip and nathanael and jesus and nathanael in chapter one and we don't know what nathaniel was there uh doing under the fig tree when jesus saw him often people have said he while he was praying and jesus actually got that but we don't know and also jesus's conversation with his mother at the table in cana of galilee they have no wine left uh there's a a deep kind of understanding going on there of which we are eavesdroppers but at the same time we have during all of this um a sense of the way in which the evangelist and i would say really there upon la added by the johannine community of faith as they read this heard uh john speak about it added insights of their own now let me come to the passage we've just read we read from verse 1 to 21. and at verse 16 there is a puzzle i can't answer it for you i'll tell you what i think but i can't answer it for you and that is the fact that many and this set of scriptures that i'm reading here many believe that the whole passage right through to verse 21 is spoken by jesus and it's an answer to nicodemus i actually believe that in verse 15 the quotation ends and from 16 onwards another thoughtful prayerful very inspired hand is giving us almost a commentary on what jesus has said so that we understand it better so from 16 to the end of 21 i wouldn't put quotation marks i'd leave it as a hopeful explanation which we give to one another from the spiritual depths of that johannine community and notice how in the evangelists commentary all kinds of ideas which we will have enlightened that's a a good johanna in word like going up being lifted up which we might think of as crucifixion but the words are simply lifted up or son of man or eternal life or belief or faith the concept of the world the concept of someone being sent of judgment of light of darkness of truth of deeds of revelation being revealed and all this is being signaled so that we ourselves will enter through our lives into that deep meditation which only the spirit can perceive and that's where we find ourselves at the beginning of our lenten journey as we sit with those who hear jesus and ourselves begin to understand or for the moment don't understand and are puzzled and then come back to it and gradually with help from other parts of the scriptures and the daily situations we find ourselves in light suddenly dawns on something 30 years hence or something of that kind because this is a lifelong journey this fourth gospel as all the other gospels are and as we go through day to day i'll sometimes digress and say look instant mark that said like this or in luke that said like this because there is an intimate and integral relationship between the four gospels and each of them speaks to us in a different way with the voice of the evangelist and sometimes with those who have ordered things but we receive the fourth gospel as a whole from verse from chapter 1 to chapter 21 and receive it as it is given to us and then any puzzles we have we can ponder with the help of others too or in our prayers with insights that we shall gain now i want to say then i'll go on to uh how we do this but i want to say that today is a day when sorry today is a day when uh george herbert is commemorated we couldn't keep him yesterday which was the real day the calendar gives him because it was a sunday so he's transferred on to today and at the same time um we've not on his actual day that he died because that was the first of march but that is sin david's day and that's a more important feast but i wanted therefore to keep george haber today because i think he's essentially very important to what we're doing today george herbert was a priest for about three years in his parish in bemidton just outside salisbury near enough to walk to the cathedral to hear some of the music he loved but mostly to be the country priest in the parish of bemidton and fuggleston which is the other church he had there quite near to wilton house we were talking about that with parry's wife who was a herbert yesterday and the other pembroke who lives at wilton house is a herbert but but uh george herbert fulfill that ministry for a three-year ministry but the influence of george herbert in so many different ways is one which is profound and really hugely important we tend to know him from three hymns that he wrote in truth i've got this this is a little book it's very precious to me because it has all the works of george herbert in it and that's not just his poetry and and proverbs that he collected but also his little book on how to be a priest to one's people and it is actually the most wonderful testament to how that pastoral ministry is carried out with much support in ordinary things as the priest goes around from place to place being mostly a deacon i always stress that word uh serving the people hearing their stories responding helping them understand the scriptures and in here there is that that little guidebook as to how to be a country priest in those days but nevertheless what we know of him mostly is contained in his hymns and the three of them lots and lots of poems which could be his hymns as well but the three of the hymns we know best tend to be one called antiphon in the little book of pariums here it is let all the world in every corner sing my god and king the heavens are not too high his praise may never fly the earth is not too low his praises thou may grow let all the world in every corner sing my god and king the church with psalms must shout no door can keep them out but above all the heart must bear the longest part let all the world in every corner sing my god and king it's called antiphon and an antiphon comes before and after other words and it's almost as if herbert is saying this is a fit beginning to worship and it talks about up there the heavens are not too high his praise may the other fly and down here the earth is not too low his praises there may grow but herbert is using those terms metaphorically and then another simply called praise and we know it well as a hymn king of glory king of peace i will love thee and that love may never cease i will move thee thou hast granted my request thou hast heard me thou didst note my working breast thou has spared me wherefore with my utmost art i will sing me and the cream of all my heart love the image i will bring me though my sins against me cried thou didst clear me and alone when they replied thou didst hear me seven whole days not one in seven i will praise thee in my heart they're not in heaven i can raise thee small it is in this poor sort to enroll the in eternities too short to extol thee but my favorite is the one which takes almost the sense that there might be a magic potion to effect those things which the alchemists of his time are looking for three things the elixir of life giving a life eternal the panacea which can be taken for every illness and complaint and will cure it and the philosopher's stone which will turn all base metals to gold of course it was a a wild goose chase but herbert uses those three quests and says but there is a way and it's the way of the spirit and he calls his poem the elixir and it is wonderful here it is and you all know it very well you could always say the words with me from the hymn teach me my god and king in all things see to see and what i do in anything to do it as for thee a man that looks on glass on it may stay his eye or if he pleases through it pass and then the heavenly spy all may of thee partake nothing can be so mean which with this tincture for thy sake will not grow bright and clean a servant with this claws makes drudgery divine who sweeps a room as for thy laws makes that and the action fine this is the famous stone that turneth all to gold for that which god does touch and own cannot for less be told he's taking those who think there's a magic way of doing this and saying no the material to do it is down here and the spirit carries one on wings when those things are seen up there metaphorical terms but nevertheless the life of the heart being able to perceive god and also the spirit being taught and able to enter into that eternity even here and now wonderful poetry one more in a moment but i wanted to talk about the way that we're going to keep lent together i asked you on two occasions last week to buy a notebook and i showed you this notebook which was a gift from chris pascal our head of visits and she gave this to fletcher recently and it says on the front what i did today question mark one good thing one line a day journal well we don't need a a special book to do that we just need lines down a page with the dates on and on that day on that date um and starting if you like today on this 28th of february or if you want start on ash wednesday the 2nd of march on wednesday then simply write the date 2nd of march or 28th of february and then all the way down and then one good thing about what i did or what happened to me or perceptions that happened today and do it on the day as i've said again diaries are diurnals they have to be written on the day you're not the same person tomorrow and it's not the same day that's being given so if you miss a day miss it but don't ever try to write too much if you want to decorate things or draw things of course you can do that later but just get a line there about each day and later on if you want to write two lines and you think you can manage that but beware of doing too much because it's the way to failure step by step is the way through the fourth gospel perception will come by grace as we commit ourselves to this journey together and it will be i hope a meaningful journey and at times an amusing journey and it times something where we wrestle with the world's problems and our own problems and undergird it with prayer and faith and that however painful would be one good thing for the day so be honest because this is entirely for you not for anybody else and we're doing it together and that will strengthen us as we go through we shall do it and you can do it which is a a really private journal because when we read it then we'll enter into that situation once again that we found ourselves in on that particular day the 10th of march or the 20th of march or so on so try that as we go along and it will i think hold us to the path like footsteps along the path leading us in physical things through our ordinary life but in heart and in spirit into a life which opens out where god teaches us so many things and we enter the aspects of eternity of which herbert speaks so well before our prayers uh this is the the last poem i wanted to read you it's simply called matins and i said this is an ordinary day and we're saying our morning prayer and that's the church's name for morning prayer and it's simply called matins and this is what herbert says i cannot open mine eyes but thou art ready there to catch my morning soul and sacrifice then we must needs for that day make a match my god what is a heart silver or gold or precious stone or star or rainbow or a part of all these things or all of them in one my god what is a heart that thou should state so i and woo pouring upon it all thy art as if that thou has nothing else to do indeed man's whole estate amounts and richly to serve thee he did not heaven and earth create yet studies them not him by whom they be teach me thy love to know that this new light which now i see made both the work and workman show then by a sunbeam i will climb to the matins by george herbert as we say our prayers on this day and pray urgently of course for the people of ukraine and all the people throughout our world who are fearing this terrible situation now so pray urgently throughout the day for those involved in talks and the ukrainian people slava yukaini and the russian people too because they too will have their nervousness about all that is going on so let's look and see what we have today for our prayers on the last day of the month and we're praying in the anglican communion for the diocese of keriko in the anglican church of kenya and for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and for emma bishop at lambeth and today within the the westbridge deanery were asked to pray for the villages of chatham and upper hearts with stelling which is at present vacant and we're praying for louise vince who's an interim priest there pray for her ministry in those lovely places those lovely villages this morning pray for all those whom you would want to pray for today but i'm going to use first of all the connect for george herbert's day king of glory king of peace who called your servant george herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a priest in the temple of his god and king grant us also the grace to offer ourselves with singleness of heart in humble obedience to your service through jesus christ our lord amen herbert died at the age of 39 of of consumption and uh we are indebted to his great friend nicholas farah of little gidding to whom on his deathbed herbert sent his poetry and pharaoh printed the poems at once herbert had been quite humble about whether there was any soul in the world who might benefit from a line or two but the whole church and so many others have benefited from them sins so thanks be to god for george herbert but once again thanks be to god for nicholas pharah and his little giddy community who printed those poems for us first gave them to the world let's say the prayer that our savior taught us together now in whatever language you normally 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 moments now of uh reflection and during the reflection we are going to hear the choir of kent college here in uh famous historic methodist school uh and it was uh fletcher's old school he's an alumnus of kent college they are here in this city and the director of music is julian ross and the head mark turnbull who is the son of uh the former bishop of rochester michael turnbull a great friend of ours so we remember michael and brenda but we also pray for mark in his task as head of of uh kent college which began as a boys school but is now a fully mixed school and the choir are singing and aptly when we're thinking of the way in which herbert uses the the notion of the human heart that they're singing a piece called upon your heart by the canadian composer who lives in toronto and composes choral and church music her name is eleanor daly so we thank god for her musical gifts as we make our own reflection on this day my oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] you shall [Music] as i [Music] glory [Music] r [Music] [Music] is [Music] upon your heart by the canadian composer eleanor daley sung by the fine choir of kent college here in canterbury it is one of the three independent schools here and really it achieved so many wonderful things in terms of art and music and creative life as well as academic and and sporting things uh and uh fletcher would say but of course he is an alumnus of kent college uh he would say it's the very best of the schools i of course as a chair of governors of our own kings canterbury and also with our choruses it's in deadman's school could not possibly comment you will understand that but no it is a really fine school and we thank them for the music they've sent us to listen to today so we come to the the the end of our first step in the fourth gospel the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and that his son jesus christ our lord 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 it's a lovely thing to sit in the garden and read george herbert who asks us to treasure the works of the creator but let those works always lead us in heart and mind and spirit to the creator's love for us itself and to straight to the creator himself has given to us in the human life of jesus so that we find ourselves as his his parent matin says climbing to him on a sunbeam but we could also climb to him on the the song of the birds that have been given to us this morning because other birds like great tits of sounding that funny seesaw sound is is that so enjoy your day [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] is [Music] [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] this is [Music] oh [Music] you