welcome to canterbury cathedral on this morning of the second sunday of easter time we've come into the garden to say our morning prayers and our contemplation on the lesson that we will read will be of jesus and his disciples on the beach on the side of the sea of galilee following the disciples having caught a miraculous catch of fishes and finding jesus on the shore ready with breakfast for them but before that we say our morning prayers o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice hallelujah blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as once you ransomed your people from egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your beloved son may we the first fruits of your new creation rejoice in this new day you have made and praise you for your mighty acts blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever who uses our canticle part of the song of creation bless the lord all you works of the lord sing his praise and exalt him forever lest the lord you heavens sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord you angels of the lord sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord all people on earth sing his praise and exalt him forever o people of god bless the lord sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord you priests of the lord sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord you servants of the lord sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord all you of upright spirit bless the lord you that are holy and humble in heart bless the father the son and the holy spirit sing his praise and exalt him forever one of the psalms for this 19th morning of the month is psalm 96 and i am singing that i am saying that verses from that now sing to the lord a new song sing to the lord all the earth sing to the lord and bless his name tell out his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all peoples for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he is more to be feared than all gods for all the gods of the nations are but idols it is the lord who made the heavens honor and majesty are before him power and splendor are in his sanctuary o worship the lord in the beauty of holiness let the whole earth tremble before him let the fields be joyful and all that is in them and let all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the earth for he comes he comes to judge the earth with righteousness he will judge the world and the peoples with his truth so our lesson continues the story from john chapter 21 and we find the disciples with jesus on the beach he having said to them come and have breakfast now none of the disciples dad asked him who are you they knew it was the lord jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and so with the fish this was now the third time that jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead when they had finished breakfast jesus said to simon peter simon son of john do you love me more than these he said to him yes lord you know that i love you he said to him feed my lambs he said to him a second time simon son of john do you love me he said to him yes lord you know that i love you he said to him tend my sheep he said to him the third time simon son of john do you love me now peter was grieved because he said to him the third time do you love me and he said to him lord you know everything you know that i love you jesus said to him feed my sheep truly truly i say to you when you were young you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go this he said to show by what kind of death peter was to glorify god and after saying this he said to him follow me three times he asks the last time they had been near abrasion giving heat had been in the garden of the high priest's house where peter was sitting afraid of those who were saying to him you also were one of these you know this man and three times in front of the warmth of that brazier he had denied even knowing jesus and now on the beach the scene has been recreated this time the fire is cooking their fish but nevertheless the significance is there the sign is there and the question is asked again of peter it's difficult to get the full meaning in our english language where the word love is used three times by both peter and jesus but in the greek of the new testament different words are at play and the all-encompassing all-embracing word for love that jesus uses is answered by peter the first time with a word which means yes lord you you know that i'm your friend the second time too the just slightly different word peter nervous about making promises which are too large and the third time jesus himself accepts the word that peter is using peter is going to start where he knows he can continue before he's made promises which are too large but jesus is confident of this rock on which he is going to build his church and looking into the future he prophesies that peter will indeed give that total all-encompassing self-sacrificing love for the sake of this good news the message for the world with which he is being entrusted for he tells of how peter will die but for the moment there's a long journey ahead as following breakfast the disciples jesus walking with peter walk along the beach and have this conversation so we say our prayers for this sunday morning and as always in this place we pray for areas of our anglican world and for dioceses right across the world today though we are near his home we're praying for the church of ireland in all its life and as we pray for this diocese of canterbury we remember justin our archbishop rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and today the parish of saint john the baptist in margate and pray for dawn with watson in her ministry there we remember each other and at this time of coronavirus we make our prayers for any whom we know to need our prayers and those whom we love we hold them in our hearts as we pray this morning god our father from whom every family on earth takes its name be with all those who are far from loved ones and separated from those for whom they have a desire to pray and to be with on this sunday morning wherever there is distress ease anxiety soften sadness deepen our gratitude for one another even distanced as we are and remind us all of your love for us from which neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation is able to separate us in jesus christ our lord amen so we prayed a special prayer for this second sunday of easter almighty father you have given your only son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth through the merits of your son jesus christ our lord amen so we pray in the words our savior has taught us in whichever language we would normally use and in whatever way we are used to saying this prayer 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 so we use a moment of silence for our own prayers on this sunday morning the god of peace who bought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon all whom you love and would pray for this day now and always amen