good morning and welcome to the dinery garden in canterbury cathedral at on this morning of saturday the 26th of march as we gather to say our morning prayers welcome wherever you are in the world once again it's a beautiful day and we've come specifically to sit beside a pool of water with running water into the pool on both sides and you'll see that that becomes very much a scene in our biblical reading and also in our reflection afterwards but also for me it's a lovely thing to come here because we are at the height of the blooming of these wonderful golden marsh marigolds we call them in our part of the country king cups some people call them but to me and i'm slightly colorblind and so this bright yellow is one that i can see and appreciate so well so the sun shining onto these golden marsh marigolds with the water all around them is a lovely thing for me on a spring morning and we have the green leaves of a green arum lily even the flower when it comes up it's called green goddess and it's coming out of the water as are the marsh marigolds and then we have lovely leaves of wild geranium and the vipers bugloss here lots of leaves of that but even some of its blue flowers are and then around me the viburnum in full flower a lilac budding and behind me in the lower pond wild watercress growing that's where the goldfish are beyond but here this is a still pond for amphibians and there are tadpoles which have come out of the frog spawn in this pond beside me so much life is burgeoning on this warm morning and there's not a breath of wind a lovely blue sky and so wherever you are feel welcome to this scene and i'm sorry we can't transport some of this to other areas of the world um but nevertheless virtually we can see all these things this morning our prayers continue of course for the people of ukraine and the yellow and and blue of the flowers is reminding us of that as we keep them in our prayers constantly whether they are in their own cities and facing bombardments or they've left their homes or they've received hospitality elsewhere but let's keep that prayer burning bright for the people of ukraine and for the leaders of the world as they make the best possible decisions for them now i've been joined by the robin already he's been around us all the time good morning how are you here as part of our morning prayer already i'm sure you'll be here throughout because leo was here but he's gone away so you are the star this morning mr robin as you have been in so many ways so a black bird is actually now watching some of the meal ones that the robin is eating so let's begin to say our prayers on this morning of the 26th of march o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise hear our voice o lord according to your faithful love according to your judgment 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 and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen are some on this 26th morning of the month is part of psalm 119 which you'll remember is a very long psalm split into sections of eight verses each and the eight verses we're reading this morning are 105 up to 112. your word is a lantern to my feet and a 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 o 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 your word is a lantern to my feet and the light upon my path well that becomes a very connected sentence with our return to st john's gospel today after our little outing to sin luke's gospel yesterday for the feast of the annunciation so we are beginning today in st john's gospel let's just put my other book down chapter nine and we remember how yesterday luke led us into the two dimensions of heaven and earth we're now back with saint john and john's way of showing us that jesus is always working on two levels that which is of the earth earthy and can be used in all sorts of ways as signs of that which is of the heavens heavenly and eternal and nowhere is this more true than in chapter 9. so we're reading verses 1 2 12 this morning and jesus is in jerusalem and you remember that he was having a a really fierce controversy with the jewish authorities there and the last verse of chapter eight was so they picked up stones to throw at him but jesus hid himself and went out of the temple scene of great violence or intended violence now we're on chapter 9. as jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind jesus answered it was not this man that this man sinned or his parents but that the works of god might be displayed in him we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day night is coming when no one can work as long as i am in the world i am the light of the world and having said these things he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him go and wash in the pool of siloam which means sent so the man went and washed and came back seeing the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying is this not the man who used to sit and beg some said it is he others said no he is someone like him the man kept saying i am the man so they said to him then how were your eyes opened the man answered the man called jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me go to siloam and wash so i went and washed and received my sight they said to him where is he he said i do not know this is only the beginning of a long story but we're in sin john's gospel so as with the woman at the well the man is not named he becomes the next sign and he becomes the sign of i am the light of the world and that we shall slowly discover as we go through because that statement is not as it seems it's worked out once again on two levels that which is of the earth earthy as earthy as the the the dust of the ground that the mud that jesus makes mixing it with his own saliva to anoint the eyes of the man words which all of them in their way are signs and that one is hugely hugely crucial in st john's gospel but let's remember later on we shall find out that this was a sabbath day but jesus makes it quite clear that his work is going on every day he said before there's no pause of compassion there's no pause of healing there's no pause of help to another on the sabbath day rather it makes the activity more holy but during these 12 verses we're not aware that it is the sabbath it's just the fact that something is prompted by jesus and his disciples walking in a jerusalem which is surrounding him with controversy and the intention of violence and they see a man begging we imagine because that's what the uh the neighbors were used to him doing who had been blind from birth and by the neighbors we mean those who had known him those who lived around him those who used to see him in his blindness begging for help and arms but the disciples go back to an old-fashioned reading of the law in the sense of even the providence of god seeming to them to get it's just desserts for bad behavior and as that bad behavior would be worked out by what happens they ask that question which jesus negates at once they ask the question rabbi who's sinned that this man was born blind the man or his parents and jesus answered was not the man that sinned or his parents but as in every human situation there is the capacity that in this human being the works of god might be displayed and jesus then effects a sign which the evangelist now uses he takes the dust of the ground the earth mixes it with his saliva and then anoints the eyes of the blind man and then says go and wash in the pool of siloam i think that's simply because where they were in jerusalem at that time siloam was the nearest place where there would be water and where he could wash it was a place where people gathered around the pool of siloam and the people there would be washing and doing ordinary things and the man went down to do our most ordinary thing to wash himself in the waters the still waters of the pool of siloam which filled itself in that way and we're told that the the name of the pool means scent that's not s-c-e-n-t as in perfume that is s-e-n-t means someone being sent whether that name was original or whether that came from the fact that the man was sent to the pool of siloam but the concept of being sent is one that is absolutely crucial to jesus's own ministry for he keeps talking about the one who sent me the creator who caused all the quality and and and uh gifts of the kingdom of heaven and that to be formed in human flesh the very first words of the gospel of saint john the word was made flesh and dwelt among us by the one who sent the creator whom jesus is calling them is is teaching them to call father and here we've got the word sent he's sent to the pool of siloam and he washes and came back hello you're very near this morning aren't you i've got the robin right at my feet now totally brave little chap aren't you very beautiful indeed in the sunlight and so when jesus goes to uh to when jesus sends the man to the pool of silent he's simply sending him to do an ordinary human activity something we all do every day with water given to us for cleansing but on this occasion we're seeing an ordinary human activity restoring something physical the man comes back seeing well yes he sees all those things around him and he's not ashamed to say so either when the neighbors say it can't be him surely he is the one who says present tense again i am the man meaning i am the man on whom this sign was performed and that is a testament a witness but as the chapter unfolds that testament will become much much more clear and sight will be revealed on both levels that which is here and now and that which is seeing much much more in terms of the eternal gifts of the spirit which are going to be opened to those who believe but for the moment i am the man that's a witness that's a testament how were your eyes opened a man called jesus the man's not named but the man names jesus again important and he tells the people what jesus did he made a mud and anointed my eyes and said to me go and wash in the pool of siloam and i did i washed and received my sight and then they say to him so where is he and now knowledge stops short i do not know he's gone nor would he remember have known what jesus looked like because in fact when he had the mud spread on his eyes he only came back seeing after he had been obedient to the sending and washed and come back and that becomes something quite important but the chapter will unfold as we go for the moment where is he i do not know nor let's remember would he recognize jesus anyway at that time i am the man and at that point we see that the chapter is beginning to unfold in a wonderful way this gospel is full of times when resonances of what is being said later because we know the gospel and earlier are found in phrases and here is not jesus saying ego amy in the greek i am but this particular man saying i am the man not ashamed to say it not named though because to the evangelists it could be you or me and that testament to what jesus has already done for him jesus is named by the man but he himself simply says i am the man what does it remind you of not only the i am statements of jesus all in the present tense and we've many of those still to come as we read through the gospel but the words of pilate as he points to jesus behold the man okay homo in the latin and uh that becomes uh a a real um sentence of testament pilate not knowing what he's saying and this man at the moment i am the man not yet realizing what he is saying but he will he's named jesus and then that recognition will later come so the evangelist is giving us wonderful lessons as he goes through and we receive them but it's done by residents and inference and us picking up the signs that's why this gospel has to be read over and over and over again throughout life and every time we read it we'll get something completely different note then that we've gone from the simplistic response hello of the of the disciples to something which is deeply profound with the man standing and saying i am the man that will be enlarged and made wonderful as this chapter continues but for the moment on this lovely morning of spring i'm going to go to one of one of the dates and march 26 is full of wonderful dates but one of the dates is the march 26 1827 is the year's mind of ludwig van beethoven he'd been born in 1770 and is widely regarded as one of the most important composers ever really and uh to think of of beethoven is to think of a huge amount of music but his roots were in the classical music of the 18th century and for a while if we trace things through all his music sounds very much like the music of mozart or haydn and he in fact had lessons from haydn so as we think of early beethoven and we can actually put his life into several sections and he was born in bonn but then his early years in vienna from when he was uh 22 shall we say until his uh until he was 32 1792 to 1802 then we think of his first let's deal with the symphonies there were nine the first symphony if you listen to it could easily really have been haydn or mozart symphony it's wonderful but it's wonderful in a classical sense it doesn't break many of the rules out and gives us in its movements the sense of a continuation of that there are little signs to the quick ear that this is going to go further but even in 1803 with his second symphony you've still got that sense of well this might um this might have been mozart or haydn and then you come to his period which is generally called the heroic period when not only does the form change and begin to verge towards what will be called the romantic movement but at the same time in 1802 he has already noticing with an awful tinnitus in his ear and the sense of his his hearing becoming impaired in a letter to his brothers he can't face the fact that he's going to be deaf it was a letter that was never sent but it still exists and in that letter he's got to the point where he's saying he had sought of suicide many times because life without hearing was going to be a desperate and awful thing for him but he was going to resist suicide for the sake of his art these letters are called the heiligan stat testament because they were written from heiligenstadt but he then writes that he's going to seize fate by the throat it shall certainly not crush me completely and by 1806 he's written down to himself a note let your deafness no longer be a secret even in art but nevertheless in 1802 as that embracing of the descent into deafness occurs he writes i'm not satisfied the work i've done so far from now on i intend to take a new way it's extraordinary that the consciousness of his deafness increasing causes him to take a new way i'm dealing with the sympathies symphonies but if we think of early piano sonatas quite often they're given names because they're beginning to be romantic so not as the moonlight sonata the pathetique and those things which we love to play on the piano but in that two he is continuing to write symphonies and his third symphony is called heroica because it was written thinking at that time that napoleon because the french revolution then got to that state where napoleon was the leader of the nation and was going forward and he seemed to young men like beethoven to be something of a hero that's not to say that beethoven himself didn't have the greatest respect for the imperial family in austria and one of his very very best friends for whom he wrote so many things was the youngest son of the emperor leopold ii the archduke rudolph an archduke rudolph himself learned the piano took some lessons from beethoven but they became really close friends right through until um the the great ninth symphony but the mrs alemnis also which was dedicated to the archduke rudolph and so there is this sense of honoring his own nation from the moment he moved to vienna and at the same time composing wonderful things for folk who commissioned them but rudolf was quite different he became a very close friend and the letters written by beethoven two archduke rudolph are kept but for the moment let's stay where we are and say that the eroica symphony when napoleon suddenly declared himself to be an emperor so the past that was enough for beethoven that lacked all respect and respect for a new way he ripped up the dedication page at the beginning of his third symphony so it became to the memory of a great man he felt that napoleon had sold the past at that point so let's go through then that's the third symphony the fourth symphony the fifth symphony of course now this is his creative period but the deafness is increasing the fifth symphony is one of the only works known immediately by its first eight notes eight notes and even as a wartime signal on a drum became an important sign and that symphony seemed to win all hearts the fifth symphony if you want a sort of um appreciation of the fifth symphony and the way it can move people then go back to reading howard's end by e.m foster and quite near the beginning of the novel the two schlegel sisters margaret and helen go to hear a concert and helen is so overcome by the fifth symphony and all that it's saying it speaks to her of terror and fear and horror and pain and yearning and triumph over all that and she is so overcome that she has to leave before the thing is over and and makes up because she's so emotionally overcome by it it is a wonderful description of what the fifth symphony can mean to someone but i'm keen this morning of course to go on to the sixth symphony because that shows us beethoven actually loving to walk in the countryside 1808 as the deafness increased the sixth symphony was given its genesis and remember the five movements because they're beautiful and he wrote a a little description of what was happening in each this truly is romantic music the first one the awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside well on the morning like this who could not have them and beethoven was a great walker and adored the countryside and then next the scene by the brook well of course we came here partly because of the pool of siloam and partly because we are by the brook the running water is coming down through the stones and babbling past the wild geranium leaves and then into this still pond here with the tadpoles in and then on falling down a little waterfall into the bigger pond where the goldfish are and the silverfish and all the wonderful fish that are in that particular pond the scene by the brook but it's not just the water sound that beethoven gives us he gives us the song of nightingales and a cackle of a quail we keep quails and the male quail have this sound and beethoven gives this sound in it and then the cuckoo one of the most uh endearing sounds to anyone where the cuckoo marks the coming of spring think of delias on hearing the first cuckoo in spring but beethoven got there first and in movement two of the pastoral symphony we get that the scene by the brook then afterwards the happy feelings not only of the walker at being in the countryside beethoven but also the country folk around him who are dancing a country dance because they're so happy in the fine weather but fine weather can always break suddenly into a thunderstorm and the gathering of the storm follows in movement four the merry-gathering of country folk movement three is followed massively by the storm crashing into this symphony and completely different instrumentation and atmosphere and then as the storm begins to rumble away and the thunder begins to die you have the shepherd's song and the cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm possibly the pastoral symphony is the most favorite of all beethoven symphonies and we remember that all this was coming during his descent into deafness 1809 saw the armies of napoleon actually reaching the gates of vienna they were at war with austria at that time and the imperial family francis the emperor and his family fled and with them went uh the archduke rudolph and as rudolph left vienna beethoven wrote a piano sonata for him piano sonata 26 it was to be three movements and the first was the first movement was called farewell liberal in the german the second absence the heartbreak of absence with the separation something that's going on all over that very area of europe at this time and the third beethoven didn't write yet but he would and that was called vedasan on the return the greeting welcome back it is a really touching piano sonata and it's known as les zadier because it was a fair world to his dear friend and patron archdick archduke rudolph as he went away archduke rudolph in the end and the emperor piano concerto was also dedicated to him but um archduke rudolph in the end was ordained and became a cardinal in the roman catholic church and for that consecration beethoven planned a really wonderful mass but beethoven was a complicated person and as the deafness increased and he could hear less and less and less then the works took longer and he would revise and scratch and revise and revise and the great mr solemnis took from 1819 to 1823 to write and by then uh the archduke rudolph had long been enthroned as archbishop but still this testament to a friendship in a huge missile salemness a solemn mass for his friend is a testament to that at a time when beethoven's hearing hearing was was so gone that he could actually not perform anymore and could hardly hear a note of what was being played of his music everything was going on inside his head and his heart and he then in in that mode created his ninth symphony which is the most monumental of them all it was performed in vienna first in 1824 which was a peaceful time after the congress of vienna had had followed up on the battle of waterloo and europe was at a time of peace again but in 1824 when that symphony was performed and beethoven sat by so not conducting he was well beyond being able to conduct but the conductor was conducting and he couldn't save himself from imagining what was going on but he was looking at his score and so on and when the thing came to an end and the the viennese rose to their feet after the great chorus of the last movement of symphony number nine beethoven who had no idea that the symphony had ended because his hearing was not good enough to hear it was still doing they had to tap his shoulder so that he would stand up to take his bow to an applause he couldn't hear a descent into total deafness what a terrible gift of physicality to lose for one who himself relied on music to express everything and yet as he stood up as if to say i am the man who has created this then one has that sense of him in a wonderful way [Music] getting a spiritual depth which before he had not been able to achieve and those later works mr solemnis ninth symphony but even more afterwards when all he was writing was chamber music and those last quartets plumb the very depths of his soul and is offered to us as a spiritual gift and just played by string quartet the most exact balance of instruments again he could hear nothing of it except in his mind but even more now in his heart and he wrote at that time sees into my innermost heart and knows that as a man i am the man as a man i perform most conscientiously and on all occasions duties which humanity god and nature enjoin upon me this is a plea for inner and outer peace heaven and earth or inner and outer they're expressing the same things the capacity of humanity to have a spiritual dimension as well as a physical one and one that can think and puzzle things out a mental one and in all that beethoven is working against the decline of his capacity to hear not the decline of his capacity to think but certainly against all sorts which say you can do nothing without that physical capacity to hear because he knows he can still do everything and to plumb his own spirit so that when he died and he died on this day in 1827 and uh that means that having been born in 1770 he was only 57. he then died leaving us these gifts and so often it's later in life that we as human beings we are the men and women as with the man i am the man beethoven i am the man he stood up to take the applause but don't be ashamed of your deafness you are deaf but you are the man who has created all this he stood up and saw the acclaim but that meant nothing compared with the fact that the gifts that god had given him was still going to be used in a way that would explore the spiritual dimensions and be left as a gift for us just as the evangelist leaves his gospel for us to ponder and ponder and ponder but it means that we ourselves must perform and this is uh uh beijing again we'll read that again it's so good god sees into my innermost heart and knows that as a man i perform most conscientiously on on all occasions the duties which humanity god and nature enjoin upon me i would say his humanity is in the physicality of being the man who's going to perform this work jesus said we must perform the works of the one who sent me the creator while it is day while we have activity and consciousness and humanity to do it and god and nature are giving different signs but god is giving also the gift of his spirit in order that that might be effective and handed on see how much we could say about all of that this morning but it's a lovely thing to do it decide really what are my favorite flowers in the whole garden and they only come at this time of year and come in the water so that they're reflected the marsh marigolds as they show their golden glory and their roots are there in the water reflecting heaven and also based in the moist earth below in the pond itself to give life and then the flowering which can be shared let's say our prayers on this morning and give thanks for all creativity but also even more so creativity which points us to the heavenly dimension which the evangelist is longing for us to embrace and which chapter nine will go on encouraging us with when we come to chapter nine again on monday morning because sunday tomorrow will give us a special lesson so let's say the prayers for today together and bring your own intentions and your own concerns and also asking god's blessing on your own creative faculties body mind and spirit and the way we receive them in one another and use them for one another we're praying today for the diocese of nord kiru again in a french-speaking church the eglise anglican du congo and we pray in the diocese for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for emma bishop at lambeth and today for the parish of christchurch parkwood and for phil goody and the ministry there so bring your own prayers and intentions as we say the collect for this week for the last time this beautiful collector this week following the third sunday in lent almighty god whose most dear son jesus christ went not up to joy but first he suffered pain and entered not into glory before he was crucified mercifully grant that we walking in the way of the cross may find it to be none other than the way of life and peace through jesus christ our lord men so together we pray the prayer that our savior taught us in whichever language you like to use our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men moment of reflection now as we sit by the pool and by the brook [Music] my [Music] wow [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Applause] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow [Music] my [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] christ give you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourself 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 are men well we've not had the song of the quail or the song of the nightingale or the presence of a cuckoo they've not come yet but we have had the constant presence of our companion and friends the robin here who has been hopping about all through at my feet and i think probably is now feeding young and doing his work for the family but also giving us huge pleasure by his being part of our garden congregation as he was in the snow so he is in the sunshine you