good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the dinery garden on this morning of monday may the 4th may the 4th is the day when we give thanks for the english saints and martyrs of the whole reformation era which probably is the era between roughly 1530 or so up to 1590 when so many changes took place some of them were violent and men and women of all denominations showed great courage for that we give thanks today o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all do you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which your saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 amen the first psalm for this fourth morning of the month is psalm 19 the heavens are telling the glory of god and the firmament proclaims his handiwork one day pours out its song to another and one night unfolds knowledge to another they have neither speech nor language and their voices are not heard yet their sound has gone out into all lands and their words to the ends of the world in them has he set a tabernacle for the son that comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoices as a champion to run his course it goes forth from the end of the heavens and runs to the very end again and there is nothing hidden from its heat the law of the lord is perfect reviving the soul the testimony of the lord is sure and gives wisdom to the simple the statutes of the lord are right and rejoice the heart the commandment of the lord is pure and gives light to the eyes the fear of the lord is clean and endures forever the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold more than much fine gold sweeter also than honey dripping from the honeycomb by them also is your servant taught and in keeping them there is great reward who can tell how often they offend oh cleanse me from my secret false keep your servant also from presumptuous sins lest they get dominion over me so shall i be undefiled and innocent of great offense let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight o lord my strength and my redeemer today on this special day of commemoration we interrupt our reading of st luke's gospel and read instead from the letter to the hebrews a catalogue in chapter 11 is telling of all those who gave their lives for their faith despite the cost in pain and suffering and i'm beginning to read from verse 32 and what more shall i say for time would fail me to tell of gideon barack samson jeffer david samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms enforced justice obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions quenched the power of fire escaped the edge of the sword were made strong out of weakness became mighty in war put foreign armies to flight women received back their dead by resurrection some were tortured refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were thorn in two they were killed with the sword they went about in skins of sheep and goats destitute afflicted mistreated of whom the world was not worthy wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth and all these though commended through their face did not receive what was promised since god had provided something better for us that apart from us they should not be made perfect therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of god on this day as we remember saints and martyrs of this land at the reformation time i'm going to go into the house for a little help in telling some of that story and showing how this community was changed by their faith one of the families who have lived in canterbury for some time with a family called ropa margaret roper was the daughter of thomas moore one of the martyrs of the english reformation era his catholic faith and loyalty was so strong that he refused to conform to what the king henry viii was proposing and for that he was beheaded we remember his last letter to margaret roper and in that letter he said pray for me as i will pray for you and for all your friends that we may merrily meet in heaven what a wonderful thing to say the night before you knew you were going to be executed moore had written the book utopia about an ideal society where all kinds of wonderful things of respect and sharing were present the word utopia comes from the two greek words utopos not anywhere in no place it was a vision but that vision of some society where all would respect each other was far off and many both catholic and protestant at that time lost their lives if you stand in the frick museum wonderful museum on fifth avenue in new york over the fireplace you have the portraits by holbein of thomas moore on one side thomas cromwell on the other looking at each other it was thomas cromwell who really engineered moore's execution but five years later he himself fell victim to the same whim almost of henry viii we could catalogue so many saints and martyrs today but i'm standing beside the portrait of the first dean of canterbury after the reformation when the monastery was dissolved nicholas wooten was sent here to form a new foundation of a dean and chapter he was a humane and and gentle intelligent man of the renaissance and his eyes and portrait have almost uh a modern feel there's a portrait of every one of my predecessors here in the deanery somewhere so i live out my life under their eyes but here is whatton who has the intelligent face of the renaissance someone like cervantes or shakespeare later on and whatton is here having got the rhythms of this new foundation working in the way where daily prayers were said and bells were rung and he respectful of the old order even involved the monks and prayer in his new chapter he stayed because he was so useful to the monarchs as a diplomat he stayed as dean of canterbury through the last years of henry viii through the reign of edward vi through the reign of queen mary and into the first years of queen elizabeth it's an extraordinary story and he must have seen so many things during that time the archbishop of canterbury thomas cranmer was burned at the stake for his faith and bishops ridley and latimer there's a portrait of hugh latimer farther down the gallery at the end were also burned at the stake for their faith the bishops who had formerly been bishops of worcester and of london after rochester but on the other hand when uh mary um had finished uh her reign when she died elizabeth came in to try and and keep some kind of unity of the faith and warton here was one of her elder counselors we remember all of that as we go along this gallery of deans going on into the stuart times of civil war we could have a history lesson here but it's not about that today this is about the way in which faith was conserved but at the same time about the cruelties that took place on all sides in that century which was formative like a crucible for the faith of england so we're going back now into the garden to say our prayers one last thought it's not only our christian faith that provides martyrs this house provided hospitality for mahatma gandhi um just before the war and uh he was known for having meditated from this window here looking out onto the cathedral he went across to the he went across to the the morning prayer with bulit johnson the famous red dean of canterbury and i think that the conversations that they must have had gandhi sleeping up here and then meeting down in the kitchen in the morning must have been worth the hearing that appears in the dean's diary at that time gandhi later of course was assassinated so this is a day when we think of people suffering for their faith worldwide so on this morning when we remember english saints and martyrs of the reformation era we've come back in to the garden to say our prayers and in this case always we remember areas of the anglican world today we remember the diocese of mukono in uganda and pray for james williams bagala the bishop there and his people pray for the diocese of yewa in nigeria and pray for bishop michael adebayo alawara hoonby the bishop there and all his people and also in nigeria the diocese of ikara and pray for yourself young father the bishop there and his people in this diocese as a new week begins we pray for justin archbishop of canterbury rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and the parishes of this diocese of canterbury particularly today the parishes of the area deanery of west bridge pray for the arya dean ravi holy and the lay chair caroline spencer who's also a member of the chapter of this cathedral church so we use the special prayer for this day of commemoration merciful god who when your church on earth was torn apart by the ravages of sin raised up men and women in this land who witness to their faith with courage and constancy give to your church that peace which is your will and grant that those who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven and share together in the vision of your glory through jesus christ our lord amen so on this day we pray for the leaders of the roman catholic church the orthodox churches the anglican church all the free churches of the world and all who follow christ in whatever denomination praying for healing and for unity giving thanks for those in the past who showed true steadfastness and we also pray for any whom we know today to need our prayers in suffering or sorrow on this day and for those whom we love we use the words of the our father which our savior taught us in whatever language and in whichever way we like to say it 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 so a moment of silence for our own prayers on this day god give you grace to follow his saints in faith and hope and love 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