good morning and welcome from the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral as we come to say our morning prayers on this sunday the 25th of july it's the feast day of st james the great james the apostle the brother of john and both of them sons of zebedee but james the first of the twelve to be martyred and we shall think about that in our reflection we also on this day send greetings to of a sister cathedral and a place of huge pilgrimage as this one is santiago de compostela that uh pilgrim root all along the camino one of the most well-traveled pilgrim routes in the whole world and this because since james's day falls on a sunday this year that becomes a holy year and they were to have had a papal visit but because of the pandemic that is has been put off till next year so many of the festivities planned and they'd had a great restoration when we were both there in 2019 the cathedral was under full restoration and they were preparing for this year as we had been preparing 2020 for the beckett year so we send out not only our greetings and our prayers to that pilgrim destination and that holy place but we also send our sympathy because we understand what it feels like to have so many plans put on hold or set aside and yet we can think today with celebration of that pilgrim route along the camino the caminos is called the way to santiago the pilgrim way is one of the most travelled pilgrim ways in the whole world and of course that tended to slow down or even stop during the pandemic but pilgrimage as we know from here is beginning to pick up again and we're welcoming pilgrims with hospitality fletcher and i are wearing our cockle shells this morning which came from uh santiago though these actually came from the end of the pilgrim group the real end which goes from santiago right out to finister because there on the coast pilgrims would take off their soiled pilgrim wear bathe in the sea pick up a shell and put on white clothes to show the end of their pilgrimage so these cockle shells come from finnister where in 2019 we observed the most phenomenal sunset across the atlantic ocean for finisterre is the most westerly point of europe as it looks out onto the atlantic ocean there are all kinds of traditions associated with this day i'm holding a pilgrim mug and the little pilgrim figure on it uh is wearing his cocker shell hat and carrying his pilgrim staff as he goes along the pilgrim way the camino to santiago and then at my feet let me put the mug back there to be safe at my feet here if i can pick it up here we are it's a wonderful said james is santiago cake which we baked normally they're round but to get the biggest cross on we've baked it as an oblong because there is the saint james's cross it's surrounded by almonds here and uh it's a a lovely uh dish to be eating on this particular day it's a sweet sponge cake with almonds and all kinds of flavors of citrus as well in it but the cross is special to st james and the icing sugar parting there to show you the sign of st james like the cockle shell santiago de compostela and we send our greetings as we send to our friends andreas and conchita who live there and who gave us good hospitality uh when we went there i shall talk a bit later on about a a place of hospitality which is being planned in santiago at the moment but i want to explain why i'm sitting here st james was martyred in the year probably 43 or round about that because we know that because of the king who martyred him reigning at that time and we'll come to that later at exactly the same time that the romans in the reign of claudius came here to begin their their taking over of britain and they they obviously came on the coast landing at richboro but they came to the great center of the kantiarchi tribe in kent and eventually took over their center and rebuilt the walls in a roman way and those walls which i'm sitting against still stand on those roman foundations they've been re rebuilt in the flint many times over but the foundations beneath still stand and you remember that uh and as we go along to the end here behind me we come to one of the main gates of the roman fortifications and before that the kantyaki tribe and of course the name canterbury comes from that cantiarchi tribe and the roman name vernum um comes from the the sense of it oda language being used uh a grove of alders with the stronghold of the kantiyaki which is what the the roman latin meant but beyond is the the roman gate which 500 years later was named the queen's gate for queen bertha for it was 500 years after 43 a.d that augustine came 550 years really 597 augustine came so these great spans of history but i'm sitting on the wall which overlooks the city and is still a fortification and below here would have been between the monastic wall and the roman wall a very busy therapy and we'll think of that too when we think of st james being cut down in martyrdom in jerusalem at that time so let's begin our prayers many many details and wonderful things to think of but the great theme for this morning is the theme of pilgrimage which is a wonderful and thriving concept in the christian church and in the way in which people increase their faith by journeying 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 to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the 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 our psalm this morning on this 25th morning of the month is the portion of psalm 119 which begins at verse 33. teach me o lord the way of your statutes and i shall keep it to the end give me understanding and i shall keep your law i shall keep it with my whole heart lead me in the path of your commandments for therein is my delight incline my heart to your testimonies and not to unjust gain turn away my eyes lest they gaze on vanities and give me life in your ways confirm to your servant your promise which stands for all who fear you turn away the reproach which i dread because your judgments are good behold i long for your commandments in your righteousness give me life this morning i'm going to use two short lessons the beginning of the story of st james as we know it from mark and the mortal end of the story of saint james from the acts of the apostles both are quite brief but they're set down in gospel and the second luke and volume the acts very definitely so the first lesson is from mark chapter 1 and i'm reading from verses 14 to 21 this is very the very beginning of the public ministry of jesus [Music] now after john the baptist was arrested jesus came into galilee proclaiming the gospel of god and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of god is at hand repent and believe in the gospel passing alongside the sea of galilee jesus saw simon and andrew the brother of simon casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen and jesus said to them follow me and i will make you become fishers of people and immediately they left their nets and followed him and going on a little farther he saw james the son of zebedee and john his brother who were in their boat mending the nets and immediately he called them and they left their father zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed jesus the very beginning it tells us many things that the time the appropriate time the appointed time the kairos has come for jesus to proclaim himself in his human ministry and sin mark is very clear about that the time is fulfilled this particular time later on as we've seen we will be looking at the time when jesus will be lifted up and that too in matthew's gospel we've been seeing as a significant time a moment in time which is right for this to happen the kingdom of god is upon you that passage as jesus came into galilee inspired the first hymn that i ever wrote which has reached the hymn books and that began the kingdom is upon you the voice of jesus christ it was that verse that prompted that hymn and it goes on then the passage into the area of the sea of galilee which is the beginning of the ministry for jesus there and the four brothers are called simon and andrew para brothers james and john sons of zebedee pair of brothers obviously they come from a fairly affluent fishing business leaving their father zebedee in the boat with the hired servants but they leave it once and follow jesus that's our first insight into st james this morning let's go on then to the acts of the apostles and here i'm reading chapter 11 verses 27 to chapter 12 verse 3. now in those days prophets came down from jerusalem to antioch and one of them named agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine of all the world this took place in the days of claudius so the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers and sisters living in judea and they did so sending it to the elders by the hand of barnabas and saul about that time herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church he killed james the brother of john with the sword and when he saw that it pleased the jews he proceeded to arrest peter also the beginning and the end of james's story now the tradition is of course that james had ministry in uh spain itself between the years of the crucifixion and what we've just read of his martyrdom back in jerusalem certainly the body of st james was taken to the shrine it composted in some way or another through history and many wonderful legends and and stories are told of that all of this is in the shall we say family history of the church those are the two facts in the gospel and the acts of the apostles themselves that st james was called from the galilean fisher boat and left his father with his brother john at once and followed jesus and his mortal end happened in jerusalem during the reign of king herod agrippa the first and that was 41 to 44 a.d in terms of herod being made by the romans the king of all palestine which until then had been judea had been under the hands of a roman procurator that that didn't last for very long but in hera's reign it did and uh so here we know what date it was when james met his death there are other things in the in the gospels which tell us about james perhaps the most important is that james and john were known as burner the sons of thunder by jesus that was their nickname because clearly they were hot at least james seems to have been the fiery one hot tempered and impulsive and wanting desperately to protect jesus you remember how when the the samaritans won't receive jesus in one of the villages uh james and john come and say shall we call down fire from heaven and burn them up and jesus probably smiled and said come on sons of thunder let's go on uh and uh at the same time in mark's gospel is different in other gospels but in mark's gospel they both come to him and say and i i sort of feel as james who's saying all this the impetuous one master when we get your glory can can we both sit you know either side of you on the right and left and jesus again says can you drink the cup that i drink and be baptized with the baptism i'm to be baptized with and they both say impetuous and i always think james is the louder voice we can and jesus looking probably at james saying the cup i drink you will drink first of the apostles to be cut down the cup i drink you will drink and the baptism i baptize i'm baptized with will be yours but to set you on my right hand and left in my glory is is not for me to say it's in the hands of the father and also uh he is chiding them once again because the disciples then complain about the two brothers asking this and jesus chides them all and says what you imagine to be glorious is not glorious is it that time and that he is saying the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many that is glory the glory will be in the lifting up but the full glory will be in the context of eternity yet the kingdom is here and now and the gifts are those for you to share all of that in that concept but there's a certain sort of shame in this and so both matthew and luke change the story so that it's not james and john who say can we come and sit on your right hand or left left it's pushed onto their mother whom traditionally was called salome and in compostela we found a wonderful statue underneath salome wife of zebedee and uh that pairing you can make from the the stories and names in the new testament but all these things are fitting together of little facts which the evangelists don't think to be terribly important i happen to think that uh it certainly was the brothers themselves who said that and to hide their shame uh the the blame for the question was put onto their mother being proud of her sons asking if they can come to glory first well all very human and the nicknames are all part of the disciples common life together you are peter my rock and there's also an irony always in this for jesus with his rock knows how much peter is going to be tested and jesus with the cup that they must drink knows that james and john will drink of that cup in complete fulfillment to their um vocation each very different yet let's remember that it's peter and james and john who are taken further on several occasions taken into and we read that it even song in the cathedral last night into the bedroom of jairus's daughter who is lying dead there on the bed and jane and jesus takes cast everyone out but takes with him not only the parents but james and john and peter with him and then again on the mountain of transfiguration and again in the garden of gethsemane it's those three they will all have very different vocations if you think about them saint peter st james st john though utterly crucial in the life of the developing church and it's right that we should keep this great festival with a degree of honor and solemnity but also is right that we should lift up on this day the concept of pilgrimage journeying wayfaring i i'm simply a wayfarer here as all my forebears were says the psalmist uh at one point in the in the in the psalms and that sense of journeying knowing that of course we make good home and good companions and good communities wherever we are but our true homeland is in the beyond so that we may never feel strangers but we may always feel pilgrims probably like you so many of you my first concept of the pilgrim was in a a a book given to me as a child the pilgrims progress and that pilgrim's progress has so many different images in it of pilgrimage but since then many pilgrim stories have come to me and now constantly pilgrim's stories are coming because of course we receive pilgrims here at the end of their journey some have come along the pilgrim ways and come from london or come from winchester but many more we set off from canterbury from the pilgrim stone on a walk sometimes all the way to rome the via francis but this morning let's concentrate on the route that would take them along the camino that's through france across the pyrenees though the camino is joined by many routes from across europe and the pilgrim ways uh in medieval times and now are drawn in lines across europe that you can see coming to particular holy places and the ones that we set off would then cross to france and go down through france across the pyrenees and along the camino through galicia and along the camino to compostela and on for some of them to finister where as i said before many of them will bathe in the sea and get rid of their clothes and put on fresh clothes as the sign of a new beginning and the shell the cockleshell was the sign of having reached that particular beach and that's become the sign of st james tonight we shall enjoy saint jacques for supper but this cockroach shell is very much more serious than that it's a sign of our own pilgrimage and pilgrimage is not just a physical thing in terms of walking a pilgrim route though that is a wonderful thing for so many and people come and set off from here and have many meetings on the way and sometimes we get letters from them saying what a time they've had along the camino or the via francina as they go along some do it year by year and said well we're going to do a fortnight two two weeks this year and then next year we'll take up from where we left off and and so on some with the camino do it all in one stretch with the via transition that's more rare because that would take quite a long time it took three weeks for our group who went to rome on bicycles to get there and hospitality was given all along the way same thing happens in the pilgrim hostels all the way along the road to to compostela well let me think of something else now because there is a vision and we remember that we have in rome an anglican center for anglican episcopal christians of the strand of the holy catholic church to which we belong here in canterbury stewards of the holy places give hospitality and in in rome there is uh um the anglican center there and in jerusalem there is the anglican center there but in santiago at present there's no fitting place for hospitality in that way and um the the uh bishop the bishop carlos lopez lozano of the reformed episcopal church of spain which is our anglican episcopal church in spain has a vision that such a place will be developed and flourish and uh in 2016 all this plan was itself flourishing with resources having been sent particularly from uh various churches around and particularly we think of trinity wall street but we also think of the enormous energy of vision in with our friend nancy hoxie mead and also ed morio who herself is on the vestige of saint thomas's fifth avenue these have a vision that this place will happen and flourish and uh we put connections on this morning because there is an organization the friends of the anglican center for santiago de compostela which can help you if you want realize that vision with them and provide a fitting place of hospitality in santiago and also an another ecumenical bridge across the various communions of the christian church all praying for the unity of the church but of course many go on that route not quite knowing what they're wanting as they go along and receive from others on the way part of their stories i think we've said before that that lovely film the way which tells the story of four very unlikely friends walking that route is a perfect image of that they set off with a vague idea of what they want but when they arrive the fulfillment which has happened is quite different from anything they expected and that's the way of pilgrimaging physical pilgrimaging but also as we do in the mornings each day mental pilgrimaging journeying together wayfaring waking memories realizations new intentions and of course as one goes physically and as one goes mentally spiritual journeyings all of these are exercising our human creativity in responding to the impulse set there by our creator to be creative and to share those gifts the kingdom is upon you says jesus repent and receive the good news and that's almost a beginning of vocation a beginning of pilgrimage and then the call which is very very strong today in that image to simon and andrew james and john james impulsive leaving the net and the his father zebedee zebedee and salome were very understanding parents clearly because salome goes all the way to the end there and there seems to be a familial relationship between mary and jesus's family and that family too but all these things are secondary to the evangelist and as that story unfolds it's the vocation and the impetuous nature of james which is faithful to the end beheaded probably by king herod agrippa the first soldiers yeah in the streets of jerusalem or formerly in jerusalem we don't know the sentence is just stark he killed james the brother of john when he saw that that this pleased the people he arrested peter too all of that the beginnings of persecutions and the beginnings of the sense of the vocation of the disciples so today we're thinking of beginnings and ends and pilgrimages have beginnings and ends whether they're physical mental or spiritual but the great thing about pilgrimage is that every end becomes a new beginning for in human life you never stop journeying until your last breath and to journey in companionship with those who are understanding even virtually becomes part of the wonderful nature of all we're doing so yes a day for celebration yes a day for special foods and special memories and memories of sunsets at finisterre and times at at compostela wonderful times at compostela many of you will have done that journey but at the same time we can share it and share pilgrim wayfaring experiences of our own as i sit on the fortifications of this really ancient city going back oh centuries and millennia uh and uh as one goes all the way back there and realizes how it was 550 years from the time that in 43 a.d claudius's soldiers came here at the time since james was being martyred in jerusalem and then oh another 550 years before augustine came and the gate along there was called the queen's gate because queen bertha in her journeying would go to mass every morning at st martin's church through the queen's gate for there had been a christian establishment there in earlier roman times and augustine came to re-establish it you'll see how many themes there are but hold on to whatever you can and on this morning we give great thanks on the feast of st james the great we are thinking this morning of the scottish episcopal church in the anglican communion and we pray for them and for the primus of the scottish episcopal church and then here in the diocese of canterbury we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and for tim bishop at lambeth and today for the parish of saint andrew barming heath in maidstone which is at present vacant and that parish is praying for the new parish priests to be chosen and to come and we pray with them on this day bring your own intentions and prayers on this day and give thanks for your own journey whether it be mental physical spiritual because as we know our humanity is a complete fusion of those three dimensions of creativity which the creator has given us and they beg to be used but even more so beg to be shared and we do that with one another this morning let's say the connect for st james's day and bring your own prayers and intentions as we do so merciful god whose holy apostle saint james leaving his father and all that he had was obedient to the calling of your son jesus christ and followed him even to death help us forsaking the false attractions of the world to be ready at all times to answer your call without delay through jesus christ our lord amen say the prayer our savior taught us to say whenever in our journey we pause to say our prayers whichever language you use we use that now 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 silence now [Music] so god give you grace to follow sin james and all his saints in faith and hope and love along the pilgrim way 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 you