good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral we've come this morning to the orchard because we've come to visit the beehives it's a rather cloudy wednesday morning but the flowers around us are very sweet and scented on this may morning o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice alleluia 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 risen 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 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 are men on this 13th morning of the month our morning psalm is psalm 68 and we read some verses from that now let god arise and let his enemies be scattered that those that hate him flee before him as the smoke vanishes so may they vanish away as wax melts at the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of god but let the righteous be glad and rejoice before god let them make merry with gladness sing to god sing praises to his name exalts him who rides on the clouds the lord is his name rejoice before him father of the fatherless defender of widows god in his holy habitation god gives the solitary a home and brings forth prisoners to songs of welcome but the rebellious inhabit a burning desert oh god when you went forth before your people when you marched through the wilderness the earth shook and the heavens dropped down rain at the presence of god the lord of sinai at the presence of god the god of israel you sent down a gracious reign o god you refreshed your inheritance when it was weary your people came to dwell there in your goodness oh god you provide for the poor blessed be the lord who bears our burdens day by day for god is our salvation god is for us the god of our salvation god is the lord who can deliver from death we see your solemn processions o god your processions into the sanctuary my god and my king sing to god you kingdoms of the earth make music in praise of the lord who rides on the ancient heaven of heavens and sends forth his voice a mighty voice ascribe power to god whose power is above the clouds blessed be god so we come to our lesson as we continue to read day by day the gospel of saint luke we are in chapter five and beginning at verse 12. while jesus was in one of the cities there came a man full of leprosy and when he saw jesus he fell on his face and begged him lord if you will you can make me clean and jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying i will be clean and immediately the leprosy left him and jesus charged the man to tell no one but go and show yourself to the priest make an offering for your cleansing as moses commanded for a proof to them but now even more the report about jesus went abroad and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities but jesus would withdraw to desolate places to pray on one of those days when he was teaching pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of galilee and judea and from jerusalem and the power of the lord was with him to heal and behold some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed and they were seeking to bring him and lay him before jesus but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd they went up on the roof and let the man down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before jesus and when jesus saw their faith he said your sins are forgiven you and the scribes and the pharisees began to question saying who is this who speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but god alone when jesus perceived their thoughts he answered them why do you question in your hearts which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise and walk but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins he said to the man who was paralyzed i say to you rise pick up your bed and go home and immediately the man rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home glory glorifying god and amazement sees them all and they glorified god and were filled with awe saying we have seen extraordinary things today we have images that we've thought of in the past few days images of jesus besieged by people wanting from him that healing and wholeness the good news the forgiveness the gifts of sweetness that he is able to bring and at the same time we have jesus needing quiet and desolate places where he may go and recharge build up the gift and vocation within him by connecting with his heavenly father and with that other dimension which he had talked about even as a little boy in the temple did you not know i i must be in my father's house we've come here today because behind me are beehives and behind them is an ancient medieval wall with spaces in it where straw beehives would have been kept by the monks but in front more modern beehives and you can probably see beehive number 10 behind me more modern beehives are kept there we came out here on the sunny ve day in the afternoon to look at the beehives and just check on their health for the months to come on the night before we had a swarm come to one of our trees in the front garden of the deanery and a swarm often means that our hive is getting too filled and many of them need a new home so the next day we came out here to see how the hives were and it was necessary then as the four friends coming to bring their friend to lay before jesus and finding the people around too many for them to get near to jesus they broke open the roof and no doubt as we when we took the roof off the beehives and heard the noise of the hive underneath it must have sounded like that all around jesus at that time because the number of people who were wanting to be with him and so they they let down the bed into the house and we having taken off the roof began to see what an enormous number of bees there were the hive was very healthy and we needed to make it set and ready so that perhaps we can put another story on the hive to give them more room but for the moment all was well we looked at the mass of bees this could turn into a lesson on aquaculture but we don't want that this morning we just want to say that the sweetness of the hive which is kept in tiny honeycombs and all that the bees do in terms of food for themselves eggs for later queen's eggs being made in the hive ready for the future all those things were going on carefully having cleaned things out seeing things were well the roof was put back on each of those little cells with their function and the business of the people speak of that scene in luke's gospel and in the midst there is something pure and wonderful going on in terms of health and healing i bought with me this morning a pot of honey taken from the hives last year there's a rhyme which says a swarm in may is worth a load of hay a swarm in june is worth a silver spoon a swarm in july isn't worth a fly these are the months when the april honey has been stored for their own protection later and new things are being created but the may and june honey will give us wonderful sweetness there is no clearer more pure food nothing has to be done to the honey simply drizzled into the pot and it becomes wonderful sweetness one of the best medicines since luke would have thought of that but he is still more keen to bring us the wholesome medicine of the good news of jesus the real sweetness to counter bitterness which comes in human life as well so this morning we give thanks for all god's gifts for the purity of the honey but most of all for the purity of god being glorified in the person the human person of jesus christ and the fact that we can still look at those messages hear them read and be the body of christ the friends of jesus in a world of today giving healing and wholeness to others let's say our prayers we pray for all those in need of healing at this time but also those whose life feels bitter or in some way sad at present needing sweetness and that we can give those gifts to one another but especially in our prayers as we reach across the world here is the special prayer for this week almighty god who through your only begotten son jesus christ have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life grant that as by your grace going before us you put into our minds good desires so by your continual help we may bring the same to good effect through jesus christ our lord amen we remember any whom we would want to pray for today pray also in this place this mother church of the anglican communion for the diocese of zaria in nigeria and for the bishop abiodun saliu bello and all his people pray two for justin archbishop of canterbury rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and today as we continue to pray for the parishes gathered around maidstone in the area dinery there were asked by them to pray for all who work as chaplains in different organizations across that area of east kent so we use first of all as our prayer the little colleagues which comes at the end of the sound there's a little section of sweetness at the end of each psalm put into our daily prabhak and this is the one at the end of psalm 68 let's use that first blessed are you gracious god you make your home among the weak you deliver us from death you bring us joy beyond our imagining to the praise of jesus christ our lord amen we have at the moment a garden warbler who's made his home with us in the orchard he's been singing a bit to us this morning and we give thanks for him he's a summer visitor here so we say the prayer that jesus taught us in whatever language and in whichever way you would like to say it carrying on your hearts those for whom you would pray today 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 moment of silence for you to make your own prayers on this day [Music] yes god of peace you bought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blonde of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be among you and remain with you always amen you