good morning and welcome to the dinery garden in canterbury cathedral on the 18th friday the 18th of february as we come together to say our morning prayers wherever you are in the world feel welcome and bring your own concerns to this act of worship we are of course holding in our minds and undergirding with prayer the situation between russia and ukraine and all those we pray for all those with influence to bear for good on that situation that there may be a sense of a cooling of tensions and the welfare of all those peoples that are involved at the same time we prayed for the uh yesterday for the people of petropolis in brazil after that catastrophic landslide which has taken many many lives and continues to be a real danger there so we think of the people there following the floods which have caused the the landslide and now is causing many many deaths and the destruction of homes and communities there at the same time we ourselves are facing the worst storm storm eunice it's called for about 30 years here and so everyone is battening down the hatches schools in the south west of england and across the southern part are closed uh the cathedral will not be open to visitors today there will be an access for those coming to to worship uh but there will not be regular visiting because of the danger of flying debris and things falling from above because the wind which is even now building up will be hugely hugely strong and quite unlike winds that we normally see here so we are bracing ourselves for this and trying to keep as many people as possible safe and praying also that the great structures particularly that huge scaffold on the roof now covered which you saw being built i think about a week and a half ago or so in the sunshine at that time with the scaffolders working on it that is there and it's having to face the buffeting of the storm and we pray that you see it's being beginning already and the the tree ferns are waving around in in a particular way well this is only the beginning this is quite mild for the moment so we're praying for all those who need to travel in safety and as i keep saying to you bring your own concerns we've come here for shelter in this almost fortress here by the old flint walls with both roman work and much more ancient work below them these have always been the markers of the city and now are the markers of the deanery garden here and no better protection but the wind is coming from the south west in this direction so i shall seem a bit disheveled as the ferns will also seem a bit disheveled under the shelter of this great ash tree here and leo is here for the moment i don't know how brave he's going to be for very long but we shall see that my feet lovely hellebores are still flowering but at the moment we're taking really counsel for the trees i thank god that the leaves are not on the trees because that makes them much less resistant to the wind and allows the wind to blow through the branches but there will be i know damage today in all parts of england and particularly the south west so let's say our prayers on this day oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the daystar dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you sovereign god creator of all to you be glory and praise forever you founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands in the fullness of time you made us in your image and in these last days you have spoken to us in your son jesus christ the word made flesh as we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us let the light of your love always shine in our hearts your spirit ever renew our lives and your praises ever be on our lips 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 our psalms this morning for this eighteenth morning of the month uh some 91 we're going to use we could have used 90 which is all about strongholds as well but 91 is uh generally known to us as a compliance arm but it is one asking for the lord's protection and we shall as we do so think of the way in which part of this was part of the dialogue between jesus and satan in the wilderness uh and you'll see that as as we go through but here is psalm 91 whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high and abides under the shadow of the almighty shall say to the lord my refuge and my stronghold my god in whom i put my trust for he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence he shall cover you with his wings and you shall be safe under his feathers his faithfulness shall be your shield and buckler you shall not be afraid of any terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day of the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor of the sickness that destroys at noonday there are a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand yet it shall not come near you your eyes have only to behold to see the reward of the wicked because you have made the lord your refuge and the most high your stronghold there shall no evil happen to you neither shall any plague come near your dwelling for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways they shall bear you in their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone you shall tread upon the lion and adder the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot because they have set their love upon me therefore will i deliver them i will lift them up because they know my name they will call upon me and i will answer them i am with them in trouble and will deliver them and bring them to honor with long life will i satisfy them and show them my salvation it's a marvelous psalm of protection but as i said are the um where are we versus 11 and 12 form part of the the dialogue the the you could say the internal dialogue going on between uh the the devil and and jesus the temptations laid before him which jesus always knows how to identify later even when they appear in the words of his disciples so that he says at some stage to peter when peter is getting getting i was trying to push him away from his vocation get behind me satan he doesn't actually believe that peter is satan but these are the words of satan again being put into the mouth of one of his apostles and at that time jesus can confronts that so here too these words in 11 and 12 are not words spoken by jesus they're actually words given in the temptation of satan cast yourself down from the roof of the temple for it is written there shall no evil happen to you for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways they sh they shall bear you in their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone well wrong thing to say for our lord's vocation was to have the human limitations that we ourselves possess not suddenly to fling himself down from the roof of the temple and show that angels would descend and lift him up and remember how he says to satan the you shall worship the lord your god and him alone he quotes scripture backwards and forwards and his mind that dialogue going on between the tormentor and the the the uh the the purity of the word of god is jesus struggles to find his vocation and then eventually appears with the good news in galilee and we will come to all of those things of course too soon on ash wednesday when we tell that story well let's go to our reading this morning and we're returning this morning to david and saul now the rest of the story up until the end of first samuel is episodic and i'm going to just choose one or two episodes until we get to the should we call it the de numer at the end the the tragic last chapter uh but today and tomorrow we'll choose an episode and then come to the last chapter tragically probably on monday chapter 24 the whole of it when saul returned from following the philistines he was told behold david is in the wilderness of engadi then saul took three thousand chosen men out of all israel and went to seek david and his men in front of the wild goats rocks and he came to the sheepfolds by the way where there was a cave and king saul went into the cave to relieve himself now david and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave and the men of david said to him this is the day of which the lord said to you behold i will give your enemy into your hand and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you but david arose and stealthily cut off a corner of saul's robe and afterwards david's heart struck him because he had cut off a corner of saul's robe he said to his men the lord forbid that i should do this thing to my lord the lord's anointed to put out my hand against him seeing he is the lord's anointed so david persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack saul and saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way afterwards david also arose and went out of the cave and called after saul my lord the king and when saul looked behind him david bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage david said to king saul why do you listen to the words of men who say behold david seeks your harm behold this day your eyes have seen how the lord gave you today into my hand in the cave and some son told me to kill you but i spared you i said i will not put out my hand against my lord for he is the lord's anointed see my father see the corner of your robe in my hand for by the fact that i cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands i have not sinned against you though you hunt my life to take it may the lord judge between me and you may the lord avenge me against you but my hand shall not be against you as the proverb of the ancients say out of the wicked comes wickedness but my hand shall not be against you after whom has the king of israel come out after whom do you pursue after a dead dog after a flea may the lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand and as soon as david had finished speaking these words to saul saul said is this your voice my son david and saul lifted up his voice and wept he said to david you are more righteous than i for you have repaid me good whereas i have repaid you evil and you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me in that you did not kill me when the lord put me into your hands for if a man finds his enemy will he let him go away safe so may the lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day and now behold i know that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of israel shall be established in your hand swear to me therefore by the lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house and david swore this to saul then king saul went home but david and his men went up to the stronghold well it's a a powerful lesson and speaks of david's loyalty to the king a loyalty which remains with him even to the end and yet of course he knows only too well and jonathan also has discovered the violent moods and the jealousies and bitterness which come over saul which he himself can't control but for this moment we have this touching scene where david really puts himself in the power of saul when he kneels before him and refuses to do any violence to the king the lord's anointed you keep saying and is saying i have always dealt well with you and in this actual passage saul recognizes that there is now a complicated tale of battles going on for david and his men are not saul's real enemies king saul's enemies are still the philistines and battles are going on all the time dreadful big battles and there is one huge battle still to come but at the same time david is really like a a flying force with his young men around the various areas of the kingdom which are inhabited by different tribes and clans and there is no real unity at that time except of the unity which in should we say a loose way the tribes of israel are giving to the king but at the moment that is something which is being disrupted by all kinds of battles and struggles and we shall see that that's why i say i shall just pick one or two occasions now one tomorrow and then go to the what should we call it the the the last battle at some stage uh on no one tomorrow one the next day and then the last battle on monday but for the moment let's think of david returning to the stronghold stronghold will become an important word in our reflection in a bit and he goes out and i said yesterday like uh robin hood in sherwood forest goes out to help the people i didn't think leo would stand this very long it's getting rather wet now um but at the same time uh he's he is helping his people but at all times returning to the stronghold and that psalm of david psalm 91 begins with the real the only stronghold really is is putting his trust in the lord and the lord's intention for him psalm 91 is a wonderful psalm to read in that way and obviously it was known by heart to our lord in that dialogue in the wilderness the constant loyalty of david for saul despite all things and the stronghold are things to bear in mind and i want now to turn to a couple of dates which are significant on this day now the first is the fact that on this day martin luther died in 1546 luther had been born in 1583 and died at the age of 62 in 1546 and he had been ordained a priest in the roman catholic church in 1507. so i wonder if i can chance an umbrella um it is windy and i might actually regret doing this but let's just see how we go i'll i'll keep it low it'll cover my pages is what i'm thinking um so uh we think of of martin luther when i say that as a german priest a theologian an author a composer originally an augustinian friar within the community of the roman catholic church but a seminal figure in the protestant reformation now what we're talking about i think this might not be a good idea but um what we're talking about is the fact that luther becomes the focal point because of things happening in his life and the experiences that he has i think that this this cataclysmic happening in europe this reformation shall we say was going to happen sometime in some way at that time because of all that was going on i'm not actually thinking this is a good idea so i think being wet is probably better um and so uh let's just see how this this works out and if we think of of luther's life and his writings and his teachings and the studying of the scriptures this all began when he rejected some of the practices of the church which he saw going on and particularly the sale of indulgences and he wrote 95 theses against indulgences which were being in his mind peddled around as though one could buy god's grace and the 95 theses were not against the church they were actually a suggestion for an academic discussion about this to open up the the uh pandora's box of talking about this it was set to go he wasn't the only one thinking this but then what happened of course was that the church responded by thinking this was too dangerous and in 1520 pope leo the 10th excommunicated luther because he refused to renounce all of his writings at his demand and then in 1521 when a diet a council was gathered at the the german city of verms and it was chaired by the holy roman emperor charles v and the emperor demanded that again luther renounce all this and joseph's only concern was the unity of the holy roman empire and all his dominions and at that time luther again refused so he found himself condemned by the emperor the state as an outlaw and by the pope excommunicate and was taken away a prisoner but at the same time the power of the german princes and the electors and the land graves and the margraves and everything else of the holy roman emperor our empire was growing impatient of the interference of the emperor or any other power in their land and the elector of saxony frederick the wise uh pretended to have luther ambushed and carried away and he imprisoned him for his own safety in the stronghold of the vault berg and luther there in that protection lived out his excommunicate years for a while in the stronghold like david in the stronghold from the moment and david entered the cave of a dullum and other strongholds that he found the stronghold was necessary for him but luther was a hymn writer as well as a bible translator and a great scholar and one of his most famous hymns of course begins with the word a safe a stronghold our god still a trusty shield and so all of that is in luther's mentality but the the great sentence of luther when he was asked to recant on his writings was traditionally here i stand i can do no other refusing to recount and being placed by another protector elector frederick frederick wise in the stronghold from the book where he set about translating the bible into german from the original sources that he had there and also continued to write and write and right well we know how that then goes on and we pray for all lutherans today because this is the year's mind of martin luther at the same time it it interests me that uh the one of the other dates i've only got two more um one of the other dates for today is the fact that on this day in 1564 michelangelo died now michelangelo was born before luther in 1475 and died after luther in 1564 because he lived to be almost 89 and at the same time he wasn't so much writing that there are many journals and letters and notes and everything else from michelangelo but he was a sculptor and of course he's best known as a sculptor for that huge statue of david in florence he was also a painter of uh frescoes on the ceiling of the sistine chapel those scenes from the book of genesis and particularly the one where the finger of the creator touches the human figure of adam putting out his finger and the spark of life being given well there's life all around us today in a wonderful way but michelangelo through sick and sin and in every situation of hostility and crisis through one commission after another in the protection of so many uh patrons was effecting god's gift in himself and the great uh scene of the last judgment all over the wall of the sistine chapel is of course another on the altar wall of the sistine chapel it's another sign of his great creativity but after that as an architect at the age of 74 he was chosen to be the architect and take over from the former architect of saint peter's basilica are you going to come inside my classic is that the best place to be it's what you're famous for you guys are getting there now um um saint peter's basilica in rome and it's to his designs that the western end there and the great dome was completed post his death of course but he lived on to be 89 and so we think of him as sculptor painter of wonderful frescoes and architect but also a thinker of the renaissance actually the dates of his life embracing those of luther luther in northern germany and uh and with that line here i stand i can do no other well uh michelangelo in all his works could be saying the same down in italy in florence in rome here i stand this is what the creative gifts that god has given me i could do no other and as patrons gave him protections and commissions he affected that much to the glory of the church so all these things going on together and it's a very interesting juxtaposition but lastly i wanted to say that on this day in 1678 the pilgrim's progress john bunyan's pilgrim's progress and the full title was the pilgrim's progress from this world from from to that which is to come from this world that is to that which is to come but we just know it is the pilgrim's progress and it was published uh his first part published today and since that time has never been out of print and has been translated into actually every language you can think of is one i should say really the best known christian allegory of the christian journey and people like different characters in it they like different bits and pieces and what i wanted you to remember is that bunyan began to write that when he was in prison so here we are again incarcerated by others or incarcerated like david and his men for their own safety strongholds become an important part of things but our sound taste tells us that the only real stronghold is trust in the lord and in his will for us and so i've brought out and with this i'm being very careful but thank god the rain for the moment has gone off and i put it in a plastic supermarket bag so it wouldn't get harmed this is my copy of the pilgrims progress presented to me in 1958 31st of august 1958 as a sunday school prize and uh it's been part of my life ever since and uh wonderful things of course are in it and bits of this and the characters in it and their names will be known well to you but remember how it begins i'll just read a paragraph as i walk through the wilderness of this world i lighted on a certain place where was a den and laid me down in that place to sleep and as i slept i dreamed a dream i dreamed and behold i saw a man clothed with rags standing in a certain place with his face from his own house a book in his hand and a great burden on his back i looked and saw him open the book and read therein and as he read he wept and trembled and not being able longer to contain he break out with a lamentable cry saying what shall i do it's a wonderful beginning and as the question is asked all the way through his journey that question remains but wonderful things happen and dreadful things happen who can ever forget the dungeons of giant despair but who can ever forget either the shepherds of the delectable mountains and the vision in the distance of the eternal city all these things are imagery from that tale written that christian allegory written by bunyan in the darkness of his prison and perhaps the most famous thing of all about it is the pilgrims hymn uh and i've got that marked this morning so i could read it to you and it's said by mr valiant for truth and he says this this hymn these verses which we know to a lovely tune as it was set by von williams to an english folks here who would true value see let him come hither one here will constantly be come wind come weather there's no discouragement shall make him once relent his first avowed intent to be a pilgrim who so beset him round with dismal stories do but themselves confound his strength and maurice no lion can him fright heal with a giant fight that he will have a right to be a pilgrim hobgoblin or foul fiend can daunt his spirit he knows he at the end shall life inherit then fancies fly away he'll fear not what men say he'll labor night and day to be a pilgrim it's a really favorite hymn after so many and uh it means so much more and more when i we think of our lord wrestling with evil in the desert an evil throwing at him even the words of scripture he shall give his angels charged and everything is cast back from jesus himself into those swirls of evil and here it all is but no better day than this to read uh one here will constantly come wind come weather and even leo's come back so the wind and the weather is actually at the moment not deterring us but those wonderful words to be a pilgrim we'll come back to that in our reflection in a moment and i'll explain that but uh we're going to now pray and as we pray on this particular morning we're praying in the anglican communion for justin our archbishop and for the diocese of katsina in the kaduna province of nigeria and we're praying in this diocese for the parish of sint andrews reading street and for the parish priest philip musindi and as we pray to we pray for all our lutheran friends but the pilgrims hymn you're going to hear sung now is sung for us from southwark cathedral our sister cathedral of sadaq and uh it was of course within the confines of the power of king ethelbert at the time when augustine came to england so we have a a real relationship with that sister cathedral beautiful place in london just by london bridge and very near it's on the other side of the river from sin paul's but very near to that huge tall shard the great shard building so if you stand on the london bridge and look to the other side of it with your back to symbols because if you look across there is the shard and there is that beautiful building of southwark cathedral and near the borough market if you don't know it please go there it's one of the most beautiful of our cathedrals is it's an ancient cathedral and and has has only had a cathedral status in more modern times but nevertheless has been a place of worship for so many years and we send out our loving greetings to dean andrew and the whole community there in in southwark today that area of the borough market and all the vibrant life that goes on their creative life around there is a favorite place for both of us at different times when uh kovid and the pandemic hasn't stopped performances and and are our delight in in the hospitality of that area of london so do get to know it if you don't know it go to london bridge cross the bridge over to the the other side onto the the south side and there you'll find it all um so we'll pray for them today and uh bring your own reflections and your prayers as we pray together i don't remember whether i prayed for bishop rose of dover and bishop emma at lambeth if i didn't i do so now and let's have our reflection as the wind blasts us but we have our stronghold [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] is [Music] uh [Music] hi [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] pilgrimage is one of the most strong and popular concepts of how the christian life is lived out and i would stress that it's lived out in my thinking in body mind and spirit we set pilgrims off from here of course on the pilgrim road to rome and some break off and go to santiago we receive them along the becket route and all of those but really pilgrimage is an image of our journey through life and beyond and that's exactly what bunion is meaning by that image he's giving us of course there are times when our body can't do that but it doesn't stop us journeying because our mind and imagination can make a journey which is an equally valid pilgrimage and we can do that and think we're going on a pilgrimage on this and certain books status on that or we start studying or thinking and thinking and making notes and all those things and at the same time our spirit must be involved in that too those three dimensions of the rulers in benedict body mind and spirit all need to be exercised this is a pilgrimage it's better when all three are being exercised but sometimes in life one or other might let you down and the other two have to take up but pilgrimage as a a concept is one of the the most most strong concepts that one can possibly have because of course it's moving one forward and it brings us back once again to that first title given to the early christians followers of the way and that too links us straight to pilgrimage to be a pilgrim is a holy vocation and bunyan in the 12 years of his imprisonment of the first imprisonment in bedford just 1670 sorry 1660 to 1672 and then a shorter imprisonment in 1675 didn't stop journeying but it was a journey of mind and spirit when his body was incarcerated but at the same time afterwards i know that his steps would have taken him on a a journey where body mind and spirit in the service of the lord were always going forward and every day is seen as that journey in which we might have have to fight terrible battles against evil things which are just sort of cropping up all the time and they can present themselves as as uh is said in the scriptures even the devil can present himself as an angel of light well that's very true indeed uh and we're thinking of i was thinking about southwark and of course it was a southwark playhouse i was remembering down in there which we've enjoyed things so many times in and and and uh it is a lovely place to go and see drama but the performing arts are beginning to awaken again and we give thanks for that just as we give thanks for the creative ability of michelangelo and the the creative intention not a divisive intention the creative intention for dialogue which began that journey of martin luther pilgrim's carmen pilgrims go and we hope that many of you may become really physical pilgrims to canterbury but you know also you can journey here through our website quite easily and make the journey to canterbury and go around and see this holy place as with so many other holy places across the world so god bless you on this day keep you safe and if you're in the eye of not the eye of the storm the actual wind of the storm then really keep you safe on this day as we shall try to do for one another and the welfare of our staff as the day goes on the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord 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 amen well little pilgrim you've stuck it out despite the wind and weather so we shall go inside now and you can have a warmer day than this but uh thank you for coming out as a member of the garden congregation you