good morning and a warm welcome to canterbury cathedral on this morning of thursday may the 28th it's a very significant date for canterbury cathedral because this is the day we commemorate archbishop landfrank who came here four years after the norman conquest of william the conqueror in 1066 to be the archbishop of canterbury he came from the very important abbey in normandy santetian which is still a a wonderful church in normandy at kong and before that he had been the prior of the abbey in beck the benedictine abbey with which we have so many modern connections and we pray for the abbott and monks at beck today behind me stands the cathedral with so much of what lan frank built still showing this great transept here with the little tower peeping over behind still dates from land frank's cathedral and beneath is the largest medieval crypt in northern europe and around us to many remains of land frank's cathedral but today we give thanks for that this also was going to be a significant date for two of our staff joe and danny this was their wedding day and that of course has had to be postponed so we remember them still on this particular day and ask god's blessing on them let's begin our morning prayers o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise send your holy spirit upon us and clothe us with power from on high alleluia blessed are you creator god to you be praise and glory forever as your spirit moved over the face of the waters bringing light and life to your creation pour out your spirit on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your presence 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 does we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever are men the psalm on this 28th morning of the month is psalm 132 is a rather absalon for it talks of the inner promptings of king david to build a fitting temple for the lord lord remember for david all the hardships he endured how he swore an oath to the lord and vowed a vow to the mighty one of jacob i will not come within the shelter of my house nor climb up into my bed i will not allow my eyes to sleep nor let my eyelids slumber until i find a place for the lord a dwelling for the mighty one of jacob the lord has sworn an oath to david a promise from which he will not shrink of the fruit of your body shall i set upon your throne if your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that i shall teach them their children also shall sit upon your throne forevermore for the lord has chosen zion for himself he has desired her for his habitation this shall be my resting place forever here will i dwell for i have longed for her i will abundantly bless her provision her poor will i satisfy with bread i will close her priests with salvation and her faithful ones shall rejoice and sing there will i make a horn to spring up for david i will keep a lantern burning for my anointed as for his enemies i will close them with shame but on him shall his crown be bright so we turn to our reading from luke's gospel and we begin this morning at verse 26 of the eighth chapter remember that jesus has been crossing the sea of galilee in a great storm which has blown up and then subsided when the disciples have roused him and he has woken and now they reach the other side they sailed to the country of the gerasenes which is opposite galilee when jesus had stepped out on land there met him a man from the city who had demons for a long time he had worn no clothes he had not lived in a house but among the tombs and when he saw jesus he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice what have you to do with me jesus son of the most high god i beg you do not torment me for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man for many a time it had seized him he was kept under guard bound with chains and shackles but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert so jesus asked him what is your name and the man said legion for many demons had entered him and they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside and they begged jesus to let them enter these so he gave them permission and the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned and when the herdsmen saw what had happened they fled and towed it in the city and in the country then people went out to see what had happened and they came to jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of jesus clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid and those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed then all the people of the surrounding country of the gerasenes asked jesus to depart from them for they were seized with great fear so jesus got into the boat and returned the man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him but jesus sent him away saying return to your home and declare how much god has done for you so the man went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much jesus had done for him we saw yesterday how the waves and the wind and the crowds pressing in on jesus were signs of an inner tension about what his ministry of messiahship actually might mean until now we've seen him in galilee amongst his own people and the disciples who are fishermen and countrymen of that little place galilee and on the lakeside on that side those of you who've been there will know the lake is so great that you look out you don't see the farther side enormously because there you're on the seashore and in the middle of the lake they as we saw yesterday had the great storm as representative of turmoil we have to remember that in the scriptures always water in that quantity the sea is a great threat for in the earliest stories of that faith right at the beginning of the scriptures the waves are parted to allow life to flourish and there's always the threat of that smothering of life and here it was in the middle of of the sea the fishermen were used to those squalls but this must have been a big one and they were afraid and shouted for jesus and then it comes and they land on the other side and almost for those galilean disciples there's worse to come they find themselves in a foreign place and it's very evident and they also find themselves confronted by a person who is massively disturbed and very strong and comes shouting whether he has heard from those who have come in the crowds and seen jesus but he he names him and jesus begins to calm the man but another sign of it being a foreign place is that there are there are pigs feeding there they're not kept in judea it's unclean meat and so the disciples are surrounded by things which are strange no doubt they're shocked and longing to be back in their own community on the other side of the lake and what happens is that in the disturbance the pigs and the threat of the waters all become intermingled and then suddenly there's a great calm the herdsmen have fled and we're not allowed to see the scene there we go with the herdsmen and hear what they're saying to the citizens and the citizens come back to see and there is this amazing scene the man that they had known is now a wonderful phrase clothed and in his right mind sitting at the feet of jesus jesus originally asked his name and he said legion because there are so many of us it's almost from him an ironic name it's not his name no doubt now all the townsmen know what his real name is and jesus has called him that but as we've said before luke sensitively steps aside from identifying particular people he wants to share what's happening he wants to share the order that jesus has created and the fulfillment of that life with all its gifts brought back to god but there's also the sense of the man wanting to go with jesus and jesus saying now go home return to the life that you've not been able to lead for so long go home and tell them what god has done for you and the man goes home and tells everyone what jesus has done for him closed and in his right mind he clearly wasn't carrying a suit of clothes with him so one of the disciples or jesus himself has lent him a cloak to cover his nakedness give him dignity and identity and restored him in the sense of calm it's a significant moment in jesus ministry breaking the barriers between the culture he has been teaching in in little galilee into a foreign place the first sign in these chapters in luke's gospel of how things are going to develop when land frank came here from across the sea he brought with him a new order the saxon archbishop stigand who had already been excommunicated on several occasions by the pope for behavior which was unseemly for the archbishop of canterbury in the offices he held was canonically set aside and land frank not only built a new cathedral but also began to reorder the life of this english church which augustine had founded all those years before so between 1070 and 1089 not only a great cathedral in norman stone was created in this place which augustine had founded in 597 but the cathedral of 1070 to 1077 probably the big building phase and then the ordering of the english church so that he caused the king to bring the bishops and the abbots all together at winchester and in 1072 established the primacy of canterbury in a document that we still have in our archive with the king's cross on it and carefully the archbishops writes the name of the king the king not being able to read and write and the queen's cross she could read and write but sensitively she doesn't she just marks her cross and then lan frank it's called the winchester accord and is in the archive here all of that is an ordering our houses stand around the cathedral we all have completely different views when we leave our front door the archbishop has the view of the western towers the archdeacon and cannon tim have the calm view of the north face lying right across their viewpoint and cannon emma has the sunny view in the morning of the east end but when i leave the deanery front door i find the absolute mixture of architecture built over the ages until the great tower standing there almost like the matterhorn going up and up and up in different styles showing how a community develops and how it is ordered we give thanks for our community today in this lockdown and all aspects of its life we praise god for people like land frank normally today his his uh commemoration stone the sight of his burial which is in the transept there would have a candle burning over it the cathedral is locked so we're a candle for him on this sunny day and wherever you are feel the prayers of this place for you as we come to say our morning prayers we remember on this day the diocese of navajo land the area mission there in the episcopal church and david bailey the bishop there and his people the diocese of aiepo rongo in papua new guinea and nathan ingen the bishop there and his people and the diocese of ajaya krautha in nigeria and the bishop there olog benga oduntan and all his people we're continuing to pray for the parishes of the north downs area deanery in this diocese today we're asked to pray for all those who exercise chaplaincy there in the organizations of those particular places and we say first the prayer for this day and then a prayer commemorating archbishop landfrank oh god the king of glory you have exalted your only son jesus christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven we beseech you leave us not comfortless but send your holy spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our savior christ is gone before who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen and a prayer commemorating saintland frank eternal god you called land frank to proclaim your glory as a bishop and in a life of prayer pastoral zeal and the exercise of many creative gifts keep the leaders of your church faithful and bless your people through their ministry that the church may grow and grow into the full stature of your son jesus christ our lord amen so let us say the prayer that jesus taught us in whatever language and in whatever way we would 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 the moment of silence we say our own prayers today praying for all whom we know and love and also those who are on our hearts who need our prayers may christ the king of glory exalted high above the heavens fill you with the graces and gifts of the holy spirit and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon those whom you love and would pray for this day and always amen