welcome on this easter monday morning to canterbury cathedral the weather has turned cold here in kent today and so i've sought the hospitality of the hen house for our morning prayers so we may have some feathery voices joining in our prayers and praises alleluia christ is risen he is risen indeed o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection no christ let heaven and earth rejoice hallelujah 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 traditionally at the beginning of morning worship the churches always used the 90 psalm 95 and say verses from that begin our worship on this easter monday oh come let us sing to the lord let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving and be glad in him with psalms for the lord is a great god and a great king above all gods in his hand on the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains are his also the sea is his for he made it and his hands have molded the dry land come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the lord our maker for he is the lord our god we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand today if you will hear his voice pardon not your hearts so we're reading a passage from saint john's gospel one of the resurrection narratives and the disciples are locked in the upper room afraid that the same men who arrested jesus may now come for them on the evening of that day the first day of the week the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the jews jesus came and stood among them and said to them peace be with you when jesus had said this he showed them his hands and his side and then the disciples were glad when they saw the lord jesus said to them again peace be with you as the father has sent me even so i am sending you and when he had said this he breathed on them and said to them receive the holy spirit if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven if you withhold forgiveness from any [Music] forgiveness is withheld eggs are a sign of easter and here are this morning's eggs from the hen house picking one of these frail eggs up a symbol of life it becomes immensely important to realize how fragile that life is and what a precious gift it is when i was working in the sudan in the late 1970s the bishop of khartoum there and his family gave me hospitality for some long time and i became an honorary son his name was buttress his wife was called rhoda they had four sons and four daughters and when i came to leave them there was great sadness but rhoda came shyly to me with what i took to be a kind of white orb in a basket of beads that she had netted around it and butcher said to me this is an ostrich egg it's a gift we give to special friends and i thought goodness i'm going on a long journey and roads were fairly rippety in those days following the long civil war and carrying an egg is a fragile thing so i i put it into the bag that was going to be with me in the front of the land river the rest of the bags went in the back and russia said to me as your journey you will be careful of the egg it will remind you of our friendship for friendship is a fragile thing and you need to be reminded of it each day this is a time when we are very conscious of our friends and our neighbors throughout the world and trying in our locked down status to be in touch with them by other means the egg is a sign of friendship but when jesus came and stood among the disciples in their locked in state they were not only afraid of those outside but they were ashamed at what jesus might say to them for they had let him die they had failed him and instead he brings instant forgiveness and understanding peace be with you those are his words and then he gives them a commission with the spirit the same spirit that he had had throughout his ministry breathes on and gives him that spirit as the father said so i send you and the gift that they can give to all is a gift of forgiveness and he says to them if you forgive anyone that's in they're forgiven but if you withhold that forgiveness then forgiveness is withheld see how powerful we are to forgive one another and how important it is always to receive others forgiveness of our failings with thanksgiving knowing that when they forgive us we are truly receiving one of heaven's gifts and like the egg it's a gift that gives new life we remember that with thanksgiving on this resurrection morning as we think of all those for whom we would want to pray as always in this place we remember the whole anglican communion as its mother church here and all the provinces throughout the world but in course today we're praying for the diocese of mishami kawish in canada and for libya the bishop there and her people the diocese of western louisiana in the united states and jacob owensby the bishop and his people and in nigeria the diocese of ife and alabunmi akinaladi the bishop there and ife east also in nigeria and the bishop and all his people in this diocese today we're asked to pray so difficult at this time when we can't have human contact with each other so we remember the ministry of the chaplains and here in the diocese particularly in saanich organizations care communities community clubs businesses health care groups prisons police armed services and sport all those things so many aspects of our way of life so let's pray for one another first father lord of all creation you call us to be generous to one another in forgiveness and to recognize in the faces of each other the true image of your son give us grace that as individuals and as a whole society in this time of great need we may minister friendship support and forgiveness in ways that are safe to all those who are in need of the service of others this day through jesus christ our lord amen a prayer at this easter time risen christ you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope strengthen us to proclaim your risen life and fill us with your peace to the glory of god the father [Laughter] so we say the our father together in whatever way you normally would in whichever language 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 [Laughter] in the silence we say our own prayers for those whom we care and perhaps for those two whom we owe forgiveness and from whom we ask forgiveness as always we pray [Music] [Laughter] our lord jesus christ that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working he knew that which and is blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and all whom you love this day and always