good morning and welcome on easter day sunday april the 4th this year and the atmosphere changes from the days of holy week and the quiet of the sabbath to easter itself yellow with daffodils and signs of new birth and all the signs here of the way in which easter is celebrated there's things we can think about as we go through our reflection but for the moment i know that fetter and i would want to wish you all wherever you are in the world a very very happy easter whether in the autumn of the southern hemisphere or the spring of the northern hemisphere a happy easter to you and thank you for all the greetings that you've sent us and i'd want to say that many of the things that you've credited me with are undeserved for the one who has the imagination to set all these scenes is is fletcher and i'm very much someone under instruction with all of these things so as we wish you a happy easter then i would want to give enormous thanks to him for all the the work over the last year in setting those scenes and giving you not only pleasure but thoughtful scenes and working so hard at that today we are reading part of the gospel of saint mark and then later this morning many of you will be able to follow the eucharist on bbc one the television if you're in this part of the world but you can follow it also online across the the world but let's start our early morning prayers oh 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 firstfruits 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 we say this morning the easter anthem sentences from the new testament which are traditional for this day christ our passover has been sacrificed for us say let us celebrate the feast not with the old leaven of corruption and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth christ once raised from the dead dies no more death has no more dominion over him in dying he died to sin once for all in living he lives to god see yourselves therefore as dead to sin and alive to god in jesus christ our lord christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who sleep for since by man came death by man has come also the resurrection of the dead for as in adam all die even so in christ shall all be made alive 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 o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever are men our psalm on this easter day is a special psalm it's part of psalm 118. i'll give thanks to the lord for he is good his mercy endures forever the lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation joyful shouts of salvation sound from the tents of the righteous the right hand of the lord does mighty deeds the right hand of the lord raises up the right hand of the lord does mighty deeds i shall not die but live and declare the works of the lord the lord has punished me solely but he has not given me over to death open to me the gates of righteousness that i may enter and give thanks to the lord this is the gate of the lord the righteous shall enter through it i will give thanks to you for you have answered me and have become my salvation the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone this is the lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it come o lord and save us we pray come lord send us now prosperity blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord we bless you from the house of the lord the lord is god he has given us light link the pilgrims with cords right to the horns of the altar for you are my god and i will thank you you are my god and i will exalt you oh give thanks to the lord for he is good his mercy endures forever at the eucharist the gospel will be the gospel from saint john of the disciples and mary magdalene coming to the tomb but we're starting earlier than that with the gospel of saint mark earliest of the gospels but in chapter 16 the last verses of the gospel of mark tells of the beginning and dawning of the first sabbath day chapter 16 verse 1. when the sabbath was passed mary magdalene mary the mother of james and salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint jesus and very early on the first day of the week when the sun had risen they went to the tomb and they were saying to one another who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb and looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled back it was very large and entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed but the young man said to them do not be alarmed you seek jesus of nazareth who was crucified he has risen he is not here see the place where they laid him but go tell his disciples and peter that he is going before you to galilee there you will see him just as he told you and they went out and fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment and seize them and they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid [Music] that's the beginning of the day before peter and the beloved disciple come to the tomb and certainly before the experience that mary magdalene has of mistaking the risen jesus for the gardener has happened we read of those stories in sin john's gospel but here in mark it's an earlier story earlier in the day and there are puzzles attached to it some of you may have read the book by frank morrison who moved the stone it is the most wonderful puzzle almost like a detective story and it causes us to read through the gospels and to ask questions about what is going on it's a creative and wonderful and faithful book but in it he looks at the puzzle of the young man and points to certain coincidences in sint mark's gospel the coincidence of first of all the young man in the garden which was the place where jesus was arrested on the evening a few nights before and taken away and when the disciples fled you remember there's just a verse in mark's gospel which says that they also seized hold of a young man who was there wearing nothing but a linen cloth around his body as though he's he's got up from his bed and come out to follow and frank morrison muses on the fact that in the acts of the apostles the room which the church and the members of the early church are using when peter comes out of the prison and goes to to find them is the room belonging to the mother of mary sorry the mary the mother of john mark and uh in pointing that out he also just draws the coincidence that the words which the young man says are the words that jesus himself has used to the disciples when i am risen i will go before you into galilee and here's the young man saying to the women who've come he's not here he's risen look here's the place they laid him but go to galilee for that's where he said he would be i will go before you into galilee there you will find him but they go back to tell the disciples what has happened all of these things in the easter narrative please don't expect to find any kind of logical answer to all the things that are going on here because this is a lifetime study and the one thing that is sure is that the atmosphere on this day changes massively from one of dereliction and despair one of wanting to anoint the dead body of jesus to one of wonder and astonishment turning into a certainty that jesus has risen from the dead those words which mary magdalene will say to the disciples when she goes back from her encounter with the risen christ in the garden i have seen the lord short sentences of the resurrection narrative but the signs of the resurrection become clear the stone has been moved from the door the tomb is empty the grave clothes lie there useless unnecessary and instead there is a sense of growing life no wonder we use in the northern hemisphere signs of spring yes but all over the world the egg and i've got a whole basket full of eggs here from our various feathered friends the egg has become the sign of easter in a very real way eggs give the clue to the type of birds that um are laying them you will know all these things but we have here both guinea fowl eggs with their teardrop shape and beautiful hens eggs in different colors from the different varieties of of hens that we have around and at the same time tiny speckled quail eggs from the quails that are here as well and then largest of all and very beautiful and fairly hard shelled are eggs of this kind which are turkey eggs laid by lizzie and by jane and turkey eggs are wonderful let me hold one in my hand here an egg is a sign of potential but it's also a sign of nourishment but this is because it's with the turkeys and das is there as well this is a fertile egg so we have two options to what to do with it we can oh i've raised interest by having eggs here um i i i could go and and eat this for my breakfast and find great nourishment from it but at the same time with the warmth of the mother over it it could hatch and become itself a tiny turkey growing into the size of a darcy whom you got to know over the weeks all this is a sign of easter being produced so wonderfully which from something which seems quite lifeless the sealed tomb breaking open and demonstrating the life of jesus in wonderful ways this is a resurrection morning and remember resurrection happens on the first working day of the week the sabbath is over and the quietness which was a quietness of grief for the friends of jesus has now transformed itself into the busyness of a working day but also the women have come with an intention which is about to be changed out of all recognition by the breaking of the shell of the tomb and becoming the new life that all these glorious golden colors and even the children's toys and the daffodils and the rabbits of springtime actually show us it's a lovely festival a festival which families enjoy in whatever part of the world they find themselves but festivals of faith are wonderful festivals and at this time we have a confluence of festivals of faith those of the jewish faith have been uh celebrating uh passover and those of other faiths celebrating festivals of their own faith our hearts are filled with sadness of the festival in taiwan was uh was made sad by the awful uh train accident there and we pray for the families there on this day of new life families who are truly grieving we also think of our friends in the united states after the uh tragic death of the policemen in the incident at the capitol and all of those things in our world where life and death walk side by side but the glory of this day is that this is a life which will never end because this sign of golden life of jesus himself and the gift which will be released by it is one that crosses over the boundaries of our earthly life and the limitless life of eternity christ is risen and alleluia means that this is a day of new and eternal life being offered by our creator and so all the signs that we have around us and the way that the daffodils are blooming and the way also that my eggs have uh now made uh uh uh an incursion into our presence of all these lovely feathered friends and we're just putting the chickens down i'm this kind of sound which they're making is a sound of intense joy and even the duck quacking here are easter sounds for you in amongst the daffodils have the happiest day because this is a day of rejoicing for the church throughout the world and as we meet together in the garden here we come to a time when our holy week and our lent have come to an end and your notebooks will have to take on as a garden congregation a different form now because we have accomplished all the days of lent look back over it and reflect and at the same time look forward because just as there have been more than 40 days of lent going all the way back to ash wednesday so too now we shall have the same number of days stretching out towards pentecost and we shall be seeing what we can do with those in our reflection morning by morning but let's pause today and simply celebrate the day and the end of our uh lenten observances we're going to say our morning prayers on this easter day and on this day we're praying in the anglican communion for the peace of jerusalem and pray for christians worshiping in the holy city on this day and pray also for this diocese of canterbury with dustin our aunt bishop rose bishop of dover and tim bishop at lambeth and also pray for your own faith communities and give thanks for them on this day of new life and resurrection a day when things which are tight closed like the egg burst open into new life and also have the potential for spiritual nourishment as well as physical nourishment and as with frank morrison's puzzle that he sets us about the empty tomb and the events of holy week uh mental nourishment because we shall never cease pondering the scriptures but on this day it's a day for total thanksgiving so let's say the easter collect lord of all life and power who through the mighty resurrection of your son overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him grant that we being dead to sin and alive to you in jesus christ may reign with him in glory to whom with you and the holy spirit be praise and honor glory and might now and in all eternity are men so we say each in our own language the prayer our savior taught us on this easter morning 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 [Music] so we keep silence for a moment and make our own prayers of thanksgiving for our lord's risen life on this easter day george herbert wrote on easter day rise heart thy lord is risen sing his praise without delays who takes thee by the hand that thou likewise with him mayest rise that as his death call sounded thee to dust his life may make thee gold and much more just the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and if his son jesus christ our lord and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit rest upon you upon those whom you love and upon those whom you would pray for this easter day and always christ is risen alleluia he is risen indeed hallelujah [Music] just before we finish we wanted together to tell you a story about eggs which concerns our benedictine friends in the french benedictine abbeys of beck both the monks and the nuns who were visiting here at one stage and uh i was hosting uh a dinner in the drawing room of the deanery and they came with gifts and fletcher had come in from london halfway through the meal but to not come into the drawing room so i slipped out and said they've brought us gifts and i'm i'm unprepared but i really do want to give gifts back and then as so often he rescued me from the situation by about uh half an hour later as the meal went on coming in with two beautiful baskets lined with moss and filled with multicolored eggs from the hen house and we had cockrells in both henhouses at that time so they were felt our legs and so i gave the eggs and they were taken back with great joy to the abbeys in in normandy and just two or three days later we had a a lovely letter from the nuns saying thank you um and uh that the eggs were delicious and had provided a meal for all of them and that was that was lovely but absolute silence from the monks bit later on uh a a letter came from father maurice who was one of the elderly monks who when he'd walked in the garden here said he loved walking in our pretty parody a little paradise because he was old enough to think that his time wasn't too far on when he would enter parody the great paradise but the letter came from him and he had been a farmer and the letter said uh we hatched the eggs and so we now have hens of our own so we were very thrilled with this and the different reactions to the gifts because gifts can be used when they're given and then a bit afterwards uh we found ourselves together at a at beck and uh when when we said uh so you hatched the the chickens looking round for them and uh maurice said uh it was a different kind of nourishment but they'd had a fine chicken meal after that a story that always makes a smile but at the same time it shows just what can be done with a multitude of gifts and this is a day when many gifts spiritual and otherwise are given and the easter egg is a sign of giving gifts of nourishment and new life to one another [Music] hey leo leo come on little boy you got scared didn't you come on come on poor little chap okay oh here they come again you better go away you