it's a nice warm morning leo and we're here with quite a few little birds around you but they're high up well out of your way so you can enjoy the sunshine on this lovely day don't think he quite uh approved of that uh good morning and welcome wherever you are across the world as we begin to say our morning prayers welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this saturday the 9th of april and this is of course the eve of holy week with palm sunday tomorrow holy week begins so there's a sense of pause about this morning and we've come to sit here in a quiet place it is the most lovely morning with a clear blue sky and the sun rising up over the walls now and i'm surrounded in this quiet place by plants which and trees which are beginning to show new shoots so that we have around me well the nearest uh is narcissi and the problem always with narcissism is that they've got thin stems and they grow up and then they begin to bend over but fletcher always likes it when they do that because he feels guilty picking them in the garden to take into the house but as they begin to bend of course then they're not seen in the garden so we bring them into the house there's another standing up straight and tall little little plants growing up all around me in the pots here but also the trees the the maple the acer behind me and beyond the maple is a lovely tree peony which is already in perfect flower and has a very significant scent to it it's not one that carries far but when you're near it it's very much a tree peony scent and uh already the leaves are beginning to grow on geraniums here in the pot behind me on antarine all sorts of little plants coming up and i'm sitting here under a pine tree uh a pinus roxburgii and above me as i look up the uh clematis from under eye is still flowering but also a little rosebud has fallen down here from rosa banksia the yellow one which will break into a sea of flower quite soon now so this is a really significant time of year of new growth new shoots but we're sitting here in quietness to prepare ourselves for the journey of holy week of course we undergird all that we pray for with prayers for ukraine and there are too many pictures in our mind to count now of that horrendous situation for the people there and also stories of those in coming away who face so many dangers but you heard julia talking about that yesterday and so we can come back to that story because julia will very much fill us in on how the family are getting on as they try to make their way either to georgia or her mother eventually to turkey and istanbul and yulia as you know will go out to meet her there and what a meeting that will be those become signs of a human situation and if we deal with the signs then the situation itself widens out that's a clue to all prayer and also the christian journey step by step simple steps and we um find out things for ourselves but also heaven gives us signs along the way that's very true about this holy week that we're just about to enter well let's say our prayers and then we can think about many things as we go through the morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon earth your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world 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 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 so it's the ninth morning of the month and normally i would choose to read psalm 46 with you of the three psalms were offered and that has that lovely verse be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in the earth that psalm i'm choosing not to read this morning because uh i wanted to read a different song psalm 45 the one before it's a very poetic sound and uses all kinds of imagery and it's speaking of the royal kingship of the house of david not only of the king but also later of the queen and of the king's daughters and in that poetry also of course one is reaching out to the royal line of david which the psalmist is prophesying in some ways but this is a lovely psalm and uh it reminds me of my mother whose birthday this was because she used to enjoy singing the sacred song out of your ivory palaces and that image comes from this very sound my heart is a stir with gracious words as i make my song for the king my tongue is the pen of a ready writer you are the fairest of men full of grace are your lips for god has blessed you forever gird your sword upon your thigh o mighty one gird on your majesty and glory ride on and prosper in the cause of truth and for the sake of humility and righteousness your right hand will teach you terrible things your arrows will be sharp in the heart of the king's enemies so that peoples fall beneath you your throne is god's throne forever the scepter of your kingdom is the scepter of righteousness you love righteousness and hate iniquity therefore god your god has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows all your garments are fragrant with myrrh aloes and cassia from ivory palaces the music of strings makes you glad king's daughters are among your honorable women that your right hand stands the queen in gold of ophia hear o daughter consider and incline your ear forget your own people and your father's house so shall the king have pleasure in your beauty he is your lord so do him honor the people of tyre shall bring you gifts the richest of the people shall seek your favor the king's daughter is all glorious within her clothing is embroidered cloth of gold she shall be brought to the king in raiment of needlework after her the virgins that are her companions with joy and gladness shall they be brought and enter into the palace of the king instead of your fathers you shall have sons whom you shall make princes over all the land i will make your name to be remembered through all generations therefore shall the people praise you forever and ever the psalmist's imagery travels from an earthly throne and reaches out to the visions of the heavenly kingdom say that one has the image as is given to us in the book of revelation of the rider on the white horse who comes and we're back in that verse ride on and prosper in the cause of truth and for the sake of humility and righteousness and then the sense of the music of the kingdom of heaven your garments are fragrant with mer aloes and cassia reminding us of the pot of ointment poured over jesus to anoint him from ivory palaces the music of strings makes you glad and then from then on the psalmist's voice is given to the queen no doubt she has come as so often happened with the royal families of from a different nation and had to make this new nation her own and all of that in this imagery of great poetic color is causing us step by step to have images of our own in our mind as we read that psalm a musical psalm a poetic psalm on this morning as we pause before holy week and give ourselves just a breathing space before we walk the way of the cross with our lord we are in the gospel of saint john chapter 12 and we ended our reading yesterday with jesus having declared while you have the light believe in the light that you may become children of light i'm taking up from there halfway through verse 36 and going to the end of the chapter [Music] when jesus had said these things he departed and hid himself from them though he had done so many signs before them they still did not believe in him so that the words spoken by the prophet isaiah might be fulfilled lord who has believed what they heard from us and to whom has the arm of the lord been revealed therefore they could not believe for again isaiah said he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn and i would heal them isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him nevertheless many even of the authorities believed in him but for fear of the pharisees they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue for they loved the glory that comes from humankind more than the glory that comes from god and jesus cried out and said whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me i have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness if anyone hears my words and does not keep them i do not judge them for i did not come to judge the world but to save the world the one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge the word that i have spoken will judge them on the last day for i have not spoken on my own authority but the father who sent me has himself given me a commandment what to say and what to speak and i know that his commandment is eternal life what i say therefore i say as the father has told me it's an image of withdrawal once again and unlike the words and stories of the three synoptic gospels this week before betrayal and arrest is in this gospel given another pause where jesus withdraws the evangelist doesn't say why he withdraws to hide himself for a while but we know that by the time gethsemane appears his humanity is finding this last leg of the journey a very very great burden his obedience to the will of the father is shining bright but our humanity shucks and just shies away from pain and suffering and he was here to share our humanity in all ways and so almost to get a clearer light of that vocation which is burning bright within him and was given to him by the one who sent him see how often that occurs that sentence in that little passage we've just read given to him by the one who sent him he needs to reclaim that without all the controversy and noise and hostility around him so that he can go again to enter on the way of the cross and that has now become very near in this gospel where does he go to hide himself well the evangelist doesn't tell us it could be that he went back to bethany for there we know he had companions mary martha lazarus who understood that vocation and in that understanding comes a deep meaningful spiritual understanding of what jesus himself is about to offer for the world it's clear that he went away for a time of quiet that often happens sometimes he takes the disciples saying come apart for a while and but on this occasion nothing of that is said simply jesus hid himself that's happened once or twice recently as though strength for the journey is needed not just sustenance so if you went back to bethany i'm sure that was there in plenty from martha nor yet human conversation which would have been there in plenty from lazarus of understanding but that deep spiritual vocation which the costly aroma of the ointment of mary had caused to fill the house when she poured it over his feet she has saved this for the day of my burial well that's a a hard lesson for humankind to take and jesus in always is sharing our humanity now he will begin to enter again into that vocation but first the evangelist gives us a paragraph and we don't know where that's best located when jesus cries out and cries out at their constant disbelief whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me now this paragraph shows more than anything else the fact that heaven's light is shining through the flesh and blood person of jesus of nazareth without any kind of obstacle or taint or impediment and that light is the light of how a human life might be sharing the qualities of the kingdom of heaven in all perfection and that image is put in front of us as the light of the world and in so many other images it's a present tense jesus showing the light and quality of the father in his own human life well we know that we say it in our creed constantly but here is jesus expressing it in no uncertain terms he says that he came to give light and that light is the gift of the father and all that glory comes from the one who sent him constantly the one who sent him the word from the one who sent him so in that human figure we are with utmost clarity seeing that which is divine and from the creator who sent him but at the same time that sense will grow and grow as he offers himself on the cross and hold his arms held his arms wide for the sins of the world and embraces all of that vocation before the clarity of the light rising afresh on the first day of the week on easter day for the moment all that is in preparation and the light which jesus is offering while you have the light believe in the light and it could be said that you may become the light the evangelist says that you may become children of light but that our own lives with all their impediments can reflect gleams of that light day by day that's what all this is saying but in order to claim that we need constantly to place ourselves day by day in the context of the word made flesh and one might do that by reading a passage either in the gospels or in the way the early church wrote or even in the prophecies and the psalms or the purity of the law rightly applied which jesus came to fulfill all those things but unless we take time ourselves as jesus had to and went apart to hide himself then that dimension will not open up either for us or for those to whom we are asked to give it as children of light and never was there a time when our world needed it more than now so let's think of one or two of the dates for today actually have only two and the first one uh is the fact that on this day the 9th of april 2021 one year ago prince philip the duke of edinburgh died aged 99 and so our heart goes out in prayer for our queen elizabeth today as she gives thanks for that marriage of 73 years and at the same time in her sorrow at the loss of one whom she called her strength and stay that of course comes from a well-known hymn which was obviously in the queen's mind when she said it and it's a translation of a hymn of saint ambrose translated by don ellerton it goes oh strength and stay upholding all creation whoever does thyself unmoved abide yet day by day the light in due gradation from hour to hour through all its changes guide it's a beautiful hymn speaking of the way in which the light throughout the day changes but it's from the it's a gift of the changeless creator who is our strength and stay and our queen likened prince philip to that his own spirituality was clearly a very deep one and came from different strands from his early and and quite difficult uh childhood with the orthodox upbringing from his his greek roots but at the same time he embraced the uh life and worship of the church of england but was always ready to embrace other dimensions of faith and we know that and he held a candle high for perceiving the gifts of the creator and the nature of the creator in creation itself no one more constantly a champion of that than prince philip and that was very evident when at his funeral on i think april the 17th last year a piece that he had commissioned was sung beautifully sung by uh four singers in the empty nave of st george's chapel windsor the funeral was taking place in the choir area and it was a piece of music composed by william lovely lady and conducted by the organist there james vivian and the four singers sang most beautifully this psalm 104 psalm 104 is a great hemmer praised all aspects of creation to the sea and always within them of course deeply loved by prince philip as a sailor for so many years and uh serving in the royal navy here and then at the same time to everything that grows on mountains and in woods and the the young lions roaring after their prey and even the leviathan i'm sporting in the deep waters and it is prefaced by a song sung by the soprano soloist and it reminds us so much of mary's magnificat her obedience to the word of god the words my soul give praise unto the lord of heaven that becomes a a chorus but at the same time once the the psalm starts and that too sung by a solo voice and then accompanied by other voices it's a psalm giving praise to all the signs that the creator gives of light in the world and at the same time most of all in the humanity of jesus christ in his physical sharing of all our conditions [Music] [Music] i [Music] amen [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] please [Music] the waters riser by the highest mountain is [Music] make next [Music] the [Music] is is [Music] [Applause] [Music] god [Music] is [Applause] [Music] is your creation my things [Music] the seas so great [Music] [Music] your prayers [Music] give praise unto thy lord [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so we remember with thanksgiving on this day of his year's mind prince philip the duke of edinburgh who died at the age of 99 last year on this april day the other person i wanted to mention this morning was quite different and died in venice on the 9th of april in 1588 he'd been born in verona in 1528 and uh that verona gave him his nickname almost because he's called paulo veronizi and uh the artist veronese as we know was an artist who mostly painted in venice no better place to find light reflecting off the waters than venice and he was commissioned again and again to paint for the buildings of venice and there was no one better at using color he's the supreme master of color in his paintings but at the same time no one better at setting every biblical scene that he painted and every classical scene that he painted historical scene that he painted in the clothes of the venice he knew everything is lifted from history into the present day and that so tunes with our thinking about jesus with his i am statements he was a master also of great scenes and crowd pictures gathering around so that when you go man many of you will have done this when you go to venice and see his great painting made in 1563 of the wedding at cana of galilee we had a time when we explored venice i think in 2014 looking particularly for paintings of varanasi and the wedding of cana of galilee is of course something that he paints in the style of his own time these could be venetians and at the same time the architecture around is all in the same style and he fills it with the glories of creation and creatures and all kinds of humor too but he also fills it with his friends so titian is that the painter who had been older he came from a different generation from uh from veronese and tintaretto is there who will almost take his place as an artist a decade later they become a trio of of artists in venice in the late renaissance and this was commissioned for the monks the benedictine monks of the beautiful monastery of san giorgio maggiore which you look across from synthmax to see across the waters but when you go there you explore the space that this great scene was painted for and it was very acceptable he put himself in it and he put himself playing a musical instrument playing on the vial and his face looks full of humor and wanting people to have joy in that so we're back with our song the music of strings makes you glad and all those colorful images of this of the psalm the the robes of gold ev everything is there but also there are servants pouring wine and there is jesus there in the midst of all of this and a lovely skyscape as well as the architecture but then 10 years later he was asked to paint her last supper and he did the same thing filled it with people present tense clothes of the people around him lots of creatures lots of lots of entertaining things going on in the last supper but by now the counter reformation had had gained pace so by 1573 the inquisition hauled him before them and said are these creatures and all these people looking like this fitting to be shown at the lord's last supper and uh no doubt veronese's heart and mind were thinking well yes because this is an invitation to all of us to remember him in companionship and every gift he wanted to give us every good gift it's something looking out to us in the present tense but the inquisition was unconvinced i don't know how fierce berenice was with them but nevertheless they ordered not that it be destroyed the but it loses its title and becomes instead the house of levi from uh saint mark's gospel of course um levi the son of alpheus who takes she's a tax collector who takes jesus for a party in his house yes this might be happening in the house of a tax collector but certainly not at the lord's last supper and i think varanasi beg to differ because the last supper was given to us as a sign of not only hospitality but jesus is present presence at every meal when bread is broken and meals are shared then do this in remembrance of me is taken in that widest possible sense as well as when christians meet together in holy places and celebrate the eucharist the lord's supper the holy communion the mass whatever we would like to call it there's an interesting thought now the other uh painting of that sort and that size there are lots of other paintings of of smaller size that that veronese accomplished and you can find them all over venice and if you go to venice hunt them out because certainly in the church of san sebastiano where he is actually buried and his tomb is there i took a photograph of the tomb at the time but there are many many paintings both in vestries and other side chapels in in that chapel biblical paintings and and biblical figures but in the national gallery in london there is that vast picture which reminds us once again of those huge pictures of the wedding at cana of galilee and also what is now called the feast in the house of levi which was the last supper and this painting in the national gallery which most of you will know i think is of the family of king darius of persia kneeling before alexander after the defeat of darius in the year 333 bc and uh veronese painted this in the years 1565 to 1570 for those of you who are keen on dates and and seeing where this fits into his uh his own life but what is so good about that is not only that um varanasi actually basing himself on classical writings and the writings of prusak as well then all of all of that is showing the absolute grace and courtesy that the young alexander the great shows to darius's mother and his mother is is kneeling there she was called gambis and then darius's wife staterra and his two daughters there they are terrified by the coming of this greek army which has defeated the great king darius and the women of the royal family kneel in front of him in supplication now what happened at that time was that it was the queen mother derisi's mother who actually made the plea to the one she thought was alexander but it wasn't it was the lifelong intimate friend of alexander who hephistian who was standing beside him and when she realized her mistake and ephesians said no i i'm not alexander this is alexander then alexander said to her please don't worry because he also is alexander and in that painting veronese retains the puzzle no one can agree with with certainty which of the two young men there in venetian costumes still and the the persian ladies are wearing venetian costume costumes of 1573 or whatever and uh the in that painting as you sit at the national gallery you cannot decide which of the two is alexander and which of the two is haphistian and that's exactly the puzzle that veronese wanted left with you and you can see his smile almost coming down through history as you try to unravel that particular puzzle in the national gallery always in the present architecture creatures and glory glory shining through all of this color in the present tense and one of the the critics in the 17th century said veronezy gave rain to joy made beauty majestic made laughter itself more festive the master of color but at the same time heaven's light shining through it all in the creativity just as heaven's light shines through the commission of psalm 104 which the duke of edinburgh prince philip commissioned earlier on for his 75th birthday which was sung at that time and also the gradations of light which that him oh strength and stay upholding all creation whoever does thyself unmoved abide yet day by day the light in due gradation from hour to hour through all its changes guide say we give thanks for the light we give thanks for the humanity of jesus and the divine light which shines in total perfection without impediment through him but is offered to us so that it can shine through our own life and our chorus is this twittering of sparrows which always is going on they're the most chattery birds in creation and we've been accompanied by bruce to the rooster but the sparrows are having a morning conversation here up amongst the leaves of the rosa banksy eye yet to flower and the chemical samandiyai in full flower so give thanks for the gifts of creation but give thanks most of all that that love of god and light can shine through our own life in our own humanity in the present tense and placing oneself in any of those scenes which we see given to us in the synoptic gospels or anywhere else in their descriptions is something which causes us to think that could be me or that gift i've not yet discovered but to work in the present tense and to realize that these apostles these people in bethany were people just like the friends that you and i know in our own communities and veronese made certain of that by clothing the people in his paintings whether biblical or classical in the close of the present day for him and giving it all the color he could from god's creation to be a sign to us so on this eve of holy week let's say this connect for the fifth sunday of lent for the last time i have a different one tomorrow and we are praying today uh in our anglican communion on the 9th of april for the diocese of kubwa in the church of nigeria the abuja province and we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for emma bishop at lambeth and today for the parish of the village of basted and the priest there john corbyn and his assistant curious catherine ngangira and leslie ludlow who is given permission to officiate in that benefits now it's a much bigger benefits but because there's nothing special given to us tomorrow from the diocese we shall mention the other villages of that benefits tomorrow for today it's basted and the church of holy cross invested so as we say our prayers bring your own intentions and bring your own thanksgivings for this pause before holy week that we may walk the way of the cross with our savior most merciful god who by the death and resurrection of your son jesus christ delivered and saved the world grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory through jesus christ our lord amen the collect for lent almighty and everlasting god you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may receive from you the god of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through jesus christ our lord amen so we say each in our own language the prayer that jesus taught us 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 time now of reflection on this eve of holy week [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] see [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] christmas foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign christ crucified draw you to himself to find in him a sure ground for faith a firm support for hope and the assurance of sins forgiven 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 are men the garden seems to have fallen quiet and certainly leo has walked off on his journey but he'll um he'll be no doubt back for breakfast soon so the pigs themselves are waiting for their breakfast and they themselves will they don't make themselves known in a moment i'm being reminded about the riddles so one tends to forget here we are um yesterday we had here we are um i drape the hills in white i do not swallow but i do bite and that of course is frost and then you can catch me but you cannot throw me anywhere and that is a cold now today if you remove some from me you will cause trouble what am i and then i am called a celebrity fish but i am neither what am i i'd say there were two slightly more difficult ones they were still in the easy category if you remove some from me you will cause trouble what am i and i am called a celebrity fish but i am neither what am i well let's go to the lost words and see where we go after the ferns of yesterday and uh we're getting quite quickly through this today it's heather here it is [Music] and the acrostic running down heather is never only heather as more is never merely more ever laying down in heather got its measure seen how it shares its weather with asphadel and bilberry crowberry and cottongrass grows together with tormental's flower mossy's cushion lichens feather hold a heart full of heather never let it wither even as you travel far from cragon river remember heather the company it keeps its treasure and there's a little sprig of heather but i think the scene would be one of more land and again a hair lying in the heather and beyond the beautiful moorland and i don't know what that is it's probably a merlin or something of that sign this scene reminds us of being on the coastal path at pembrokeshire near to st david's cathedral and that's a lovely walk and much heather there too so enjoy your day whatever it brings don't think that leo is around oh yes he is hey what are you doing behind there okay he's hiding behind the flowers come on come back hey come and say hello come on leo can you come through well done there we are you've come to answer the riddle of where you've been enjoying the sunshine your coach is nice and warm well i think for both of us it's time for breakfast isn't it you look as though you're stalking now so you