[Music] good morning and welcome to the deanery garden in canterbury cathedral on this morning thursday the 1st of april and we are looking it's a principal feast so we tonight when we celebrate that feast in the cathedral we shall be full of white vestments and and uh the the sense of joy and above me i think you're seeing the uh chemical salmandia and it's its fragrance is amazing and around you'll see other flowers but this day goes from that kind of wonderful festivity into a darkness and the sequence of today is a powerful one last year we were in total lockdown and everything had to be done virtually today as i will explain in our reflection something of the drama of maundy thursday both in the great morning service and the evening service in the cathedral will be streamed online and at the same time here we are in the garden saying our morning prayers on a very different kind of morning from the last uh three days for the sun is certainly not shining this morning the air is quite chilly and the clouds are covering the sky no rain though and so let's join together in our morning prayers i did want to say yesterday in our prayers we were thinking of the karen people in burma myanmar who were caught between two dangers and were being resisted by entry into thailand but at the same time being bombed by the government in in myanmar burma and there is a a film which some of you may like to look at it it's a film that was made in 2017 it's simply called all saints and it was directed by steve gomer but if you online look for the film simply all saints two words and put film it's the story of a small town tennessee rector of the episcopal anglican church in the states who the the actual story is based on the real life story of of some friends of ours michael and m.a spurlock and their two children who were very much children at the time um atticus and hadley and we think of them but we also think of the karen community michael was sent there in order to look after what was a dying church and it was a very uh um a church set in its ways shall we say and the film tells the story of how a group of christian currents because it's a christian community has fled from myanmar burma to the states and were a refugee community there worshipping as christians and came and offered their help in all this i'm not going to say much more it's a very moving story indeed and if you if you get it online then it's a a film starring uh john corbett which tells that story very powerfully and how the karen's step forward to help so let's think of them and their plight today but also give thanks for the way in which christian communities can help each other across the world let's begin our prayers on this monday thursday oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon earth let your save let 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 oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen the first of the month gives us psalm 1 blessed are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked nor lingered in the way of sinners nor sat in the assembly of the scornful their delight is in the law of the lord and they meditate on his law day and night like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season with leaves that do not wither whatever they do it shall prosper as for the wicked it is not so with them they are like chaff which the wind blows away therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgment nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous for the lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked shall perish we are reading it morning prayer this week the passion of our lord jesus christ according to saint luke and yesterday we completed chapter 22 so i'm taking up from the first verse of chapter 23 then the whole company of them arose and brought jesus before pilate and they began to accuse him saying we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to caesar and saying that he himself is christ a king and pilate asked him are you the king of the jews and jesus answered him you have said so then pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds i find no guilt in this man but they were urgent saying he stirs up the people teaching throughout all judea from galilee even to this place when pilate heard this he asked whether the man was a galilean and when he learned that he belonged to herod's jurisdiction he sent him over to herod who was himself in jerusalem at that time when herod saw jesus he was very glad for he had long desired to see him because he had heard about him and he was hoping to see some sign done by him so he questioned jesus at some length but jesus made no answer the chief priests and the scribes stood by vehemently accusing him and herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him and then arraying him in splendid clothing herod sent him back to pilate and herod and pilate became friends with each other that very day for before this they had been at enmity with each other pilots then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people and said to them you brought me this man as one who was misleading the people and after examining him before you behold i did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him neither did herod for he sent him back to us look nothing deserving death has been done by him i will therefore punish and release him but they all cried out together away with this man and released to us barabbas this was a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder pilate addressed them once more desiring to release jesus but they kept shouting crucify crucify him a third time pilate said to them why what evil has he done i have found in him no guilt deserving death i will therefore punish and release him but they were urgent demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified and their voices prevailed so pilate decided that their demand should be granted he released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder for whom they asked but he delivered jesus over to their will this is how luke tells the story and as i've said and we've been thinking over the last few days the way in which each evangelist tells that story is very much the way in which they want to give that story to us to interpret in our own way through our own experiences that we might believe in the way that they do the gospel writers complementing each other's and it's one of the precious quests as we go back day by day to the scriptures both the old testament and the new testament but particularly the four gospels the way in which one will shine a light on another on good friday tomorrow during the three hours our chief evangelist will be saint john but nevertheless light will shine in the scenes from the other evangelists and the way they tell the story will be important to us this morning we see what up powder keg in jerusalem pilate was sitting on he'd come there particularly normally the roman procurator wouldn't be living in jerusalem he's traveled there because this feast of the passover brought mostly jews from not only judea and galilee but from what we call the diaspora the dispersion of of jews coming back in from other places as pilgrims to the temple one of the great pilgrim feasts and pilate is nervous he's there to uphold roman law and he's got the religious leaders who are the authorities there but he's also got the tetrarch should we say the king of of galilee who's come down himself to jerusalem for the feast it's such a confliction of different interests and it's almost a relief when he finds out when the chief priests say he he stirs up the people even to here from galilee you see a galilean says pilate and ah then he's in herod's jurisdiction so he sends jesus off to herod but as all this is happening in jerusalem herod first of all in showing an interest would like to see jesus do some wonderful sign and when he questions and talks to jesus jesus perceiving the kind of interest that herod has is simply silent which pleases not the tetrarch one bit and he and his soldiers mock jesus and then send him back to pilate but we're told that pilate and herod came to a new understanding that day the pilot still has the problem in front of him and try as he might he can't quieten the situation down so in the end and the phrase in this translation of the scriptures their voices prevailed he releases for them as is the custom on this feast day we're told one of the prisoners and they choose someone who has been convicted for insurrection and murder barabbas and shout for him he will be much less troubled to them in the city they believe than jesus whom they are treating really with uh not a tenderness based on compassion but a tenderness which a bomb disposal squad might be using in order to diffuse a problem that kaifast believe might actually overwhelm and engulf the whole nation well let's leave that for a moment we shall come back at length to the passion not only tomorrow morning at morning prayer when i'll complete the reading of the passion according to luke but also through the three hours from 12 till three tomorrow afternoon which will have been pre-recorded here at scenes in the garden and you can use in parts or as a whole it will be there on the website for you to reflect on as you would like to but for the moment let's think about this day monday thursday coming from the latin word to command and that verb mandari actually has resonance with so many of our words of instruction command demand reprimand remand there's a latin habit of putting a a little preface on the verb to to give what kind of instruction it is command is is a good one it's actually one that speaks of accepting this together and when jesus speaks of the new commandment which he gives us it's talking about our collective and our personal reception of that commandment demand is quite different that's a powerful instruction reprimand is different still but remand means that the commandment has been withdrawn in a way monday thursday and it comes from jesus's new commandment at the last supper where he has washed his disciples feet as a sign of service a new commandment i give to you that you love one another even as i have loved you even so shall all know that you are my disciples how many different ways can love be shown out to each other shown for each other even in the restrictions that we are under at present and all that is acted out on this day normally there would be a great service with a full cathedral this morning and at that service all of us who are in any kind of sacramental vows together with those who want to surround us with their support will come to renew those vows and the archbishop will bless holy oils for various purposes throughout the coming year and the priests and clergy and folk from the parishes will come to collect oil which will be taken back oil for the sick oil for the service of baptism and catechumens oil for those chrism as we call it when the bishop confirms all of those oils will be blessed in the cathedral and that service will be live streamed but the number of people that we can have there with the choir singing also is very limited and so there will be representatives of the parishes of the diocese of canterbury and no doubt this will be happening in cathedrals right across the land this is the morning service it's often called the chrism service because of the oil of chrism and then in the evening another huge service this is a principal holy feast and this evening the sacred three days the triduum begin all of that normally would be acted out in the cathedral church it's two years since we've been able to do that but the drama of that service begins at the supper table and the cathedral is filled with light and the altar is closed in white as the celebrant the archbishop tonight will be in white and normally in the midst of this service 12 people mixed ages and and from all kinds would come forward and represent the rest of us as their feet are washed that of course cannot happen tonight because of restrictions but the service will be held and it's a service that ends with the darkness of gethsemane as i say that will insofar as we can do it in the cathedral will be live streamed but let's think to another service which cannot happen today because of the ban on large public ceremonies and that is the fact that normally and it's again two years since this has happened normally her majesty the queen here will travel out to a cathedral church to give moon specially minted monday money to folk who've been put forward by their communities for acts of service it is the most moving and wonderful ceremony and we know that this is part of our queen's devotional year she was here in 2002 we received her here on a a sunny and a codish day and when she came to us it was a wonderful thing to see all those who have been put forward by their community many of them elderly citizens and the joy with which the maundy money was distributed in the golden year of our queen's jubilee she'd been here before to distribute the morning in 1965 but year by year the number of those receiving grows with the the length of her reign and this was a really happy day with the precincts and the cathedral filled with joy as the queen distributed the mundi money as a sign of jesus's command of service and today we think of her majesty and give thanks for her service to the nation but of course she will not be able to distribute the maundy money personally nevertheless people would have been put forward for special service during these pandemic years and that will be sent to them all these ways symbolic of living out our lord's commandment mundi thursday but it's only a sign of what we can do for each other day by day and year by year in occasions when we are intuitive enough to notice how we can be of service and that will be done in many many different ways today that kind of thinking is almost enough for us but i'll just mention uh one or two other things that have happened on this first of april if i go back to 1578 william harvey was born he's a kent person and there's even a house here in our school named after him and so we have a very special canterbury connection with him but also the great hospital here nearest sewers near to the town of ashford is called the william harvey hospital because he was an english physician who explained for the first time the circulation of blood around our bodies feeding us good day to remember him today when the lamb of god is taken away and his own blood is is spilt in the tribune which follows so we give thanks for william harvey and it causes us to remember again the life of hospitals at this time and those who are working so hard not only to vaccinate but to discover and ensure the supply of vaccines and that's a worldwide task so let's give thanks for them and pray for them and then on this day also in 1748 uh a spanish engineer uh rocket heirkender alcubierre had been commissioned by the king of naples to just see what was under the surface of where they knew pompeii lay and they were expecting just a few fragments well you well know that the excavations of pompeii and some of you will have been there i've never been there but some of you will have been there and seen that a moment in time in 79 a.d was captured by the ash which came down on that community and froze them in that huge tragedy and excavations gives us a a glimpse of a day in the life of that town in 79 a.d but we've also taken another glimpse of the first century as we've read the story from saint luke and hear a living glimpse because as i say everything that we read in the gospels become present tense in our own lives perhaps that's enough for this morning because there are so many things that we can think of and the most important thing overarching this day as the sacred trideum begins these three holiest days of the christian year is jesus's new commandment that you love one another as i have loved you by this shall all know that you are my disciples say our prayers on this particular day and bring your own concerns and your own intentions as we do so it's a new month and in our calendar of prayer we're praying for the diocese of bath and wells in the church of england and then for archbishop justin and for bishop rose of dover bishop tim at lambeth and at the same time the benefits of tinterdon rother and oxny lovely part of our diocese and we're praying for lindsey hammond and patricia fogdon and judy darkins and chris hodgkins and jeannette kennett in their pre-sleep ministry thou we pray for all in sacramental ministry throughout the world on this day when vows are renewed and all those who have a vocation that they would like to renew may god bless that vocation on this morning thursday our prayer for today almighty and everlasting god who in your tender love towards the human race sent your son our savior jesus christ to take upon him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility and also be made partakers of his resurrection through jesus christ our lord our men so then the saying of the our father another not an instruction but a prayer that our savior gave us and we say this in our own language wherever you are in the world 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 moment of silence now for your own prayers on this holy day 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 upon those whom you would pray for today and always amen this is a chilly morning for you isn't it we'll go back inside you don't like the wind much okay [Music] okay