good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the dinery front garden on this morning of wednesday the 7th of july it's a special festival day for us the 7th of july the 801st anniversary of the consecration of the new shrine of thomas beckett saint thomas of canterbury that shrine was consecrated in 1220 and a gathering of church and state at the highest level from right across europe came here for a magnificent service in the presence of the king around the new shrine and in the cathedral much of what you're looking at today of the cathedral was built following beckett's martyrdom and before the shrine was consecrated for it was there to house the glory of the new shrine as a center of pilgrimage and a sign of this as a holy place of pilgrimage all those things we give thanks for today and we give thanks also that this is very much an ecumenical day it's a feast we share with so many and especially our catholic friends at us uh the church of saint thomas nearby so father anthony will be here this evening for the mass which i'll join him in and also uh the archbishop of southwark will be here celebrating too so it's it'll be good to welcome them too so at this point i need to say there'll probably be quite a lot of sort of noise and disturbance i don't know uh we're sitting in the front garden this is the last but one day of our school term here the senior school and it's also the last day of term and i'll be going down there after doing this for our junior school in sturry so there's a great sense of excitement there's the also the added excitement of the noise that's going to be created later on today by the football match and we've given permission for a screen to be set up in that the king's week marquee on the green court so that people can come from the concert of king's week into the tent and i should think they'll raise the roof every time they're cheering tonight for that particular football match well all those things and also work beginning but we thought a good place to come because you're looking at the cathedral on this day of anniversary the same time let me just say about the the storm which was a really really really strong storm yesterday morning with with rain and very high winds did wrought havoc with the roses but it was time to begin to cut them back so that they'll grow strong for a second flowering um in the early autumn and late august so here we are amongst the roses but i have with me uh a special rose which was plucked uh yesterday or the day before i think before the storm this is a thomas beckett rose which we've spoken about before which david austin senior and flesh had developed david austin used to say that it was one of his best red roses and it's fragrant as well but it's simply called thomas beckett and it grows here in the garden and in the gardens of many who bought this rose uh especially those in the precincts and we take pleasure in it as a sign of beckett the other sign of becket i have on the tea tree here is the emma bridgewater mug which details the uh martyrdom of thomas beckett and scenes of his life so on this day we give thanks for that but principally for this holy place this church of christ in canterbury as a place of pilgrimage for people from all over the world let's say our prayers together on this day oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day say may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this seventh morning of the month is psalm 36 sin whispers to the wicked in the depths of their heart there is no fear of god before their eyes they flatter themselves in their own eyes that their abominable sin will not be found out the words of their mouth are unrighteous and full of deceit they have ceased to act wisely and to do good they think at mischief upon their beds and have set themselves in no good way nor do they abhor that which is evil your love the lord reaches to the heavens and your faithfulness to the clouds your righteousness stands like the strong mountains your justice like the great deep you lord shall save both man and beast how precious is your loving mercy o god all mortal flesh shall take refuge under the shadow of your wings they shall be satisfied with the abundance of your house they shall drink from the river of your delights for with you is the well of life and in your light shall we see light oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you and your righteousness to those who are true of heart let not the foot of pride come against me nor the hand of the ungodly thrust me away there are they fallen all who work wickedness they are cast down and shall not be able to stand [Music] we come to a special lesson for today part of it is a lesson that i think i could probably say by heart almost because it's always the lesson which we use on the 29th of december which is the feast of commemoration of the martyrdom of saint thomas of canterbury but i'm beginning is in one peter the first letter of saint peter chapter four and i'm beginning halfway through verse 7. be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins show hospitality to one another without grumbling as each has received a gift use it to serve one another as good stewards of god's varied grace whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of god whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that god supplies in order that in everything god may be glorified through jesus christ for to him belong glory and dominion forever and ever amen beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you but rejoice in so far as you share christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed if you are insulted for the name of christ you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of god rests upon you but let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evil doer or as a meddler but if anyone suffers as a christian let them not be ashamed but let them glorify god in that name for it is time for judgment to begin at the household of god and if it begins with us what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of god and if the righteous is scarcely saved what will become of the ungodly and the sinner therefore let those who suffer according to god's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while continuing to do good it's a wonderful lesson and gives a great sense of all gifts unique gifts for each one of us but varying gifts differing gifts being gifts of god gifts and graces for which we must give thanks and which we must see that we use one of the the best verses i think of that maybe a knapsack verse is verse 10. of chapter 4 of the first epistle of saint peter as each has received a gift use it to serve one another as good stewards of god's varied grace the sense of being a steward is very dear to all of us because we know we who hold for this little bit of its history canterbury cathedral as our charge that's not only clergy but the varied staff and volunteers and all who bring their expertise and their willingness and their variety of gifts to this place we know that we're not owners we are stewards of this holy place a steward who can give god's gifts to share and as that happens then a mutuality of gifts is exchanged anyone coming here receiving that stewardship that gift brings their own gifts in the same way say that verse 10 applies to really every aspect of our life and particularly to distinctive gifts which we discover in ourselves at different times of life as each has received a gift used it use it to serve one another as good stewards of god's varied grace we know by going through the four evangelists and the acts of the apostles and the epistles of saint paul we know how much pain and suffering those in the past and those present now have to go through in order to be sharing those gifts and sometimes it's it's difficult to offer thanks but the sense of our prayers being offered in everything with thanksgiving thanksgiving for the opportunities of being christ for one another of being the body of christ on earth all the gifts that god has given us being received with joy even though exercising them sometimes can be difficult and fairly painful and you see how all of that is set out in the beginning of that lesson but particularly the second part of it the bit that is read on the 29th of december it's a time when we look back it's a time when we look around us and it's a time when we look forward with hope and with a sense of heavenly foresight as to what these gifts might be for us and for others it's the same kind of quality which will be going on in the life of both our schools and many foundations today human foundations of education and other other types of foundations that as we begin here in this country to look forward to a new phase of let's pray coming out of this pandemic the sense of being able to sing hymns again which has been given us now by the prime minister's words um will be a great moment but at the same time the the marquees which are put up which will be in use today and tomorrow for marking an end of term will be marking the end of a particular aspect of life for those who are leaving us and as i bid them farewell i always remind them that every ending has the potential to be a new beginning and everything as we look back must be received as a learning experience with much joy but painful memories too received with thanksgiving as shaping us to be what god has called us to be and in the same way looking around at those who support us in life now and giving thanks for them and looking forward a much more difficult thing to do but we look forward with hope and with trust even in situations where life is threatened and in in martyrdom life is given all those things come today upon us on this feast of the translation of saint thomas beckett and as we think of of of that and think of thomas's martyrdom here of course there is the sense of um t.s eliot's great play murder in the cathedral which was performed here first i think in 1935. elliot thought long and hard on that reflective meditation of the martyrdom of becket but one of the things which is most important and maybe i've said this before to you and feasts of beckett but it bears repeating one of the things that most important about that play is that the four assassins the knights who've come to kill him are played by the same people as the four tempters in beckett's mind in the first part of what is going on because so much of this with almost a greek chorus of the people commenting on what's going on so much of this is set in beckett's own mind as he thinks of embracing the vocation which he he senses is coming upon him and as he does so four temptations very like the temptations of jesus in the wilderness come upon him and if we look at the four tempters the first one offers beckett physical safety there's no need for all this you could be perfectly well safe and living the kind of life that you enjoyed with friends in scholarship in your earlier days that could go on you could turn around from all this and go back and do that his words this is the words of elias in the play take a friend's advice leave well alone or your goose may be cooked and eaten to the bone the friend's advice give all this up and go and be safe physically live a useful happy life in that way the second tempter offers power riches and fame in serving the king beckett has already been the king's chief minister stay with that be respected as a great leader a servant of the state and you can do great good more good than in any other way use your gifts for that and the words to set down the great protect the poor beneath the throne of god can man do more be a great statesman you have the potential and that takes you out of physical danger and gives you glory and the third suggests a coalition with the barons against the king for in that he would be another aspect of being a great leader and attain glory for us church favor would be an advantage blessing of pope powerful protection in the fight for liberty you my lord in being with us would fight a good stroke and there would be no danger which he's facing now in the loneliness that he feels in canterbury having returned knowing that danger is very near and the fourth says to him the fourth tempter seek the glory the glory of martyrdom and then your power will be out of range of the king it will give you a dominion that is unthinkable in any of the earthly pieces of glory you hold the keys of heaven and hell power to bind and loose bind thomas bind king and bishop under your heel king emperor bishop baron king there's a temptation and you can almost equate them with the temptations of jesus in the wilderness of the temptation to go back to galilee which was always there just go and live a useful life temptation in the mouths of his chief disciple peter no need for this lord and jesus seeing the temptation spotting naming the temptation and seeing that those ways are not the way that leads to the vocation that he's been given which will cause him sweat and blood even in gethsemane at the end your will be done your will be done is the great one and beckett looking at that fourth temptation remember the words because they really are part of my mind now is my way clear says beckett at the end of the fourth temperature now is the meaning plain temptation shall not come in this kind again the last temptation is the greatest treason to do the right thing for the wrong he sets that aside and then if you remember in the play there is uh a sermon preached not in verse but it's almost like an interlude between the two acts here's my copy of murder in the cathedral which i had long before coming here and in it in the sermon preached on christmas day uh in the year of his own martyrdom in in 1170 um beckett puts into uh sorry um elliot puts into beckett's mouth words that seem to have been spoken in some way or another from the accounts given historically here it is and we read it this morning beloved we do not think of a martyr simply as a good christian who has been killed because he is a christian for that would be solely to mourn we do not think him simply as a good christian who has been elevated to the company of the saints for that would be simply to rejoice and neither our mourning nor our rejoicing is as the worlds is a christian martyrdom is never an accident for saints are not made by accident still less is a christian martyrdom the effect of a man's will to become a saint as a man by willing and contriving may become a ruler of others martyrdom is always the design of god for his love of humanity to warn us and lead us and bring us back to his ways it is never the design of humanity itself for the true martyr is the one who becomes the instrument of god who has lost their own will in the will of god and who no longer desires anything for themselves not even the glory of martyrdom so thus as on earth the church mourns and rejoices at once in a fashion that the world cannot understand so in heaven the saints are most high having made themselves most low and are seen not as we see them but uh in the light of the godhead from which they draw their being we read those words year by year and it puts back onto us that intention of your will be done which are spoken by jesus in the garden of gethsemane for his own vocation this as i said is the commemoration day and the the tents go up for a week of festivities last year there was nothing we were in complete lockdown very very disappointing for the levers everything was done online this year more is going to happen and there will even be a a service in the cathedral for believers tomorrow morning briefly and then out here on the green court with all the distances observed in that way more than last year hopefully by next year we'll be back to normal and i have memories from the past now one of them is an anniversary date that i should remember today in 2005 on the 7th of july the 7 7 terrorist attack took place on london's transport and you remember how three underground trains were bombed and one london bus in tavistock square 52 people were killed not only from this nation i think 20 of them from different nations around the world on that day 700 were injured and london was instantly locked down all that happened unbeknown to us to start with in the middle of the commemoration service here i was sitting in the cathedral with a full and very festive congregation of the school leavers and the school choirs and many parents who had traveled here and friends to celebrate this day and the dean of windsor david connor was was preaching on that day and in the middle of his sermon the head verger came up to me with a note which said that there's been a an attack on london and um we wonder whether you want to to do anything about that in the service so i quietly talked to him and asked him to go and see if there were any security issues for us because i didn't want to interrupt a wonderful occasion for leavers unless it was absolutely necessary at that time well we were told that it was safe to continue we're in the protected area of the precinct anyway but afterwards we discovered that london was completely locked down and that extraordinary happening was was uh a happening of of great sadness but also alarm and mourning for all who had suffered and those a reminder that no one anywhere is safe from the fragility of human life or from violence and that memory stays with me of this particular day and also just attached to that i needed to be in the general synod in york fairly uh fairly soon after that and i left my car in london thinking it was clever to get to london quickly and then drive from there so it meant somehow getting around london to a station that would take me to york to the general said all these things human memories but at the same time memories of an act of terror on this day seven seven not nearly as as big an act of terror as 9 11 of course but for any nation something like that when you're used to safety is something which is really terrifying and we don't forget this day of 7-7 and the fragility of human life and the suffering which is sometimes caused from one section of humanity on to another so let's uh let's remember that there will be other things of course for you to remember on this particular day we shall be going on not only with the commemorations for the school but also with our own services through the day for the thomas becket this this also is for me a year's mind for my mother who died suddenly on this day july the 7th in 1985 and i'm always reminded the psalms very often give you coincidences which just trigger the memory i can never forget this day because the other psalm for this morning psalm 35 uh verse 15 when i say it on the seventh of the month each month is something to remind me of the gift of my mother who was taken from us so suddenly and that says verse 15 of the first psalm for this morning 35 i behaved as one who mourns for his mother bowed down and brought very low so that verse to me is a special one on this day of mother's year's mind so let's say our prayers then and uh we are praying this morning for uh in the anglican community on the diocese of costa rica in the anglican diocese of central and the province of central america and in this diocese as we pray for archbishop justin and of uh and for bishop rose of dover and bishop tim at lambeth we are asked by the diocese to have this as a listening and discerning on the way day when we pray for all children and young people who live in the canterbury diocese well we've been doing that for our own people and let them be a sign of the children right across the diocese in this particular way and also we pray for our own cathedral church this cathedral church of christ on a special day for the life of this place as a holy place of pilgrimage so let's say together the prayer for this particular day when we remember thomas beckett saint thomas of canterbury martyred in 1170 and the consecration of his shrine in 1220 lord god who gave grace to your servant thomas beckett to put aside all earthly fear and be faithful even to death grant that we disregarding worldly esteem may fight all wrong uphold your rule and serve you to our life's send through jesus christ our lord our men so we say to the noise of mowers and work going on preparing the tents on the green court we say the prayer our savior taught us in whichever language you like 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 moments of pause i won't say silence because of the noise around us but just pause while we bring our own intentions this morning so so god give you grace to follow sin thomas of canterbury and all his saints in faith and hope and love 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 amen