good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of wednesday the 26th of may you're looking at a golden rose it's pat austin and it was developed by the rose grower david austin for his wife and we find it a very successful rose here it's in the golden part of the garden as you'll see when we give you a bigger picture in a moment but i wanted to say that um in a conversation which fletcher had with old david austin uh before his own death he said that the roads that he developed for his wife and it was by then his late wife and we were looking at the sculpture she'd made in his his own garden um he confessed that he thought the rose was too susceptible to disease and didn't flower very well we've found completely the reverse that in this particular location pat austin flowers beautifully all through the rose flowering season and here she is this morning flowering on this golden day we're surrounded in this part of the garden by golden flowers and leaves and that's good because this is our foundation day it's the feast of sint augustine of canterbury and we therefore call this in canterbury cathedral a principal feast and pray very much this morning for the present holder of the chair of sint augustine justin welby and we as we always do pray for him as our archbishop and pray for him and for caroline at this time when he's taking some study leave so we pray that this will be a refreshing day for him as we celebrate the feast of central augustine of canterbury you'll find in this part of the garden as you look past the norman tower there and you you've seen this shot many times probably from the other direction i got on my left this time the chocolate vine which uh at easter time um we thought it was special idea that the the leaves which are five were signs of the wounds but at the same time the name chocolate was the sign of easter and the resurrections it's aptly in this golden garden there's a graham thomas rose there and also a golden jasmine climbing up through the chocolate vine but it's a time when all kinds of things are beginning to flower you'll find the banksia rose named after lady banks which we saw in the other garden in the back garden but there's a a part of it here as well they grow very well here too so you'll see that falling down in those tiny golden flowers above the gate there and at the same time you'll hear the noise of black birds all around us they are nesting and they're always a bit alarmed when we get too close it'll be either the father blackbird or the mother blackbird feeding young we have nests of that sort around the garden and there's a very special one we've been watching on the side of the gardener's shed which now has three fledglings in it and the mother sat hatching those eggs and guarding the fledglings to all that wind and terrible rain and now happily daddy and mummy are feeding the fledglings and we have to be very very gentle when we go towards the nest let's begin our prayers on this festival day for canterbury o 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 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 is past 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 amen our psalm on this 26th morning of the month is another section of the long psalm 119 and today i'm beginning the section which starts at verse 105. your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path i have sworn and will fulfill it to keep your righteous judgments i am troubled above measure give me life o lord according to your word accept the free will offering of my mouth o lord and teach me your judgments my soul is ever in my hand yet i do not forget your law the wicked have laid a snare for me but i have not strayed from your commandments your testimonies have i claimed as my heritage forever for they are the very joy of my heart i have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes always even to the end so we turn to the gospel of matthew to take up our reading from where we left off yesterday in chapter 12 and yesterday i read from verses one to eight today we're going to read verses 9 to 21 of matthew chapter 12 jesus went on from there and entered their synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand and they asked him is it lawful to heal on the sabbath so that they might accuse him jesus said to them which one of you who has a sheep if it falls into a pit on the sabbath will not take hold of it and lift it out of how much more value is a man than a sheep so it is lawful to do good on the sabbath then he said to the man stretch out your hand and the man stretch it out and it was restored healthy like the other but the pharisees went out and conspired against jesus how to destroy him jesus aware of this withdrew from there and many followed him and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known [Music] this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet isaiah behold my servant whom i have chosen my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased i will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the gentiles he will not quarrel or cry aloud nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets a bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not quench until he brings justice to victory and in his name the gentiles will hope first of all it's a a wonderful passage about the sabbath because jesus sees the sabbath as a day for refreshment and healing as god's gift once a week for that refreshment for that slackening of all the physical energy needed in daily work and a time for enjoyment with each other and he turns the question right round on those who ask him is it lawful to heal on the sabbath it's a question set as a trap how the psalms said the wicked have laid a snare for me this was a snare and for the first time as we've said matthew is ordering his material and collecting it together and so he has saved until chapter 12 any sense of real hostility and even more so physical violence against jesus but here it is now very strongly the words destroy him or in some translations kill him are very physical words it's not the first time earthly powers have an intention of killing jesus the anointed one instant matthew's gospel but it's the first time in his adult ministry for in chapter 2 you will remember when he was born headed afraid of what's going on and jealous of his own power seeks to kill jesus by slaughtering all the boys born in bethlehem of two years old and under and it's joseph warned by the dream that takes jesus to safety here jesus when he realizes their violent intentions withdraws himself realizing their plot but meanwhile he establishes something wonderful about the sense of a seventh day of rest and that principle and in that as the physical side of the body or the mental activities of daily work for those who work in that particular way as they're relaxed so the other part in the trio of what we are as human beings body mind and spirit the spirit actually is given freedom to be itself and to wander and imagine and learn things about that which in our nature can reach out for the divine it's a lovely thought of the sabbath but it's also a day when in healing we encourage one another and that healing will continue physically for those whose task that is jesus is very clear about that but he turns it on them knowing full well the answer if you have a sheep that falls into a pit is that anyone amongst you who won't instantly pull it out on the sabbath day so of course on the sabbath and then he makes the thing much much wider it's lawful to do good and that would be the will of the father whose creation goes on burgeoning on the sabbath day as it does on every other day of the week so first of all there's a fulfillment of the command but also a heeding of the command because jesus doesn't say no the sabbath is actually that rule is rescinded he says this is what this law means this is what it's for this is how it's to be applied and it's to be done sensibly would any of you in farming terms and and you can see the people there not necessarily the pharisees but the people there shaking their heads would you if you had a sheep it fell into a pit would you leave it there on this no you'd pull it out straight away because the sabbath is for good and then you have that sense which we saw yesterday after the cornfield episodes of the son of man the representative of our humanity in divine terms and jesus uses that title of himself so often the emblem of our humanity son of man the son of man is lord of the sabbath because that's what he's come to do fulfill the law and the prophets and the psalms and the teachers of wisdom in the ancient scriptures but now he's living out that life he's entered the synagogue and we imagine from sin mark's gospel because that's where the story is taken from um that she's in capernaum but matthew doesn't give details of that sort what he does give and now this is the evangelist speaking in the next part of that lesson that we just read what he does give is a quotation from the prophet isaiah and it's a lovely quotation it's a different quotation from the one that jesus uses in his nazareth sermon in sin luke's gospel this is isaiah 42 verses 1 to 4. behold my servant whom i have chosen my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased the echoers of jesus baptism you are my beloved son in whom i am well pleased i will put my spirit upon him echoes of jesus baptism with the dove descending the spirit descending like a dove onto jesus proclaiming him to be the anointed one and he will proclaim now for matthew this is radical the the the message of the anointed one is for all nations and that sense comes twice translated here gentiles but easily translated nations he will proclaim justice to the nations he will not quarrel or cry aloud nor would anyone hear his voice in the street a bruised reed he will not break it's a gardening image once again of how a a weak stem is to be supported and an injured stem supported a bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick careful lighting of the lamps everyone there is is is actually tuning in to those images a smoldering wick he will not quench until well what he he's meaning to them is until it's a light again and in flame if you're if you're nursing a smoldering wick there are careful ways of doing it and one remembers only too well with paraffin lamps how when you twisted the the the wheel in the wrong direction you lost the wick instantly you had to be so careful if you twisted it in the right direction having lit it up would come the flame inside the glass and uh if jesus had used that image when paraffin lumps were still in there and so often i've done that in places where there was no electricity in other areas of ministry mostly in the southern hemisphere and so and i remember the the the um bishop of ramsbury who was traveling with me at the time once in the southern sudan almost cursing me for for drowning the wick he said we're not going to solve that tonight so we had to go to bed in the darkness that time but all these images are ones that you yourselves can use they're different today there won't be many of you lighting paraffin lamps this morning there may be many of you attempting to foster something that needs healing and encouraging and many of you and all of us really involved in encouraging and helping one another and it's done gently it's the way one approaches creatures it's the way one approaches in soft footsteps in words or actions uh those that were approaching tenderly because it's the area of their body mind or spirit which is hurting and all of this talks about the gentleness of what's going on that's been so in things which jesus has said before in matthew's gospel that we had that sense take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light or he will not quarrel or cry loud nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets a bruised reed he will not break all this actually is special matthew which is strange because sometimes we find matthew a harsh gospel to listen to but these little sentences of softness about the messianic ministry and the anointed one are there as jewels for us and in the context here of god wanting us time to have times of refreshment and to respect them and to use them well for ourselves and for one another well as i've said our big date today is the uh feast of saint augustine of canterbury who came here in the year 597 a.d and when he came he came softly and with gentleness there's not much known about centaurgustin but what we do know tells us not of a strident figure but of rather a nervous figure who possibly didn't even want this commission he was the prior of the monastery of what is called now san gregorio manuel alcelio in rome and it's there on the australian hill and a lovely place to visit and it's the seed of everything in this bringing of the gospel once again to this land because it had been here of course in the roman occupation but this time it was being brought to the english the angles who had taken over the land after the roman legions left here in 410 because at that point roman civilization began to be damaged by the incursion of others and christianity largely amongst the the britons was taken over to the west and if you draw the map there this area here which was full of of saxons um needed the gospel to be brought again but as we shall see there was a connecting item here which was good for augustine but first and foremost it was gregory himself gregory the great who thought that the mission was his then he was made pope and so from his own monastery where augustine was the prior he chose augustine and monks to come with him on this missionary venture i've had the great privilege of celebrating the mass eucharist at the altar of the monastery of san gregorio manuel archelor in augustine today it was a monastery of saint andrew but living according to the monastic rule and it was a wonderful thing to celebrate that altar on the site of what had been before gregory himself became uh someone under violence christian vows the the family home of of gregory and that the seat of saint gregory is still there which was thought to predate that and have been part of the family home all that there at that point but that is the route and that seed grew up with first of all the missionary journey and augustine at al i say he was thought to be a bit nervous decided he couldn't really go on so gregory reached for encouragement and took some beautifully illustrated gospels from his library and sent them to augustine at al and told him to take heart and go on and he did now carrying the gospels which we still use at the enthronement of every archbishop they've been tested and carbon dated and everything else to be found absolutely those which were created in tuscany in that part of that uh middle of the sixth century and these are the gospels that that augustine brought with him and at that time augustine went on nervously with his monks but he was given encouragement by the the frankish king of paris and sent over and was even given some interpreters because he was nervous about language but when he got here he found himself met by a pagan king of kent ethelbert and his christian wife who had come from that frankish kingdom and was already a christian and had been given permission by her husband to worship and have mass said here and the little church of saint martin is just walking distance from here through the queen's gate and up queen bertha's road that little church is the uh recreation of that roman church on roman foundations there and was already active as a place of worship when augustine came ethel bert was converted would shorten the story because we could tell this story all morning and gave land for augustine to create a monastery outside the city wall the city wall is now our garden wall which you know well we've done morning prayer sitting on it and we've done morning press sitting by it on this side of the wall in the dinery garden but the first monastery to be created was the monastery of saint peter in singapore later known as sin augustine's monastery on the other side of that wall and there when augustine died his body was buried there are there are many stories about the the monks later on of christchurch here the cathedral which he founded wanting his body over here and stealing out in the night and taking it and bringing it back here and then the monks of saint augustine's coming to take it back so there was doubt about where the relics of augustine actually were but there is a grave site which we put a new stone on uh and uh that that is the site of the augustine shrine which was in the the monastery of saint peter in saint paul while that still existed that monastery was completely dissolved at the reformation but christchurch augustine's monastery here survived and with the encouragement not only of augustine but of queen berser we think on which sunday of 597 ethelbert and many many others of his kingdom were baptized and began to be a power which helped augustine then go on to send uh someone to found the rochester cathedral and then up to london to refound saint paul's cathedral in a different place but there had been a bishop of london in roman times but now that was reestablished and both the first holders of those were of the monks who came from the monastery of san gregorio manuel algalo in rome all of those things are about beginnings but the nervousness of augustine which i'm talking about there are many letters from gregory he took a personal interest in this particular mission and we give thanks for that because the personal uh touch is there in each letter of encouragement but one of the letters almost with an instruction from gregory is saying okay now move the center of activity to london and augustine never did the center of activity remained in canterbury and so the monastery here at christchurch became the cathedral and that an intensely important part of what happened with english christianity it's marvellous because it stands right on the on the coast we're only eight miles from the sea augustine landed at pegwell bay and the cross stands there to show where he came the planting of a seed and this place well removed from all the power centers of uh england and the united kingdom and really a holy place by itself gregory couldn't have wanted a better place as a sign of the christian presence in this land re-established once again augustine then had to make friends and try to make friends with those who in the west of the country were obviously still holding a celtic christianity and that coming together gently was something that was achieved really after augustine had died because augustine died on this particular day uh having lived only from 597 to 604 but nevertheless he is the founder and gregory in some of his letters says go gently use what you can of the culture that is there and one finds a great deal of that in the way in which the gregorian mission did its work those things which could be used were in them in themselves occasions and habits which could be baptized so that people found them natural but also they were given a completely christian emphasis so often you you find in on the continent i think in assisi of the church of santa maria sopra minerva meaning before it was a temple to minerva and now the church is over that temple and becomes sopra minerva but is the church of our lady santa maria so prominent and augustine took many customs and thought well we won't eradicate them we will actually change them so that they become elements of proclamation of the gospel and that sense of fostering something which is a smoldering wick and knowing how to create a light out of it and turn the wheel so that the flame grows is very much with this gentle presence of augustine as part of that prophecy from isaiah 42 that the anointed one will bring good news to all nations so we give thanks for the coming of that good news a second time to these islands for the first time to the angles and saxons we live in an area surrounded by memories of those saxons and uh if you look at a map of england at that time divided into kingdoms there's kent of course with ethelbert just the one word kench named after the tribes we said that before but but around are the lands of the the west saxons wessex which actually is the west of england uh going down to where cornwall was very much part of the celtic activity of british christians there but wessex that whole area a name just used generally now except in thomas hardy novels and then sussex south saxons essex east saxons middlesex middle saxons and all of that is is is still there and uh so we remember that time in our history long long before the norman conquest where 1066 is often seen as a beginning here's a beginning in 597 with the feast of augustine of canterbury on this day so as we say our prayers we give thanks for that and pray in our anglican communion for the diocese of california in the episcopal church of the united states and then we pray of course on this day for the whole of this diocese of canterbury and for justin our archbishop today augustine having been the first and for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and the life of every christian community in this part of kent let's say the prayer first of all for sin augustine's day and then the prayer of pentecost almighty god whose servant augustine was sent as the apostle of the english people grant that as he labored in the spirit to preach christ's gospel in this land so all who hear the good news may strive to make your truth known in all the world through jesus christ our lord amen and god who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by the sending to them the light of the holy spirit grant us by the same spirit to have a right judgment in all things and ever more to rejoice in his holy comfort through jesus christ our lord amen so each in our own language we say the prayer our savior 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 are men moment of silence now for your own prayers god give you grace to follow central gaston of canterbury and all his saints in faith and hope and gentleness 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