good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of tuesday the 15th of february as we come together to say our morning prayers welcome wherever you are in the world we begin with prayers of concern at the heavy military buildup on the ukrainian border with russia and the concern of the world and and we pray for all those in high places who will be making decisions about the welfare of the people and the peace of europe and our world so as we gather as a garden congregation from across the world we focus on that particular military danger and also undergird it with our prayers at the same time we are thinking today of our friends in china and we've had messages from our friends in hong kong this morning uh because this is lantern festival day when the uh full moon which began as a new moon it chinese new year the full moon will shine in the sky uh and when it gets dark uh it will be overarching everything but the lanterns are little red lanterns with riddles written on the side which people have to solve and they carry the lanterns around with them and red as you remember is the color of uh hoping people have the the best of everything in all parts of their life they're cut it's the color of welfare and and good health and and everything else but later in the day white lanterns with the the the kind of air inside them that will carry them up into the sky will be let up up over and that will be a sign of letting go of one's past self and letting the future begin to be uh the the path that we're going to take as they they float up into the sky and give light to the future with the full moon if it's a nice clear night shining above them so we think of that attractive cultural festival which is uh attached to the lunar months and the the new year festival that we began two weeks ago so this morning we've come into the kitchen garden yesterday we were in the kitchen for valentine's day and we said what a busy and quite often untidy place that is because of all the business going on there the kitchen garden is exactly the same it's an absolute hub of work and uh from it lead off paths to every part of the garden if i walk forward i go into the greenhouse yard and the cold frames and everything all the work that goes on there if i walk that way it takes me through the arch back into the main garden if i go that way it takes me to the compost heap where all sorts of things are are happening because that's where things are are put to to be good for the earth again as they break down later on and if i go that way all the way here tiger's sitting here um up up through then we come to the orchard and we go past the the various places that you will know on the path up there right up through to the dean's walk and if we turn right when we come to that then we come to the the top part of the fishponds and everything else and it's always been the case that we've had this beverly nichols principle of having something say that you're attracted to walk there or we say to one another let's go to this part of the garden and think that's that's the walk we'll take the different sections of the garden but here is the hub of everything both for the kitchen and the herb garden and also for flowering plants in the greenhouses in hot houses and as the cold frames i mean here so let's start our prayers today as we gather as a garden congregation bring your own concerns your own intentions as we pray together oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen your hands to do our hands to do your will that the world may rejoice and give you praise 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 our son this morning is psalm 75 let's take my specs off i see better without them as you will know to read we give you thanks so god we give you thanks for your name is near as your wonderful deeds declare i will seize the appointed time i the lord will judge with equity though the earth reels and all that dwell in her it is i that holds her pillars steady to the boasters i say both no longer and to the wicked do not lift up your horn do not lift up your horn on high do not speak with a stiff neck for neither from the east nor from the west nor yet from the wilderness come exultation for god alone is judge he puts down one and raises up another for in the hand of the lord there is a cup well mixed and full of foaming wine he pours it out for all the wicked of the earth and they shall drink it and drain the drinks but i will rejoice forever and make music to the god of jacob all the horns of the wicked will i break but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted we've come once again to the story of david and let's think of him in his position that we find himself in this morning especially when we're thinking of the lord i'm putting down one and raising up another but at the moment david is in really a desolate place a really desolate place and i'm going to chapter 21 of the first book of samuel and reading the whole of that chapter so these are 15 verses of chapter 21 of the first book of samuel then david came to knob to ahimalek the priest and ahimalek came to meet david trembling and said to him why are you alone and no one with you david said to ahimalek the priest uh the king has charged me with a matter and said to me let no one know anything of the matter about which i send you and with which i have charged you i have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place now then what do you have at hand give me five loaves of bread or whatever is here and the priest answered david i have no common bread at hand but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves from women david answered the priest truly women have been kept from us as always when i go on expedition the vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey how much more today will their vessels be holy so the priest gave david the holy bread for there was no bread there but the bread of the presence which is removed from before the lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day that it is taken away now a certain man of the servants of saul was there that day detained before the lord his name was doug the edomite the chief of saul's herdsmen then david said to the priest a himalayak then have you not hear a spear or a sword at hand for i have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste and the priest said the sword of goliath the philistine whom you struck down in the valley of ela behold it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod if you will take that take it for there is none but that here and david said there is none like that give it to me and david rose and fled that day from saul and went to oakish the king of gath and the servants of king achish said to him is not this david the king of the land did they not sing to one another of him in dances saul has struck down thousands and david his ten thousands and david took these words to heart and was much afraid of achish the king of gath so david changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made scratching marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard then akish said to his servants behold you see this man is mad why then have you brought him to me do i lack mad men that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence shall this fellow come into my house and the other chapter ends and of course david is telling a complete our story he is alone he needs food he makes up the story that king saul has sent him on a special mission and he's due to meet the young men who go with him and they're waiting for him in a particular place and meanwhile david who is starving and fears everyone after passing from jonathan in the chapter before david is in a really desperate place with seemingly no human help and even the priest was nervous when david walked in thinking that something was wrong and that the king had sent david whom he knew to be a military commander for saul with some special mission with the priests who lived in that holy place and ahimalek the chief of the priesthood questions david and david makes a confession of a story simply so that he can have food and the himalayan says but we've no common bread here but there is the bread of the presence and we take that away and make hot bread to put from time to time now you're welcome to the holy bread if your young men are in a state to receive it and david again making up a story says oh yes of course they are because whenever we go on expeditions they are in that that state of grace so uh yes and the himalayak takes the bread david has asked for five loaves and it's for him and so he takes it and then he says uh almost by the way is there a any kind of weapon here i've come away in such haste that i have no weapon with me and he's meaning until i get to the young men i suppose um but they don't exist as well and ahemalek knows none of this and he says well wrapped in a cloth here is the sword of goliath of gas the one that you you slew and david says no better sword give me that so taking the weapon david flees from that city he is really frightened he is really in a bad place and at the same time there's that little paragraph which might seem irrelevant nothing is irrelevant in this story nothing for we're told that doug the edomite the chief of king saul's herdsmen is there and he has heard that conversation that will get back to the ears of saul meanwhile david flees and he goes of all places to gath where the philistine lord akish is king and gath was of course the place that goliath came from he really is in enemy territory and he's alone and the servants of the king recognize him and pass the story on and this comes to the ears of david who then is even more afraid for akish has forces there and david is absolutely alone with no support so he stoops even lower and pretends that his mind has gone and he's no danger to everyone his spittle comes onto his beard as he mumbles and makes incoherent noises and scratches weird signs on the walls and akish says for this man this man is clearly insane i have enough mad men around me and and no doubt the servants laugh at that to to not to want any more just send him away so by doing that david protects himself by seeming to be entirely irrelevant to king akish and all those there's no danger but they are a very first danger to him as is the message of doug the edomite who will go back as saul's loyal chief herdsman to report to king saul all that he has heard so we've come to a really bad place for david and yet as the psalmist said in that psalm of david because david's name undergirds all the psalms and the singing which is mentioned in that is very much a skill of david's but the psalm says the lord puts down one and raises up another and that is a psalm which prophesies for david that at the moment of course he's he's very much in the lowest position seemingly beyond help and in great danger and he flees from from the the priests to achish and then afterwards we'll see tomorrow what happens next the same time i wanted to just go to the new testament for a moment to read what we might call a pericope a little bit of a gospel and as we do that we are in the earliest of the gospels and there's a sentence in there which helps us understand that this is the earliest of the gospels i'm in chapter 2 of gospel of mark and i'm reading from verse 23 of chapter 2 early days for jesus and his disciples one sabbath jesus was going through the cornfields and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck ears of corn and the pharisees were saying to him look why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath and jesus said to them but have you never read what david did when he was in need and was hungry he and those who were with him how he entered the house of god in the time of abiather the high priest and at the bread of the presence which is is not lawful for any but the priest to eat and also gave it to those who were with him jesus said to them the sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath so the son of man is lord even of the sabbath it's a story which is showing that jesus is placing himself as son of man and as bartimaeus in this gospel shout son of david as well in that category where holy things when meant for people's welfare become right to be used for the son of man is lord even of the sabbath and david went for his welfare at that particular time and at the bread of the presence which was offered to him now i remember that takes me back to a moment when uh the um new testament tutor alec graham who became bishop of newcastle was sitting in his room and it was a tutorial about and he took his greek testament out of his pocket which was all covered in crayon markings and goodness says what and stabbed his finger at this and said but the lord is wrong a biaser was not the priest a himalayak was the priest and that is important because not that jesus's memory fails him at that time in with all the human limitations and the fierceness of the criticism going on around him it's not that or that mark got it wrong in some way or another we don't know which but that later on and it has to be later on matthew and luke don't put in the name of ahimalek but they do erase the name abiather abiatha priest he's the son of a himalay but at the same time this story is about a himalayan we've just read it and that helps us to understand the sequence of the gospels there are all kinds of puddle puzzles and riddles for us to read rather like that the writing on the chinese lanterns today and to try and solve but every type of solving opens up to us a new spiritual dimension when we're actually reading the good news and that becomes important because of course that story we've just read reflects right from david himself when he's at his lowest pitch to jesus himself facing controversy from the authorities for the first time in sin mark's gospel and that will grow and grow as we know within that gospel so an interesting connection that with the the old testament story and then the story in the gospels about our lord himself son of man and son of david if we look at dates today there are only two that i want to mention and uh the first is the fact that on this day the 15th of february 1564 in the city of pisa which was at that time in the duchy of florence galileo was born he died in 1642 at the age of 77 in the grand duchy of tuscany it's a a small area and it shows how italy was divided into dutches and grand duchess in the papal states and everything else at that time but galileo we know as a great student and and and uh teacher of astronomy and physics and engineering and natural philosophy and mathematics he studied speed and velocity gravity and free fall the principle of relativity inertia and projectile motion well that's a staggering amount of scholarship but it's not how we think of him we think mostly of galileo connected with the telescope and he himself just as david was making a journey step by step into difficult and dangerous places and going on and on and not knowing at all which way the lord would take him and we're sitting on a path which leads upwards it's a day of thinking about journeys journeys which are dangerous and journeys which at the same time are leading on to the next step and one can then say well i understand now why that was happening because it led me to hear and to hear and to hear well galileo the journeys were not so much physical as looking up at the celestial objects of the sky and as he did so using his telescope for the study of celestial objects he confirmed first of all the phases of the planet venus now you will know that the planet venus rather like the moon goes through phases when the shadow of the sun hides bits from us and if you look at it and a planet will always under a telescope resolve into a disk and the star never will however strong that the telescope it'll it's a pinpoint of light it's far far too far away to resolve into anything else but the planet venus resolves into a disk and it's so big and so near and at the moment it's the first thing i see in the morning because it rises in the eastern sky long before the sun and it's a wonderful thing to see this morning star uh some of called it but at the same time it is the planet venus shining that the brightest object in our sky always as a planet when it's in that kind of mode and if you put a telescope on it or even a strong pair of binoculars it resolves into rather like the moon maybe a bit of it is hidden by the phase it's in and galileo confirmed the phases of venus he observed four of the largest moons of the planet uh uh jupiter and observed the rings of the planet saturn and the craters on our moon and even by mechanisms not staring straight at them the sun spots on our sun but most of all and this is what we remember him for in his journeyings he championed the copernican heliocentric theory don't get on here yeah didn't come across or not no yeah heliocentric theory which means that he learned to believe beyond all doubt that the earth and all the planets which were then known revolved around the sun and the sun did not revolve around the earth which was the old theory and the earth rotated daily and at the same time annually around the sun and in championing that theory he had massive official opposition from the church he was investigated by the roman inquisition and was called foolish absurd heretical and opposed to holy scripture and he defended his views but was tried again by the inquisition and ended his life in ten years of house arrest for heresy and being forced to recant all of this seemed extraordinary now but that's what happened and uh so galileo is in his journeying entered all inadvertently into very dangerous times for his life for the inquisition was not to be toyed with it had power of life and death it had authority over what was taught and here we are with galileo being called foolish absurd heretical and opposed to holy scripture he died in 1642 in that time of seeming disgrace for him and house arrest but he continued to write in those years and we give thanks for his journey uh one that we now take for granted but at this time also i want to remember sir ernest shackleton who was born on the 15th of february in 1874 and died in 1922 for a particular reason he's come into prominence recently in the news again he was an antarctic explorer who led three expeditions of his own but even before that he'd been with captain scott in one of scott's earlier journeys as the third officer on the discovery of which uh scott was captain and both were antarctic explorers they had a a passion to go and explore that frozen and dangerous continent and they would travel down to antarctica and as i say shackleton led three expeditions but after the south pole had been reached by amundsen in 1911 that quest was ended yet in 1914 shackleton wanted to set out on another quest and that was to cross antarctica from one side to the other arriving there by ship and then going by land across and then going back by ship and that was his intention it was the trans-antarctic expedition it set off before the first world war had broken out set off in 1914 in a ship called endurance well no better name for that ship and that name now has come back into prominence again as probably many of you will know disaster awaited the endurance because it as a ship it got trapped in pack ice off the coast of antarctica and the the heavy pack ice there surrounded and trapped the ship and for a while the crew camped on the sea ice when the ship became too dangerous because the pack ice was crushing it and in the end as the pack ice began to disintegrate they were on an ice flow of massive type but as that began to disintegrate the ship was crushed and their photographer was able to take a picture of that happening shackleton watched his ship endurance sink as the ice which was beginning to disintegrate in the spring by then crushed it and they were left there camping and they had the the three boats the ship's boats and in the end shackled and decided the only way that they could escape and we're talking months of camping on the ice and at the same time now they're going to embark on the most fantastically dangerous journey in their three boats first of all to elephant island which was the nearest solid land that they could find and that journey itself took five days a very very dangerous rowing in the seas of the antarctic and they arrived on the 9th of april 1916 now so they set off in 1914 it's now april 1916 and all this has befallen them and there's no means of contact of any kind at that time and so they get with their three boats to elephant island but it's uninhabited and so shackleton knows and it's also off the shipping lanes shackleton knows that they won't be rescued there but they have plenty of stores they've unloaded the endurance and loaded all of those into the ship's boats which were heavy-duty boats but at the same time small against the antarctic currents and he himself then said that one boat which he would take charge of with five other men would set off on the 720 nautical mile journey rowing to south georgia where there was a whaling station it was british territory and there was a wailing station and they left the 22 men there camped on elephant island with no hope of rescue except this boat that went off with shackleton uh and navigating that to south georgia and they made it and not that the men on on elephant island knew that but they did make it by the 24th of april 1916. they arrived on the wrong side of of south georgia in hurricane conditions and had to wait out at sea while that storm died down then they landed then by land they had to go across the dangerous terrain of south georgia and then down to the wailing station and once again they made that journey it's an extraordinary tale of a journey which was dangerous all the way and they got to the whaling station and then had to find a ship that would get them back to elephant island to rescue those men we're talking may the 8th in south georgia and it was on the 30th of august in 1916 that the british whaler that they'd found got to elephant island and after four and a half months there no one amongst the 22 men there waiting waiting waiting not knowing what to hope for no one had perished they were all lifted off to safety onto the british whaler and taken back through really stormy and really dangerous seas these are dangerous waters now i say all this because at the moment there's uh the the the knowledge that it would be possible to find the endurance and there's a great interest in this ship and so uh an expedition called endurance 22 the year 2022 is setting off and you can actually look at that on the news we've had much about it recently but i wanted this morning simply to think about shackleton's endurance himself it was the name of him his ship it should have been the name of shackleton later on after the the second the first world war was over shackleton went back to the antarctic it was deep within him and he died of a heart attack on board ship in in south georgia at that time in 1922 but it's his journey for the safety and welfare of all those people and wondering whether or not they would get through that i wanted to mark this morning the journey of david in hopeless conditions and thinking himself bereft and left by everyone and then the journey of galileo with his telescope which led him into dangerous waters himself ending under house arrest and and seeming disgrace and then the journey of shackleton which was a physical journey and death awaited him at every footfall and every wrong decision about navigation and his skill and endurance saw not only him but those who he had charge of all the way through the ones he cared for so let's say our prayers on this day when we're thinking very much of journeys and journeys which reit reach really difficult times and the way that the lord will use them in different ways here we are saying our prayers on this week of the third sunday before lent and that will be our colleagues in a moment um but first of all bring your own intentions your own prayers your own concerns as we pray together and here in the anglican communion today we're praying for the diocese of kasai in the province of the uh anglican church of congo and then we are praying for justin our archbishop and rose bishop of dover and emma bishop at lambeth and the parish church of saint george in ramsgate and for paul willage in his ministry there so bring your own intentions as we say the prayer for this week almighty god who alone can bring order to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity give your people grace so to love what you command and to desire what you promise that among the many changes of this world our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found through jesus christ our lord amen it's a moment now when we say the our father which our savior taught us to say in whatever language you like to use 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 men moment now of reflection on this day [Music] is [Music] [Applause] eyes [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] r me [Music] [Applause] [Music] is is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] me [Music] foreign the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord 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 so we wish our friends in china the happiest of lantern festivals and also the happiest of times not only solving the riddles but also letting the light of the white lanterns float away from them as a sign of letting the past go and the future opening up with that light and the full moon with full of new possibilities and i we hope that for them in the best possible ways you you won't believe that this morning early on there was the most beautiful sunrise in a clear sky and before that as i said the planet venus was was blazing in the eastern sky but a storm is on the way uh in a very big way and we're told that today will be full of wind and pouring rain so i'm glad we found this interval to be together here to think of those journeys which people have made now this isn't a very nice day to be outside is it so i think we're going to have some warmth rather than being here and you'll enjoy that i know but you've enjoyed being with us this morning yes good