[Music] good morning and welcome on this wednesday morning the 17th of march it's st patrick's day and so we're here to give thanks for the whole of ireland and everyone with irish connections throughout the world we're thinking of our friends in south and north of ireland today and giving thanks for all that in irish culture uh they have given to enrich the cultures of the world in music in words in all so many ways and uh it's a lovely thing to be giving thanks in this green dell here in the gene the deanery garden for green is very much the color of today and we're thinking of the 5th century saint saint patrick in our worship who was very much the person who brought the christian gospel into ireland having himself been captured as a 16 year old by pirates off the cornish uh coast and then after escaping from them he was taken to ireland as a as a slave at that time for them uh having escaped from them his ministry began his his learning of what it meant to be first of all a christian then a monk and then a bishop and then the the first bishop of amar so we'll think of all those things and give thanks for all our irish friends wherever they are but if you have irish connections or if you don't that's glory in st patrick's day we've got this little chap here who is uh reminding us of all the festivities that normally happen he can't stand up it seems uh um i mustn't suggest why he he he can't stand up but here he is uh but it's generally party day it has been if i think of new york and the the great um processions that generally happen in the parties but it's it's certainly not going to happen today because of of all of the ways in which um we have to to keep the restrictions of the pandemic um but of course here's the here's the shamrock uh this hat which fletcher provided which he suggested i wear through the service i think probably that would uh not really add to the prayerful atmosphere of the service it certainly adds to the the atmosphere for us all today of thanksgiving for all things irish and we pray for all denominations of christians in ireland oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise hear our voice o lord according to your faithful love according to your judgment give us life blessed are you god of compassion and mercy to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of our sin your light breaks forth like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance as we rejoice in the gift of your saving help sustain us with your bountiful spirit and open our lips to sing your 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 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 are men [Music] our son on the 17th morning of the month is psalm 87. her foundations are on the holy mountains the lord loves the gates of zion more than all the dwellings of jacob glorious things are spoken of you zion city of our god i record egypt and babylon as those who know me behold philistia tyre and ethiopia in zion were they born and of zion it shall be said each one was born in her and the most high himself has established her the lord will record as he writes up the peoples this one also was born and as they dance they shall sing all my fresh springs are in you so we turn to sit this little chap out of the wind so we turn to uh um the gospel of saint john and uh we are halfway through chapter 10 taking up from where we left off yesterday with the teaching of jesus yesterday jesus having talked about the sheepfold and himself as the door now today we're taking up from verse 11. jesus said i am the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep he who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf scatters them [Music] he flees because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep i am the good shepherd i know my own and my own know me just as the father knows me and i know the father and i lay down my life for the sheep and i have other sheep that are not of this fold i must bring them also and they will listen to my voice so there will be one flock one shepherd for this reason the father loves me because i lay down my life that i may take it up again no one takes it from me but i lay it down my own accord i have authority to lay it down and i have authority to take it up again this charge i have received from my father [Music] there was again a division among the jews because of these words many of them said he has a demon and is insane why listen to him others said these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon and can a demon open the eyes of the blind really a wonderful lesson for st patrick's day who made himself the pastor and that word is taken from the vocabulary of the shepherd looking after the sheep of the irish people all those centuries ago later we shall read a a hymn which is so much associated with him it's an ancient hymn and it captures the teaching of saint patrick but for the moment let's just think how jesus uses this image which we saw yesterday is an image that is fully in the old testament used so much by the psalmist used of the shepherd king david and the image of the shepherd leading the sheep because they know the voice of the one they trust not driving them but leading them and today the i am statement is even clearer yesterday the picture was i am the door of the sheep today i am the good shepherd and there are two facets of the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep and the good shepherd knows the sheep jesus is absolutely clear that the laying down of his life for the sheep is a matter of choice i have the power to lay it down no one's taking it from me no one is insisting but because i have embraced this total vocation then the father loves me and he knows the father the one whom he calls abba the creative power of the creator he knows that power within himself as his own vocation as the anointed one the messiah but he gives it to us in simple pictures we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone in our own way that's the prophet isaiah and jesus is taking that up and calling the sheep there are other parables we can think of of the shepherd leaving the 99 and going in search of the one that went astray and bringing that sheep home but in this passage jesus simply uses the picture with one of his i am statements which are so precious to us for pictures are powerful i am the good shepherd and i lay down my life for the sheep as opposed to somebody who's simply contracted and paid for the hours they're doing and has no particular care for the sheep jesus is giving his whole life and safety right to the end to the sheep who know him and they learn to know his voice and to trust that voice no wonder that image is so precious to us and we talk so often of a pastoral ministry it doesn't only belong to the priesthood don't think that we can be pastoral to one another because if we know each other well we know what each other's needs are and this is a particular time when people have very special needs during the pandemic but let's think of patrick a little bit on this day it's so long ago that there are only definite facts in terms of dates um about certain aspects we know that his ministry was in the fifth century long before augustine came to england and we know that she was brought up in the celtic part of the um britannia on this side so in roman britain and in that cornish place his father was a deacon his grandfather was a priest we're told by his confessio i think and then he was captured by pirates as i said he was taken as a slave first to ireland and then escaped and somehow or another got to europe and was influenced by the monastic tradition and teaching in the um tradition of saint martin of tours and when his ministry was ready he came back to the people of ireland to bring them the gospel and to give them his life and his vocation there's a a passage of uh picturing saint patrick and carrying the pastoral staff it's no wonder that those who are bishops and those who are leaders of monastic communities carry the crozier the shepherd's staff because this image of the good shepherd is everything there was a tradition and still is that a bishop carried the crazier with the stuff of the crook pointing outwards for their mission was all over the dioceses and the the countryside and villages and where they needed to be a sign of knowing the sheep and caring for the sheep but that ministry was of course in later years passed on to christian priests as well but the bishop carries the pastoral staff that way the albert or prior carries the um pastoral staff the other way and that pastoral staff actually meant that that was an enclosed kind of ministry well patrick was a monk and he had huge success in spreading the christian gospel about through ireland and became as i said the bishop of arma where the primacy still still rests in amar but at the same time he didn't have a great deal of success in developing a diocesan system instead the strong points were the monastic houses that patrick developed but let's think more about the musical tradition for irish songs and irish melodies infuse the melodies of all our folk songs here and we give thanks for that tradition that tradition of drama and poetry and the the way in which the the the music and the dancing and this little chap is here to kick his legs about in a way that uh shows exactly how that kind of dancing is such a feature and a natural feature which we so much enjoy with that irish dimension but in so many ways we give thanks for that and the him i wanted to to read because we can't sing hymns at the moment is a hymn which is always known as saint patrick's breastplate patrick taught the doctrine of the holy trinity father son and holy spirit and he used the irish shamrock to teach from the same one leaf the three aspects of the creator and the way in which the creator showed himself in human life in the person of jesus christ and the way in which the creator demonstrates power and grace and gift to us in the power of the spirit he taught that but he's him as i say known as st patrick's breastplate and i'm going to read it all because it gives a a wonderful sense of celtic spirituality looking round at the trees and the winds and the moon and the sun but at the same time binding the breastplate onto oneself this hymn is translated in this version by mrs c.f alexander she actually was born in dublin became a great hymn writer and poet but also she married a priest who became archbishop of armar so she ended her life and and died uh in in at that particular position and is is buried there uh in in in derry and we give thanks for her because of course she is a hymn writer who is hymns we know well we shall be singing in two weeks time him there is a green hill far away without a city wall where the dear lord was crucified who died to save us all at christmas we sing her him once in royal davis city stood a lowly cattle shed where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed mary was that mother mild jesus christ her little child and we think of that and we think of her writing all things bright and beautiful all creatures great and small all things wise and wonderful the lord god made us all but she was irish to the roots and she translated saint patrick's breastplate and here it is stretching back to the centuries long ago i bind unto myself today the strong name of the trinity by invocation of the same the three in one and one in three i bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlet heaven the glorious sun's life-giving ray the whiteness of the moon it even the flashing of the lightning free the whirling winds tempestuous shocks the stable earth the deep salt sea around the old eternal rocks i bind unto myself today the power of god to hold and lead his eye to watch his might to stay his ear to hearken to my need the wisdom of my god to teach his hand to guide his shield toward the word of god to give me speech his heavenly host to be my guard and then the breastplate in a different rhythm christ be with me christ within me christ behind me christ before me christ beside me christ to win me christ to comfort and restore me christ beneath me christ above me christ in quiet christ in danger christ in hearts of all that love me christ in mouth of friend and stranger i bind unto myself the name the strong name of the trinity by invocation of the same the three in one and one in three of whom all nature has creation eternal father spirit word praise to the lord of my salvation salvation is of christ the lord a really powerful hymn stretching back into the ministry of saint patrick and the celtic tradition of the church from which again we learn so much and on this day we give thanks for all of that other things have happened on this day in the year 180 a.d the emperor marcus aurelius the roman emperor the symbol of come up tiger the symbol of the golden age of the roman empire died but we don't forget him because marcus aurelius left a book of his philosophical thinking his writings and also a set of letters between himself and his tutor which still are able to teach and we read them in a philosophical way and give thanks for the thinking of marcus aurelius again coming from all those years ago in that empire which our lords knew as we were saying yesterday at the time of tiberius but marcus aurelius is much nearer to us because of the way his words have survived and people still read them for his human wisdom other things have happened on this day and in 1649 oliver cromwell abolished the position of king of england just two months after the execution of king charles the first but that was restored of course in 1660 with the with charles ii's restoration 1912 and this is rather touching it's only taken from robert falcon scott's diary which was dug out of the snow when the bodies of those who had died in the antarctic were discovered and he had written that on this day 1912 captain lawrence oates one of the party who was beginning to fail in being able to keep up with the others as they were camped and there was a great storm outside which in the end was going to continue and uh meant that they would not get back to their base camp said to them all i'm just going outside and maybe some time it was his 32nd birthday he'd been born on march the 17th in 1880 and went outside to die laying down his life voluntarily because he thought he was slowing up the others and and hampering their chance of safety and that is remembered through scott writing a diary and that being found later well all of those things and we remember that this is the day in 1861 when king victor emmanuel ii from his capital as king of piedmont and sardinia in turin proclaimed a united kingdom of italy rome itself had not yet been declared part of that that wouldn't happen until 1870 but in 1861 italy ceased to be what prince metternich had called it at the congress of vienna a geographical expression and became a united kingdom and that we remember on this day as we pray for italians as we're praying for the irish on this day as well and then perhaps lastly i'll mention that in 1938 the famous ballet dancer rudolph nuria was born and he found as you will well remember that his own dancing was so restricted in what the soviet regime allowed him at what was called in those days the kirov ballet it's now returned to its imperial um czarist title the marinski ballet but he was dancing with the kirov ballet and uh he decided when he came on tour to first of all france in 1961 that he would stay there and was given asylum there and then afterwards to the benefit of all here in england he joined the royal valley but return to paris later because he became director of the paris opera valley we give thanks for such skill in dancing but our chief thought today is giving thanks for all that the irish people have brought to the world in creativity and for all our friends i we think particularly in the cathedral here of our librarian uh cressida who uh is from an old irish family and uh we actually have the the gifts of that dimension being given to the cathedral by her and her husband one of our late clerks and the the children also singers here that cressida's knowledge of the library here is second to none so all of those things and too much to think about today really uh and we will see who we're praying for well of course mostly we're praying for christian in christians in ireland and then in the anglican communion for the diocese of orca in the church of nigeria in the niger province there and here in this diocese for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover and for tim bishop at lambeth and today for the parish of foxton st peter and the uh parish priest mark haldon jones so let's say put my books down so i can get the right place let's say first of all the special prayer for st patrick's day almighty god who in your providence chose your servant patrick to be the apostle of the irish people keep alive in us the fire of faith he kindled and strengthen us in our pilgrimage towards the light of everlasting life through jesus christ our lord amen and the prayer for this week in lent merciful lord absolve your people from their offenses that through your bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins which by our frailty we have committed grant this heavenly father for jesus christ's sake our blessed lord and savior amen so let's say the prayer that our lord taught us to say and will say that in whatever language we would like to 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 we went to silence now for our own prayers on this day [Music] christ give you grace to follow 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 are men well tiger where have you appeared from you all right [Music] but this little chat now can help us remember this day i have very many happy memories when i was dean of hereford it was so easy then to drive down to swansea put the car on the night ferry and go across to the city of cork and nothing more lovely than coming in on the ferry to cove harbour and the tall steeple of saint coleman's cathedral there waiting to greet you going off to have breakfast in cork and then driving off to the west where a family called murphy kept a lovely hotel which one could stay in i got to know them all very well grandfather and father and even the children and they would send me on routes around that lovely part of ireland with all the green uh um of ireland around me and the oceans nearby so we'll all have memories like that and thanks be to god for this day [Music] [Music] r [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] is oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] my [Music] me [Music] me [Music] foreign [Music] is [Applause] you