lord [Music] is [Music] creatures [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] hello [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] that's [Music] is [Music] good morning and welcome to the dinery garden it's canterbury cathedral on this monday the 28th of december it's the fourth day of christmas and i'm sitting with plentiful green ivy and polly around me in the garden those trees are very prominent in christmas songs and we remember this fourth day of christmas is a day of christmas celebration but it's also the feast of their holy innocence that day when we remember the killing of all the boys under the age of two in bethlehem by the orders of the fearful king head of the great and we will remember that in our reflection we remember too the continuation of christmas but there are on this particular date uh two events which i might remember on uh the 28th of december in 1836 the governor of south australia proclaimed the beginning of the state of south australia and the city of adelaide and its kept as proclamation day there today so we remember our friends elspeth and posey who live there and also our friend felicity whose home it is but she at the moment uh is in new haven at yale and we think of her and andrew today so also this is republic day in south sudan south sudan is a new nation formed by the the separation from south and north in 2011. it's been a troubled part of the sudan ever since i've known it i first went there to work in 1979 in the midst of a troubled um ceasefire almost a peace then and in the early 80s when i was there the war had broken out again in the city of juba the capital city of south sudan was besieged but we remember in our prayers the whole of the south sudan and the many christians in south sudan there are about 60 of the population which is a one form or other of christianity and we remember that and all the people of south sudan and pray for constant reconciliation there as that new nation finds its feet so with those intentions and your own intentions wherever you are in the world feel welcome as we begin our prayers on this holy innocence day o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands blessed are you sovereign god creator of heaven and earth to you be praise and glory forever as your living word eternal in heaven assume the frailty of our mortal flesh may the light of your love be born in us to fill our hearts with joy as we sing 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 so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen well the gift of this new day brings an icy day the lawn is crunchy underfoot with ice and the sky is clear and blue the sun hasn't yet risen but it will be a true winter's day and i have the company here though you may not see him of a little red-breasted english robin who has been twitching around and enjoying life around me as i sit here and also we have the pleasure of reading this morning's psalm which on this 28th day of the month is psalm 132 and i'll read some verses from that now lord remember for david all the hardships he endured how he swore an oath to the lord and vowed a vow to the mighty one of jacob i will not come within the shelter of my house nor climb up into my bed i will not allow my eyes to sleep nor let my eyelids slumber until i find a place for the lord a dwelling for the mighty one of jacob the lord has sworn an oath to david a promise from which he will not shrink of the fruit of your body shall i set upon your throne if your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that i shall teach them their children also shall sit upon your throne forevermore for the lord has chosen zion for himself he has desired her for his habitation this shall be my resting place forever here will i dwell for i have longed for her i will abundantly bless her provision her poor will i satisfy with bread i will clothe her priests with salvation and her faithful ones shall rejoice and sing there will i make a horn to spring up for david i will keep a lantern burning for my anointed and as for his enemies i will close them with shame but on him shall his crown be bright that psalm of the anointed line of david reminds us of course of the carol once in royal david city but it was no throne or royal diadem our lord came to it was the manger where a mother laid her baby in a manger for a bed the carols are so full of truths and we shall come to another of them which speaks very powerfully and poignantly of this day later in our reflection but for the moment we're going to read the morning lesson which is set for us it's not the story of the holy innocents we will refer to that but it reflects on that story of the holy innocents and jesus is teaching about the place of children within the kingdom of heaven it's matthew chapter 18 and i'm beginning to read it verse one at that time the disciples came to jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and calling to him a child jesus put the child in the midst of them and said truly i say to you unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven whoever humbles themselves like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven whoever receives one such child in my name receives me but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for that one to have a great millstone fastened round their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea woe to the world for temptations to sin for it is necessary that temptations come but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes so if your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire and if your eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire see that you do not despise one of these little ones for i tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven what do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray and if he finds it truly i say to you he rejoices over it more than over the 99 that never went astray so it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish jesus responding to the disciples constant looking at earthly glory it's not the first time that they argue about who is the greatest among them and here we are again who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven one can imagine jesus sitting at the place they've come to stay that night perhaps and calling over the little child the child not knowing at all what was going on and just using that as an illustration but as so often in his imagery they are powerful images and the fierceness with which he tells people to resist temptation is very evident in that lesson and then the beautiful image of the shepherd going out to seek the lost sheep everything so much central to our lord's ministry but at the moment of course in these christmas days we think of jesus himself as a vulnerable baby in the manger at bethlehem it's no good trying to keep chronology in these days of christmas otherwise you come across the fact that the wise men whom we remember at epiphany on a day of their own on january the 6th are nowhere near king herod yet and yet king herod uh responds to the message of the wise men in the gospel of saint matthew by sending to bethlehem and making sure that every male child under the age of two in the whole vicinity is slaughtered the terrible temptation when we're afraid especially if the temptation can be eradicated by the death or suffering of some creature or some situation to swipe out at that and swat it dead like a fly and here is the great image of earthly power sitting in jerusalem where the magi will come expecting a king so of course they go to the royal palace and at that point the royal palace is inhabited by the cruel head of the great we know from history all about hell of the great he was a great king in terms of the kingdom he built up but a monster in the way he dealt with any he feared anyone who might in some way be a threat to his power even members of his own family and in that way we remember him in the bethlehem story later the angel comes to joseph warning him get up flee to egypt and it's only after herod the great dies that joseph comes back but even then he finds that herod's son is in jerusalem and so he himself goes to nazareth and brings up jesus there but this day we remember the cruel slaughter of all those innocent children that kind of slaughter goes on in any situation of war or terror civil war strife it also goes on even within communities sometimes unnoticed and all of that jesus speaks of in matthew 18. this is a day which has called forth so much poetry it's difficult to see which poem to read this morning and many of you will have poems in your mind about it later i'll read the verses of the carol which we'll hear at the end of our um blessing this morning but for the moment here's a poem by lawrence houseman not a e houseman lawrence was the brother of alfred houseman of the shropshire lad fame and lauren's houseman was asked when the english hymnal was being created to write some hymns for saints days but here's a poem he wrote about the holy innocents and i'll read this to you now when christ was born in bethlehem fair peace on earth to bring in lowly state of love he came to be the children's king and round him then a holy band of children blessed was born fair guardians of his throne to stand attendant night and mourn and unto them this grace was given a savior's name to own and die for him who out of heaven had found on earth a throne o blessed babes of bethlehem who died to save our king ye share the martyrs diadem and in their anthem sing your lips on earth that never speak now sound the eternal word and in the courts of love ye make your children's voices heard lord jesus christ eternal child make thou our childhood thine that we with thee the meek and mild may share the love divine there are poems by christina rosetti as one would expect because christmas and the christ child in the manger was very dear to her and the holy innocence touched her heart you can you can find those if you if you look for them but the poem by lawrence heisman can represent all that poetry at the same time as we look at other dates today i just want to mention one i want to say happy birthday today today maggie smith who was born in 1934 and whose long-acting career has been full of such diversity that one wants to say thank you for all that she has given to us i remember seeing her first in 1969 in that wonderful film the prime of miss gene brodie so touching as the school mistress in that but oh so many films since i mentioned just a few her powerful portrayal of the wife of the ex or the the the late british ambassador in in rome lady random in tea with mussolini and also from 2001 to 2011 her playing of minerva mcgonagall in all the harry potter films and then of course her part in the best marigold hotel and on television lady grantham in downton abbey who became a worldwide character we remember her also not only in those powerful roles but in and i'll just mention two of them roles of someone who was totally vulnerable and she expressed that oh so well one thinks of miss mary shepard and the lady in the van and i think back in 1988 of her role as susan the vicar's wife in alan bennett's talking heads bet among the lentils how well she in humorous ways but very powerfully sets out the forgotten role so often of the clergy spouse who has to bear so much for the clergy person on whom is all the focus and she herself plays that part until tears run in your eyes because of the humor and also because of the situations she's describing and when i saw it i was the vicar of sherman and the the kind of conversations we had with the she had with those who were doing flowers around the altar all of those things become immensely powerful but she has that capacity to create create these characters for us and it still goes on just one other humorous character i would want to remember from her this is a play which was performed in in london in 1990 it was called lettuce and lovage and in it she played the guide around the country house who would spin the most amazing stories about the house not too many of them based on real history but she would dress up to be the part as well and her conflict with lovage for whom every historical fact had to be proved ten times before you even mentioned it becomes something that i've seen in cathedrals and country houses throughout my whole ministry and oftentimes it's the one who's telling the story well who gets all the attention of the visitors and draws in the crowds to that particular place and gives it life again so thank god for the acting career of dame maggie smith and happy birthday to her on this particular day as we come to say our prayers i'm first going to read the carol i mentioned which will be sung at the end of the blessing um by our own choir it's called the coventry carol and it's really it's a 16th century carol of the mothers of bethlehem who bore the grief of the slaughter of their children and one remembers in that city of coventry where so many died in that terrible rage in the second world war and now the community of the cross of nails which runs worldwide and its whole vocation is reconciliation here's the words of the here are the words of the coventry carol lulay delay thou little tiny child sweet sleep well lully lulay and smile in dreaming little one sleep well luni lunai oh sisters too what may we do to preserve on this day this poor young ling for whom we sing sleep well lully gulley farewell lully lulay headed the king in his raging set forth upon this day by his decree no life spare thee all children young to slay all children young to slay then woe is me poor child for thee and ever mourn and say for thy parting neither sleep well lully lulay and when the stars feel darkened skies in their far venture stay and smile as dreaming little one farewell dream now lulay sad lullaby for the mothers of bethlehem on this day so we pray today for all families the world over and those in our diocese here and any whom you know who have the care of children but our world responsibility for the care of children on this holy innocence day we pray for justin our archbishop for the life of the anglican communion today for the diocese of fond du lac in the episcopal church and matthew alan gunter the bishop there and his people and the diocese of fort worth also in the episcopal church and scott mayer the bishop there and his people for bishop rose of dover for bishop tim at lambeth and for all the churches of kent at this time and your own prayers and churches and communities of faith whom you would pray for here's the special prayer for holy innocence day heavenly father whose children suffered at the hands of herod though they had done no wrong by the suffering of your son and by the innocence of our lives frustrate all evil designs and establish your reign of justice and peace through jesus christ our lord amen colic for christmas tide almighty god you have given us your only begotten son to take our nature upon him and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin grant that we who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace may daily be renewed by your holy spirit through jesus christ our lord amen so we say each in our own language 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 amen moment of silence now for our own prayers [Music] christ who by his coming at christmas time gathered into one things earthly and things heavenly fill you and your families and loved ones with the spirit of peace and good will and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and those whom you love and would pray for today and always amen [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] jesus christ oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh is [Music]