good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this sunday morning the 21st of march i've brought out the um girl pigs we drove them around here from where they are with uh um kemi and the little piglets which you met when they were just an hour old yesterday and these girls who live in the same enclosure are fascinated by the piglets and very gentle with them and so um we brought them out for a little bit of freedom this morning on a gray morning and rather chilly morning but it's passion sunday and so we change gear today completely and go from our lenten journey onto the way of the cross and so if you've got one of the um daily prayer and i know that some of you have from from your messages sent in then we begin today on page 250 which is morning prayer for passion tide and we shall use parts of that certainly the the introduction and uh these we'll be having a nice time leo's a little bit nervous of them and i'm trying to convince him that pigs actually can't get onto the table but i don't think he quite believes it at the moment so here we are with the prayers for passion tide bring your concerns from across the world and you unite them with our prayers to enrich our worship as we enter passion tide together o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon us your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world 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 say may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this 21st morning of the month is psalm 105 and we use some of the verses of that long psalm now oh give thanks to the lord and call upon his name make known his deeds among the peoples sing to him sing praises and tell of his marvelous works rejoice in the praise of his holy name let the hearts of them rejoice who seek the lord seek the lord and his strengths seek his face continually remember the marvels he has done his wonders and the judgments of his mouth he brought his people out of egypt with silver and gold there was not one of the tribes that stumbled egypt was glad at their departing for a dread of them had fallen upon them he spread out a cloud for a covering and a fire to light up the night they asked and he brought them quails he satisfied them with the bread of heaven he opened the rock and the waters gushed out and ran in the dry places like a river for he remembered his holy word and abraham his servant so he brought forth his people with joy his chosen ones with singing he gave them the lands of the nations and they took possession of the fruit of their toil that they might keep his statutes and faithfully observe his laws so him a pilgrimage it's also a hymn of god's nourishment of his people but it gives us wonderful images of the bread of heaven and image of the spirit gushing forth like water from the rock to refresh not only the people but also the wilderness let me just give a little bit of bread from earth to these i've got some stale bread from the kitchen here which they'll enjoy to eat so let me put that down before we start to read our bits and pieces from the scriptures and think on that now normally we've been reading from the gospel of saint john and indeed at the eucharist i shall be preaching on john 12 because that's the gospel for today but this special lessons always for sundays and our special lesson for morning prayer is taken from the letter to the hebrews it's a wonderful letter and some people still think that it was written by paul most think not and i have friends who believe that it was written for example by barnabas because barnabas was a levite and knew all the details of temple worship and the ins and outs of that kind of liturgical law and those images the writer to the hebrews used in a great deal and particularly the image of melchizedek the um priest forever which the psalmist mentions and this this strange character as the writer says in the hebrews without generation just sort of standing alone and melchizedek blessed abraham well all of that is there others that i know think it's by apollos or there are other theories about it it doesn't matter it's very clearly a letter of the early church and we're reading this morning from chapter 12 and beginning at verse 18 for you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them for they could not endure the order that was given if even a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned indeed so terrifying was the sight of moses that moses said i tremble with fear that you have come to mount zion and to the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem and to innumerable angels in festival gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to god the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of abel see that you do not refuse him who is speaking for if they did not escape when they refused him who warn them on earth much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven at that time his voice shook the earth but now he has promised yet once more i will shake not only the earth but also the heavens this phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken that is things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to god acceptable worship with reverence and all for our god is a consuming fire another image an image of the spirit just as the waters gushing from the rock and now the consuming fire but the most important part of all of this and it will be so with the gospel at the eucharist in john 12 is the fact that the humanity of jesus [Music] proclaims physically that divine gift and intention and that is what we embrace on passion sunday morning as we go from our lenten journey to follow him on the way of the cross that will become more and more evident as we read through the chapters of saint john at our morning prayers in the week to follow this passion week leading up to palm sunday and next sunday the entry of our lord into jerusalem but remember this morning what we have been learning all the way through lent in our journeying the fact that all the promises and words and images which jesus gives us our words from his own ministry spoken and given at a particular time and in a particular place and we take them for our worship and grow used to them and sometimes forget that we are talking about human situations which are giving us aspects of the divine human things which are finite and as the writer to the hebrews says can be shaken and will disappear representing things of heaven which can never be shaken can never change a gift that jesus bids us receive and those who are the body of christ have not only been receiving but encouraging others to receive ever since it's a wonderful gift and placing it in context makes it even better yesterday from the pigsty with the little piglets around me the nine newborn just an hour old piglets of clemmy i mentioned the story of the prodigal son and we use the prodigal son's words from the pigsty in the gospel of saint luke in our prayer book worship and this is a day the 21st of march when we remember archbishop thomas cranmer because it was the day he was burned at the stake for heresy and at this point in the beginning of morning prayer in order to make us ready to say morning prayer in the book of common prayer the 1662 book of common prayer crime replaces one of the sentences and one of them is spoken in the pigsty by the prodigal son i will arise and go to my father and say to him father i have sinned against god and against you and i'm no more worthy to be called your son well let's remember where that was spoken in the very depths of despair that despair was used as a gift to the prodigal to make him realize the love of his father and he intends to go home in penitence but as he approaches with all those words prepared to say to his father treat me as one of your hired servants not as your son the father runs down the road to greet him and here's the image given in hebrews of us not approaching something frightening and terrifying the frightening and terrifying aspect for the prodigal son was the depth of despair in the pigsty when he was sharing the pig's morning breakfast because no one would give him anything to eat that was the terrifying part when he got home of course he was terrified he was approaching in penitence but what he received was the joy which were given at the end of that chapter of the hebrews of the glory awaiting us of the arms of god himself around us welcoming home and those words that we say we heard some more of those words when we read of the beginning of the raising of lazarus story in john chapter 11 and in the same way martha greeting jesus in that little country road which led up to bethany going out as a dear friend remember jesus loved mary and martha and lazarus and she goes to meet him and in response to her if you had been here my brother would not have died and then jesus says after martha says i know he will rise at the resurrection on the last day jesus says i am the resurrection and the life do you believe this that one believing that will never die and she says lord i believe that you are the christ the son of god who was to come into the world emblem not only of our humanity son of man but totality of the gift and essence that god desires to recreate of those who were made in the divine image spoken let's put it into context just outside an ordinary village on an ordinary lane between two very not ordinary friends but two human beings sharing our capacity to embrace the divine one could go through so many sentences which we know by heart from the scriptures but what we've been doing in the garden not only in lent but for the whole of the past year is seeing that those words are spoken in a particular context that the gift of jesus is given and his humanity is given for such a short time but in a particular context among a particular people which then is lifted into the present tense with the i am statement always in the present tense spoken in the present tense to martha and spoken in the present tense to the twelve i am the true vine and those wonderful sentences in pictures become present tense for us may they do so throughout passion tight as we follow jesus in his vocation in reality in our humanity to receive not only the bread of heaven but also the waters of the spirit refreshing ourselves and any wilderness in which we find ourselves or in which humanity finds itself for we are the bearer of that gift and at the same time the consuming fire not in a frightening way but a fire which lights up our humanity with the spirit that our sentence of that passage from the wonderful letter to the hebrews given again as a gift to the church well let's let's just see for a moment other things which have happened on this day because some of them are quite wonderful as i say this is a day that we remember thomas cranmer the 21st of march who was burned at the stake on this day as a heretic but that happened in 1556 he was the archbishop of canterbury then and during his years before that as archbishop of canterbury we remember him best for the liturgy and words he was so able at crafting from his own spirituality and literary gifts i remember this day only too well in 2013 because it's the day on which i enthroned and installed justin welby as archbishop of canterbury that's eight years ago and so we pray for him and caroline on this anniversary day and give thanks for his ministry and pray all the gifts of the spirit necessary to engage in and fulfill that monumental task as primate of all england and leader of the anglican communion at this time in the older calendar 21st of march was the first day of st benedict and that too is precious to us here because of the threads of the benedictine life which still is a deep deep instinct in this community an instinct of working in body mind and spirit within a community given to hospitality and all of that comes on this day but in 1946 on this day an iron beven announced the government proposals for a free national health service for the united kingdom well that too we've had cause during these months to give enormous thanks for and for the selfless giving of so many involved in the national health service as so many of you will be giving thanks for those who look after your health during this pandemic and those who are fighting off the pandemic by so many different means on this day in 2020 we saw following the closure of all schools on the 19th we saw the closure of all cafes pubs restaurants theaters gyms leisure centers all the places where people come together and really that has never regained strength to open during all these on and off times of lockdown and not and so we still await the time when we can freely come together and even more so but more distant when there will be no such thing as social distancing or the wearing of masks and things of that kind but for the moment of course they're hugely important and then i wanted to mention that on this day in 2017 colin dexter died now he wrote wonderful detective stories about inspector morse who became a real figure on television for years and since then there have been spin-offs which colin dexter was involved in of lewis and one that we always enjoy hugely endeavor colin dexter had been a student of classics a teacher of classics and then after that suddenly discovered he had a gift for writing and he gave to inspector more some of his interests they're doing a very hard cryptic crosswords for example the love of opera and the love of real english beer not fizzy not chilled but real english beer and that very much became part of the character of inspector morse and we give thanks for these creative skills of folk who set us puzzles in their novels and detective stories always do that say that our mind is exercised but in physicality so to speak and in humanity colin dexter through every television episode while he could would appear as hitchcock used to just in a cameo role saying nothing but you recognize him in a crowd scene or something and say ah there's colin dexter the writer and it placed it into a human context and all of those things we remember on this day together with a a humorous um anniversary as well in 1997 the reverend wilbert ver audrey died we best know him as w audrey who was a parish priest as his father had been but he also wrote and had illustrated all the thomas the tank engine stories which have delighted children and adults and those who love steam trains ever since thanks be to god for all these creative gifts this is a very special day for us because uh danny clitter's sister has a birthday today so she is in spain with her mother and daughter arabella we shout out a big happy birthday to danny on this day the 21st of march so many anniversaries and we can give thanks for all of those but together today most of all we begin the way of the cross and enter passion tide let's therefore look first of all at those four whom we're praying and uh this 21st of march sees us praying in the anglican communion for the church of england so we receive the benefit of the prayers of the whole anglican communion for the church of england and that's a nice coincidence on this anniversary of justin's installation into the throne of central augustine and then in the diocese of canterbury today and you'll have your own intentions from your own communities of faith worldwide we pray for the parishes of st peter and saint paul saltwood and since stephen lim and pray for barry knott in his ministry there and for the hospital chapter in there trisha hill and pray for the whole life of those parishes as we say our prayers this morning a different collect of course on this particular day because we have entered passion tide so bring your own intentions and prayers and concerns as we say together the collect for the fifth sunday of lent passion sunday most merciful god who by the death and resurrection of your son jesus christ delivered and saved the world grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory through jesus christ our lord our men so together in different languages whichever you like to use 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 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 your own prayers on this passion sunday morning christ crucified draw you to himself to find in him a sure ground for faith a firm support for hope and the assurance of sins forgiven 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 so let's go and just give maybe something of the bread of heaven to these here they're going to go up to the far end of the orchard to give um clemmy a chance to spend some time with her piglets away from the girls come on we'll go on and find the others come on he's not quite bread of heaven but it's enough we'll go and find these who've gone to have a drink come on girls hi come on here we are hello come on come on hi look here we are