good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this monday the 1st of february first of a new month as i sit here by the french windows the daphne here which is now in flower is very very scented indeed it has a perfumed scent which just gives you so many different memories and it's one of the lovely scented winter flowers and is coming into full bloom we've several of them around and so this area of the garden just outside our french windows is full of scent next to it of course is the winter box which is also sweet scented and the the damp weather it's been raining all night gives us something more of of a perfume than normal and so it's a lovely place to be sitting i'm sorry we can't do scent virtually i wanted to remember in our prayers this morning captain tom who is such an icon of support for the national health in his 100th year he walks and and uh collected through donations 33 million pounds of support for the national health service but he is at the moment in uh bedford hospital with kovid19 and we pray for his safe recovery this morning this also the beginning of february tends to be one of those natural seasons where a change takes place it became very much across northern europe the uh occasion for a pagan festival in older days and that will be seen both in northern germany and also in ireland where the festival of imbolc was was uh celebrated today in fact we have an irish dimension because bridget of kildare is in our calendar and we remember her and remember also that there is a pilgrim route which goes from her birthplace down through to kildare itself so we link all of that with journeying and with pilgrimage but also the fact that there are certain times of year when country folk would would have certain um law about them lori type about them which would say ah if this happens then that is bound to happen and you find that in our lord's teaching in his parables and also things like you you say that if there's a red sky in the morning there will be bad weather this was a time of year when it was said that if there was very fine weather on this day february the first or february the second then there would be more winter six weeks more winter we shall find that again in groundhog day tomorrow but if the weather was bad today then the spring would come early well the weather isn't too good today so we're hoping that spring will come early as we remember the seasons of the earth in that particular way so we're going to say our prayers on this morning and wherever you are in the world please feel welcome and bring your own prayers and intentions we are all striving together to combat the pandemic and we're thinking of one another with great encouragement let's begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your light springs up for the righteous and all the peoples have seen your glory blessed are you sovereign god king of the nations to you be praise and glory forever from the rising of the sun to its setting your name is proclaimed in all the world as the sun of righteousness dawns in our hearts anoint our lips with the seal of your spirit that we may witness to your gospel and sing your praise in all the earth 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 amen our psalm on this day naturally enough on the first of the month is psalm 1 blessed are they who have not walked in the council of the wicked nor lingered in the way of sinners nor sat in the assembly of the scornful their delight is in the law of the lord and they meditate on his law day and night like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season with leaves that do not wither whatever they do it shall prosper as for the wicked it is not so with them they are like chaff which the wind blows away therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgment nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous for the lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked shall perish so we turn once again to the gospel of saint mark and as i said yesterday we are in chapter five which divides itself into two halves the first half as we saw yesterday took place on the other side of the great sea of galilee in that area of the decapolis the ten towns which was really foreign land for the jewish nation and in a completely different form of government over there but jesus was ministering over there yesterday with the story of the man whom he healed and then that man went and proclaimed exactly what jesus had done for him throughout the decapolis now we've come back to the other side of the lake and we're back in home territory we're back in rural galilee and the story goes on mark has strung the stories together but this story is what you might call in literary terms a sandwich story it begins with one story and then it takes the other story and then ends the first story and it's a good device that one can reflect from one story to the others in both directions we're reading from verse 21 of chapter five and when jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side a great crowd gathered about him and he was beside the sea then came one of the rulers of the synagogue jairus by name and seeing him he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly saying my little daughter is at the point of death come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live and jesus went with him and a great crowd followed jesus and thronged about him and there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better off but rather grew worse she had heard the reports about jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment for she said if i touch even the hem of his garment i will be made well and immediately the flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was held healed of her disease and jesus perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him immediately turned about in the crowd and said who touched my garments and his disciples said to him you see the crowd pressing around you and yet you say who touched me and he looked round to see who had done it but the woman knowing what had happened to her came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth and he said to her daughter your faith has made you well go in peace and be healed of your disease and while he was still speaking there came from the ruler's house some who said your daughter is dead why trouble the teacher any further but overhearing what they said jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue do not fear only believe and he allowed no one to follow him except peter and james and john the brother of james they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and jesus saw a commotion people weeping and wailing loudly and when he had entered he said to them why are you making a commotion and weeping the child is not dead but sleeping and they laughed at him but he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was taking her by the hand he said to her talitha kumai which means little girl i say to you arise and immediately the girl got up and began walking for she was 12 years of age and they were immediately overcome with amazement jesus strictly charged them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat the sign would get in the way of the spreading of the good news and awe and amazement are the uh reaction of the child's parents as well probably as of peter and james and john yesterday the reaction was fear but what jesus wants is a reaction of faith and the one story actually complements the other it's a touching and moving story the middle one of the woman with the hemorrhages she is all alone it seems that's what the words give us the insight into she's by herself she's spent on doctors all that she has and simply is getting worse and worse and then in herself she thinks not if i go to see jesus if i explain to him none of that simply if i can only touch the hem of his garment i should be made well i shall be healed and so in the middle of the pressing crowd which we've grown used to now so that jesus the other day had to sit in the boat and teach them for the parable of the sower now they're pressing around him and we can assume we're back somewhere near capernaum he's beside the sea and he's once again on shall we say home ground and the woman finds great difficulty getting it near him she touches the hem of his garment and senses within her that she's been healed and then he's ready to creep away but jesus senses what has happened and asked the question who touched me and the disciples laughed at him they could roar with laughter who touched my garments he says just about everyone who's near pushing and pressing and trying to get near him and questioning and and pleading and all of that going on and in the middle of all that this story shows jesus intent on one person who needs him and the woman hearing him say that someone touched me i felt power go from me comes back and falling before him she tells what she has done and jesus makes the whole issue much broader than physical healing he says to her daughter your your faith has saved you go in peace and those healing and salvation comes to her through her gift of faith that story stays in my mind for one very good reason there was and some of you may know it a favorite hymn which i've not had sung for years but i can i can remember it well and it's tuned my mother loved it here it is some of you may know it we read it as a poem she only touched the hem of his garments as to his side she stole amid the crowd that gathered around him and straightway she was whole oh touch the hem of his garment and thou too shall be free his healing power this very hour shall give new life to thee she came in fear and trembling before him she knew her lord had come she felt that from him virtue had healed her the mighty deed was done oh touch the hem of his garment and thou too shalt be free his healing power this very hour shall give new life to thee he turns with daughter be of good comfort thy faith hath made thee whole and peace that passes all understanding with gladness filled her soul oh touch the hem of his garment and thou too shalt be free his healing power this very hour shall give new life to thee it's a beautiful hymn and it tells the story it widens the whole story of the touching of the hem to her gift of faith for her healing and jesus is precious gift of salvation of wholeness of body mind and spirit given through that gift of faith and peace also be at peace he says to her and these lovely things in the middle of that bustling crowd and then on to jairus's daughter it's in mark who gives us jairus his name mark is always ready to give us that extra little bit in the few stories that he does tell in his short immediate rapid gospel he's the one who tells us that the beggar at the gate of jericho is bartimaeus and those those names are are giving a certain personality to each of the stories and when he gets to jairus's house people say just don't bother the child is dead and jesus takes control the parents are full of grief and he's comforting them the disciples are being taken the three of them taken with him only peter james and john and then they go into the room and here again mark gives us a local touch giving jesus the aramaic words of raising the little girl to life and then the homely words of giving her something to eat and tell nobody about this this just is something that will in a in a way he feels get in the way of evoking faith jesus isn't wanting wanting to evoke awe and wonder and fear those things are natural of course but he is actually wanting to evoke a face which will receive the good news and eventually the gift of god's spirit all those things in this long chapter of chapter five with the story yesterday and the stories today both of them for which we give great thanks at the same time if we look at what has happened on this day too many things all together to mention them all there is a in 1895 uh a good celebration of an anniversary for fountains valley near pretoria which is oldest nature reserve in africa was proclaimed a nature reserve by president kruger at that time we have also the um let me have a look 1851 mary shelley the novelist and playwright died another thanksgiving for creative gifts 1896 la boheme puccini's opera had its premiere in turin conducted by toscanini good to remember all these creative activities and performing arts but what i wanted to remember also was that in 1709 alexander selkirk was rescued after five years marooned on a desert island masatiera of chile and in 1719 based on that story daniel defoe published his novel robinson crusoe which has a claim to be the first novel of its kind in english literature it's based on a factual story but it extends it for as you will know if you've read the book robinson crusoe is on his island much much longer than that and and also finds in the end a companion in man friday um i think of robinson crusoe also in conjunction with wilkie collins moonstone where the very wise old steward like the butler of the house of the verrinders reads robinson crusoe over and over again uh it's his bible but in it of course robinson crusoe is relying as alexander selkirk did on the copy of the bible that he had with him in on his desert island uh selkirk's island is now called robinson crusoe island it was named that in the mid 60s but betterage actually is somebody who points us to the fact of looking not only at robinson crusoe that we're told he's on his seventh volume because he's worn them all through and lady verrinder has now given him a really expensive copy in thanksgiving for her his stewardship of her house this is a detective story and sergeant cuff when he arrives you remember is also a devotee of robinson crusoe and there is a marvellous paragraph where betterage says if i'm in this mood then i go to robinson crusoe if i go to this or that mood or this difficulty or that difficulty or if i'm simply feeling bored i light my pipe sit in front of the fire and read robinson crew so well the book no doubt got very worn out and one believes that other than his bible it was the one thing that betteridge was reading but we remember what happened to selkirk and the way he became self-sufficient except that his bible was there and also in robinson crusoe crusoe goes back again and again to the sacred scriptures to to help him in everything that's going on and defoe of course did that during his time locked down in the plague in in london itself um so then what we what we believe with all of this is that humanity really is uh given the gift of searching and knowing things body mind and spirit and here's a quote from gabriel betterage it's old country law in the same way that the season's changing at this time old country law he says we see with nobody's eyes we hear with nobody's ears we feel with nobody's hearts but our own and therefore our duty to our eyes and ears and hearts to listen to them and to be given insight in body mind and spirit becomes crucial and i love gabriel betterage i first saw him in a children's television series of the moonstone and it was then i i was caused to read uh robinson crusoe because of beteridge himself well remember all that on on this day and we give thanks for all those things as well i wanted to mention too that uh there's a a wonderful news clip of a surfing duck in rainbow bay in australia an australian family have made a little video they got a duck to entertain them do during and be a companion at home during the uh the lockdown and the duck looks just like our ducky um but when the family go on their exercise outing to rainbow bay to surf the duck has learned to go out with them the wings aren't clipped the duck could fire away at any time but the duck loves the surfing and gets ready the moment you see surfboards coming out and and surfs over the waves if you find that you'll see how the the people who are taking their exercise on rainbow bay find duck an immensely amusing companion to have around and certainly the family obviously love the doctor bits as we do our ducky as well as a character yeah i've not forget for forgotten the time he practically baptized me when we were in the middle of morning prayer sitting there with the chickens so let's say our prayers on this particular morning and we remember on st bridget's day the people of ireland there are three patron saints bridged patrick columba we remember also the people of burma myanmar uh with the military coup which has happened there so we we pray for them at this uh tense time and so we give thanks for our own communities and bring our prayers together this is the last time we shall use an epiphany collect the season turns tomorrow at candle mass and then we shall begin to look forward to a passion tied or lent first and then passion tied and then holy week and on to easter so we shall cease to look back to epiphany and the creation narratives of christmas the the the narratives also of of jesus the nativity narratives and the incarnational ones and we shall look forward to the narratives of redemption and the passion of our lord but for this morning we are using this epiphany collect still bring your prayers together as we pray and let me just see whom we're praying for today we're praying strangely um for a cathedral church this morning in the anglican communion the cathedral church of all saints nairobi and i pray for my fellow carer of a cathedral the provost there very reverend sammy waineina at all saints cathedral in the the community of all saints cathedral nairobi that cathedral in the past has given me hospitality good hospitality on several occasions and i give thanks for it and then we pray for archbishop justin for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and today we are continuing to pray for the area deanery of the wield we pray for rodney dreyer tracy bateson and jack bateson as chaplains there rodney is the area dean but here are the villages that that area covers you may know some of them benindon cranbrook gautas with kilndown hawkhurst headcorn marden sittinghurst with frittenden staplehurst chart sutton east sutton and sutton valance so if we think of all of those we um give thanks for the that beautiful area of kent so here is the colic for today god our creator who in the beginning commanded the light to shine out of darkness we pray that the light of the glorious gospel of christ may dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief shine into the hearts of all your people and reveal the knowledge of your glory in the face of jesus christ your son our lord amen so we say together the prayer our lord taught us 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 for ever and ever are men moment of silence now as we say our own prayers on this day [Music] 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 are men the rain always makes the birds sing um yesterday we did our bird watch and counted for certain 23 different varieties of birds in the garden there will be many more if it was summertime but these are winter residents and we give thanks for them here we hope you had success too bye