hey tuggy hey don't you good morning and welcome to the deanery garden on the 16th of february it's shove tuesday a very special day in all sorts of ways but i suppose most commonly known here in england as pancake day and we've brought uh two pancakes out with some lemons and caster sugar here to remind you of that fact perhaps it's strange to some of you in different parts of the world that we seem only in england to eat pancakes on pancake day and every year when we're eating them uh both at lunch and in in the evening we say uh oh these are so lovely we ought to have them on other days we definitely will and we never do and so today is a great reminder of this show tuesday we've come out into the garden here and show you these lovely mimosas which thanks be to god have not been damaged by the severe frost when the beast from the east came a few years ago the frost lasted and lasted and did huge damage to the mimosa trees the wattle trees as you would call them in australia but uh now this year even the flowers have not been affected the snow fell softly on them and they have lasted and are giving us a lovely yellow color and they're more to come so i mustn't speak too soon because it could well be that there's more snow and frost to come but for the moment looking at belharry tower from where i'm sitting the southwest wind is holding it'll probably bring a little more warmer rain this afternoon but for the moment we're out here in the garden and tiger is being very brave he's quite nervous outside these days since he lost his front left paw but um he is actually with me here this morning he may stay for a little while but the warmth of the greenhouse door is there for him if he feels like going inside so let's begin our prayers on this particular day shrove tuesday comes from the word to shrive meaning receiving forgiveness from your sins and so this is a day of reflection when we consider the balance of our own lives and are exercised in that aspect of our prayers which is penitence but of course we couple that always with thanksgiving because we give thanks for the fact that in being repentant we can receive in fullness christ's forgiveness and we begin our prayers join in from across the world and feel welcome wherever you are on this show tuesday 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 and as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen 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 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 morning of the 16th of the month is psalm 80. here a shepherd of israel you that led joseph like a flock shine forth you that are enthroned upon the cherubim before ephraim benjamin and manasseh stir up your mighty strengths and come to our salvation turn us again o god show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved o lord god of hosts how long will you be angry at your people's prayer you feed them with the bread of tears you give them abundance of tears to drink you have made us the derision of our neighbors and our enemies laugh us to scorn turn us again no god of hosts show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved you brought a vine out of egypt you drove out the nations and planted it you made room around it and when it had taken root it filled the land the hills were covered with its shadow and the cedars of god by its boughs it stretched out its branches to the sea and its tendrils to the river why then have you broken down its wall so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes the wild boar out of the wood tears it off and all the insects of the field devour it turn again oh god of hosts look down from heaven and behold cherish this vine which your right hand has planted and the branch you made so strong for yourself let those who burnt it with fire who cut it down perish at the rebuke of your countenance let your hands be upon the man at your right hand the son of man you made so strong for yourself and so will we not go back from you give us life and we shall call upon your name turn us again no lord god of hosts share the light of your countenance and we shall be saved well tigers found some breakfast it's pancake day for him as well so we're not too sorry about that but i think that uh we might push some along over then he can stand on the table as well he's being very brave this morning it's the first outing of this sort he's had so let's go now to st john's gospel and give thanks for the atmosphere of that fourth gospel being so very very different from the gospel of saint mark i'm starting at verse 22 of chapter three after this jesus and his disciples went into the judean countryside and he remained there with them and was baptizing john also was baptizing at iron near salem because water was plentiful there and people were coming and being baptized for john had not yet been put in prison now a discussion arose between some of john's disciples and a jew over purification and they came to john and said to him rabbi he who was with you across the jordan to whom you bore witness look he is baptizing and all are going to him john answered a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven you yourselves bear me witness that i said i am not the christ but i have been sent before him the one who has the bride is the bridegroom the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice therefore this joy of mine is now complete he must increase but i must decrease he who comes from above is above all he who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way he who comes from heaven is above all he bears witness to what he has seen and heard yet no one receives his testimony whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this that god is true for the one whom god has sent utters the words of god and gives the spirit without measure the father loves the son and has given all things into his hand whoever believes in the son has eternal life whoever does not obey the son shall not see life but the wrath of god remains on them an interesting passage in all sorts of ways once again we're in the hands of the inverted commas the speech marks you might call them and it verse 30 john the baptist's speech marks end so that the last paragraph from verse 31 to the end is being spoken to us by the evangelist and that evangelists takes us back to the sense that in saint john's gospel there is a figurative metaphorical theater in two parts as we were thinking yesterday one part here on earth and lived out amongst our humanity and the other again metaphorically up there in the eternal dimension heaven itself and jesus when he is speaking as he spoke to nicodemus spoke in both dimensions and was willing that nicodemus should understand both those dimensions just as he is willing and was in saint mark's gospel to willingly apostles to learn as disciples those two dimensions and what the gift of the spirit meant in terms of wholeness healing and also balance of our humanity interesting here to see that jesus's ministry began with him baptizing he was there baptizing and john also was baptizing it ainon near salem there's a great atmosphere of jesus having begun his ministry within the company of the disciples of john we only have to go back to chapters one and two of saint john's gospel to have exactly the same kind of feeling that here is jesus among those who are learning with john and then suddenly his own vocation becomes clear but as in mark's gospel we trace that in galilee and gradually different aspects of his messiahship opened up here in john's gospel the geography is different and original sources are feeding in from different directions but what happens here is that it's clear that although mark gave us a straight through from galilee and then down to judea at the end just once in john's gospel jesus often is in jerusalem or in judea and at that point too um we we learn something different there there's a a complementary aspect of what we've been doing in st mark's gospel and in saint john's gospel and we give thanks for that but the question is about purification and baptism was a baptism of repentance jesus opens all that up into a baptism of the spirit in the conversation with nicodemus but let's go back on this shrove tuesday to the baptism of repentance for that aspect is very much still there and penitence and the sense of those things in which we have disappointed our lord others and ourselves is always there but the ability to receive forgiveness after that repentance is absolutely crucial now the interesting thing of course with this day is that one needs to spend some time this day in preparation for lent which is going to begin tomorrow it's an important time and it's an aspect a symbol really of of um of the uh beginning of lent but of our necessity to be repentant at all particular times and that becomes a very very important aspect of our faith and yet today we can't travel far um some will have the usual habit of of making a confession today and maybe that's not possible because of all those things that are keeping us apart but nothing stops us from reviewing the balance of our life body mind and spirit and making an intention for lent which will begin tomorrow in a very very definite way this traditionally is the last day that alleluia is said in our worship until easter arrives it's simply a reminder it's that's a a reminder in our minds that we are in lent we're going to go through a journey with jesus first through the wilderness and then up to his passion but for the moment this is a day of reflection to see first of all how we can make a right balance through repentance and an acceptance of forgiveness and then secondly how we can plan our lenten study our lenten bodily behavior in terms of fasting or a simpler way of life and our lenten spirituality in terms of prayer each day all those things come as part of the balance we will set ourselves with christ's help as we go on the lenten journey well let's just think as we always do of one or two things that have come up on this particular day the 16th of february in the past and we find as i look at them that on this particular day we see in 1923 howard carter lifting off the lid of the sarcophagus of tutankhamun and revealing the golden effigy of the young king which has become an effigy so well known to us from that long long time ago and then in 1519 the great huguenot leader gaspard de colini was born and we remembered his brother the cardinal who is buried here odette colony yesterday on this day in 1184 richard of dover died he was the archbishop of canterbury who succeeded beckett what a time to take over and yet he was a man of enormous piety and calm and was just the right person for that job at that time so then we have the production in 1892 of massanese opera verta in vienna the massanese tremendously tuned for opera and finally we've got the sense of uganda celebrating the life of janani lum the martyred archbishop of uganda who was killed in 1977. i'm saying uganda doing that because he was killed on the 17th of february and we shall spend time remembering him tomorrow in a very special way so let's remember his life being given at this time so what else can we say about today well a very famous poem was written and was published for the first time on this day it was written by thomas gray and to me it's one of the most beautiful pieces of english poetry ever written it's normally called grey's elegy in a country churchyard or simply gray's elegy and it reflects on the capricious nature of fame and fortune having nothing whatsoever to do with the true character of a man woman youth child that that quality is something which others recognize and god alone sees in the full depth of humanity it's worth reading some of it this morning being on this day quite a reflective poem i brought my father's copy of full gray paul graves golden treasury out to read it from and here it is some of you will know the verses quite well energy written in a country churchyard the curfew tolls the knell of parting day the lowing herd wind slowly or the lee the plowman homewood plods his weary way and leaves the world to darkness and to me now fades the glimmering landscape on the site and all the air as solemn stillness holds save where the beetle wheels his droning flight and drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds save that from yonder ivy mantle tower the moping owl does to the moon complain of such as wandering near her secret bar molest her ancient solitary reign beneath those rugged elms that yew trees shade were heaves the tough in many a muldering heap each in his narrow cell forever laid the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep let not ambition mock their useful toil their homely joys and destiny obscure nor grandeur here with a disdainful smile the short and simple annals of the poor the boast of heraldry the pomp of power and all that beauty all that welfare gave awaits alike the inevitable hour the paths of glory lead but to the grave nor you ye proud impute to these the fault if memory or their tomb no trophies raise where through the long long-drawn isle and fretted vaults the peeling anthem swells the note of praise can storied urn or animated bust back to its mansion call the fleeting breath can honor's voice provoke the silent dust or flattery soothe the dull cold air of death perhaps in this neglected spot is laid some heart once pregnant with celestial fire hands that the rod of empire might have swayed or walked to ecstasy the living liar but knowledge to their eyes her ample page rich with the spoils of time did near unroll chill penury repressed their noble rage and froze the genial current of the soul for many a gem of purest ray serene the dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air far from the madding crowds ignoble strife their sober wishes never learned to stray along the cool sequestered veil of life they kept the noiseless tenor of their way well that's only a little bit of that energy but it gives us a reflective feel of what humanity can achieve in body mind and spirit on this day of repentance and a day in which we begin to prepare ourselves for lent now we are going to say our prayers on this day before lent begins and on this day we're praying for the diocese of west ancoli in the church of the province of uganda and as i say this is a special day for the church of uganda as will tomorrow be and then we remember justin our archbishop and rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth today pray for the parish of ashford town and the clergy there jeremy worthen caroline mansley eve lanchantin pickett dawn stamper kathy aldis richard bellamy andrew brown and the assistant current bruce watson pray for them in their pastoral ministry in that town of ashford so together we make our prayers and intentions for this day of uh of of lent of preparation for lent and this is the last time we shall use this collect because tomorrow the ash wednesday colic starts almighty father whose son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross give us grace to perceive his glory that we may be strengthened to suffer with him and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever 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 lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men on this day we remember the rose grower david austin who helped us so much with the exercise of planning this garden with roses and developed with fletcher the um thomas beckett rose and he now rests in in glory and so we give thanks for his long life and his ability to produce such beautiful flowers so you will have others that you want to remember on this particular day but also make an intention for yourselves of repentance the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and if his son jesus christ our lord 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 you've been really brave out here in the garden this is a day of great festivity mardi gras for so many and last year it was before lockdown because lent was later so we found ourselves uh on shove tuesday that was i think last year something like february the 25th or so um in uh nice in the evening because i was going to preach ash wednesday for our friend the chaplain in marseille and the only way to get there after meetings i had to attend for us was for us to fly to nice and then catch the train along the coast the next day to marseille and preach for the anglican church in marseille to begin lent but of course we arrived in nice and as i say before lockdown an enormous mardi gras celebration was going on the last hooray before lent begins the last uh celebration of of uh of the the festival of mardi gras before then lent closed in the next day and we remember that but we also remember that this year things like this cannot happen because of the lockdown and so we look forward to the time when we can break out and have such celebrations again as we celebrate shave tuesday today okay tiger we'll put you back into a nice warm bed at this point but you have been very brave and you can have a bit more pancake now you clearly want it okay [Music]