good morning and welcome to the dinner garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of the first sunday of lent sunday the 21st of february as we gather for morning prayer this is the last day of national nest box week and the nest boxes in the dinery trees are all ready for new inhabitants and new nesting it's the kind of morning that one can think of that because it's a really mild morning without a breath of wind and a pleasure to be sitting in the garden in the orchard little primroses are in flower and the daffodils the smaller daffodils are just about to burst into bloom both in the front and in the big back garden here and as we think of that we give thanks for the word lent being the anglia saxon word for spring and that's still so in the northern hemisphere as we go through this this uh journey of our lord and ourselves as communities and individuals up to the season of easter and to easter day itself the day of resurrection but for the moment our journey's just begun i wanted before all else this morning to pay tribute to my friend richard shepherd the prolific composer of church music who died yesterday and we remember him with enormous thanksgiving he was a very close friend both to me and to my sister pauline who as you know died the november before last and she above all else wanted his music to a particular song played at the funeral richard could only find it on manuscript but as quick as a flash he copied that and sent it through it was christina rossetti's poem when i am dead my dearest sing no sad songs for me and he had set it most beautifully but i remember a long association with him in comic verses in anthems he never failed to write an answer whenever i was moved to a new place and also um in hymns and perhaps the one to remember this morning which is that the hymn which is found in the new version of ancient modern and the hymnbook common praise in a world where people walk in darkness but the great chorus each time which he said so wonderfully to music so singapore to music and that is that is lighter candle in the darkness so we light a candle in our hearts and minds for him this morning and any we would want to remember and also we are thinking of all kinds of things from this date in years gone by there are so many of them we shall not manage them all but there are two great ones that we want to remember at the end let's begin our prayers o 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 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 our psalm on this 21st morning of the month is psalm 105. [Music] 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 all 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 strength seek his face continually remember the marvels he has done his wonders and the judgments of his mouth he brought his people out from egypt with silver and gold there was not one among their tribes that stumbled and 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 may keep his statutes and faithfully observe his laws this morning being a sunday we leave st john's gospel for just a day and turn to the special lesson given to us for this sunday of lent by the lectionary in morning prayer and it's written in saint paul's letter to the romans unusually for paul he is writing to those he has in large part never met he at that time had never been to rome but was really keen to go there well we know of course he would go there in very special circumstances at the end of his life but for the moment he has a letter trying to explain his own vocation and also his developing theology to the romans is one of his most famous epistles and one that so much has been written about and developed but we're simply reading a little passage from chapter 10 this morning and i'm beginning at verse 8 and we'll go to verse 13. what then does the scripture say the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith that we proclaim because if you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved for the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between jew and greek for the same lord is lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him for everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved wonderful sentence but it's not saint paul's sentence it's the sentence of the prophet joel the end of the second chapter of that little book in the scriptures that our lord himself would have known well they would have been in his mind and we'll think about that a little later but for the moment let's remember too that it's that little passage that the apostle peter on that first brave day of pentecost reminds the people of and at that point peter is beginning his own journey as an apostle and christ's foundation stone for all that will happen thereafter last year we found ourselves studying not only in these mornings the gospel of saint luke but his second work also the full acts of the apostles and that sentence comes at what we were calling in a hinge moment when peter addresses the crowd well here it is in st paul's thinking and he's writing it to the romans everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved we give thanks once again for that breaking down of barriers which happily were able to do at this time by virtual means and be with one another and also plan our lenten journey together as i've advocated you do in in a notebook just briefly not too much the the lesson is always too much means one is tempted in the middle because one has to have time to do it to fail just a little and see how it develops and see how something taken from one of these mornings together will then flourish in growth as you through the day begin to use either body mind or spirit for a particular creative activity and note it down at the end of the day then at the end one has not only a garden and a garden congregation right across the world with its weather and sounds wherever you are and the weather and sounds from here which are plentiful this morning because there's an excitement all about the the way in which spring is coming and as you note it down you will have a complete garden of how lent unfolded for you what you're hearing is the guinea fowl and even ducky who are longing to come outside but still the constrictions of lockdown for avian flu is holding them in their enclosure then but they're very much present this morning so as we think of this sunday it's interesting that on ash wednesday the lesson is not of the temptation in the wilderness that's left for the eucharist today it's a milestone the sunday in the lenten journey and we give thanks for that both for the church for communities and for ourselves individually what we shall learn but we keep our eyes fixed on jesus and as we do so we follow him in the wilderness it's something i'll develop later in the sermon at the eucharist but for this morning let's keep with saint paul what did he want to tell the romans well first of all he's not saying this but he anchors himself in the scriptures which jesus would have known and a quite obscure book he doesn't even say this is from there he simply says this is what the scripture says or this is what moses says or so and but the sentence everyone who calls on the name of the lord shall be saved is from joel and it shows us the very necessary rhythms of life that we are ourselves in as we go through the scriptures rhythmically day by day and the psalms and just simply hear versus speaking to us or coming back to a psalm which we've read so many times just thinking oh today that verse is speaking to me in the wilderness jesus in luke and in matthew we shall read mark today in the cathedral which is a very different kind of interpretation of the wilderness story but in luke and in matthew there is a dialogue of scripture between jesus and temptations within him with the voice of satan and that happens to us so often in wilderness experiences but for the moment let's just think because there are so many things to think about this morning let's just think about the various things that have happened on this day on february the 21st in years gone by but something also that i wanted to mention was and something wonderful happened in cambridge yesterday with the flowering of the um epiphyte the moon flower the alaskan um i'm saying alaskan amazonian cactus which has never flowered in england before and alex summers the keeper of the glass houses at cambridge university's botanical garden has coaxed a moon flower into opening they only open for one day and in the tropics it would be one night and but here the flower has been watched in its opening by thousands and thousands of people across the world and there's an excitement that this flower can grow here in the right conditions on the side of the water chestnut tree it's there in the greenhouse in exactly the right conditions it took them all surprised by opening in the day whereas a moon flower in the amazonian forest in the right conditions will open at night with the most wonderful scent just for a couple of hours and then that's the end the attraction of the scent brings just the moths the hawk moths that the the flower wants we have grown fetches grown in the greenhouse epiphylums and they're very very beautiful indeed but also we think with the name moonflower of the uh moonflower which is of the family of morning glory uh ipamea alba the white tropical flower we've had a measure of success with them but never in the open air here they've grown and leafed but not flowered but in the greenhouse one gets that perfect scent which you get in countries where it's warm and they enjoy being so we give thanks for the fruitfulness and flowering of the earth and the seed which is produced in that way so if i'm to look first of all at the should we i don't want to call them minor events because all events are crucial and we never know which event is going to be important or not but i just wanted to pick out a few and some i'll just have to miss out in 1741 uh jethro tull died now that name which is really crucial in the development of agriculture is of the man who invented the horse-drawn sea drill and the sea drill from then on was actually going along in a horse-storm way so the sewer of the lord's particular parable ceases that kind of work as the seed drill takes over well at the same time on this day in 1804 a cornish engineer richard trevithick demonstrated the world's first steam railway locomotive in south wales again power coming from natural things steam but being used to drive heavy machinery the beginning of a revolution let's just think of other um feats of human endeavor 1910 the birth of sir douglas barda the raf fighter ace who in 1931 long before the second world war lost both his legs in a flying accident but was not put off by that with with artificial limbs he became a fighter ace and even in a german prisoner of war camp he was so intrepid in his attempts to escape the germans threatened to take away his legs entirely and then in 1961 on this day the beatles made their first appearance in their really home base the cavern club at liverpool they were to perform 292 times there as i say home base and how often in st mark's gospel have we seen jesus going to home base anchoring themselves in the community which fed the creativity what else do we have uh amusingly in 1988 the grave of the great queen beaudacia whom we learned had a chariot with we learned this at school with with knives on the wheels we used to call herbaridis here she's now more more normally called boudicca her grave was discovered under platform 8 at king's cross station and was excavated but probably the platforms at king's cross station these days are more famous for platform nine and three quarters which is where you go through the brick wall to enter the train for hogwarts and uh they appear that at nine and three quarters appears in the harry potter books so also on this day the composer delede was born and one remembers him for his opera lakme which i've only managed to see once and that was in the opera comic in paris quite by chance one night but the beauty of the music there and particularly that duet which uh for two sopranos and and uh british airways used it and perhaps still uses it as their signature tune so it became well known but the opera is not produced very often but what is danced very often is the ballet coppelia and sylvia which brings me to the fact that on this day in 1991 dame margot fontaine died and we give thanks for her early career as a ballerina her early flowering and her late flowering in partnership with rudolph nurev and all that beautiful dancing set to beautiful music in beautiful sets and interpreted so well by the covent garden prima ballerina asaluta she was uh the the the absolute prima ballerina 1844 um vidor the french composer was born now he's best known of course for his takata and uh his takata is still probably one of the most asked four pieces at the end of weddings and whenever the jakarta starts people just sort of sit up with recognition we put a link on of that takata being played by james kennelly at our sister cathedral washington national cathedral and it gives us a chance to pray for uh randy holleris and the staff there this morning and all the people of washington national cathedral at present and then uh the um in 1918 and another sadness because of human activity the last carolina parakeet died in cincinnati zoo i mentioned that because they were hunted to extinction for their feathers on fashionable dresses just as the gordians of australia were almost hunted to extinction for feathers on people's hats just for human decoration the a whole strand of wildlife is is endangered suddenly and the the uh the parakeets of the carolina parakeets have have gone the only indigenous parakeets in the united states of america others are there now but of course they're different they're different kinds um and then maybe i should come to our particular aspects for today because there are three here that give us an enormous time and pause for thought i'm going to start with the one that is most homegrown here on the 21st of february 1173 just over two years after the murder of beckett in the cathedral thomas beckett was canonized by pope alexander iii in the town of singi in italy and we had the real pleasure both of us of of going to be the guests of the mayor and the the the um councillors and and also people that they had brought in archaeologists who understood the the whole historic sequence just last february a year ago when we were still thinking of planning the great beckett festivals which have had to be postponed or or even completely changed and we remember that moving occasion standing on a february morning looking over a balustrade at the italian countryside with the places where beckett was canonized we'd earlier visited the old church but we were now on the site of the palace that alexander iii was using so this was the real sight of beckett's canonization i don't want to say much more this morning except to remind you that after that canonization the whole um the whole pilgrimage root became one of the most famous in the world and canterbury was thronged with pilgrims and in 1174 henry ii himself who'd had a bad time politically recently came on penitential pilgrimage and did his penance with monks beating him in the crypts of canterbury cathedral where the uh the shrine of beckett stood for 50 years before being moved into the new shrine i want to say also thank you to the people of senyi who gave all that careful hospitality and has researched so well we give thanks for that as we remember it a year ago and reach across the world and uh perhaps i should mention also because i've just got it noted here that on this day in 2018 the evangelist billy graham died his crusades and also the music that he used for people to sing in them were really powerful at the time of that happening and they developed and developed and also his own mind about breaking down of barriers between different christian denominations developed through he was the friend of so many american presidents until his death and we give thanks for him i think the hymn which most attaches to him in my name is blessed assurance jesus is mine oh what a force haste of glory divine it's in his crusade songbook but let me go now to the birth of w.h orton the poet ordon one of our foremost modern poets who was was born on this particular day and i've memories of him in retirement in oxford and he would sit in the newman bookshop and invite undergraduates to come and sit with him and talk but i remember a shyness that approaching the great man sitting at the table there smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee and yet he was desperately wanting a conversation and we remember that but we remember how i could i could talk about his work with benjamin britten the anthems that we sing his opera with benjamin britton paul bunyan but i wanted to just note how so very often it's one thing which causes somebody somebody to be very famous and his poems took off when the film four weddings and a funeral became so very popular and remember how at the funeral this poem funeral blues is read from the grief stricken person who is giving the tribute stop all the clocks cut off the telephone prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone silence the pianos and with muffled drum bring out the coffin let the mourners come let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead scribbling on the sky the message he is dead put crepe bows around the white necks of the public doves let the traffic policeman wear black cotton gloves he was my north my south my east and west my working week and my sunday rest my noon my midnight my talk my song i thought that love would last forever i was wrong the stars are not wanted now put out everyone pack up the moon and dismantle the sun pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood for nothing now can ever come to any good [Music] it's that grief that the good news which jesus is contemplating his mission to deliver in the wilderness combats with the capacity of the divine within human beings reaching out to infinity there's so much of ordin one could read this morning and after that poem became famous his little booklet based on the title of one of his poems tell me the truth about love also became very popular but they're things to read for yourself i want also to mention on this particular day the person of john henry newman he on this day in 1801 was born now newman has always become for me an icon of breaking down barriers this little bust was given to me on my ordination day by two of my greatest friends they were elderly even then and friends of my parents too alec and becca brain they were called their home was always my home whenever bicycled over to them down the country lanes to their house never needed an announcement always em embracing and always hospitable and their orchards and tennis courts were mine as well and i remember them this morning but i remember them they were both my old donations but at the first they gave me this gift of cardinal newman they knew that both pauline and i would read newman and had an affection for him he wrote so much and i could spend a long time talking about him but this bust has always stood on my desk ever since and it was a great joy when newman was canonized uh recently and that too gave up a flavor of crossing barriers for he belongs not only to the church of england and our anglican episcopal tradition in his early life but to the roman catholic tradition as a cardinal of the roman catholic church and also to the whole holy catholic church breaking down barriers and i wanted this morning to remind you of one of his hymns to start with i've got it in my little book here you might think i'm going to quote from his dream of jarontius praise to the holiest in the height it's not that one nor the other firmly i believe in truly it's the one on which um we settle our thoughts when he was lying becomes in the mediterranean on a boat and looking up at the sky and not knowing quite where his vocation would take him and he wrote as he looked up lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom lead thou me on the night is dark and i am far from home lead thou me on keep thou my feet i do not ask to see the distance seen one step enough for me i was not ever thus nor prayed that thou should lead me on i love to choose and see my path but now lead thou me on i love the garish day in spite of fears pride ruled my will remember not past years so long thy power has blessed me sure it still will lead me on or more in fen or crag and torrent till the night is gone and with the mourn those angel faces smile which i have loved long since and lost a while later when he was a cardinal in older age he wrote a meditation and it's one that i find profound here it is god has created me to do him some definite service he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another i have my mission i may never know it in this life but i shall be told it in the next i am a link in a chain a bond of connection between persons he has not created me for naught i shall do good i shall do his work i shall be an angel of peace a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it if i do but keep his commandments therefore i will trust him whatever i am i can never be thrown away if i am in sickness my sickness may serve him in perplexity my perplexity may serve him if i am in sorrow my sorrow may serve him he does nothing in vain he knows what he is about he may take away my friends he may throw me among strangers he may make me feel desolate make my spirit sink hide my future from me still he knows what he is about well with that meditation we say our prayers on this particular morning bringing our own intentions and our own concerns wherever we are in the world i'm going to say first the collect for this particular day in lent but first we remember that we're praying on the 21st of february for the church of the province of central africa with all its people and in our own diocese as we have been doing over the past few days for the communities of the deanery of dover and today for all those clergy who have permission to officiate who help out in those churches there pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and first the collect for this day almighty god whose son jesus christ fasted 40 days in the wilderness and was tempted as we are yet without sin give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your spirit and as you know our weakness so may we know your power to save through jesus christ our lord amen i wanted to say a particular prayer with richard and all his music in mind but it's a lovely prayer on any occasion it was crafted by a former dean of york eric miller white from words of john dunn in one of his sermons here it is bring me o lord god at my last awakening into the house and gate of heaven to enter into that gate and dwell in that house where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling but one equal light no noise nor silence but one equal music no fears nor hopes but one equal possession no foes nor friends but one equal communion and identity no ends nor beginnings but one equal eternity in the habitations of your glory and dominion world without end amen so as we say the words our savior taught us in many different languages may our languages rise in one equal music to heaven 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 justices 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 are men you have a pause i won't say silence because the voice of the guinea paraly is quite omnipresent at the moment longing to be released into the spring earth and uh but we will keep our paws for our own prayers christ give you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourself take up your cross daily and follow him 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 in this life and the next now and always are men you