[Applause] good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this beautiful morning it's really mid-summer at this time in england we tend to keep mid-summer on the 24th of of june but the solstice has just happened the sun is high in the heavens although it's still very early in the morning and leo and i have come out to enjoy this wonderful arch of roses which it's absolutely at its height in this glorious summer weather so wherever you are in the world please feel welcome here in canterbury cathedral as we say our prayers today is windrush day and we remember that with sorrow we remember it as a an icon that societies must be built up with hospitality and rejoice in diversity and at the same time it is sint alban's day so we pray for our sister cathedral of saint albans for dean jeffrey and all the chapter and the life of that wonderful abbey church so we say our morning prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 the morning of the 22nd day of the month gives us the glorious psalm 107 and we'll read two sections of it this morning oh give thanks to the lord for he is gracious for his steadfast love endures forever let the redeemed of the lord say this those he redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south some went astray in desert wastes and found no path to a city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul was fainting within them so they cried to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he set their feet on the right way till they came to a city to dwell in let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good the lord turns rivers into wilderness and water springs into thirsty ground a fruitful land he makes a salty waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell there and he makes the wilderness a pool of water and water springs out of a thirsty land and there he settles the hungry and they build a city to dwell in they sow fields and plant vineyards and bring in a fruitful harvest he blesses them so that they multiply greatly he does not let their herds of cattle decrease he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes they are diminished and brought low through stress of misfortune and sorrow but he raises the poor from their misery and multiplies their families like flocks of sheep the upright will see this and rejoice but all wickedness will shut its mouth whoever is wise will ponder these things and consider the lovingkindness of the lord so we turn on this morning to our regular reading of the gospel of saint luke and this morning we begin chapter 13 and read the first nine verses there were some present at that very time who told jesus about the galileans whose blood pilate had mingled with their sacrifices and jesus answered them do you think that these galileans were worse sinners than all the other galileans because they suffered in this way no i tell you but unless you repent you will all likewise perish or those 18 on whom the tower in siloam fell and killed them do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in jerusalem no i tell you but unless you repent you will all alike perish and he told this parable a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard [Music] and he came seeking fruit on it and found none and he said to the gardener look for three years now i have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and i find none cut it down why should it use up the ground and the gardener answered him sir leave it alone this year until i dig round it and put on manure then if it should bear fruit next year well in good but if not you can cut it down all growing things need patience and the fig tree is a wonderful story but here we have two sections first of all in the middle of jesus's teaching where no doubt people in judea where jesus has now come here his accent as a galilean and the accent of those around him as galileans remember how peter is recognized instantly in the courtyard of the high priest for his galilean accent the crowd say have you heard about these galileans whom pilot has punished pilate's jurisdiction didn't go to galilee so these people must have been in judea and piloted in some way killed them and mingled their blood with the sacrifices and then jesus takes that up he also points out another event that has happened this time the tower of siloam which is in judea itself and he's actually taking news stories stories that would have appeared in the jerusalem gazette at that time and saying are you are you concentrating on these things and so here are our wicked people suffering in this way and on this thing that these people obviously were sinners or the tower wouldn't have fallen on them forget all that he keeps pointing to the fact that what is going on amongst those who rule in judea and in galilee is a sure course to violence and in the end a total confrontation and conflagration with the roman occupying authorities his prophecies couldn't have been more clear when one sees the total destruction of the temple in an inferno and a bloodbath in the year 70. he's saying to them forget all this hear the good news and take that path it doesn't protect them from the accidents of human life but it does actually make a society which is just and is less liable to come into conflict he then tells the story and it's a strange way of introducing the story of the fig tree in luke's gospel remember the story of the victory in matthew and mark's gospel which is always connected in some way with the unfruitfulness of the life of the temple that jesus found there maybe he said it's written my father's house must be a house of prayer you've made it a den of robbers and at that point he curses the fig tree for bearing no fruit it's a sort of metaphor for the life of the temple maybe also here is a metaphor for the life of jesus's ministry for three years i've been finding no fruit and the gardener says to the landowner of the vineyard where the fig tree is standing give it one more last chance it's a wonderful story and it helps us understand what jesus felt his ministry was about he was going once again to try and find fruit in the temple but in his heart and mind believing it wasn't there and in the end he is cut down and carried outside the temple and buried there and the resurrection means new growth of a different kind but still within the dangers of the world today is sint alban's day and as i said we remember dean jeffrey and all those it's in auburn's abbey i'm sorry that they can't have their massive festival of saint alban which they normally have at this time of year but still we give thanks for the life of that abbey church based on a strange saint the very first english martyr and he wasn't a christian remember that in the year around 250 when alban was martyred england was under the same occupying forces as jesus was suffering it's 200 nod years later but nevertheless the roman army is very much in charge here and there are christians but rome has not yet become christian that has to wait until the next century when constantine brings the empire into christianity's fold but at the moment any christian priest ran in danger of his life and one was fleeing from soldiers his name amphibolus when a a pagan important roman had him knock on his door and when he opened the door there was the christian priest and he being a man of of uh of hospitality pagan hospitality he invited the priest in now while he was sheltering him alban simply noticed the priest's daily rhythm and in conversation they talked about the good news that jesus has brought when the time came after he'd been living with the rhythm of that life and the knock of the soldiers on the door heralded the capture and execution of the priest amphibolus alban told the priest to go and hide dressed in the priest's robes and gave himself up here it was who was led outside the city of verulamium and beheaded that later all kinds of wonderful stories grew around that fact but nothing was more really more um wonderful than the fact that alban had learned from the priest's rhythm and way of life what it meant to be a witness for christ and he felt so strong inside to do that that he gave his own life for the priest was taken across the river and martyred that and that is what we remember when we look at sint alban's abbey today the life of two who have their shrines there alban and the priest amphibolus who continued to witness in that dangerous place where persecution of christians was rife this is long before augustine ever came to england for the second bringing of christianity to england so thanks be to god for the saving of the fig tree and thanks be to god for alban let's take it as a lesson to give people time when people say this is no good do it now just give people time for growing things need time the right atmosphere and the right nourishment from teaching or observing the way of another in order to come to a flowering fruitfulness like this lovely rose tree behind me today here let's say our prayers and we pray this morning on this 22nd of june for the diocese of nimale in the south sudan diocese i know well and the bishop there martin abuni prayed for him and all his people the diocese of arkansas in the episcopal church of the united states and larry benfield and his ministry there and all his people and very significantly the diocese of jerusalem and the middle east the primate there the most reverend suhail dawani and we pray for him in that crucial ministry of the focal place of so many faiths and particularly our own not only within the city but outside the city wall pray in our diocese for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and also today we're asked by the diocese to pray for hidden heroes during the covid 19 crisis well right across the world we can find that yesterday afternoon a quiet sunday afternoon in the middle of lockdown suddenly our piece was disturbed by the coming of a helicopter right above me in the garden here hopping over the house and landing on the green space the lawn in front of the deanery here extraordinary the lime trees flying in all directions no warning given no nothing and on the side of it air ambulance out ran a dedicated team to deal with an incident a violent incident in the streets of canterbury and it became very very necessary for them to take the person away and off to a hospital in london to save life it's as though suddenly health and healing dropped out of the sky but we were absolutely sure of the dangers that those people were in and i put a link on our website for any who would want to help air ambulance here in england and the world over places like that uh people like that are actually risking their lives so hidden heroes during the kovid 19 crisis is for us all and you will know who they are as we say our prayers first of all though we pray the collect force in albans day auburn who hid a hero eternal father when the gospel of christ first came to our land you gloriously confirm the faith of alban by making him the first to win a martyr's crown grant that following his example in the fellowship of the saints we may worship you the living god and give true witness to jesus christ your son our lord amen and the collect for this week of the year almighty god you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the spirit of your son into our hearts whereby we call you father give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of god through jesus christ our lord amen so we say the prayer which our lord taught us to say to nourish our roots as the day begins say it in whichever language you're used to saying it 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 moment of silence as we say our morning prayers and pray not only for those we love but the welfare of hidden heroes of kovid 19. 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 the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon all those whom you love and would pray for today and always amen