good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this morning of friday the 24th of december it's christmas eve and we're on the very tip toe of celebrating christmas which will begin here this afternoon with a huge carol service it's three o'clock but even before that with at 11 o'clock a lovely crib service and family service for the children but let's first say our prayers wherever you are in the world as we come together here we're going to go on a little journey today but first let's think of those who are working across christmas in front line care dealing with the pandemic the world over we say prayers are of intention but also of thanksgiving for them and also our hearts go out to those who have been caught up in the desperate ferry fire in bangladesh which is uh one of the stories this morning on this christmas eve so we are intending to go around the garden the kitchen garden on a sort of journey looking at places of shelter as we tell the story of mary and joseph's journey and we've started here which is really our own shelter if we want to come and read or bring people on rainy or cold days windy days for a cup of tea in the garden and so this is our first stop for shelter oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise reveal among us the light of your presence that we may behold your power and glory blessed are you sovereign god of all to you be praise and glory forever in your tender compassion the dawn from on high is breaking upon us to dispel the lingering shadows of night as we look for your coming among us this day 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 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 24th morning of the month is psalm 116 i love the lord for he has heard the voice of my supplication because he inclined his ear to me on the day i called to him the snares of death encompassed me the pains of hell took hold of me by grief and sorrow was i held then i called upon the name of the lord o lord i beg you deliver my soul gracious is the lord and righteous our god is full of compassion the lord watches over the simple i was brought very low and he saved me turn again to your rest o my soul for the lord has been gracious to you for you have delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears and my feet from falling i will walk before the lord in the land of the living i believe that i should perish for i was sorely troubled and i said in my alarm everyone is a liar how shall i repay the lord for all the benefits he has given to me i will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the lord i will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his faithful servants o lord i am your servant your servant the child of your handmaid you have freed me from my bonds i will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the lord i will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people in the courts of the house of the lord in the midst of you o jerusalem alleluia it's a lovely psalm of commitment and service for this christmas eve but always the first psalm of the 24th morning of the month and behind me here where i'm sitting you'll remember that all our hens and pheasants and turkeys have to be kept in shelter because of the possibility of avian flu spreading down from the north of england and now in the far south west so we split them up into groups that would get on together and that is happening quite well but this little group here which you will remember was with uh the others in the other cage uh here's our friend the robin arriving um this little group here are really attractive small hens you can hear the small malay ceramic cockerel growing but at the same time there are two uh cockney hen peak in bantams with their feathery feet but i wanted you to see this morning the two siamese silkies pure white and very special indeed because they are going to come with me into the cathedral later as angelic visitors to the crib service and uh that you can uh actually see online if you would like to but here they are this morning in this little place of shelter another place of shelter based from the wind and rain and cold of the winter but at the same time shelter from the uh avian bird flu a lockdown if you like for them for a month or two and that we are taking great care with well uh let's then go on now in our journey uh to our lesson from the gospel of saint luke so we've come into another place of shelter to read our lesson from the gospel of saint luke where in chapter two today as i say we're absolutely ready for christmas to begin so we will read the lesson from chapter two but this is a place of shelter i think the last time practically we were here you saw the um lavender hen with all her chicks being around in here being given shelter where they've grown up enough to be outside now in a different kind of place of shelter and also we had lizzie and the pulse in here as well and they've all gone with darcy into the tomato greenhouse for their particular shelter during these months but in here we still have safely tucked away in the straw bale just to my left the three hedgehogs and also the tortoises the hedgehogs trundle around here at night because it's quite warm in here and they can um have food which we set out for them and and water but places of shelter also for the plants this side entirely bare at the moment so that in the days after christmas fletcher can begin to sow and plant seeds for the coming year for this will be a place of shelter there and of course we have a place of shelter for our friend here who loves this place and the other greenhouse more than anywhere else tiger here with us this morning so let's read chapter 2 of sin luke i'm reading verses 1 to 20. in those days a decree went out from caesar augustus that all the world should be registered this was the first registration when quirinius was governor of syria and all went to be registered each to their own town and joseph also went up from galilee from the town of nazareth to judea to the city of david which is called bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of david to be registered with mary his betrothed who was with child and while they were there the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the end and in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold i bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior who is christ the lord and this will be a sign for you you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased when the angels went away from them into heaven the shepherds said to one another let us go over to bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the lord has made known to us and they went with haste and found mary and joseph and the baby lying in a manger and when they saw it they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child and all who had it wondered at what the shepherds told them but mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising god for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them there are many ways of giving protection and shelter not just by physical warmth and resources but also by our care encouragement and love for one another and it's that message that comes home very strongly at christmas time in this particular story it's a story where jesus himself takes our humanity and shows how it can be lived and how beyond is a dimension of eternity with all those qualities which can begin even here and now it begins in the manger the protection of the manger and the love of mary and the protection given by joseph's presence as the guardian of the holy family he's often called and here we have the huge icon of the christmas crib later on i shall be blessing the cathedral's christmas crib is inside this year for various reasons because not only of construction outside but because all our service will happen there and it will be a lovely thing to come to but that all began i'm sure you know the story of saint francis of assisi and the reading of the prophecy in isaiah chapter one the ox knows the manger and the donkey knows his master's stall and francis took that to heart and created a live crib with an ox and an ass and people being there gathering round by lamplight and candlelight to celebrate the christmas story as we shall do in so many ways and right across the world people were doing that but it's a sign of hospitality and shelter to one another right across the world and with the movement of people from their homes for protection and we hear of this daily in different areas of the world or those losing their homes because of storms and fires and flood all of these things mean that there's more than ever a case for looking after one another and also the shelter and protection we give with regard to vaccinations and coming together in in uh areas but keeping each other's space and welfare in mind as this pandemic continues it it's its way around the world infecting and affecting so many as i say our hearts and minds go out in encouragement and shelter that those who are fighting that in front line health care services today all those things as we tell the story of mary and joseph and as they travel joseph is searching searching for somewhere that they can be for the child to be born and for rest for them all we're going to continue our journey and go into another place now and think of that story in another kind of dimension [Music] so we've come into the warmer greenhouse now and i'm surrounded by flowers and beautiful scents here the sparmania is in here still flowering magnificently and beside me a lovely cymbidium orchid has decided to flower now as so many of the orchids will begin to do so now and beside it a red geranium behind me there are ginger plants which have been brought in for protection and all around me other plants enjoying the shelter and the temperature though outside as i was before speaking to you from the other greenhouse and looking over fletcher's head as he was he was filming there is over the shed the most glorious rose in full flower and that following that that crippling frost for many of the plants the other morning and yet the rose has never looked more beautiful plants tend to find their own way of flowering at different seasons and we give huge thanks for that i was looking at some dates i'm going back in a moment to the story of mary and joseph but i was looking at some dates this morning and one of them was the death on the 24th of december 1901 of uh lev ivanov who was the assistant uh director of ballet in the imperial theater under marius pettipa in uh saint petersburg and of course peterborough was the one who fought the russian empire towards the end peshawar died in 1910 but had been the the inspiration for ballet and choreography there and that has been transferred right across to the ballet houses of the world but even off was his assistant and we give thanks for him because quietly he choreographed things which we enjoy particularly at christmas time it was even off when petipa was ill who choreographed the nutcracker ballet and that is so much put on at christmas time we've enjoyed it so many times at the the royal ballet round about christmas time with all its joy and the christmas party at the beginning and the magic of the christmas tree growing and growing and growing and then all the the battles of the the the soldier and and the the the mice and everything going on so um we think of that of even off but most of all perhaps his beautiful white scenes in swan lake he was responsible for the two scenes of the swans themselves act two and act four in choreography and those are generally called the white scenes because of the white feathers of the swan rather like our our white uh siamese uh and chickens that are gonna come in with me to the uh crib service uh a little bit later on this morning and as we we think of all that joy which even off in his creativity but working humbly besides pettipa gave us and is now all that is now transposed to things that we have enjoyed so many ways very often on television these ballets are put on and i wanted you to think of that as we thought of creativity and at the same time it it reminded me of how creativity comes when you're at least expecting it and when these flowers here are suddenly blooming and you look and say oh gosh that's now happened and this is a sense that comes out of nowhere because the the plant has burst into flower creativity is a little bit like that mary and joseph were going on their journey and in the end of course in the manger will be laid the christ child the anointed one in the lowliest surroundings we shall speak more about that on christmas day itself tomorrow morning but i remembered a moment of creativity myself because it caused the writing of a christmas carol which was sung last night of of words that i'd written and music that i'd written in a strange way because it was in a summer holiday a year or two ago and the words were written uh partly on the beach and partly in the past in spain that we talk off from time to time where our little niece uh arabella is living with her mother dany and also fetcher's mother jackie and the the carol began with the sense of the words no room at the inn which is a startling uh little sentence a phrase in the lesson for this morning no room at the end no shelter to be given and from that began an idea began to develop i brought out the notebook which is full of scratchings and and corrections and everything else and also sea water stains on its pages because i was writing on the beach uh under the shelter of a a an awning and as i did so gradually the verses began to develop and at the same time if i turn the page i see i've drawn out the lines of the stave and written down in note form the tune which came into my head which hardly changed until you heard it last night it was later harmonized and and uh death scans were added all of that but the tune itself the melody hardly changed but the words they changed as i thought them through and there's one line particularly which is i think in the third verse which i've scratched through about three or four times and then suddenly i was i was sitting outside the house and supper was being prepared i wasn't on the beach then we were in spain then not in france and suddenly a bird began to sing beside me in the dusk and as this little bird sang he suddenly stopped and it was time for him to seek his roost and it was that moment that gave me the line which completed the three verses so here are the verses which is a meditation of mine on that were those words no room at the inn and then the music uh added to it and will be sung again this afternoon as it was sung last night by our two quite the boy choristers and the girl choristers uh as part of our christmas carol service but here are the words hard was the journey and crowded the pathways as joseph for mary sought shelter that night for galilee's home fires seemed far far behind them when bethlehem's lamps through the hills came in sight wearily wearily onward to bethlehem seeking a welcome and comfort within but voices there met them with no word of greeting and stark was the message no room at the inn over earth's pathways the people are moving by will of great caesar compelled to leave home from valley and village in syrian landscapes the people are moving commanded to rome wearily wearily onward to bethlehem hoping as nightfalls some shelter to win but lamplight and far light give false hope of welcome the doors close against them no room at the end through the bleak darkness comes one sound of welcome a voice-giving promise of shelter and rest some kindly words spoken a stable door opened to find there a manger as birds find their nest cheerily cheerily home now in bethlehem where for the christ child new life must begin for one voice of welcome enough for god's purpose is saying no longer no room at the end that i think says how just one voice and a kindly intention can give that kind of shelter which god can use it's the same as the little lad giving his breakfast but what is that among so many and enough in the creator's hands the human hands of the anointed one to feed a multitude and today as we prepare for christ's nativity christmas christmas day we give thanks for the fact that the child in the manger is enough to offer himself for the sins of the whole world but also show how a human life can give the qualities of the kingdom of heaven sometimes by a few words sometimes by an encouraging action and those hands those words could be ours day by day not just on christmas day but every day so let's then say our prayers on this morning in preparation for all that will happen with the folk that you're spending christmas with or contacting in some means or another even by a telephone call tomorrow and the days of christmas which follow we are praying this morning in our calendar of prayer in the anglican communion of course for justin our archbishop and for the diocese of elisa southwest in the church of nigeria ibadan province and in the diocese for the church of since stephen's canterbury and for kevin maddy and stephen ladd in their ministry there and the life of the archbishop school which is in that parish a parish very near to us and at the same time we think of bishop rose of dover and bishop emma of lambeth bring your own prayers and intentions as we say for the last time the collect for advent but first here's the colic for christmas eve almighty god you make us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of your son jesus christ grant that as we joyfully receive him as our redeemer so we may withshore confidence behold him when he shall come to be our judge who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever are men and the advent connect almighty god give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life in which your son jesus christ came to us in great humility that on the last day when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so in whatever language you like to use and in whatever style you'd like to say it we use 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 and 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 reflection now on this christmas eve as we prepare for this great festival [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is not [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] christ the son of righteousness shine upon you scatter the darkness from before your path and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always are men