welcome to canterbury cathedral on this good friday morning this is a day when christians all over the world contemplate the way of the cross and it is a very special type of good friday because of course we are combating the coronavirus worldwide and so many of us are locked in our own homes also worldwide so there is a physical separation but by these means of streaming across the world services throughout the day we can contemplate together and feel a unity with each other at 12 noon today we shall begin a series of reflections on the cross and these you will be able to use in your own way as you see them on stream and for the moment we're going to say our morning prayers for each other and begin the contemplation of jesus's trial and then sentence to crucifixion almighty father look with mercy on us your human family for which our lord jesus christ was content to be betrayed and given into the hands of sinners and to suffer death upon the cross who is alive and glorified with you and the holy spirit one god now and forever amen we use psalm 67 with special sentences for this day before and after it we glory in your cross o lord and praise you for your mighty resurrection for by virtue of your cross joy has come into our world god be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us that your way may be known upon earth your saving power among all nations let the peoples praise you o god let all the peoples praise you oh let the nations rejoice and be glad for you will judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations upon earth let the peoples praise you o god let all the peoples praise you then shall the earth bring forth her increase and god our own god will bless us god will bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him we glory in your cross so lord and praise you for your mighty resurrection for by virtue of your cross joy has come into our world in our reflections this afternoon i use the gospels of saint mark vincent luke and john and so this morning i'm going to read from the gospel of saint matthew some verses from chapter 27. beginning at the first verse when morning came all the chief priests the elders of the people took counsel against jesus to put him to death and they burned him and led him away and delivered him to pilate the governor now jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him are you the king of the jews jesus said you have said so but when he was accused by the chief priests and elders he made no answer then pilate said to him do you not hear how many things they testify against you but jesus gave him no answer not even to a single charge so that the governor wandered greatly now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted and they had then a notorious prisoner called barabbas so when they had gathered pilate said to them whom do you want me to release for you barabbas or jesus who is called christ for he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up besides while he was sitting on the judgment seat his wife sent word to him have nothing to do with that righteous man for i have suffered much over him today in a dream now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the people to ask for barabbas and destroy jesus the governor again said to them which of the two do you want me to release for you and they said barabbas pilate said to them then what shall i do with this jesus who is called christ they all said to him let him be crucified pilate said why what evil has he done but they shouted all the more let him be crucified so when pilate saw that he was gaining nothing but rather that a riot was beginning he took water and washed his hands before the crowd saying i am innocent of this man's blood see to it yourselves and all the people answered his blood be on us and on our children then he released for them barabbas and having scourged jesus he delivered him to be crucified the morning dawned as it does this morning but all night long following his arrest in the darkness in the garden of gethsemane jesus has been questioned and treated badly often violently by the high priest and the council and also their servants and soldiers and temple police in whose hands jesus has been placed and now at first light they come to the roman governor of judea pontius pilate who finds himself with a very difficult situation with a city full of pilgrims and boiling with the sense that some kind of insurrectional riot might occur it's in that atmosphere that good friday begins later we shall follow jesus along the way of the cross and the atmosphere is one of the wood of the cross being placed on the shoulders of jesus at the end of his ministry in our prayers this morning we think of all those who are bearing the heavy burden of the coronavirus right across the world those who are putting themselves in danger for the sake of the health of others but also those who are spending this day helping the housebound the vulnerable those without resources for in all this they are also walking the way of the cross and in our prayers we pledge ourselves to do that day by day for each other particularly as these days of crisis continue we shall say some prayers as we do so we give thanks for the fact that our prime minister has been taken out of intensive care this morning but he's still in a serious condition as so many others are so we focus our prayers on those who we know those whom we love those who we care for those that we're worried about but also reflectively on ourselves seeing what we might do at this terrible time in the history of our human race in these morning prayers we think of our position in canterbury as the mother church of the anglican communion worldwide and regularly we pray for different dioceses today for the diocese of minna in nigeria and bishop daniel abu yeeza and all his people and the diocese of western kansas in the episcopal church of the united states and michael milliken and his people there throughout this diocese of canterbury we pray for all our parishes and especially remember ministry in the hospices not only in this diocese but in the county of kent and way beyond pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and for tim bishop atlantis in their pastoral care of us all in these parishes as we walk the way of the cross not only on this good friday but in the weeks ahead in physical separation but conscious of the worship of each other so let us pray merciful god we entrust to your tender care those who are ill or in pain knowing that whenever danger threatens your everlasting arms which held the cross are there to hold them safe in these days to comfort and heal them and restore them to health and strength through jesus christ our lord amen so we say each in our own way and 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 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 silence now as we make our own prayers on this good friday morning most merciful god who by the death and resurrection of your son jesus christ delivered and saved the world grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory through jesus christ your son our lord who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen [Music]