minute good morning and welcome to the dinery garden on this beautiful may morning in early may and easter tide as we come to say our morning prayers i've got a friend beside me who's more interested in the milk junk than in morning prayers i think oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice alleluia blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as once you ransomed your people from egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your risen son may we the first fruits of your new creation rejoice in this new day you have made and praise you for your mighty acts blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever [Music] christ our passover has been sacrificed for us so let us celebrate the feast not with the old leaven of corruption and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth christ once raised from the dead dies no more death has no more dominion over him in dying he died to sin once for all in living he lives to god see yourselves therefore as dead to sin and alive to god in jesus christ our lord christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who sleep 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 one of the psalms for today the second morning of the month is psalm 9 and i'm going to read some verses from that psalm now [Music] i will give thanks to you lord with my whole heart i will tell of all your marvelous works i will be glad and rejoice in you i will make music to your name almost high for you have maintained my right and my cause you sat on your throne giving righteous judgment you have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked you have blotted out their name forever and ever but the lord shall endure forever he has made fast his throne for judgment for he shall rule the world with righteousness and govern the peoples with equity and then will the lord be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in the time of trouble and those who know your name will put their trust in you for you lord have never failed those who seek you for the needy shall not always be forgotten and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever arise o lord and let not mortals have the upper hand let the nations be judged before your face put them in fear o lord that the nations may know themselves to be but mortal we continue with our reading of the gospel of saint luke giving thanks for that gospel we have arrived at the middle section of chapter 2 and i'm starting to read at verse 21 at the end of eight days when jesus was circumcised he was called jesus the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb and when the time came for their purification according to the law of moses they brought him up to jerusalem to present him to the lord as it is written in the law of the lord every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the lord a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons now there was a man in jerusalem whose name was simeon and this man was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of israel and the holy spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the lord's christ he came in the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law simeon took him up in his arms and blessed god and said lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the gentiles and for glory to your people israel and the child's father and mother marvel did what was said about him and simeon blessed them and said to mary his mother behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed and there was a prophetess anna the daughter of daniel of the tribe of asha she was advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin and then as a widow until she was 84 she did not depart from the temple worshiping and fasting and praying night and day and coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to god and to speak of the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of jerusalem and when mary and joseph had performed everything according to the law of the lord they returned into galilee to their own town of nazareth and the child grew and became strong filled with wisdom and the favor of god was upon him it's a lovely thing to think of mary and joseph bringing their baby son to the great temple in jerusalem they had come from the rural province of galilee and probably felt quite shy going into the temple courtyards but here they were and everything happened according to the customs of that little province as the members of that nation came from galilee and into judea to fulfill the law as set down to fulfill it in the holy place in the temple nothing happened special until suddenly a very old man came forward not a priest someone who came into the temple simply to watch and wait and pray until the moment that he believed in his heart the lord would show him when the one who was to save not only israel but to be a light to all nations would be shown to him and intuitively simeon knows that this is the moment takes the little baby into his arms he makes a prophecy that mary will suffer much because of the ministry that this child will accomplish a sword shall pierce your own heart too the thoughts of many will be laid back and this sign god's sign will be opposed well we've seen much of that during holy week and easter but now we're at beginnings and oddly it's not the young and active and strong who notice they're busy about their own business and affairs nor is it the officials of the temple they're also busy about what they have to do it's someone in very old age who's been watching and waiting with great patience now cats are fast and tiger has made the most of the opportunity of a milk jug here but they're not the only creatures who live in this garden and the warmth has brought out two more who live at a slower pace this is achilles he's a greek tortoise and he loves the warm weather when he's not out in the warmth he's either sleeping or wandering around the warm climate of the greenhouse but he goes slowly and he has a companion she's bigger than he is this is a ceni they're the same age but notice how they've developed at a different pace and they mostly get on together and wander around and we see them from time to time and feed them often when there's no food to be had for them i use them this morning as a sign of waiting and patience and a different kind of metabolism this is in anniversary terms and there's an almanac which tells me these things each morning the birth date anniversary of emma wedgwood who became emma darwin i've always been fascinated by the voyage of the beagle where two such different human beings robert fitzroy the captain a godly and devout member of the church of england with his book of common prayer taking services day by day as the ship's captain and assembling them on sunday mornings there's a very famous painting of all that happening he allowed charles darwin to share his cabin and the discussions that must have gone on between them fitzroy a cartographer and the father of modern weather forecasting and darwin a geologist a botanist and a philosopher philosopher was what fitzroy called him and i'm sure they had intense arguments [Music] but what i was coming to was the fact that when they landed in saint helena on their way back there was a tortoise there four years old that was in 1836 his name jonathan the tortoise still lives today four tortoises live a long time because they take life slowly let me put these two back where they're more happy and then they can have something to eat while we're continuing to think the story of simeon reminds me of an occasion earlier in my ministry there was an an old man who used to act as a voluntary verger in sherban abbey his name george adams the time came when george was very sick and i went with his wife sheila to the cottage hospital to anoint him george was we thought not noticing suddenly after i had blessed him and anointed him and was standing with sheila at the end of the bed his great eyes opened and he said god bless you both he wasn't the priest i was but i was in no doubt about who was receiving the blessing this old man who had watched and waited and was just coming to the end of his life blessed me and it was a very real blessing and blessed his wife too so here's tiger back for more milk as we come to the time of saying our own prayers we give thanks for those who have lived for years and years and have great experience in faith and in life we give thanks that they can be signs to us at this time of crisis for our humanity but at the same time we give thanks for those who have just been born like the infant jesus whom simeon and anna held in their hands and blessed god for that occasion so we say an easter prayer to begin with and then after that we will say our prayers together almighty father who in your great mercy gladden the disciples with the sight of the risen lord give us such knowledge of his presence with us that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life and serve you continually in righteousness and truth through jesus christ our lord men so we pray for all those whom we would want to pray for today wherever they are in the world and for whatever reason you have them on your hearts oh god our father lord of all creation from whom every community and family and individual on earth takes its name be with us all and particularly those who are separated from their loved ones on this day ease their anxiety soften their sadness but in all things deepen their gratitude for one another and remind us all of your special gifts to each one of us to be able intuitively to give good encouragement to each other at this time of crisis for we know that neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation can separate us from your love in jesus christ our lord amen in this place we give thanks for the life of the anglican communion and today pray for the diocese of muhabara in uganda and for kranma mugisha the bishop there and his people the diocese of yeri in south sudan and john abraham nayari the bishop there and his people and the diocese of ijumu in nigeria and pray for paul alawaju ojo the bishop and his people pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and today in this diocese for the parish of xavier's westgate on sea for karen gooding in her ministry there and all the folk she serves so we say the prayer our lord taught us to say whenever we come together in whatever language and in whatever way you'd like to say 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 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 may we just silence while we say our own prayers and god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be among you and remain with you always amen