good morning and welcome to the dinner at canterbury cathedral on this saturday the 1st of january 2022. it's new year's day so happy new year to you all wherever you are in the world and we ourselves have been uh celebrating parts of the new year both last night and this morning we ourselves climbed up uh for midnight on to the uh north tower of the deanery and there as midnight struck and uh the celebrations began the sky all round us and canterbury is held in what's like a shallow bowl with the hills on each side and apart from the cathedral shielding us from the the south side with its dark silhouette the rest of the sky was filled with fireworks and the jubilation of people shouting and singing and that went on for probably over the best part of half an hour as more and more beautiful fireworks were shown all around heralding in a new human year 2022 with all its hopes uh saying a farewell to the months of 2021. so so well we then went to bed and then afterwards this morning climbed up again onto the same tower the north tower we're on the south tower at the moment this morning the north tower in order to see the sunrise on the first day of 2022 and we were not disappointed it was the most dramatic sunrise and very beautiful indeed and and feature has filmed it but uh probably you will only see a glimpse of the glory that we ourselves were seeing as the sun gradually took over the heavens with a pattern of clouds and a pattern of different golden colors on this day and it made one's heart glad for a new year beginning ah [Music] and now we've come up on to this tower to begin our prayers to include you in that sense of newness so that you're seeing the sun much higher now shining onto the corona of the cathedral with a very different light than the light it had earlier this morning when it rose in golden glory on this day of course honors and awards are publicized uh some they were announced also yesterday um and uh there are far far too many people to mention but what we would want to do is to say a huge thank you for the amount of public service and care of others that those honors and awards actually represent not just through this time of pandemic though those are hugely important ones and the work done there can hardly be overestimated but also throughout the lives of those receiving those awards i'm just wanting to name one person because she is the dearest friend of ours and that's dame joanna lumley and uh she and her husband stephen must be really uh shell-shocked this morning though none of us are surprised that she has received the title dame joanna lumley because the way in which she has cared for people and championed causes and championed the ecology of the planet whenever she is here she's careful of all our creatures and so enthusiastic about everything and uh so we send our love to her as a representative of all those who've received honors this morning in the new year's honors list so new year is a time for all of us to think of new beginnings to in some way put the past behind us but at the same time to use its lessons to embrace the months of this year ahead so as we stand on this part of the deanery high up with a blue sky patterned with clouds and the thrushes singing in the garden below this as we were saying yesterday there are some birds that love to sing at wintertime and the robin's also twittering a much softer song but but nevertheless singing this morning and the odd seagull in the sky lumbering around with their cries which make us think of the sea being very near us it's no more than eight miles away so let's begin our prayers on this first day of the year oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands blessed are you sovereign god creator of heaven and earth to you be praise and glory forever as your living word eternal in heaven assume the frailty of our mortal flesh may the light of your love be born in us to fill our hearts with joy as we sing 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 so god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen there is a special prayer for the new year and perhaps up here with the blue sky above us and the cathedral behind us now is the time to use that one before we go down to a different situation to say our morning prayers here's the colic for the new year god and father of our lord jesus christ whose years never fail and whose mercies are new each returning day let the radiance of your spirit renew our lives warming our hearts and giving light to our minds that we may pass the coming year in joyful obedience and firm faith through him who is the beginning and the end even your son christ our lord who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever are men hello hello i'm pleased to see us [Music] here we are it's a bit warmer here and out of the wind as we come to say our psalm and also say our prayers on this eighth day of christmas a significant day as we shall see in the uh the gospel reading for this particular day this is the feast day of the naming and circumcision of jesus in our calendar and of course it's the first morning of the month 1st of january 2022 so psalm 1 quite naturally here's the psalm for today blessed are they who have not walked in the council of the wicked nor lingered in the way of sinners nor sat in the assembly of the scornful their delight is in the law of the lord and they meditate on his law day and night like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season with leaves that do not wither whatever they do it shall prosper as for the wicked it is not so with them they are like chaff which the wind blows away therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgment nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous for the lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked shall perish we're returning to the gospel of sin luke today back to the second chapter and we take up just where the angels have sung their gloria in the sky following the message to the shepherds i'm reading from chapter 2 and verse 15. i in the gospel of saint luke sorry when the angels went away from them into heaven the shepherds said to one another let us now 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 the child and all who heard 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 and at the end of eight days when he was circumcised he was called jesus the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb the gospel takes us all the way back to the christmas story and here we have a lovely representation of the christ child it was a gift from bavaria from the parents of christoph franklin are our vet who cares for the animals and our dear friend and uh um they were they they were uh staying the parents at christmas time as they often do a few years ago and brought this lovely christ child from bavaria so we say happy new year to christoph and martin this morning and across the world to christoph's parents for the gift of the the christ child from bavaria but we are at the day of jesus's naming and circumcision and the two events are linked in our christian calendar on this eighth day following christmas and they speak of different things but they speak of truths that we have been examining ever since christmas began eight days ago the circumcision of jesus means that he was born according to the law under the law and remember those verses of saint paul in galatians that we read one of his early epistles born of a woman born under the law and that means that joseph and mary righteous followers of their own uh religion of judaism at that time and in that culture they brought jesus up under the law they were to go and live in in galilee and there in that rural area jesus's hidden ears were lived out but according to the law the old covenant but the naming is a different kind of obedience that becomes an obedience to the new covenant for that was completely outside the law and this juxtaposition of the naming and circumcision shows that our lord brought up through the whole of his life in the face of mary and joseph and adhering to that and insisting that he had not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill but when the angel gave the message to joseph in the dream you shall call his name jesus and the archangel gabriel says the same instant lewis gospel to mary when he announces the fact that she has to have a son he will call his name jesus the naming of jesus and the circumcision according to the old law on the eighth day two forms of obedience feeding together into a new covenant there is every year on this day a desire to begin again for us as human beings you always think well there's a year gone and maybe uh the mistakes of the past won't happen again in the future or i'm going to turn over a new leaf it's january the first alexander pope gave us that cupped it hope springs eternal in the human breast but that is an expression of doubtfulness meaning hope springs eternal and it's a good thing it does because we keep keep failing in resolutions and there's the other uh proverb the road to hell is paved with good intentions for intentions are good thoughts to go forward but nevertheless when we begin to fall and stumble on the way then we think oh well i tried uh and in um three weeks time maybe the resolutions that we have made for the first of january begin to look a bit threadbar but in this gospel notice that sin luke turns a page here turns over a new and different leaf for when the angels had gone away from them into heaven the shepherds said let us go now even unto bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass and they came with haste and found mary and joseph in the babe lying in the manger and what did they do they began to tell people about it i'm saying all this because that verse 14 of the angels singing gloria in excelsis stair glory to god in the highest and on earth peace good will is the last appearance of angels in sin luke's gospel until you come all the way through to the garden of gethsemane when an angel appears to strengthen jesus's resolve to fulfill the will of his father of course they're present at the resurrection and of course they're present in luke's gospel in the mountain of the ascension speaking to the apostles but through the chapters of saint luke's gospel different people become angels and the first are the shepherds because they become the messengers which is what angel means the messengers of the new covenant of the good news all unknowingly they are spreading the good news and the virgin mary herself pondering and treasuring these things in her heart this is a particular significance since in luke's gospel because in sin luke's gospel at the end even of the temptations in the wilderness when saint mark and matthew talk about then the devil left him and angels came and ministered they're not there in st luke in st luke it's the humanity of the child in the manger the humanity of the jesus who comes from his baptism to fulfill the role of the messiah the christ the anointed one and bring a new covenant it's the humanity of jesus that matters because in that we see every dimension of heaven and of eternity the gift of god and it's really only jesus at the mount of transfiguration when the disciples are there and they see moses in elijah and then when the cloud covers them and they look up they only see jesus and this day when we think of the feast of the naming of jesus causes us to hold on to that name but it also shows us that the new covenant is full of forgiveness for when jesus is sitting at the last supper with his disciples oh 33 years later according to luke's chronology and he takes bread and breaks it and says this is my body take eat this is my body and they take that bread to become the body of christ and be the human angels taking that good news across a world but when the cup is taken then we hear that this is my blood of the new covenant given to you and many for the forgiveness of sins the cup is a sign not only of the taking of our lord's vocation to ourselves but also of the fact that in doing so we receive an absolution a forgiveness of sins a new beginning for life is not just a beginning on new year's day it's full of the potential of new beginnings and learning from what was and humbly receiving the new gift the night is past and the day lies open before us the gift of this new day and it's full of forgiveness a clean slate to work on but nevertheless that clean slate must involve reparation for the past if that's possible in encouragement and in uh shall we say penitence to one another but all these things are in the working of humankind and the going in syndicate's gospel of the angels back into heaven means that heaven has withdrawn from there and concentrated everything into the life of the one who is named jesus by the obedience of his faithful parents according to their own faith in the creator of heaven and earth but all the time we're told by saint luke that mary is pondering and treasuring these things in her heart working forward in a particular way through all the different aspects of humankind around her [Music] see [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] hey [Music] is [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i've come on to the other side of the fire to explore the dates with you for today and we've been joined by lily here always one to enjoy the warmth of a fire especially on a winter i could begin in 1660 with the fact that on this day the first of january 1660 which was going to be a turning point in english history samuel peeps began his diary which he kept then regularly in his coded writing for nine years giving us a wonderful picture of that almost decade which saw in 1660 the restoration of king charles ii but i want actually to go to a completely different date and a different person for on the 1st of december 1919 the american writer jd salinger was born and salinger is a very special kind of writer because practically everything that we know that he wrote was in some way autobiographical and yet he would never really admit to writing about himself one feels he was never an easy person to live with and yet he had huge insights of humanity by exploring and quarrying into his own feelings he lived to be 91 years old and in that time he became famous but at first had tried many times to write stories and get the new york times to publish them and then war broke out and he found himself in active service very dangerous active service he was he was someone who could speak different languages and when the war ended and he'd already been in in in battle across europe as the allied forces approached germany he was present at the liberation of an a traumatic experience of the concentration camps one of the the adjoining camps to dachau he found himself there and found himself as one of those being used as translators in that and the experience of of that aspect of humankind never never left him but at the same time he kept writing writing writing little stories and some of them were published but of course you will know as well as i know that he's best known for one particular book i'm very fond of quoting my sister as someone who would give me insights into literature and art particularly but pauline was a a radical at overthrowing accepted norms and salinger really suited her and she suddenly came across his book the catcher in the rye and the catcher in the rye is a a strange story because it takes place really only in two days of the life of its hero or anti-hero if you like uh and the hero there is is called holden caulfield you'll know the book well i'm sure but holden caulfield is 16 years old when the book is being narrated by him and uh or perhaps he's 70 years old telling the story of his two days in his life when he had gone away and was frightened to tell his parents that he'd been expelled from school and had to live with that and at the same time he was in massachusetts now salinger was born in in massachusetts he lived in park avenue in massachusetts and all the richness of new york life was around him but he was brought up according to fairly strict principles and he himself was waiting to kick over the traces both mentally spiritually and physically and holden caulfield becomes his shall we say his other self his alter ego his other self and the book was published in 1951 and was more or less an instant success because young people really what should we say identified with holden caulfield because helton caulfield spent those days learning that there is no real integrity in the majority of adult life that they say one thing and then in their own lives the muddle of their own human lives they do another and he is coming to terms with all of that and experimenting with life in a multitude of different ways it's extraordinary that the the book was banned by some schools because of its radical thinking but it became also part of the essential english syllabus in others and everyone reached for it and i can see it now on pauline's bookshelves it was almost for her a gateway to freedom and it was joined later of course by franny and zooey and for esme with love and squalor and that strange titled book which i could never get raised high the roof beam carpenters and with as normally coupled with the introduction to seymour and salinger takes you to two imaginary families but there are aspects of himself and his own family in all of that there's not only the caulfields but in some of his stories which the new york times was then very pleased to publish the caulfield family are joined by the glass family and in that writing about them you find an exploration of all the successes but mostly the failures of humanity and the ability to pick themselves up and start again and none of them are perfect and that takes me back again to my sister's three maxims that she always wrote in her diary i've said this before and nobody's perfect is one of them and deal with it is another and lastly lighten up but salinger who would tend to take people up and make friends with them or even a relationship and and a marriage with them would as quite quickly drop them as well and he was intent really in becoming more and more and more private so that eventually he moved from massachusetts and went right up to the little town of cornish in new hampshire right in the countryside he didn't really want to be seeing people at that point he wanted to be writing and writing and he admitted from time to time that he was telling his own story in the book he wrote my boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book and it was a great relief telling people about it but at the same time you had characters like um franny and zooey and booboo and in all of those characters there's something of himself and the people he had known some of them are deeply spiritual the waker glass is is actually uh uh becomes a monk of the strictest order a carthusian monk of the strictest orders and you all well know that franny carries around with her the book about the jesus prayer the name of jesus over and over again the exploring of spirituality was something that he did through the whole of his life but the essence that humanity was very much capable of redemption but only if it embraced the fact that it would be falling over again and then picking itself up and depending on others to do it yet at the same time in the catcher in the rye the boy as he is holden caulfield has this great sense of looking after other people and trying to prevent them from falling into the mistakes that he himself did and and pauline had that as well my sister had that as well of trying to say that that this is i did that and it's but you can't do it people absolutely have to live out their own self and hold on to that good news which we have been proclaiming that every day is a new beginning and has to be approached humbly and with gratitude and with penitence and that has to be worked out body mind and spirit there is a vision and that's why it's called the catcher in the rye in it and i'll read the little paragraph for in his vision you've got anyway i keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all thousands of little kids and nobody's around nobody big i mean except me and i'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff what i have to do i have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff i mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going i have to come out from somewhere and catch them what a responsibility for the cliff represents every kind of human temptation and failure and the necessity of having the help of something picking you up again and then he explains how important books were to him and i think that tuned in massively with pauline even to the end when she couldn't really pick up a book and and read it in in her illness nevertheless the lines of books became somehow how she had learned life and experimented with it herself and her interest in humanity in all its shapes and sizes never for a moment faltered and he uh he wrote what really knocks me out is a book that when you're all done reading it you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it that doesn't happen much though he says and certainly he wouldn't have been very pleased if people kept calling him up on the phone because he needed that withdrawal into something that was more silent in order to give these gifts i won other long quotation from him but there are so many one could give because he is really a pilgrim through so many different dimensions so many different relationships so many experiments in humanity but never ceases trying and here's the long quotation among other things you'll find you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior you're by no means alone on that score you'll be excited and stimulated to know many many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now happily some of them kept records of their troubles you'll learn from them if you want to just as someday if you have something to offer someone will learn something from you [Music] it's a beautiful reciprocal and it isn't education it's history it's poetry history in the mental thinking about it and intention poetry in its spiritual dimension which is beyond explanation i read it neat from the catcher in the rye but the the quotation is for all of us many many people have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now happily some of them kept records of their troubles you'll learn from them if you want to just as someday if you have something to offer someone will learn something from you it's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement and it isn't education it's history it's poetry it's a comforting thought that we're in companionship with all these others who have something to teach us if we'll just listen and share something of their life but we too if we will realize it even in our failures have something to communicate part of our history but our spirituality particularly at christmas time when luke is teaching us to focus on the humanity of the babe in the manger the humanity of the one struggling with vocation in the wilderness the humanity and the compassion of the one walking amongst those who most need him the humanity of the one on the cross particularly at this time we have to learn that we all every one of us has something to offer someone will learn something from us it's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement meaning that as they do so we'll humbly be learning from them too there's an awful lot one can say about jd salinger but i give thanks to god for him and his pilgrimage and will say may he rest in peace because he's given so much of himself even though he denied that it was an autobiography so let's say our prayers on this day the eighth day of christmas and we're praying in the diocese today for archbishop justin and for bishop rose of dover and for bishop emma at lambeth and we're asked by the diocese to pray together a blessing on the new year we'll come back to the east bridge deanery tomorrow and in the anglican communion we pray for the diocese of isi mbano in the church of nigeria the awari province today so let's say the special prayer for this day the naming and circumcision of jesus and then we'll say the our father together each in our own language in our own way almighty god whose blessed son was circumcised in obedience to the law for our sake and given the name that is above every name give us grace faithfully to bear his name to worship him in the freedom of the spirit and to proclaim him as the savior of the world who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever are men so each in our own language the prayer that jesus 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 are men moment of reflection on this day when there's so much music both of christmas but also lovely music like benjamin britain's carol for the new year based on the poetry of someone experiencing a new beginning hey [Music] time see [Music] is [Music] is [Music] me see [Music] right [Music] a christ who by his coming at christmas time gathered into one the things of earth and the things of heaven fill you with the spirit of peace and goodwill and 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 this new year's day and always amen so once again a happy new year from all of us in 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