good morning and welcome on this sunny morning of friday the 19th of march we've come out to be in front of the great magnolia danudata which is in full flower at the moment when i say full flower there's a part of it which still has to come into full flower but behind me these flowers are looking expended in the morning sunshine and with a blue sky and we want to say this morning a thank you to wendy white thompson because uh she asked us to um show her the magnolia which she and her husband ian when uh ian was the dean in the late 1960s they planted the five magnolias great magnolias here and this garden is a a wonderful place for magnolias so wendy and ray hi and good morning and here is the first of our magnolias you will over the next few weeks see the others as they come into bloom and we planted some more of course as well but here's the the first one on this particular day so many thanks for these magnolias there's even a little map which wendy and ian provided for us of where the five that they were planted that they planted are in the garden so thanks for that we'll all enjoy these beautiful flowers as a sign of spring and wherever you are in the world feel welcome on this day of almost oasis in lent because this is the feast of st joseph of nazareth and that will be our reading and our theme but it's an oasis in two ways because this also is a day which here in the united kingdom is a day of comic relief now that may be unknown to some of you in the world it's also called red nose day and uh people in the town are wearing red noses because it's a day when people are asked to smile and give each other something humorous to think about so that you you you have all kinds of adults just not only cheering the children up and you may hear some of the children getting ready for their lessons this morning but also they're wearing these things and we'll just put it on for a moment yeah as they go around the town this is comic relief and tonight the television will be full of those who make us laugh doing things to cheer the nation up now it's not just to cheer us up for over the years since this was founded by lenny henry and he's on tonight seleni henry now and also by richard curtis uh those who having founded this in 1985 after 35 years they've raised 1.4 billion pounds and the theme is a just world free from poverty and the uh particular things this year are homelessness domestic abuse mental health stigma uh and those impacted by kovid 19 and the pandemic but essentially it's raising children from poverty it was at the beginning founded as a a way of people smiling and becoming more community-like it's not only comic relief it's sports relief and if you can't do something funny then uh you're asked to do something active and unsporting but uh and to give something and that the theme has always been give something if it's only a smile and cause people to smile in some way so comic relief day has become quite a a a day an oasis in this pandemic an oasis for us this morning as we say our prayers in the beginning it was it was founded because of the desperate situation in 1985 in ethiopia no one knew at that time it would take off to such an extent so tonight many comedians will be replaying their favorite roles like dawn french playing her vicar of dibley again for us in a new sketch people come on and dame judy dental without benedict about all sorts of actors and actresses as they come to just replay things which make people smile so today is to think of something that makes you smile and send it on and i brought out our our grommet mug today when we had him first if you put i'll put some hot tea in him but when if you put hot hot water into him here we are then his brown nose would turn red uh over the years it's it's done that less and less um but uh here we are i can have some tea out of it on this comic day and uh managed to do it even without losing my red nose but here we are he he may turn a little bit uh he may turn a little bit bit uh red in uh in the um our half an hour that we've got with each other this morning but let's begin now to say our prayers and again this is another day of oasis because it's in joseph's days in joseph of nazareth and one remembers that on the 19th of march in spain in italy in portugal this is father's day because of it being joseph's day and if one thinks of comic relief again it's the kind of thing you do for children even before when they're babies they understand words people try to make them laugh and show a friendliness and build up a community spirit it's it's the the one thing you see adults doing even with babies they've met for the first time just trying to create a smile well let's try and do that for one another on this st joseph's day and the lovely thing about this day is that we leave the lenten sentences and we go to the christmas order because it's joseph and the we think of the holy family joseph mary and jesus and uh i'm if you're if you're using one of these daily prayer books with me today i'm not in the lenten area i'm i'm starting on page 214 morning prayer christmas season as the book tells us to on this particular day and i think we shall do the same again on the 25th of march when we have the feast of the annunciation just before holy week begins um i've also got this lanyard this isn't an ecclesiastical honor it's actually a red nosed a lanyard which says that we are supporting all those causes to make a better world and raise people from poverty and put a smile on their faces again so let's begin our morning prayer on saint joseph's day o 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 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 our son this morning is psalm 96 sing to the lord a new song sing to the lord all the earth sing to the lord and bless his name tell out his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all people for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he is more to be feared than all gods for all the gods of the nations are but idols it is the lord who made the heavens honor and majesty are before him power and splendor are in his sanctuary ascribe to the lord you families of the peoples ascribe to the lord honor and strength ascribe to the lord the honor due to his name bring offerings and come into his courts o worship the lord in the beauty of holiness let the whole earth tremble before him tell it out among the nations that the lord is king he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved he will judge the peoples with equity let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad that the sea thunder and all that is in it let the fields be joyful and all that is in them that all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the lord for he comes he comes to judge the earth with righteousness he will judge the world and the peoples with his truth a special lesson today for this st joseph's day because we will interrupt our lesson from st john but i'll make that up tomorrow by reading today and tomorrow's lesson from chapter 11 of st john right through so this morning we find ourselves on st joseph's day in the gospel of saint matthew and i'm in chapter 13 and beginning to read at verse 54. jesus came to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works is not this the carpenter's son is not his mother called mary and are not his brothers james and joseph and simon and judas and are not all his sisters with us where then did this man get all these things and they took offense at him but jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household and jesus did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief we have three chances really uh on this particular day to read lessons about st joseph and last night at evensong and some of you may have watched that as it was streamed online the lesson was a lesson that i used on mothering sunday um which was just a a week ago and that lesson was the lesson of mary and joseph the parents of jesus luke says going with jesus to jerusalem for the feast and jesus getting lost in the temple you'll remember and when they find him mary says to her 12 year old son my son why have you treated us thus your father and i have sought you sorrowing and jesus you remember says why did you search for me did you not know that i must be in my father's house and that dedication to the temple of the child jesus the temple is the sign of god's holiness but also a place where he expected the fruitfulness of all the gifts of the kingdom of heaven which he was learning by his unity with the one he was learning to call abba father as well as his obedience to joseph in nazareth today we read this lesson here at our morning prayer speaking of joseph the carpenter and at the eucharist i said three chances there are four chances of course because there's this morning's eucharist and at the eucharist today the lesson that would have been read would have been the beginning of saint matthew's gospel where the angel appears to joseph when he is betrothed to mary and says to him because he has discovered that she is already with child and as matthew tells us by the holy spirit the angel says don't be afraid to take her as your wife for you will become and here's another title of saint joseph the guardian of the holy family and you will name the boy jesus joseph who gives that that line of david which the prophets had prophesied joseph who had to travel in luke's gospel to bethlehem for the census which had been ordered by the emperor because everyone back went back to their own hometown all kinds of prophecies being fulfilled in this and this evening at even song again that will be live streamed we return to the gospel of saint matthew to hear the story of how joseph once again in a dream is told by god that is his vocation to take the holy fam family and take them into the safety of egypt for already just after jesus is born violent hands of those who are in power we're talking now about herod the great will seek to kill the baby so joseph flees with mary and jesus down into egypt and then when he hears that herod has died they return to nazareth and here we are in nazareth today with this lesson with the adult jesus coming back to the synagogue in which he had grown up where he had learned so many things and he teaches them there that story is told in a a larger way in luke's gospel even giving us that the lesson which jesus read from the prophet isaiah the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor to to release captives to lift those who are in desolation out of the dust it's a a day which we are trying to replicate with putting the smile back onto people's faces but in activity and also by using our resources to do so on this day of comic relief but really it's our vocation day after day there are in the old testament what we might call types of something that will happen later it's rather like the tableau at obaramagao showing a still picture in the passion play first maybe of of uh isaac carrying the wood of his own sacrifice on his back for abraham as they go towards the mountain where abraham is told there is no need to sacrifice your son your obedience has been proven and then immediately afterwards that tableau shows a live play acted out with music uh having been sung in the tableau and now words being spoken of jesus carrying his own cross types in the old testament of prophecy pictures of prophecy as well of words of prophecy and in the psalms as well as we see day by day but those types include the type of the old testament joseph being the one who is sent into egypt for the safety of his own father and brothers and all those things are an ancient prophecy and uh very often in the church's worship something about joseph in the old testament is read because of those things one could also say that both josephs joseph who went into egypt and became an important person and was able to save his family in the old testament in the book of genesis and joseph in the new testament right at the beginning of the gospels who dreams dreams and receives a vocation which they hardly understand both of them do that remember how joseph's dream in the old testament got him into trouble because his brothers were jealous of him and his dream about the sun and the moon and the the stars bowing down to him as a sign of what would happen in egypt later all these things these pictures are fortes which jesus picks up and knows based how to put a smile on people's faces by the things he says because so many of the things are such wonderful good news that people go from him smiling but at the same time knows how to be firm when confronting evil or power used badly and all his knowledge both uh don't forget that incident mark's gospel the people are saying of jesus himself is not this the carpenter here instant matthews it's not this the carpenter's son and all kinds of speculations have taken place we have to remember that the gospels are not biographies that kind of interest in daily life didn't seem to occur in those days think how little about jesus's daily life the epistles of saint paul speak about very little yet we are fascinated by the way in which daily life plays in and out and we long to know as much detail as possible about the life in nazareth but we only have snippets and snatches of this and also wisps of it being brought down by other traditions there was uh in the uh about the uh uh 150 um uh what was called a proteo evangelium so it's not in the gospels of of james the the brother of jesus who is he's named here and who became a great leader of the church later on but biography is not written but here a picture is given of joseph the carpenter being an older man and our carols say that joseph was an old man and an old man was he a very famous christmas carol um but that it comes from this this this whisper of tradition and that this also describes the the death of joseph when jesus is 19 and mary that around the bed of of of uh joseph well we can think all kinds of things this this proto evangelium also tells us that these brothers named and the two sisters are actually from the older man joseph who was a widower's previous marriage none of this is in the four gospels they've come through from other traditions what is that and this is really important what is that is joseph's instant obedience to his call and as saint luke tells us jesus's own obedience to joseph as his earthly father going down to nazareth to be obedient there and if they were carpenters of that kind then there was much work to do only six kilometers away from nazareth where the great town of sephiris had been destroyed by the romans in 4 bc and from then on was being rebuilt into a splendid not only jewish city but one which had much greek influence and the the ruler at that time that the son of herod in galilee um was making sure that the the best greek buildings are being used as well which gives us the thought that in working there and it will be an easy walk for joseph and for jesus to do to exercise their skill in carpentry um in going there and this is pure speculation but it's it's it's likely to be true if jesus for those years was was working with his father and working as a carpenter very necessary occupation then the greek language in which all the new testament is is written the common greek language which caused people in of the roman army of of um greek persuasion and of completely different areas would have been known to jesus though the aramaic and also the the hebrew of the scriptures would also would be common currency for him and we get wisps of that too in the gospels so we give thanks this morning for the wonderful vocation of joseph to look after and protect jesus and mary in jesus's years of growing up and to be puzzled with mary about the way in which that vocation was unfolding it's a day of true oasis and the purity of the magnolia tree speaks of wonder and i hope also the flowers opening and when they open first there is that the slightest wisp of ascent to them it goes quite quickly when the flowers open but a magnolia often has that scent to it of freshness but here's an early harbinger of spring and we shall return to it and to its brothers and sisters through the garden in the weeks to come as the sun shines just one or two other things on this day this is a day in 1702 when queen anne the last of our stuart monarchs became queen daughter of james ii who'd been put off the throne in the glorious revolution in 1688 and her brain lasted from 1702 to 1714 but i want to remember that she saw the plight of the poverty of many parish clergy in their villages and places some had what we might call rich livings where the endowment was great others were actually penurias had no money at all and queen anne set aside a great sum of money to make sure that they were given the wherewithal to do their work and look after their people and that was always called until it was enfolded into the church commissioners funds it was always called queen anne's bounty and that bounty must have put a smile on many parish clergyman's faces for the sake of the fact that they could look after their families so we give thanks for queen anne's gift of generosity and of course we have to remind ourselves that one of the church's great responsibility is to look after the clergy so that they can do their work and be um full-time in looking after their people in that way and then in 1813 david livingstone was born in blantar on the outskirts of glasgow he became a great missionary but also a champion of both proclaiming and the telling of the story of the horrors of the slave trade in east africa the swahili arab slave trade where the the arab dealers particularly from zanzibar would come across and and seize the the uh indigenous peoples there and simply take them away taking no care of human life and and livingston made himself a champion of that and when zanzibar was freed from the actual fact of slavery by the british navy then livingston came to england and proclaimed a mission in oxford and cambridge to call young men at that time to go out and look after and teach those those who have been enslaved and take them back to try and find their homes and uh there is a place called masasi in southern tanzania where having failed to find the homes and realizing that many of them didn't know where they were and they they they founded a new town and now there is a a diocese there and a lovely cathedral which i visited many times and in masasi the bishop james uh uh a friend of ours um the town i think in swahili when they when they got there means something like um where is this and that word was used for the title of of the town and uh so we give thanks for livingstone's huge campaign he realized he couldn't do it himself so he used his eloquence to speak to the undergraduates in oxford and in cambridge and said go out there look after them teach them and lift them out of poverty by the the gifts that you bring help them not only in their spiritual life but in their community life because they have no preparation for that having been taken away by cruel men and sold into slavery and the cross in zanzibar cathedral above the pulpit when one preaches there is carved out of the wood of the tree under which david livingstone died in africa in what is now northern zambia well we could go on a great deal with stories like that but my favorite quote is from david livingstone is i'm prepared to go anywhere provided it is forward and that's a good thing to think of on this day of oasis of sin joseph and also the intentions of red nose day and comic and sport relief on this day let's say our prayers and we first of all um pray for and i'll use yesterday's prayer as well because we were praying in a different way yesterday with the pandemic in mind so we are praying for the diocese of awari in the church of nigeria in the lagos province and the diocese of ayodh in the province of the episcopal church of south sudan in the jungle province and we're praying in the diocese for the um church folkston holy trinity and the clergy there bob weldon roger smith and kate mcneese that was from yesterday and today hawkinge and rob grinsell in his ministry there so we give thanks for that and that ministry going on there bring your own intentions and concerns on this particular day and think how during the day also you can perhaps put a smile on someone's face and we say the prayer of saint joseph a lovely collect for today god our father who from the family of your servant david raised up joseph the carpenter to be the guardian of your incarnate son and husband of the blessed virgin mary give us grace to follow him in faithful obedience to your commands through jesus christ our lord amen so we say each 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 for your own prayers on this day [Music] christ give you grace to follow sin joseph and all his saints in faith and hope and love 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 for today and always are men i don't know that gromit's nose has gone very red but it's uh certainly maybe i can do that for him and give him a red nose as we end our prayers this morning and put a smile on people's faces do that throughout the day