good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of thursday the 31st of march the last day of the month as we gather for our morning prayers be welcome from right across the world to a garden which this morning is freezing cold this wind is a chilly one but of intermittent sunshine showing a mixture of flowers that are still tightly in bud and flowers that are opulent in their bloom like the clematis samandi eye on the walls of the deanery but above me is wisteria which is still in tight bud and the seasons in our lesson become rather important as we shall see but i'm sitting within the walled garden and i'm here with clemmy and and winnie having their breakfast and also the long portico of the chickens in their run shut away at the moment as you well know in their lockdown because of avian flu not in kent but elsewhere in england but the protection to keep them away from all wild birds has to stay in place for the moment so we hope that they will be released but we think of those also who are in lockdown with the pandemic right across the world the millions of people in china in a very severe lockdown at the moment and at the same time we continue to pray for the ukrainian people for a resolution of the conflict with russia and we think also of the the ones who have left their home left their countries and uh have found homes elsewhere and they're being given hospitality so let's remember all of that this morning in our prayers and bring also any prayers and and intentions that you have on this last day of march o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise hear our voice o lord according to your faithful love according to your judgment give us life blessed are you god of compassion and mercy to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of our sin your light breaks forth like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance as we rejoice in the gift of your saving help sustain us with your bountiful spirit and open our lips to sing your 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 son this morning is psalm 145 one of the psalms for the last morning of the month it's a psalm which exalts in god's exalts god in creation and and exults in that creation and we read the psalm with great pleasure on this turning point between winter and spring as shoots are beginning to appear everywhere as we've seen in the last few days of sunshine and evening grey skies psalm 145 i will exalt you oh god my king and praise your name forever and ever every day will i bless you and praise your name forever and ever great is the lord and highly to be praised his greatness is beyond all searching out one generation shall praise your works to another and declare your mighty acts they shall speak of the majesty of your glory and i will tell of all your wonderful deeds they shall speak of the might of your marvelous acts and i will also tell of your greatness they shall pour forth the story of your abundant kindness and joyfully sing of your righteousness the lord is gracious and merciful long suffering and of great goodness the lord is loving to everyone and his mercy is over all his creatures all your works praise you o lord and your faithful servants bless you they tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your mighty power to make known to all peoples your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom your dominion endures throughout all ages the lord is sure in all his words and faithful in all his deeds the lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all those who are bowed down the eyes of all wait upon you o lord and you give them their food in due season you open wide your hand and fill all things living with plenty the lord is righteous in all his ways and loving in all his works the lord is near to those who call upon him to all who call upon him faithfully he fulfills the desire of those who fear him he hears the cry and saves them the lord watches over those who love him but all the wicked he shall destroy my mouth shall speak the praise of the lord and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever a psalm of the whole of creation and of the lord's bounty towards the whole of creation to be used well by all creation so here we go to the lesson in st john's gospel we're in chapter 10 where we finished yesterday and i'm beginning from the time of jesus by himself today in this reading in the temple but we get something of a seasonal reference which is quite rare in this particular reading i'm starting at verse 22 of chapter 10 and going to the end of the chapter at that time the feast of dedication took place at jerusalem it was winter and jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of solomon so the jews gathered around him and said to him how long will you keep us in suspense if you are the christ tell us plainly jesus answered them i told you and you do not believe the works that i do in my father's name bear witness about me but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me i give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand i and the father are one at this the jews picked up stones again to stone him jesus answered them i have shown you many good works from the father for which of them are you going to stone me the jews answered him it is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy because you being a man make yourself god jesus answered them is it not written in your law i said you are gods [Applause] if he called them gods to whom the word of god came and scripture cannot be broken do you say of him whom the father consecrated and sent into the world you are blaspheming because i said i am the son of god if i am not doing the works of my father then do not believe me but if i do them even though you do not believe me believe the works that you may know and understand that the father is in me and i am in the father again they sought to arrest him but jesus escaped from their hands he went away again across the river jordan to the place where john the baptist had been baptizing at first and there he remained and many came to him and they said john did no sign but everything that john said about this man was true and many believed in him there it's a lonely lesson it's a winter lesson it's in the temple courtyard it's full of violence and it's full of controversy they picked up stones surrounded by stones this morning they picked up stones to throw at him to destroy this human life and jesus is confronting them with the fact that he is only doing the works his father sent him to do and for which of these are they attempting to stone him the works he has performed we've seen over and over again are works of compassion on each of the days of the week compassion and the welfare of humankind and at the same time the nourishment of humankind the sign of the breaking of the loaves and the gathering of the fragments that that nourishing may go on in the hands of the twelve but the twelve aren't here with him this morning he's walking alone in jerusalem by the portico or colonnade of solomon the temple where he will come back to teach in that last week of his life towards which we tend at the moment and they say to him if you are the christ the anointed one tell us plainly and jesus is more or less saying to them could i make it more plain if you don't believe my words believe the works for everything i do is what the father has commanded me to do and is the will of the father and he refers again to the parable of the sheep who know his voice i am the good shepherd my sheep know my voice they respond to the voice of the shepherd other sheep i have which are not of this fold there's also i must bring into this flock and then there will be one fold one shepherd all those beautiful words if you do not believe me for the words believe me for the works sake all that you see me doing is in order to make the welfare of our people better and at the same time they say well it's not for that it's for blasphemy making yourself equal with god and it's to the sense of the image of god like a kindling light in every human presence that jesus jesus points and says but in your own law it says i have said they are gods it's so we can carry the divine image within us in that spiritual dimension of which a human being is possible and jesus is opening that out for them but at the same time they want to destroy his own life by picking up stones i have told you plainly but you do not believe what else can i say you do not believe me for the words you do not believe me for the works and yet both are of the will of my father who sent me and once again they attempt to arrest him it's a lonely winter picture and he goes away at the end he crosses the jordan and goes away to somewhere safe where many follow him follow the voice of the good shepherd and believe in him there's that word again believe and by believing are enfolded into the flock of the good shepherd which is his one intention this sense of being there in the temple when it began the loneliness but also it was winter it's not often that seasons are mentioned in the gospels but here is a season and yet in john's gospel anything like that it was night we hear anything like that is given more than just an ordinary meaning it's a meaning of withering coldness it was winter when nothing seems to be fruitful and the seed which he is trying to plant which is used in so many parables to be fruitful in their own lives the seed which the psalmist in psalm 145 is giving such thanks for the blessings of the creator is bearing no fruit it was winter so jesus in the end escaping a rest once more walks away the seasons become in important to us and we've seen how winter is now opening into spring the seasons give us different opportunities of thanksgiving and different opportunities of sensing how we are as human beings in god's creation and i want you to think of someone who sees that in his creative work whose day it is today he was born on the 31st of march 1732 and i'm talking about the composer franz josef haydn who in so many ways is a new beginning for music in the 18th century and whose creative music is is an inspiration for so many who come after that and develop it talking of mozart and beethoven both of whom were pupils and friends of haydn later on in life but for the moment we think of him being born to a fairly poor family but with a musical voice that was noticed by the director of music at since stephen's cathedral in vienna and haydn joseph haydn and also um franz josef hayden and also his brother michael hyden were both taken into the choir of the cathedral church in imperial vienna and they sang as choristers and there as choristers haydn picked up much music so much of haydn is self-taught because he had no opportunities to be taught properly and so he would glean it from the music that he was singing and the music that he was hearing the music we're hearing this morning is from brewster the rooster who's part of the colonnade of our pens at the moment and haydn himself was always looking for someone who could resource his music and in those days for musicians who were fairly penniless the only way to do that was by finding an aristocratic sponsor who would commission music or even better still take them onto their musical staff because so many of the palaces of the holy roman empire at that time as it was had musical staff and heightened after one or two beginnings suddenly struck lucky and the immensely rich esther hatsey family took him into their own musical establishment and he found himself first as assistant cattlemeister assistant director of music for the esther harzi family and then soon after in the um year 1766 he became capital meister to the esterhazy family it was a position he held until his dying day and he died in 1809 they had huge resources and haydn had to live as part of the community at their palaces and look after all their music now it wasn't just the music of the chapel as the capital meister suggests it was the music of all kinds every kind of music every entertainment put on every orchestral piece every piece of entertainment after dinner and haydn found himself an apt pupil of those he'd studied with and began composing in his own right when he went there first old prince paul anton esterhazy was at the end of his days and very soon after prince nicholas esterhazy who was very musical took over and was a huge sponsor of haydn so that we find that heiden's music becomes very very well known simply because he is writing constantly for the esther heartsy family in the end of by the end of his life and this is an incredible uh sum of of music he had written 107 symphonies 83 string quartets 45 piano trios 62 piano sonatas 14 masses 26 operas and two very famous oratorios and most of that happened when uh prince nicholas esterhazy who was very musical was the head of the family and looked after him now haydn for a long time um was the assistant cattle meister and then the cattlemeister but it meant that he had to be amongst the very large staff mostly at the esther hearts's hungarian palace because all of that was of the same land as austria at that time and the massive palace of esterhansen there was like a community on its own but it meant he had no contact with the other composers and his music at first became the property of the esterhazy family but in 1779 he managed to change his contract so that he could write commissions for others and was perfectly well blessed by the family in doing that too so that he began to write for others and his music became well known but he himself didn't because he was very much a member of that community a very popular member of the community and staff at the palace of esterhaza and he composed with great devotion every one of the pieces of his music began with his own handwriting in nominee domini in the name of god very devout catholic and at the end he always wrote lausdeo thanks be to god we're told also that if he found himself having a mental block in any of his works not just the religious works he would turn to his rosary and walking around the gardens or even sitting at his desk would use the scenes given him by the rosary to strike up creativity again and always find that effective that walk around in his mind his heart his spirit and sometimes his body walking as well to release creativity all over again all these things happening in his life and then eventually his musical sponsor who insisted on him always being there as part of the community of esterhansen died and a new prince took over equally keen to keep haydn as capital meister but not wanting his bigger the musical establishment and allowing haydn to travel and he came here to england at the age of 58. crossed the english channel having said a a very fond farewell to mozart in vienna and as he came to england in 1791 he crossed to the channel and found that he was already very well known because his music was being performed in all the capitals so he was welcomed with open arms but while he was here he had two of handel's great oratorios now that was a form of music he'd not yet even considered he was writing symphonies here and many of them were given names as so often was the case with the haydn's symphonies the military symphony the drum rail symphony the surprise symphony the oxford symphony all those kinds of names given and he was receiving commissions he'd received commissions from spain for the seven last words of the cross the seven last words of christ all of those were well known to people though he himself wasn't and he was shall we say lionized by london society but at that time he decided he must write oratorios as handel did and so when he went back to vienna he took with him the idea of an oratorio it was to be called the creation and it's an oratorio now that is firmly in choral society's repertoire and firmly a favorite but the creation was made out not only of verses from the book of genesis of the creation but also words from the psalms because so many of the psalms speak of the creation and the creatures in creation and our own place within it and also milton's paradise lost and he asked for a libretto but he needed a libretto in english and in german and so he found the imperial librarian in vienna and he was called baron gottfried van sveten who would write for him a german libretto but with the same rhythms as an english libretto now van sweetner's kanye and knew that the english loved the 1611 version of the bible the king james version of the bible so he kept all his english words when they were biblical to that version and then had to craft the german words around it and oftentimes the creation is sung in english and many of us know those words choruses like the heavens are telling the glory of god and at the same time the german words and quite often to nowadays even by english choral societies creation is sung in german all of those things came as haydn felt the glory of god in creation beginning once again the script with in nominee on nominee domini in the name of god and ending it lao stereo it became an instant and absolute success with everyone with the imperial court and also with england haydn came back to england in 1794 and 1795 and once again was a firm favorite with all and the creation became a huge favorite he never saw it performed in england but when it came here they knew haydn well from his two visits here and in 1799 in vienna the first performance of creation was given now we could go through the words of creation and see how haydn unlocks the creation and then sets in quite an old-fashioned way humanity's place in it in the third part of creation but at the same time he began to write another oratorio and this was on a with a la brescio crafted again by vanciton from a long poem so it was much shortened given a german and english libretto a poem by james thompson an english poet about the seasons and haydn wrote that oratorio praising and exalting in the seasons and giving glory to god spring summer autumn winter and the chorus is now now in in creation you will well know that these solo parts are taken by three archangels because we're talking about the creativity of heaven creating all the beautiful things of earth and the three archangels raphael and uriel and gabriel bass singer tenor singer soprano singer become important as the voices exalting in the creation at the end of each day and the heavens are telling and chorus is like achieved is the glorious work are exalting in the particular days as creation is is is is affected in the seasons is different for in the seasons haydn wanted not to show heaven creating but he wanted to show the people the ordinary people the country folk in fact using the gifts of creation well so that the three soloists are now called simon who's a bass lucas who's a tenor in the german script hannah but often in the english script jane is a soprano and they are three country folk and they s they sing of their joy in each season and the songs are joyous and descriptive and there are musical quotations from creation itself to connect the two oratorios so by the time one gets to winter then at the end you see a winter sunrise not a sunrise of the earth but the glorious sun inviting people at the end of that sequence of seasons in their lives into the eternal dimension and we're once again back with the way in which our lord in the temple is trying desperately to get people to understand how the things of earth can be signs of that eternal dimension if they'll only believe and let them do so so as we remember haydn and think of that oratorio creation and the oratorios the seasons almost as a diptych we might say a double picture one leading into the other heaven's gift earth's using of it and at the end the realization on earth of the glory that heaven has given and the opening out of eternity all of those things in effect it's if you take the two together it's a metaphorical vast sacred opera and we give thanks that that happened right at the end of haydn's life just one last codicil before we say our prayers together that is that when haydn was here he noticed that when the king was present the national anthem was sung and he thought i could do that for the emperor franz and emperor that's emperor francis of of austria the last holy roman emperor to be crowned is holy roman emperor as you well know um napoleon abolished the holy roman empire and so france is the second the last holy roman emperor became the emperor of austria as francis the first but he was someone very dear to haydn and haydn himself decided he would write an imperial hymn so he went back and wrote a tune which we in england when we're singing it as a hymn to know as austria and which the german nation has taken as the tune for its national anthem but it was for all those years of the habsburgs the austrian imperial hymn and haydn saw it as a piece of loyalty and he would play it on the harpsichord from time to time to remind him of his loyalty to the emperor and to vienna well now in 1809 the last year of his life the french armies of napoleon took over vienna and there was great nervousness amongst everyone and haydn brought down his his his staff and prayed to them this austrian national anthem said that they would retain their loyalty but at the same time he needn't have worried because a knock on the door brought in a young french officer who came in and bowed low and then sang a beautiful tenor aria from the creation to haydn showing how his music had gone all across europe and how music was breaking down the barriers there so we find ourselves um giving thanks for all that musical creativity on this day when it feels to me this morning with the chill more like winter and the sprouts here are only just coming up from the earth and above me the buds of the wisteria are tight shut and behind me over the wall which i can't see already the clematis a mandiai is showing us something of the glory of heaven which haydn's oratorios are leading us towards in that double oratorio of creation and seasons so let's give thanks for all creativity on this particular day but as we say our prayers i noticed that i'm i've been given up a milk jug which came back oh it's got it on the bottom from tallinn which is the city in estonia flesh is very fond of talon and this is a milk jug that he brought back from it with snow falling on a winter scene but at the same time we've heard that some of the ukrainians who have been taken into russia have gone via st petersburg to estonia and one thing's also of the danger if war escalates to the baltic states so we we pray for them as well estonia latvia lithuania and we give thanks for hospitality being given to ukrainian refugees everywhere let's see what we're praying for this morning in our own diocese and in the anglican world we are praying on this last day of the month for the diocese of kolam kotarakara in the church of the united church of south india and we're praying for the north down scenery here in kent for phil goody the area dean and all the parishes which we'll pray for one by one in the week to come in that area of our county we pray for archbishop justin for bishop rose of dover and for bishop emma at lambus at this time here's the collect for today followed by the collect for lent and then we shall say the our father together bring your own prayers and intentions merciful lord absolve your people from their offenses that through your bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins which by our frailty we have committed grant this heavenly father for jesus christ's sake our blessed lord and savior and the colic for lent almighty and everlasting god you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may receive from you the god of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through jesus christ our lord are men so together in whatever language you like to use we say 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 now of reflection for your own thoughts and your prayers [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] but all the work was not complete but all the work was not complete [Music] [Applause] [Music] should [Music] is [Music] but all the work was not completed [Music] [Applause] [Music] with heart and voice [Music] with [Applause] [Music] is [Music] his goodness [Music] this is a day also when our calendar makes a commemoration of john dunn who was a 17th century dean of st paul's cathedral early part of the 17th century his poetry is very well known but so too a prayer crafted from one of his sermons and it speaks so well of that eternal dimension which haydn conjures by that sunrise at the end of the seasons here it is and i think you'll know it bring us so lord god at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven to enter into that gate and dwell in that house where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling but one equal light no noise nor silence but one equal music no fears nor hopes but one equal possession no foes nor friends but one equal communion no ends nor beginnings but one equal eternity in the habitations of your glory and dominion world without end amen christ give you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourselves take up your cross daily and follow him 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 today and always amen