[Music] do [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this thursday the 17th of march welcome wherever you are in the world as we say our morning prayers but this today is st patrick's day and patrick of course the patron saint of ireland and so we are praying for all the irish people in ireland itself but also all of you who are in other lands and still celebrating this wonderful day and your irish heritage it's a day for celebrations and usually processions in different places but the color for today is of course green the green of the shamrock and green is here on the table and also as we look at the table and let's just go over to some other prayers we'll return to st patrick don't worry we have also the colors of blue and yellow because we're still continuing to pray as a garden congregation worldwide for the people of ukraine who are suffering and russian families also suffering we remember that situation of conflict and pray for resolution as we give thanks also for those receiving ukrainians into their homes who have fled from this war and uh we give thanks for the hospitality being shown we said yesterday that blue and yellow mixed together uh form the colour green and green the colour of hope but also green the colour of the shamrock the color of ireland and that that beautiful land with so much green space in it and it's a real pleasure to be in so many places there as well and many of you will have experienced that irish hospitality in that beautiful land so we're going to say our prayers but they're also prayers of thanksgiving because we've seen wonderful film of nazanin zagari ratcliffe and anusha ashori who've been released from detention in iran six years i think for nazanin and with the wonderful pictures of them meeting their families again i don't think any of us will forget the sight of little gabriella rushing to hug her mother and the pleasure of richard also uh her father and nazineen's husband in receiving her back that's a a picture of hope as you say green is the color of hope and that is a picture of hope of the reuniting of families we remember the separation of families from ukrainians leaving members behind and we pray for that day when all families there will also be reunited when peace is restored so let's say our prayers as we meet on this morning it's the most beautiful morning here in england with a totally blue sky and russell behind me uh heralding the morning and uh we've got various things here to uh remember that it's in patrick's day this you will remember i think from last year and my little chum here uh who's come out to uh remember st patrick's day with me is that right yes we're praying for all the irish people as we say our prayers for sin patrick's day so let's put the shamrock and put this great big green shamrock here and uh say our prayers i should have said that i've got beside me a pot of what i think is clover but very very like the shamrock with its three leaves and as we remember st patrick used that image in some of his teaching but actually the pot is is actually messing up your view isn't it so let's uh bring you in front of the pot because i think you feel you're rather important today let's put that there we're going to say our psalm and it's a psalm of gladness about the city of zion psalm 87 her foundation is on the holy mountains the lord loves the gates of zion more than all the dwellings of jacob glorious things are spoken of you zion city of our god i record egypt and babylon as those who know me behold philistia tyre and ethiopia in zion were they born and of zion it shall be said each one was born in her and the most high himself has established her the lord will record as he writes up the peoples this one also was born there and as they dance they shall sing all my fresh springs are in you it's of course a song of the holy city new jerusalem and the way in which the image of all human cities take their perfection and the aim to which were they to which they tend with community life and all the the benefits of that for one another and welfare for one another from that image of the holy city where the lord sits enthroned glorious things are spoken of you zion city of our god of course the beginning of one of the greatly loved hymns well now it's the most beautiful day but i'm sitting in the shade and i want you to value something of the sunshine so i think we're going to move now and go where everything is flowering in the orchard and it is a blaze of color this morning under the blue sky so let's move our place now and we'll take our friend with us and go into the orchard the leprechaun is an irish fairy from down county cork or from far tipperary they're tiny and short a mere two feet in height they work on their shoes and their terrible fright is that you will stop by and demand all their gold all hidden away in a tree's hollow hold turn your eyes for a moment they're tricky and clever this fairy will flee so a plan that is better in my own opinion truth to be told just pay him a visit and earn your own gold well that's a children's song sung about the leprechaun and our leprechaun here i think is actually guarding the gold of the daffodils for the whole orchard this morning is ablaze with gold but it's the gold of the yellow daffodils as we remember this st patrick's day we're going though to return now to the gospel of saint john and we have finished chapter six and are about to begin chapter seven and i'm going to read the first 13 verses and then we'll think a little bit about that so john 7 and verses 1 to 13 after this jesus went about in galilee he would not go about in judea because the jews were seeking to kill him now the jewish feast of tabernacles was at hand so jesus's brothers said to him leave here and go to judea that your disciples also may see the works you are doing for no one works in secret if they seek to be known openly if you do these things show yourself to the world for not even his brothers believed in him jesus said to them my time has not yet come but your time is always here the world cannot hate you but it hates me because i testify about it that its works are evil you go up to the feast i'm not going up to this feast for my time has not yet fully come after saying this jesus remained in galilee but after his brothers had gone up to the feast then jesus also went up not publicly but in private the jews were looking for him at the feast saying where is he and there was much muttering about him among the people while some said he is a good man others said no he is leading the people astray yet for fear of the jewish authorities no one spoke openly of him leave that there for the moment that's our section of st john 7 that we read this morning and we are reminded then that judea has become really dangerous for jesus and it was for that reason that he left judea and came back to galilee so he is in home territory and clearly he's amongst his own family for we now have the entry into the story in the fourth gospel saint john's gospel of the brothers of jesus the adelphoi in greek and the brothers are named in other gospels in sin mark chapter 6 the earliest of the gospels we read that the brothers of jesus are james and joseph and judas and simon all common names at that time and no doubt the second one named after joseph their father because joseph's is a derivative of joseph so there they are and in mark 6 also they're talking about the son of mary and aren't his sisters here with us too and then the four brothers are named now the four brothers become important at this moment the evangelist says even his brothers didn't believe in him but later on when we come to the first chapter of the acts of the apostles the brothers are counted as being there with the mother of jesus and also the disciples as they wait for the giving of the spirit in the day of pentecost read the list in acts chapter 1 and there are the brothers of jesus and they become even more important than that because it's well uh documented that the eldest brother of jesus james who was known as james the just later became the leader of the early church in jerusalem and james the just is the one that paul goes up to sea with james and john and peter and that james isn't james the brother of john for he has been killed already by herod this is james the just the brother of jesus so when we read about the brothers of jesus then we have a different dimension this is jesus's own family and there are different ways of receiving that many think of them as the natural sons of jesus's parents others think of them as sons of joseph before in a former marriage and before he met mary and those people mostly think of joseph as a widower having four sons already and mary becomes the mother of jesus and others think of them as cousins of uh in a a more distant relationship all those things have been um tried in terms of how things are in terms of family relationships but whatever we're talking about we're talking about people who in bloodline are related to jesus and in that way um we are being given them this morning as people who don't yet value what jesus is doing they're almost and the evangelist says this they're almost uh um saying to him well go and prove yourself if you want to be seen to be influential nobody keeps themselves private and in secret and there's this huge feast of tabernacles which we've spoken about before in our morning prayer the feast where people build booze or shelters or tabernacles outside in the street and begin to live their life outside in the fields for a while as the harvest is brought in it's a time when they remember their exile from egypt and give thanks for the providence of the lord and this feast of tabernacles would call many many pilgrims to jerusalem and they would take their shelters and be in the holy city at that time and the brothers of jesus james and joseph and judas and simon say go up to jerusalem make yourself known let your disciples the mercedes in greek let them know that uh you are uh the one that they're expecting by the works you do so we have these two groups now later and this is when i mentioned this in the fourth gospel there is that i'm going to leave you with a puzzle before we go on with our reflection there is that sentence of jesus to mary magdalene on the morning of easter day the morning of the resurrection where jesus says touch me not but go to my brothers the adelphoid and tell them and gives her the message and mary runs we're told in the gospel and instead goes to the disciples the mercedes and once left wondering was it a family message that jesus was given saying go and tell my brothers or was that and it's the only case of it being used if if um you uh want to to think about it in the in the gospels or was that a way of talking about the disciples who are mentioned as disciples again almost a sentence later i leave you with that i love these puzzles in the scriptures because it takes us back to it again and again and again and it uses our mental efforts and then suddenly the jigsaw piece becomes clear but for the moment these brothers are not not so much hostile as unbelieving they're working on the earthly plane which we've spoken about so many times as this gospel unfolds and the feast of tabernacles of course is a feast that jesus himself would have kept with his family year after year in john's gospel you go backwards and forwards to jerusalem instead mark's gospel the earliest of the gospel the the way in which the evangelist sets it out in that very speedy gospel is that the journey to jerusalem is from chapter one all the way up through until jesus comes to the city of jerusalem but in john you're backwards and forwards and here's a backwards and forwards for the moment jesus remains secretly in galilee and then after that he goes but privately we're told to the feast and there are mixed conversations going on at the feast because people are now aware that the authorities of their state are wanting to do some violence to jesus he is displeasing them and they themselves will be um in in danger of being thought to be followers of his and that would bring them into disfavor with the authorities and we shall find that again as chapters unfold but for the moment you've got this double opinion he is good says some he's a good man and others say no he deceives the people and there is dissension there that's not violence that's just a difference of opinion but it's got a background of violence waiting for jesus even with the words they were waiting to kill him and so all that is there and jesus comes quietly up to the feast we'll go on tomorrow with that but it's an interesting thing to have the brothers of jesus introduced into the story at this point well now saint patrick and that's a lovely thing to be thinking about because in patrick himself this is a day when we don't only pray and celebrate with the irish people of the day of their patron saint but also we celebrate the life of that patron saint as well as the history and culture of ireland and uh saint patrick was as far as we can tell and there are two pieces of writing which exists from him as well a saint of the mid-fifth century so well before augustine came here uh saint patrick had probably been born at the at the the end maybe the end of the fourth century and then lived through to the the mid-fifth century you can if you want put him later there is disagreement of the dates but certainly we're in the fifth century for much of his life and he was not born in ireland he was born in shall we say roman britain which at that time was christian and was this we get from his own testament uh stolen by pirates from ireland from his home at the age of about 16 and taken as a slave to ireland and found himself then looking after the animals some say he was a shepherd and some and some accounts simply say looking after the animals but certainly when he was looking after them let's say that he was a shepherd and caring for the creatures he also had copious time for reflection at that time and he was in at that time a pagan land but he himself had had christian influences in roman britain and it's in that time of reflection when he is a slave to others and at the same time caring for creatures that his christian faith begins to flower and then he has i'm doing this quickly he has a vision let's put him now in his early twenties that he should walk to escape and the boat will be there and he does walk to escape and finds a boat which takes him back again to britain and at that time he lands and after many adventures on the road finds himself at home again but by now his christian faith has begun to flower and he has a vision which is of someone almost like um uh sin paul receiving the vision of come over to macedonia and help us a vision that he would be the one who would take that gospel which was about to die out in the anglo-saxon lands because of the roman armies vanishing and the angles and saxons who were pagans coming into this land so augustine had to come back with the gospel but at present we're thinking of patrick going back across the irish sea and beginning then in his walks and life and teaching beginning then to teach the gospel and preach the gospel in ireland itself and it's that we give thanks for today and that vision which he saw as a young man back with his family and let's think of jesus back with his family in galilee being called in a way and we don't know what call made him change his mind to go back to jerusalem with all its dangers but in the dream which patrick tells us about and there are two pieces of writing one a confession and one an epistler a declaration the confession and that tells details of his life and a letter and in those documents we find this dream described and in it the vision of the person saying we'll we appeal to you holier servant boy come and walk among us holy servant boy because that's what he was when he learned his faith amongst the animals and then took his journey and his journey has taken him back home and is now calling him back to bring that gold that good news that gospel to the irish people and we will know that in that becoming the bishop there it wasn't the easiest thing in the world for him he still faced many many dangers but what he did was teach the people with the illustrations he had all around him and of course the biggest thing that he used was the shamrock and in that leaf as he as he picked the leaf up and could pluck it from all over the irish countryside he taught the doctrine of the holy trinity one stem and three facets and that life of the leaf shows itself in those three facets and he would say that our creator shows himself as father and creator the one who has created all things including the shamrock and then the sun the human manifestation of the divinity in the person the humanity and that's what we've been dealing with on the high plain and the low plane in all our thinking in the in the last uh two weeks and then thirdly the gift of the spirit which has the ability to infuse us our humanity our physicality our mental thinking on that higher plane and jesus has been having the greatest difficulty making people working on the lower plane which his brothers are doing at the moment in this particular little story uh to realize that the golden gift being given of the holy spirit is actually god's gift to recreate his image in us which then opens out into eternity in spiritual terms and takes the capacity of the flesh to serve in human terms with it so that that simplicity of receiving that fact is something i think rather like our lovely uh potter yesterday as she was telling us is the gift is so simple you can miss it and yet here was patrick picking up the simplest of leaves no glorious flower just a green leaf with one stem three facets no one could say it wasn't one leaf but it showed itself in three different ways as sometimes we call it creator and redeemer and sanctifier or in more traditional terms father son and holy spirit and the sun showing himself in the physicality of our flesh which can look around on this earth and see all the gifts of the creator and the spirit giving us the spiritual capacity to interpret those signs which in glory are all around me this morning as gifts which teach us that there is another dimension to our humanity and jesus is that figure which is the human sign of all of that and so the leprechaun is really doing good things to protect the gold but it then has to be shared and that we give thanks for on this st patrick's day um fletcher said to me just now why didn't you read an irish poem well i did but uh really um i was wanting to read one and it's better read now i think by w.b yates and that is the poem in history because it talks about receiving that gift of priest of of peace let me see if i can find it on my telephone if it will work this morning um let's uh write in his free poem and see where we go immediately i get it the wonders of uh the internet here is w b yates his poem the lake isle of innisfree i will arise and go now and go to innisfree and a small cabin built there of clay and wattles made nine bean rows will i have there a hive for the honeybee and live alone in the be loud glade and i shall have some peace there for peace comes dropping slow dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings their midnights all a glimmer and noon a purple glow and evening full of the lynette's wings i will arise and go now for always night and day i hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore while i stand on the roadway or on the pavement grey i hear it in the deep hearts core so many images so many signs as one expects from yates one of the most important poets of the 20th century but very much the son of ireland and we give thanks for the way in which he leads us into mystic paths with his his poems far off the mystic rose and all of all of those signs in yates's wonderful poems so we give thanks today for the irish people for that beautiful land and for the culture and songs and poetry of ireland as they point us by their message we've had a change of position and fletcher wanted to apologize because the bright sunshine is wonderful for me and for the flowers but in fact it has gradations of of light which our own human brains don't pick up we make adjustments the camera on the other hand keeps adjusting and so you've had light and dark and light and dark and he's very dissatisfied with the way in which he's filmed so he apologizes in that it's certainly not his fault it's a very technical and difficult problem in this kind of atmosphere but we've done a change of location so we hope from now on things will be of a more equal light now there's one other person i want to mention this morning and that is joseph reinberger who will be well known to any of you who are used to organ recitals or church music because reinberger has filled our repertoire in so many different ways he was born on the 17th of march 1839 and died in 1901 he was born in one of the smallest of european states liechtenstein and that squeezed in it's a principality squeezed in between switzerland and austria some of you would have been there i went there on as i was going to kits fuel skiing at the age of 15 and in those days we were traveling by train and traveling across europe and it was a sort of quite a long journey no sort of flying at that point and uh the lovely thing was that the principality's stamp was put into my passport at the time it's a very grand stamp and i treasured that until i gave up that passport some of you will have been to vaduz which is the capital there which is where reinberger was born in 1839 and his father was the treasurer for the prince at that time alois is the second but it's the age of seven uh reinberger was already a good enough musician to be the organist of vladio's parish church the catholic church there and he persuaded his father who was reluctant at first to allow him to go to the music conservatorium and he soon became in his studies so good that he was made professor of piano and composition he then became a teacher and then went back to the newly constituted munich conservatorium and was made the royal professor of organ by the king of bavaria at that time well that's a it in a nutshell but it's certainly not it in what the compositions of reinberger have done for church music both in voices and also in organ works in grove's dictionary of music it was written the most value he was the most valuable addition to organ music since the time of mendelssohn his pieces are characterized by a happy blending of the modern romantic spirit with mastery counterpoint and dignified organ style he was much much influenced by not only mendelssohn but brahms and schumann and schubert and also bach of course any organist will always reference bach but it's hard to go to many organ recitals without coming across a piece of wonderful rhineberger on the organ he also wrote 12 masses and a requiem mass and starbate mata and one of his unaccompanied masses is one of our favorite masses for the choir to sing the 20 organ sonatas he was trying to write 24 one in every key but 20 organ sonatas are very famous and lovely things for organists to play as are the 36 solo pieces so a huge range of things but my favorite favorite piece uh is is a piece which he was inspired to write because of the story of the road to emmaus on the evening of that first easter day and the text is taken from there and it takes us back to that word abide which we were thinking about when we were thinking of how we might express the way in which the spirit of god infuses our physical humanity abide and we think of those two strain two men walking along the road or it might be a man or woman we don't know it just sort of talks about two disciples going along the road and uh the one of them was cleophas the other is unnamed and they have a stranger come to join them you remember in luke's gospel and when they get to their home they say abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far bent and the stranger goes in and in the breaking of bread they recognize jesus and reinberger wrote this beautiful piece called arbent lead which is the song of the evening based on the words of that abide with us for it is towards evening and the day is far spent and it gives that quality which yates has in his mystical verses far off of a secret and violent rose enfold me in my eyes of our that's yates leading us from mental thinking into a spiritual land and that is treasured in our hearts and can come upon us with a sign of something at any time well here's arbende by reinberger doing the same thing our choir love to sing it and during the reflection we will play it to you as sung buys unaccompanied as sung by aqua on march the 5th here the reinberger died in munich and his grave was there but was destroyed in the second world war and his earthly remains were then taken home back to liechtenstein and you will find them now in vaduz where he was born so let's say our prayers on this particular day as we prayed most of all on this day with thanksgiving for all the people of ireland and all those with irish connections as they celebrate this day throughout the world and we give thanks for st patrick's day and pray for the christian churches of ireland the whole of ireland in the anglican communion we pray for the church of ireland and the um uh primates there the archbishop of armagh but at the same time we pray for all christian leaders there and give thanks for their particular dimension of faith in the anglican communion today we're praying for the diocese of kirin yaga in the church the anglican church of kenya and we are praying within our own diocese for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover emma bishop at lambeth and the parish of all saints maidstone all saints with sin philip and with since stephen toville and john richardson in his ministry there and the life of archbishop courtney church of england primary school there in our county town so bring your own prayers and intentions as we pray with thanksgiving with the people of ireland and in hope of peace for the the people of ukraine and with thanksgiving for those receiving them even as we speak into their homes as they fled their own homes for safety's sake so let's then say the prayers for this day and start with the prayer of st patrick's day bring your own intentions wherever you are almighty god who in your providence chose your servant patrick to be the apostle of the irish people keep alive in us the fire of the faith he kindled and strengthen us in our pilgrimage toward the light of everlasting life through jesus christ our lord amen and the collect for lent itself which we use each day during lent let's get back to it here we are 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 amen so together in whatever language you like to use 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 are men moment for your own reflection as we hear reinberger's arbent lead sung by the cathedral choir [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh boys [Music] jesus [Music] foreign [Music] please [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] your head on one side it's a lovely morning and you're on the tree there and you've got your lovely red breast hello here we are gosh come and have something to eat hey eh you're really wonderful aren't you beautiful christ give you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourself 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 are men it really is the most beautiful morning and it's been lovely to turn around into the sunshine the the the green of everything is around but also the orchard is a blaze with gold not only the daffodils but a huge bush of of yellow forsythia and all kinds of things are blooming the bees are out from their hives remember yates talking about them in in his beehives uh in innisfree and also we've seen butterflies this morning for the first time around red admirals and all kinds of other butterflies here um so that the the way in which the the the warmth has opened things up i can't uh be surprised that the robin is looking so happy here and coming down around the the various bits and pieces that are here but essentially the smile on the leprechaun's face is a good smile because we are thinking the happy thoughts of st patrick's day on and celebrating with the irish people and we remember all of that as we go about our business i'm going down to the station at canterbury now in order to receive the flying scotsman steaming into the station and giving a blessing to that so it's a perfect day for a steam train ride for all the people [Music] you