welcome to canterbury cathedral to the dinery garden this morning on this lovely morning of a spring bank holiday saturday we've come to the herb garden this morning to say our morning prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice alleluia blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as once you ransomed your people from egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your risen son may we the first fruits of your new creation rejoice in this new day you have made and praise you for your mighty acts blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen one of the psalms for the ninth morning of the month is an ideal song of true kingship which was written probably to celebrate the house of david it could be david himself or solomon but it is an ideal picture which often the house of david fell short of and needed repentance to return to that ideal picture given of them psalm 45 my heart is a stir with gracious words as i make my song for the king my tongue is the pen of a ready writer you are the fairest of men full of grace are your lips for god has blessed you forever gird your sword upon your sigh o mighty one gerd on your majesty and glory ride on and prosper in the cause of truth and for the sake of humility and righteousness your right hand will teach you terrible things your arrows will be sharp in the heart of the king's enemies so that people's fall beneath you your throne is god's throne forever the scepter of your kingdom is the scepter of righteousness you love righteousness and hate iniquity therefore god your god has anointed you with oil of gladness above your fellows all your garments are fragrant with myrrh aloes and cassia from ivory palaces the music of strings makes you glad king's daughters are among your honorable women and your right at your right hand stands the queen in gold of ophia i will make your name to be remembered through all generations therefore shall the peoples praise you forever and ever turn now to our regular reading of st luke's gospel and we are at chapter 4 and verse 31 jesus leaving nazareth his own town comes down to a new home a center for his ministry in galilee and jesus went down to capernaum a city of galilee and as he was teaching the people on the sabbath they were astonished at his teaching for his word possessed authority and in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon and he cried out with a loud voice ha what have you to do with us jesus of nazareth have you come to destroy us i know who you are the holy one of god but jesus rebuked him saying be silent and come out of him and when the demon had thrown the man down in their midst he came out of him having him done him no harm and they were all amazed and said to one another what is this word for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out and reports about jesus went out into every place in the surrounding region this is luke's gospel he has come to this story fresh from the greek speaking part of the mediterranean in the middle of one of saint paul's missionary journeys and he is now in his notebook writing down all things about a story he wants to tell in good order as he says at the beginning of his gospel but of course luke as a physician which we know from sin paul's letters is someone who would be fascinated by stories of healing his medicine bag would have been very different from the medicine bags of doctors and the resources of hospitals and doctors in our own day the sun talked about the fragrance of the king's house in mer aloes and cassia i'm sitting in the herb garden with a group of herbs that we've picked and the scent of them this morning is overpowering for most of these plants were brought to england because of their medicinal qualities these are only a few here's some oregano and here a peony which now we grow mostly for its lovely flowers here is lilac with its wonderful scent and here is willow from which we get aspirin and also aquilegia here and feverfew and mint and sage and shall we call it a common or garden dandelion nevertheless full of medicinal properties which are still only just being discovered as we look at these lavenders and everything else in this basket i feel like fryer lawrence in romeo and juliet who when we meet him has just come in from gathering herbs like brother canfield gathering herbs in order to make medicines herbs were the great source of medicines and i'm sitting here in the middle of a bed of artemisia here it is some sprigs of it it's quite plain compared with these lovely flowering plants but it's good foliage in any kind of arrangements but nevertheless this is known better as wormwood bitter medicine and as mary poppins tells us when bitter medicine has to be taken and this is powerful medicine for all sorts of reasons and when bitter medicine is taken a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down in the most delightful way well artemisia has proved a bitter medicine but a very powerful one in all sorts of ways it used to be thought to induce childbirth and that's why it gets its name from the goddess artemis whom saint paul confronted in the city of ephesus and caused a riot there but also it has great properties for curing a bite of malaria and is even being investigated now in germany and denmark as a possible combating drug for our coronavirus covid19 but when the medicine goes down in a bitter way well then another part of the garden can help that and we'll visit it later this weekend but for the moment here's a symbol of that part of the garden honey beautiful clear honey the bitter and the sweet luke would have known both these things but when he came across a story about a mental disturbance going on in the synagogue then like the whole of society at that time it was seen to be a possession and jesus as in all these stories goes to the man as a particular individual beloved by god induces silence by his healing powers and the man is restored to luke that was amazing and the kind of drugs that he had to deal with that were totally unequal to the task no wonder he was totally taken over by the good news of jesus we shall find other reasons but all through the gospel there is this sense of jesus being a healer who restores people to what god had intended and no better story than this one at the end the people in the synagogue where he regularly goes on the sabbath day say where does all this authority come from and luke through his gospel is asking the same kind of questions and hoping to give us an answer well surrounded by all this fragrance we say our morning prayers in this easter season and this morning in our anglican communion we remember the mundu area of south sudan pray for the bishop there samuel and his people the diocese of the yukon in canada and larry david robertson the bishop there and his people and the diocese of icca in nigeria and bishop godfrey ek pennisi and all the people he serves in this diocese we remember the villages around y and pray for the clergy who work there ravi holy linda cross and lorraine lawrence helped by their lay ministers the readers paul burnham maureen burnham kevin rawl and lucy carville as we give thanks for this day we pray for all who are in need especially those known to us so first our easter prayer at this time for this week and then afterwards we shall say the our father and pray for those for whom we would want to pray on this day almighty god whose son jesus christ is the resurrection and the life raise us who trust in him from the death of sin to the life of righteousness that we may seek those things which are above where he reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever men as we come to say our prayers amongst the healing herbs and scented herbs of the garden we give thanks for our capacity to discover medicines pray for those who use them today and those in need of healing we use the prayer our lord taught us to say in whichever language and in whatever way you would like to use it our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen so some silence as we say our own prayers on this morning the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and all whom you would pray for and all whom you love this day and always amen