good morning and welcome to the deanery at canterbury cathedral on this early morning of good friday we have a day of services ahead of us and many reflections in which you can take part at home but we've come into the greenhouse this morning early and we're surrounded by green leaves and and flowers you're looking at the moment at a cymbidium orchid which has come into bloom and it's one of those that have derived from the the orchid that was bought for the visit of queen elizabeth when she came for the royal maundy in 2002 we were talking about that yesterday each year they're split and form other plants and the cymbidium here is one of those one of those children from that plant all those years ago and uh tiger's here as well with us uh he's sitting next to a south african spa mania you've seen the really big one this is one of the children of that flowering away forests in the greenhouse behind me are two plants of interest the the large indigo plant which is in flower and then in front of it much to fletcher's delight a bird of paradise plant which is at last got to flower and that's the first of the flowers and there's another to come out but all this helps our reflections of the earth's bounty and creativity on this morning when we remember our lord's own anointed vocation for us and think of those hours which we shall do during the afternoon with the three-hour reflection which will be there for you to use as you will from about 12 noon onwards and you can do that over the next few days or watch it all at once together the the three hours itself from twelve till three but for the moment uh let's begin our prayers together feel welcome wherever you are in the world as we begin this holy day oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon earth your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world 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 so god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen a proper sound this morning i mean special for this day and it's part of psalm 69 save me oh god for the waters have come up even to my neck i sink in deep mire where there is no foothold i have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me i have grown weary with crying my throat is raw my eyes have failed from looking so long for my god those who hate me without any cause are more than the hairs of my head those who would destroy me are mighty my enemies accuse me falsely but now must i now give back what i never stole oh god you know my foolishness and my faults are not hidden from you let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me lord god of hosts let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me o god of israel for your sake have i suffered reproach shame has covered my face i have become a stranger to my kindred an alien to my mother's children zeal for your house has eaten me up the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me i humbled myself with fasting but that was turned to my reproach i put on sackcloth also and became a byword among them those who sit at the gates murmur against me and the drunkards make songs about me but as for me i make my prayer to you o lord at an acceptable time o god answer me o god in the abundance of your mercy and with your sure salvation draw me out of the mire that i think not let me be rescued from those who hate me and out of the deep waters let not the water flood drown me neither the deep swallow me up let not the pit shut its mouth upon me answer me lord for your loving kindness is good turn to me in the multitude of your messes hide not your face from your servant be swift to answer me for i am in trouble draw near to my soul and redeem me deliver me because of my enemies you know my reproach my shame and my dishonor my adversaries are all in your sight reproach has broken my heart i am full of heaviness i looked for some to have pity but there was no one neither found i any to comfort me they gave me gall to eat and when i was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink we've been reading the passion of our lord according to saint luke through the morning prayers of this week and i'm continuing with that now and starting at verse 26 of chapter 23 of st luke's gospel this is the morning of that good friday all those years ago the trials are over both before caiaphas and before pilate and jesus has been delivered into the hands of those soldiers who will crucify him and as they led him away they seized one simon of cyrene who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind jesus and there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him but turning to them jesus said daughters of jerusalem do not weep for me but we for yourselves and for your children for behold the days are coming when they will say blessed are the baron and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed then they will begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us for if they do these things when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him and when they came to the place that is called the skull there they crucified him and the criminals one on his right and one on his left and jesus said father forgive them for they know not what they do and they cast lots to divide his garments and the people stood by watching but the rulers scoffed at him saying he saved others let him save himself if he is the christ of god his chosen one the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine and saying if you are the king of the jews save yourself there was also an inscription over him this is the king of the jews one of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying are you not the christ save yourself and us but the other rebuked him saying do not fear god since you are under the same sentence of condemnation and we indeed justly for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong and he said jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom and jesus said to him truly i say to you today you will be with me in paradise it was now about the six hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour while the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two then jesus calling out with a loud voice said father into your hands i commit my spirit and so having said this he breathed his last now when the centurion saw what had taken place he praised god saying certainly this man was innocent and all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle when they saw what had taken place returned home beating their breasts and all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from galilee stood at a distance watching these things luke tells the story as to all the four evangelists in his own way and as we've said all through this week about st luke's gospel there is a great deal of the evangelist in the way in which he tells it there is with every one of them but luke has a particular touch and there are things here which don't appear in other gospels the conversation with the two thieves one on the right and one on the left and the way in which also before that jesus has said of those who are nailing him to the cross fixing those hands which before could bless in an attitude of being outstretched to embrace the whole world and the words father forgive them they do not know what they are doing and then with the thief when the one says lord remember me when you come into your kingdom jesus replies truly i say to you today you will be with me in paradise forgiveness from the lips of the lord when his hands are nailed and unable to bless this is all particular to luke's gospel and we give thanks for it we give thanks also for the fact that at the end the centurion is moved at what has happened and the crowds go home beating their breasts while all his friends stand at a distance watching it's a much gentler scene despite the shouting of those who are scoffing at him and we remember that as luke is thinking this is how i would have reacted if i'd seen this scene and so we give thanks that we can react in that way as this day proceeds we shall read the account of st john this afternoon but for the moment we give thanks for luke and the way he's led us through morning prayer in a very luken way it shows his compassion shows once again his ability at being able to paint a picture with his words shows also his enormous love for jesus and almost his excitement with the world he way he tells the story wanting to hand it on wanting those qualities to be ours as well and he himself uh the one of the evangelists who was not from the jewish faith as far as we can tell but is coming to it new and wanting so much to pass that gift on in an orderly way well that's how we begin our day later we shall go through completely different narratives from the other gospels but as i've said once or twice this week the light from one shines on to the way in which another tells it and many details will be in our head and we find it difficult to separate one gospel from another yet you must remember the personality of the writer giving you the gospel which is passed through their experience just as you when you tell the story of your own faith at different times in your life for that will change too are using everything that you have body mind and spirit to tell that story you become the channel of grace and we pray that we shall all be that as we reflect once again this day on the passion of our lord jesus christ at calvary as it was translated in luke's gospel uh in the king james version well let's uh think what happened on this particular day this is the 2nd of april and in 2005 on the 2nd of april popes and john paul ii died he had been a towering figure not only as the leader of the roman catholic church right across the world for so many years from 1978 till 2005 but also a figure across the world stage for so many other reasons when he was chosen as the pope in 1978 he was the first non-italian pope for so many years and he came from poland of course and that too is an important fact for he had been forged in the years and his faith had been forged and tempered in the years of the second world war when poland suffered so much and afterwards under oppressive communist regimes but he was a strong person of the faith and to have his leadership through those years was something that the world benefited from we in canterbury remember that in 1982 he came here he came on what was called a pastoral visit to england and came to kneel at the place where thomas becket was martyred and lit a candle for a modern martyr maximilian colbert who'd given his life for another in auschwitz the archbishop robert ranci lit a candle for janani lawoom the archbishop of uganda who'd recently been murdered by the orders or perhaps even by the hands of idiamin john paul ii was strong in standing up to governments and the gospels of sin augustine which i've held for two archbishops to make their oaths on of faithfulness to this community before placing them in the chair of central augustine were brought for pope john paul ii also on that day simply to make that connection once again of the gospels and this wonderful christian leader standing in an act of communion with a small sea before the altar and behind was the chair of sint augustine that physical communion of the two faiths was part of a journey which has gone on since and his visit is well remembered but we also remember and many of you will remember this that on easter day and in 2005 easter day was march the 27th in extreme weakness having come out of hospital only a few days earlier having suffered terribly with parkinson's disease becoming less and less able he came to the window of the papal palace and there were thousands and thousands waiting below and he couldn't speak at that time but raised a hand in blessing and people felt an easter blessing had been given in the absolute weakness of someone whose faith burned like a great blaze and we have this capacity to do this for one another for the faith is channeled through us in so many different ways and we pray to god on this day when we see our lord's own weakness and his life ebbing away and yet his mission growing brighter and brighter as it's handed on through the gift of the spirit to those who are not only watching and witnessing but receiving that gift into themselves may it be so for me and you on this day that we will gain benefit from reflecting again on the passion yesterday march the 27th he blessed the people he died on the 2nd of april just a few days later and his funeral became one of the largest ever attended in europe as millions flocked to rome to pay tribute we give thanks for that it seems those 16 years seem a long time ago now and yet that the flame burns bright still also on this day and it perhaps seems a strange juxtaposition in 1805 hans christian anderson was born who had the capacity to tell a story supposedly for children and give deep meaning to adults and we think of those stories like the emperor's clothes how easily someone who is proud and so sure of themselves can be tricked by those who are clever but it's the voice of the child who shouts out the truth the emperor's got no clothes and the crowd realized that out of the lips of children jesus said that himself you have brought forth perfect praise for truth is perfect praise and our lord said i am the way and the truth and the life we give thanks also for i'm using a duckling mug this morning his story of the ugly duckling whom everybody pecked and said get out of here because he was the ugliest of all the ducklings how that egg had found its way into the duck's nest we don't know but what we do know that is that he hid himself away ashamed to be seen and then coming out of the reeds mistakenly he shared himself some months later and a group of beautiful swans say to him you're a very fine swan indeed and once again hans christine anderson gives us a really moving story about what beauty can come out of one who thinks of themselves as of no value because they've been told that by others and suddenly the beauty of the spiritual mental or even physical gifts within them becomes apparent and the story for children which amuses us because of its lovely colors becomes one of the deepest lessons that we can learn our lord loves stories parables and they stay in the mind but the greatest story of all is the way in which he followed his vocation right to the end and that end was marked in his humanity and the giving of his own life on this particular day good friday no wonder we call it good may we receive so many blessings from it today as we reflect on his life and his death so let's uh say our prayers on this particular day which is just a beginning of all the worship and reflections that we shall have today we're praying in the anglican communion for the diocese of bathurst in the anglican church of australia and we're also praying together in this diocese for each other on this good friday as we contemplate the cross we pray for justin our archbishop and for uh rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth the life of this diocese but for your own faith communities wherever you are in the world and for each other and particularly those who find themselves in pain or in any kind of distress mentally spiritually physically and only you will know who they are as we meet as a garden congregation on this significant day of the christian year we ask that god will bless them all as we say the prayer for good friday almighty father look with mercy on this your family for which our lord jesus christ was content to be betrayed and given up into the hands of sinners and to suffer death upon the cross who is alive and glorified with you in the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so each in our own language we 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 of silence for your own thoughts and reflections and prayers for others on this day so and with the sign of paradise just behind me reminding us of the way in which jesus forgave the thief on the cross he having given the last act of praying for the lord gave him entry into paradise along with him and all those colors that wait in this plant and the purity of the other speak of not only this day but the days which are to come christ crucified draw you to himself to find in him a sure ground for faith a firm support for hope and the assurance of sins forgiven and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love on this good friday and always amen