good morning and welcome on this 28th of april it's a wednesday morning very still and not at all cold no frost but there's a thin thin cloud but the sun is coming through though we are hopefully expecting rain we need rain quite badly for the garden at the moment and the forecast is giving rain during the night which is always the best rain for gardeners and for all of us and we hope there's um quite a lot of it so that we don't have to water quite so much we're sitting in the little back courtyard of the scenery and we're surrounded by birdsong and you're looking up at the camatis amandiai which is a very much a nesting place for all kinds of birds on the other on the other clematis the big one nearby are gold finches are nesting and that's a wonderful sight to see when they fly and you're also seeing the banksia rosa banksia the rose named after the wife of sir joseph banks the botanist so it's lady banks rose and was brought back from china as an honor to the voyaging discoveries of sir joseph banks but it was brought back by william carr and then named after lady banks and that will flower quite soon now there are touches of color around the house we have plenty of these rosa banks here and they also form shelter there's a blackbird nesting in there we believe so you may see him hopping about and there are wrens singing all around us tiny birds but with an almost shattering song especially when they're territorial as they are at the moment so spring really is beginning to flourish and some rain tonight will help all that happen just as water always does so let's say our prayers this morning and our reflections and our prayers we'll have plenty to think about and you'll bring your own intentions and concerns from right across the world and let's leave that for when we come to the time of prayer itself i'm going to start up our prayers on this easter day uh this day in the easter season i should say um and uh we ask you to join in wherever you are with your heart and mind in your concerns reaching across the world to our garden here oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection oh christ let heaven and earth rejoice hallelujah 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 [Music] the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this 28th morning of the month is psalm 132 it's a prayer at the beginning for david and his royal line and we remember that in sin matthew's gospel which we shall be looking at again this morning uh our lord is often called son of david son of david especially connected with his miracle stories in matthew's medical stories about jesus in that gospel so here's almost a journeying story in the psalm about king david himself lord remember for david all the hardships he endured how he swore an oath to the lord and vowed a vow to the mighty one of jacob i will not come within the shelter of my house nor climb up into my bed i will not allow my eyes to sleep nor let my eyelids slumber until i find a place for the lord a dwelling for the mighty one of jacob now we heard of the ark in ephrathah and found it in the fields of jar let us enter into his dwelling place and fall low before his footstool arise o lord into your resting place you and the ark of your strength let your priests be clothed with righteousness and your faithful ones sing with joy and for your servant david's sake turn not away the face of your anointed the lord has sworn an oath to david a promise from which he will not shrink of the fruit of your body shall i set upon your throne if your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that i shall teach them their children also shall sit upon your throne forevermore for the lord has chosen zion for himself he has desired her for his habitation this should be my resting place forever here will i dwell for i have longed for her i will abundantly bless her provision her poor will i satisfy with bread i will close her priests with salvation and her faithful ones shall rejoice and sing there will i make a horn to spring up for david i will keep a lantern burning for my anointed and as for his enemies i will close them with shame but on him shall his crown be bright two vows there in that psalm how he swore the david's vow first he swore an oath to the lord and vowed a vow to the mighty one of jacob i will not come within the shelter of my house nor climb up into my bed i will not allow my eyes to sleep nor let my eyelid slumber until i find a place for the lord a dwelling for the mighty one of jacob and the second vow verse 11 the lord has sworn an oath to david a promise from which he will not shrink of the fruit of your body shall i set up on your throne david's vow he was not able to keep it was left to his son solomon to build the temple which david longed to build but nevertheless he had sworn that vow and his royal line fulfilled it god's promise was not about the temple it was about the royal line of david and in that verse of prophecy one sees the anointed one fulfilled in the person of jesus himself we're going to say matthew's gospel again this morning and we're taking up exactly where we left off yesterday i finished the prelude yesterday chapters one and two now we begin chapter three and that begins shall we say the meat of the whole book and we'll talk about its shape when we've read chapter 3 chapter 3 verse 1. in those days john the baptist came preaching in the wilderness of judea repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet isaiah when he said the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord make his paths straight now john wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist and his food was locusts and wild honey then jerusalem and all judea and all the region about the jordan were going out to him and they were baptized by him in the river jordan confessing their sins but when he saw many of the pharisees and sadducees coming to his baptism john said to them you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the roster come bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves we have abraham as our father for i tell you god is able from these stones to raise up children for abraham even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire i baptize you with water for repentance but the one who is coming after me is mightier than i whose sandals i am not worthy to carry he will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire his winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire then jesus came from galilee to the jordan to john to be baptized by him john would have prevented him saying i need to be baptized by you and do you come to me but jesus answered him let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness then john consented and when jesus was baptized immediately he went up from the water and behold the heavens were opened to him and he saw the spirit of god descending like a dove and coming to rest on him and behold a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son with whom i am well pleased well there are many things we can talk about at this point and we'll have to save some of them as we develop through matthew's gospel but i wanted to say first of all that in some ways we need to be detectives which is always a nice thing to be looking for clues one of the clues that matthew is writing for a jewish greek speaking christian community probably in syria and written probably again um between the the years 80 and 90 a.d though there's always argument among scholars about all these facts and some of them hardly matter but what it's good to notice is that matthew unlike luke from a totally greek background matthew who's wanting to establish a foundation of the jewish law prophecy psalms as being fulfilled in the person of jesus in the anointed royal line of david matthew gives no explanations about jewish customs or jewish places he expects his jewish community to know all that luke gives enormous amounts of explanation but matthew not mark also in his short gospel actually develops certain things in a way that you would expect him not to because he is going so fast and the gospel of only 16 chapters as opposed to 28 chapters from matthew is breathtaking in its speed with that greek word useless immediately straightway the old gospels used to say but matthew a bit more time yet he never spends time explaining things to us that he would expect his jewish community of early christians to know he is confirming to those christians that prophecy has indeed been fulfilled prophecy is not only in the prophets but in the psalms and in the law and he never stops short when he's uttering a prophecy but let's be detectives in another way and say that matthew is relying on mark most people now accept that justice luke is relying on mark so the two of them share that source material and what becomes significant is what he might just change from mark and add a different emphasis which gives us something of matthew's way of setting out the gospel as he believes it and the person of jesus as he would have his community accept jesus as the one prophesied and the foundation behind that the law the prophets the psalms and then at the same time matthew and luke clearly had another source which they both knew and they drew from that so what we're saying is that there's common material to matthew and luke and common material to matthew luke and mark and all of that is quite a nice puzzle to work at and we can think about it as we go through i won't spend lots of time on that this morning but there's also a source which we might call special matthew which is just to matthew himself and that too becomes significant because it means that some oral tradition probably was carried on into that community and matthew had access to that or maybe snippets of a written tradition we don't know but it's a fascinating project to think about nevertheless the real fascination is what matthew wants us to receive about jesus as the son of david the son of abraham and the son of god and in that we hear him speaking loud and clear now matthew is really keen on shape and order and his order wants to set out just as there are five books of the law the pentateuch the five books the first five books of our old testament scripture so he sets his teaching in five different sections and they follow a pattern piece of narrative telling stories miracles and parables and the activity of jesus followed by a discourse teaching and the teaching then ends with when jesus had finished these sayings he and then off we go again with narrative and then discourse teaching and when jesus said five times until we get to the passion narrative which is should we call it a pod on its own all of that we can look at with extreme interest but this morning we are receiving the story of how he deals with jesus's baptism and also what jesus experienced at that baptism and there's the little conversation between jesus and john the baptist john the baptist saying you ought to be baptizing me and for us the sentence of jesus is quite an important one which he might say to us at any time let this be so for now it's important that we fulfill all righteousness well that means that we recognize the foundation on which jesus's life and ministry was built and that's the foundation of the scriptures let it be so for now we might say that that for points of our own life when people say why is this happening well let it be so for now it's important that for now we fulfill righteousness in this way before the journey takes us onwards the journey is about to take jesus himself onwards in mark as jesus comes up out of the water the whole experience of the heavens opening and the dove descending and the voice from heaven is for him the voice says you are my beloved son in whom i am well pleased it's an experience that sends jesus straight into the wilderness to ponder what the next step of this extraordinary ministry as the anointed one is going to be a human ministry with the totality of the divine enshrined in it but it's an experience which jesus must have shared with those near to him but in this occasion matthew is not satisfied with that and he wants the voice to be for all of us not you are my beloved son in whom i am well pleased intimate and part of jesus's own journey into the wilderness which on that journey as we'll see from mark is it's a very short one in terms of how much mark spends on it with matthew it's going to be a long one we'll do that tomorrow but for the moment not you are my beloved son in whom i am well pleased but this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased the voice is speaking to us and you might say then perhaps it was speaking to the people around i leave that with you but everything is present tense here as i keep saying about the gospels this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased he is fulfilling all that i intended in the anointed one who wants to come and is expected expected by the prophets and there's the quote from isaiah and the other difference is the power in which john the baptist says that holy spirit will come and with he will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire that's not in mark simply he will baptize you with the holy spirit i'm pointing out the differences for you to be detectives yourself and see what that means for you as you say about this day we'll let this be so for now it's important for us to fulfill all righteousness in looking at this day and it's why we're actually sitting just here we look at certain things which have a sort of link in commonality um it's a link about styles of leadership and it's a link about voyaging with intent in cramped locked in conditions and what happens to humanity in that way and i say that because um first of all on this day if i if i do it date by date in 1770 uh captain james cook in his ship endeavor this small vessel really compared with uh royal navy warships a small vessel it was a scientific research vessel really with with guns simply for the protection of those on board but sir joseph banks was one of those on board and they landed on this day in 1770 in botany bay and uh it name that's now become named that botany bay and of course there is a a a complete model a replica of the ship endeavour in sydney harbour at the maritime museum there and we give thanks for that journey of exploration and discovery at that time and also for the capacity of the botanists in sir joseph banks to bring back things which he thought might well help the agriculture and horticulture of this place here his mind never stopped traveling even when his body did and that became important with the next vessel that we talked about on this day 1789 on this day the mutiny on the bounty took place when fletcher christian and a majority of the crew mutinied against william bly because of his dictatorial and unfair leadership as they saw it they were a research vessel and they'd gone because of sir joseph banks idea that breadfruit might be a staple force source of feeding people in other areas of the world and they've been told to gather the breadfruit from tahiti and the islands there and to bring that breadfruit back to england to see whether that could work and mr nelson the botanist was along with them at that time but because of blei's leadership and clearly he was a dictatorial captain and thought to be unfair the crew mutinied and set bly 17 people in a small boat and gave a compass and set them adrift and then went and as you know in the end they ended up at pitcairn island but let's follow bligh for the moment who in an open boat sailed successfully with the compass and his knowledge of seamanship 3618 miles from that point where the mutiny took place all the way to timor where they found the dutch settlement there and then eventually of course they were taken back to to england and one is looking at two styles of leadership there in the same person when push came to shove bligh by his total iron leadership got that little boat all the way back to timor but when he was on board bounty clearly the style of leadership became so oppressive that the mutiny took place let's just think for a moment and and this only because uh um there's a way of imagining it nearby here at down house of another vessel which set off in 1831 and returned in 1836 i'm talking about hms bounty another vessel small and not bouncy h i'm talking about hms beagle another vessel under the captaincy of a very able captain captain fitzroy and carrying on board of course the young naturalist charles darwin each vessel had a naturalist on board banks and nelson and darwin and they went off in search of things and fitzroy in a completely different venture down to chart the coast of south america and then they rounded cape horn and into the pacific and the galapagos island and everything else five years and on that little boat and what i'm wanting to think about is the way in which first of all we go back to matthew's ordering of things in a small space order has to be absolute in equipment in space where each one lives out their life and if you go to down house which is darwin's house near here for most of his life they have recreated the cabin in which he worked cramped conditions tiny cramped conditions and yet all his diaries all the assessment of his specimens and all of that had to be shared and it's no wonder also in those cramped conditions over a long time that the mental health of those in leadership positions suffered fitzroy would have that times of anger with with darwin because he had given him the opportunity to share his cabin they were friends and uh very often um he the the crew used to call darwin philosopher because of all that he was doing and thinking and fitzroy also took that up but in the end when he was writing to him years later he would write dear philos not just a shortened version of a philosopher but the greek word for friend and all of that was there but the agony of fitzroy who then handed over his command at one point saying i'm not fit to be leader his mental agony was so great he felt unsupported not so much by his crew who were very supportive but by the admiralty back in london all those things and during this lockdown we think of the the mental agony that goes on with leaders having to make hard decisions in a very short space of time and also people in in homes and families locked down together all of these things and yet one sees that the the way in which people order their lives in a rhythm as we do with our morning prayers is really crucial to their mental well-being though in the end the encouragement of those around them and also the spiritual dimension well i would say that wouldn't either spiritual dimension and the mental capacity to think and create and the physical capacity to do that sees people through but leaders are under a a great lens at the moment and we do well to pray for them the world over i wanted also to mention that on this day harper lee was born in 1926 she wrote really one novel to kill a mockingbird which was based on her own experiences of growing up and also was made into a wonderful film with um i think gregory peck and that film rather like the films of mutiny on the bounty with um charles laughton in the old one and and then um anthony hopkins as captain bly in a more recent film and we remember harper lee for using her own experiences to teach the people reading her book certain things about human perceptions in the eyes of two children and she never really consciously published another book she was given the pulitzer prize for that novel in 1961 and because of its importance also the presidential medal of freedom in 2007 and then in 2015 her estate and agents she was still alive but very frail by then published go set a watchman having found the the manuscript for that amongst her possessions and harpercon has published that and that that book now is thought to be the first draft of to kill a mockingbird she had never published it she said she would never write it on the book and on both occasions when she received a prize the pulitzer prize and the presidential medal of freedom given to her for literature she didn't make a speech she simply said i can't make speeches and it's better to be silent than to be a fool the other thing that she kept on with when she saw people reading by electronic means was there's nothing like having a book in your hand when you're reading so we remember her with thanksgiving she died in 2016. and so let's say our prayers on this particular day and think of people in cramped conditions people dealing with the death of friends as those three boats had constantly to do on the journey through the years without any kind of real sophisticated medical help with what they faced and also to remember areas of the world india of course comes to mind at the present time and brazil comes to mind at the present time and other areas that you will know in your hearts and minds from your own situation and let's remind ourselves that by our prayers and by our encouraging activity imaginative encouragement we can help those who might be feeling most mental stress and we can pray for those in leadership positions with understanding for the hard tasks of decisions that have to be made swiftly for the good of all and are sometimes wrong and then have to be thought out again so here we are on the 28th of april and we pray for archbishop justin and the life of our anglican communion and for all communities of faith throughout the world have your own in mind as well in the anglican communion today we're praying for the diocese of brecken in the scottish episcopal church and here in this diocese as we pray for bishop rose of dover and bishop tim at lambeth we pray for the parish church at harbaugh down again quite near here uh up the hill here so michael and all angels hubble down and the priests there peter handen and his people so let's say our prayers on this particular day and give thanks for the insights that saint matthew gives us as we ourselves become explorers journeyers in his gospel or if you like detectives picking up the clues he gives us here's the colic for today 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 are men so we say together in our own way and 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 image of silence now for your own prayers on this day the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal 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 upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always are men i mentioned harbaugh down and said michael and all angels harbour down is what we're praying for this morning that parish it is a beautiful place on a hillside overlooking canterbury when my sister pauline first moved from sherburne to here because her parkinson's disease had grown more severe she came to be looked after at a lovely nursing home called the old rectory at harbaldown and uh she because then she could walk still a little as long as she went carefully she would go down and sit in the churchyard there and it was a a lovely thing to come up from here and to meet her there and sit together there and as she looked the the holy well of that uh place springs up bubbles up there because that is the pilgrims route that chaucer's pilgrims would have taken and pilgrims have taken from time immemorial and it would have been a place to stop and refresh themselves before the journey down the hill to canterbury but certainly from pauline's bedroom window in those few months that she lived there before we found a place that she could have as her own with care down at uh st john's hospital which is one of our arms houses where she could care for herself without residential care and then st john the red house nursing home um who all looked after her for some years she came here in 2008 and then as you well know died in 2019 but we remember days spent in that peaceful place at harboldown looking down over the city of canterbury and as i was saying from pauline's bedroom window the great bell harry tower and then later she was near enough here just to walk to to the um little arms house where she had her own suite and then after she became needing care the red house who looked after her say well that nursing home i had a a telephone call yesterday from one of the sisters at the red house uh calling me rani her name and she and her husband matthew actually are from india and she wanted prayers in that way and we said that we would continue to pray for her as we pray for all the people of india at this time sorry a little bit of biographical stuff at the end