good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this tuesday the 22nd of february as we meet to say our morning prayers welcome wherever you are in the world and as i always say bring your own prayers your own concerns and intentions as we pray together i want first to undergird again in prayer the situation between ukraine and russia and all those involved there the military tensions are very high at the moment and we pray for all those in leadership positions across the world who can bring influence to bear to ease the situation now we also want this morning to pray for our friends in canada after the parliamentary acceptance of emergency legislation and powers for the prime minister mr trudeau this is obviously a sadness for the people of canada we always look to canada as a a really liberal society where such measures are really not necessary and yet across the world so many nations have had to do this and so the hurt being felt by all those those measures is hurt felt by us too for them we we think of nations like new zealand and canada as places where society can simply make its own way in freedom and at present those measures have become absolutely essential we pray that they won't be there for long and we we shall we say bleed with you because we've all had to go through these uh desperate measures for necessity's sake so canada god bless you this morning we're going to say our morning prayers now and then we will think about our reflection but we've come here beside the well worlds are often holy places and i'm sitting in a gap in the deciduous um and unnatural hedge of english trees between a black thorn and i don't know what that is behind me a horsehawn probably um and uh we've got here behind that tree there at the moment so you can see it what we're using this morning as a cave we've used it before you'll recognize that as a tomb but it's a tomb where people came and found uh life on resurrection morning but this today is a cave which someone has made as a home and so when we get to the story you'll understand oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise reveal among us the light of your presence that we may behold your power and glory blessed are you sovereign god to you be praise and glory forever in your tender compassion the dawn from on high is breaking upon us to dispel the lingering shadows of night as we look for your coming among us this day open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen our hands to do your will that the world may rejoice and give you 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 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 are men our psalm on this 22nd morning of the month is the long sum 107 and we'll read some sections of that now oh give thanks to the lord for he is gracious for his steadfast love endures forever let the redeemed of the lord say this those he redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south some went astray in desert wastes and found no path to a city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul was fainting within them so they cried to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he set their feet on the right way till they came to a city to dwell in let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good those who go down to the sea and ships and ply their trade in great waters these have seen the works of the lord in and his wonders in the deep for at his word the stormy wind arose and lifted up the waves of the sea they were carried up to the heavens and down again to the deep their soul melted away in their pedal they reeled and staggered like a drunkard and were at their wit's end then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were count then were they glad because they were at rest and he brought them to the haven they desired let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children let them exalt him in the counsel of the elders and praise him let them exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the counsel of the elders the lord turns rivers into wilderness and water springs into thirsty ground a fruitful land he makes a salty waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell there but he makes the wilderness a pool of water and water springs out of a thirsty land and there he settles the hungry and they build a city to dwell in they sow fields and plant vineyards and bring in a fruitful harvest he blesses them so that they multiply greatly he does not let their herds of cattle decrease he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes they are diminished and brought low through stress of misfortune and sorrow but he raises the poor from their misery and multiplies their families like flocks of sheep the upright will see this and rejoice and all wickedness will shut its mouse whoever is wise will ponder these things and consider the loving kindness of the lord a son asking us to consider the wonders of the deep and the wonders of the earth and the way in which through bad treatment and malnourishment and what is called the wickedness of those who dwell there then fruitful lands can be turned into salty wastes and great lakes even can dry up and be no longer a place where life can grow but on the other hand the reverse can happen with right treatment all of those things are there in that really ancient psalm and we give thanks for it as we come now to our reflection now we're back in one samuel and we are with a story not like the story of abigail but quite different it's normally known as the story of the witch of endor that was the traditional title for it nowadays the word which has become synonymous with the terrible persecution of people who were pointed out quite often because of their lonely way and living at home and having a wisdom about the the way in which the earth with its healing powers could be used but the word was never synonymous with one gender and uh i i think of the the way in which we we talk about and uh at the the witch doctor uh when and and i've been in in places in societies where in fact that the way in which uh that the witch doctor could actually um heal with herbs and medicines he could heal a really poisonous snake bite by those living there who would never ever have got to modern medicine in time and we know that the way the earth can heal but we also know our propensity to pick out people in society and blame them for evil in a way which has been wicked throughout history there is in uh canterbury here a sign of that with a a witch's stool a ducking stool there on the river's tower and it's set there as a sign of the short-sighted cruelty and persecution of that in the past and it's interesting now that some nations are beginning to turn their minds to a sense of forgiveness to all those scotland i think is a case in point all those who were persecuted as witches in the past so in fact in my my um story here at the beginning of 1 samuel chapter 28 it's called soul and the medium of endor but we still use that word quite in a complimentary way sometimes um we talk about how bewitching someone is or we talk about a witch hunt which means a a particular person of either gender being actually hunted for a particular reason with cruelty this is a witch hunt people will say but here we are with this story as i say traditionally called the witch of endor and here is king saul in a desperate strait he's facing a battle with the philistines he has actually banned all magic and mediums and necromancers and sorcerers and he's banned that and one thinks of uh i don't know if you've ever watched the lovely television series merlin which went on through various series and at that time we were avid saturday afternoon watchers of that tale of merlin and king arthur but king arthur's father king uther pen dragon had banned magic throughout his kingdom and saul had done the same and anyone found practicing magic was liable to death and yet in rather like macbeth in that story where macbeth revisits the three witches in macbeth saul wants to know what the outcome of the battle will be with the philistines and he says to his servants find me a medium find me someone who can define things in a different way breaking his own rules so i'm going to read the whole of chapter 28 and it's a dramatic story in those days the philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against israel and akish said to david understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army david said to achis very well you shall know what your servant can do and they said to david very well i will make you my bodyguard for life and samuel had died and all israel had mourned for him and buried him in rama his own city and saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land the philistines assembled and came and encamped it shunam and saul gathered all israel and they encamped at gilboa and when saul saw the army of the philistines he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly and when saul inquired of the lord the lord did not answer him either by dreams or by urim or by the prophets so saul said to his servants seek out for me a woman who is a medium that i may go to her and inquire of her and the servants said to him behold there is one at endor so saul disguised himself put on other garments and went he and two men with him and they came to the woman by night and he said divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever i shall name to you the woman said to him surely you know what king saul has done how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death but king saul swore to her by the lord as the lord lives no punishment shall come upon you for this thing then the woman said whom shall i bring up for you and saul said bring up samuel for me when the woman saw samuel she cried out with a loud voice and the woman said to saul why have you deceived me you are saul [Applause] the king said to her do not be afraid what do you see and the woman said to saul i see a god coming up out of the earth you said to her i need to put this over here i think you'll see why in a moment i think but just you behave um let's go back to our story the king said to her do not be afraid what do you see and the woman said to saul i see a god coming up out of the earth the king said to her what is his appearance and she said an old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a robe and saul knew that it was samuel and he bowed his face to the ground and paid homage then samuel said to saul why have you disturbed me by bringing me up saul answered i am in great distress for the philistines are warring against me and god has turned away from me and answers me no more either by prophets or my dreams therefore i have summoned you to tell me what i shall do and samuel said why then do you ask me since the lord has turned from you and become your enemy the lord has done to you as he has spoken by me for the lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor david because you did not obey the voice of the lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against amalek therefore the lord has done this thing to you this day moreover the lord will give israel also with you into the hand of the philistines and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me the lord will give the army of israel also into the hand of the philistines then saul fell at once full length on the ground filled with fear because of the words of samuel and there was no strength in him for he had eaten nothing at all day and night and the woman came to seoul and when she saw that he was terrified she said to him behold your servant has obeyed you i have taken my life in my hand that have listened to what you have said to me now therefore you also obey your servant let me set a morsel of bread before you and eat that you may have strength when you go on your way so refused and said i will not eat but saul's servants together with the woman urged him and he listened to their words so he arose from the earth and sat on the bed now the woman had a fattened calf in the house and she quickly killed it and took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread from it she put it before saul and his servants and they yet then they rose and went away that night it's a terrifying story and it has resonances of so many other stories but in a strange way although the woman is seeing the figure of samuel it almost seems as though it's only saul who hears the dreadful message that samuel has brought of total defeat of total divasta disaster and saul is without strength in his fear and falls fullness on the ground and the woman despite her fear of him because he has actually tricked her by his disguise into showing arts and powers that he has forbidden actually is kind to him and she with his servants persuade him to eat the meal which she then provides for him and he goes on his way saul is clutching its straws but at the same time um in the ancient world none of this is uh surprising and if we go into the acts of the apostles in the world then also none of this surprising in acts 13 when saul and barnabas are in cyprus the roman governor there has the sorcerer elimas with him and you remember that story where saul has to deal with that and say to the pro consul that the powers of creation and life are all in the hands of the almighty creator who has revealed himself to us not only in his creation and remember how paul has said that in our sunday lesson to the people of lystra that when he's talking to them he said god has not left you without signs he's given you signs of himself in fruitful seasons in the healing qualities of the earth and in the way in which he causes you to feel gladness and now then turn to the overarching the totality of the power of the creator and how he gives this good news and he says the same to the pro-consul and we see in acts 13 how he deals with the sorcerer elimas and remember also in in acts 19 um uh an ephesus his preaching causes the same thing to happen that people who've been relying on what we might call magic and that's what's said in in the in acts 19 bring their books of magic and and a huge bonfire of them is made in in ephesus and at the same time they are this this bonfire is a sign of then relying on the the gifts of the creator and also placing themselves in that knowledge and looking for those signs day by day but we're in a an area where of course all our dramas and all our tales and everything we do in think of all the plays of shakespeare where one i've already mentioned the the the witches in macbeth um but at the same time one can think of how bancro's ghost or hamlet's ghost in in heinen's father's ghost um plays such a part in all those shakespeare plays and in midsummer night's dream then the the sense of of the the kingdom of the fairies themselves all of those things are second nature to us but also the superstitions that exist in in societies throughout the world about flowers and plants i'm sitting next to a black thorn and the white flowers of the black thorn have always been something that people were suspicious of bringing into the house and the black stems of the black thorn have been signs sometimes when someone was carrying them of evil on in other cultures and we think of the mayor of sandwich who actually is a sign of authority carries a black thorn staff and so we're switching backwards and forwards to things that people clutch onto but they're doing so because the creation is there to give us signs of the almighty and healing power of god and that is a really developing thing with the the way in in in which medicines can actually be found from the the creation and all kinds of people with skills of that kind are there to to help and heal and yet there are dangers there when people rely on that and in one way or another um we find that those signs are being misused we talked about the snowdrops about the snowdrops being taken into church on february the second as a sign of mary's chairs but at the same time before that i've known cultures in this country where white flowers mayflowers certainly wouldn't be taken into church and in other places it would be taken into houses people made all these things and very often you find that really ingrained but as gregory said to augustium use what you find there and teach the totality of the power of life with the creator being shown all around us and here's saul in his desperate straits going back to the sense of i must clutch at this and really what he gets from that is a terrible message um i'm thinking today that our message when one thinks of the totality of the power of the creator whom jesus taught us to call father and have a relationship with all of that life around us and find signs of that power within in within the creation itself then uh the the message is one of trust in god the creator alone uh and be aware of of other things taking that over though they can be of course wonderful pointers and life-giving signs to the good news which is being given there's sometimes also a sense with people feeling that's the one thing i can't give up and it's the one thing that's holding them back i'm now talking in the broadest sense of everything today is the day on the 22nd of february 1592 that nicolas ferrer was born and in december on december the 4th i think or december the 3rd we remembered him on his year's mind and the community at little gidding a community made most famous by the last of the four quartets of t.s eliot but farrah had had quite a pilgrimage in life throughout all his life and sometimes and one thing's of 1613 when uh pharaoh would have been what eight plus thirteen um uh and that's what twenty one uh and i'm not very good at maths um from 1613 to 1618 he traveled in europe to the east or the east of europe or all around in other countries and he collected books before he had his vocation as a deacon to begin that family life at little gideon which became such a sign but he brought with him a great hamper of his past and that hamper stayed in a corner of his room it was in some way there from what had led him through one series of learning to another but it was that it was nothing to do with the life of little giddy it was very much the sign of where the journey had brought him and then in 1637 when he realized he was going to die he summoned his brother and said to him uh carry out the hamper and place it on the place where my grave will be and burn it [Applause] and we're told and i don't know how big the hamper was or whether there are more but we're told that for three days the smoke of that rose above the trees and the um that was burned it was almost as if it was a sign of fera giving up the last vestige of anything but trust in the creator which is own community in their life-giving medicines from the herbs of the garden and everything that was there and the pointing out of the creator's life in creation as well as the rhythms of the psalms and the psalms of course date back well well well to before any any of our our um new testament stories come about but we we cull from that to the sprigs each day and so we think of that sense of trust alone now i wanted to um to go to a hymn which came to me when i was thinking this and it's a hymn by william cooper who in desperate distress when he was frightened of losing his faith in god cast this hymn we know him for the hymn god moves in in a mysterious way his wonders to perform uh but at the same time that's of god's marks in all creation but this is different here's this hymn about his own faith journey with god himself and the fact that he was frightened of losing that first freshness oh for a closer walk with god a calm and heavenly frame a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the lamb where is the blessedness i knew when first i sought the lord where is the soul refreshing view of jesus in his word what excuse me what peaceful hours i once enjoyed how sweet their memory still that they have left an aching void the world can never fill return o holy dove return sweet messenger of rest i hate the sins that made me mourn and drove thee from my breast the dearest idol i have known whatever that idol be help me to tear it from my throne and worship only thee so shall my walk be close with god calm and serene my frame so pure a light shall mark the road that leads me to the lamb and it caused me to think of the first verses of psalm 62 and thinking how in all the psalms as we go through creation and go through human moods and everything else and each of them and with david's name marked across them as the inspiration for salmady but in psalm 62 we we have that verse at the beginning on god alone my soul in stillness waits from him comes my salvation i would say that's a text for all that is given to us in all the psalms that first verse of psalm 62 as almost uh a keepsake line to show that there is nothing in creation that cannot speak of god and there are many things that can hold us back a bit when we receive them in the wrong way and all this we think of this morning as saul in his desperate straits turned back to the very thing that he himself has forbidden but finds courage and kindness in the one who was called the witch of endor for she herself sees his desperate state and creates a meal and welfare for him as he goes on his way in fear and trembling for what has been shown to him well let's uh go on from that tomorrow we shall continue the story and i fear it gets no better but what we see today is so much about the way in which creation shows us the power of the life-giving creator and the gift of each new day is there for us to use placing our trust in that life and in the way in which good news is given to us by the gift of the humanity of jesus himself who never ceased to create those psalms and also to point out the way in which the creation can show us uh ways in our journey different messages each day so we come to say our prayers this morning and we're praying for the in the anglican communion for the diocese of mount kenya central in the anglican church of kenya and we're praying also for the church of westgate on sea st james which is marked here as vacant so let's pray for the church wardens gene stark and mick flanders flanders in in their um in in their responsibility at present pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and also for uh emma bishop at lambeth between federer and me there's the most wonderful patch of violence and as you think of people that you um uh are wanting to pray for today with thanksgiving or with concern then those violets remind us of our friend felicity one of her favorite flowers and one of mine and whenever we're with them there are always if they're in season at all a little bunch of violets by the bed and today is the last day for her radiotherapy which for breast cancer which has been quite a journey and so we pray with thanksgiving for her as that course ends and for healing which the violets are reminding us of this morning you will bring so many memories and and and concerns of your own as we say the prayer for today almighty god you have created the heavens and the earth and made us in your own image teach us to discern your hand in all your works and your likeness in all your children through jesus christ your son our lord who with you and the holy spirit reigns supreme over all things now and forever amen so we say each 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 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 so a time of reflection for ourselves and you will hear a tune which which speaks of that sense of things which are both divine that can speak to us in different ways so here's a theme from the harry potter films which our children love to read and we have them to to receive that and and interpret that with them [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] my [Music] we've been sitting beside the trickling water of the well here and um as we've done so it reminded me of how often in the past i've been to places where for centuries the well has been a place of meeting but it's also been a place of of holiness and i'd want to go to that verse in psalm 36 with you is the well of life and in your light shall we see light so the trickling of the water and the gift of refreshment is is there jesus sitting by the well with the woman of of samaria and all that being shared by the well but at the same time long long back the psalmist translating that into the truth that nothing in all creation is beyond the power of the creator and the good news he gives us causes us not to be afraid but to walk in his world with watchfulness but also with freedom and with him is the well of life with you is the well of life says the psalmist in psalm 36 and in your light shall we see light the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord 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 well mister you've been watchful this morning because you were afraid the robin was going to come and take your particular stardom away from you and uh the robin did come down but i think you were just a bit too near and you're always watchful maybe um that's something you could um begin to give up your battle with the robin i'll go inside