good morning and welcome to the deanery garden of canterbury cathedral as we meet to say our morning prayers on this morning of thursday the 3rd of december and wherever you are in the world feel welcome as always uh you may think i'm sitting in a strange part of the garden this morning there's no green grass around me and no real plants that you can see but we've been looking in this national tree week at the indigenous trees of of england and today we're looking at the yew tree and you will see to right and left of the view you you have of me left and right for you um two yew trees very very difficult to date a yew tree as we'll think of in the in the reflection but uh they go far back and we have here uh a a confluence shall we call it of of two walls now behind me is the gate which leads to the dean's walk the next bit of the garden where in the uh in the mornings now we've taken to bringing clemmy and the girl pigs um to have some green space apart from winston and the boys and so in the afternoon before it gets dark they're led back again but they have a a rare time here behind the the walk goes all the way around to the queen gate which is the queen's gate which queen bursa used to use to go to church at saint at saint martin's church even before augustine came here in 597 for this was the site of the royal palace but also if i look at these two walls on my right your left is the stone wall and the stone foundations themselves go back to roman times but beneath that but thousands of years before the the uh uh kante tribe has this as their great fortress and so this has been an embankment of defense for who knows how many thousand years and uh on this side therefore that wall which is now the boundary of what was the monastery and is is now the dna garden it's always been the garden of the head of the foundation beyond is the city ring road because these were the defenses of the city of canterbury which the romans took over from the canti tribe themselves and decided to make this a fortified place and on this side is a monastic wall so uh in 1320 uh this monastic war ceased to be the boundary of the monastery because the prior at that time then took over this patch as well and so this all the way down is the boundary the historic boundary of the dinery garden and this is simply a monastic wall built of ancient brick and uh containing all kinds of of uh signs that this was part of monastic life you won't be able to see them but they're a little ancient uh holes for for thatch beehives to be in the wall here and so here we are under you trees and use very difficult to date but they have such a dark canopy that nothing much grows underneath them and they are massively toxic there is no antidote to you poison and so um they they've always been a tree which people had to be aware of but they're significant in all sorts of ways so today we think of the you um dates on december the third as we look back through we'll just do a few of them there are many um in 1795 surreyland hill was born the founder of the penny post the the post becomes really important at christmas time and even more so this year as we send greetings to each other 1820 thomas beecham of beacham's pills and powders was born even in those days trying to fight off the common cold 1868 gladstone became prime minister uh for the first time and then that that that era of gladstone and israeli four times he was prime minister began in victorian times and there was no doubt about which of the fave which was the favorite of queen victoria and 1894 robert louis stevenson whom we've looked at a lot recently died in samoa age 45 1909 king edward the seventh dissolved parliament without a budget so all taxes on alcohol tobacco and cars were suspended i actually think that was a very popular move but in fact it was in a a grim battle between the house of lords in the house of commons which was being fought out at that time so political times and then of interest also in political times in 1997 the ottawa treaty banning anti-personnel land mines was signed by 121 nations this is also the united nations international day of persons with disabilities 1800 uh united states election for president ended in a tie between thomas jefferson and aaron burr and in 2019 uh queen elizabeth ii gave a great reception at buckingham palace on the 70th anniversary of nato which shaped the the world following the second world war but on on this day also in 1989 at the malta summit president george bush senior and mikhail gorbachev declared at the end of a two-day summit the end of the cold war which again had shaped not only europe but the world in its influence through all the time that i was growing up and then right through to that mortar summit and beyond and we've had of course uh overnight really of the the the death of valerie desta who was the president of france from 1974 to 1981 he died aged 94. so political things and uh creative things as always on these days let's begin our prayers o 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 of all to 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 amen our son on this third morning of the month is psalm 16. preserve me o god for in you have i taken refuge i have said to the lord you are my lord all my good depends on you all my delight is upon the godly that are in the land upon those who are noble in heart though the idols are legion that many run after their drink offerings of blood i will not offer neither make mention of their names upon my lips the lord himself is my portion and my cup in your hands alone is my fortune my share has fallen in a fair land indeed i have a goodly heritage i will bless the lord who has given me counsel and in the night watches he instructs my heart i have set the lord always before me he is at my right hand i shall not fall wherefore my heart is glad and my spirit rejoices my flesh also shall rest secure for you will not abandon my soul to death nor suffer your faithful one to see the pit you will show me the path of life in your presence is the fullness of joy and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore so we come to the penultimate chapter again of the revelation to john and i'm reading chapter 21 verse 9 and i'm going to read up to verse 21 then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying come i will show you the bride the wife of the lamb and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god having the glory of god its radiance like a most rare jewel like jasper clear as crystal it had a great high wall with twelve gates and at the gates twelve angels and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of israel were inscribed on the east three gates on the north three gates on the south three gates and on the west three gates and on the wall of the city and the wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb and the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls the city lies four square its length the same as its width and the angel measured the city with his rod and 12 000 stadia its length and width and height are equal he also measured its wall 144 cubits by human measurements which is also an angel's measurement the wall was built of jasper while the city was pure gold like clear glass the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel the first was jasper the second sapphire the third agate the fourth emerald the fifth onix the sixth carnelian the seventh chrysolite the eighth barrel the ninth topaz the tenth chrysopraze the eleventh jason's and the twelfth amethyst and the twelve gates were twelve pearls each of the gates made of a single pearl and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass it's the most most beautiful image and it gives us something of everything that john's vision has been taking us towards of course these are still pictures they are still allegories words like the new jerusalem the bride of the lamb all these were almost code words drawn from the ancient scriptures and those who knew them were used to them but there's always an addition the measuring rod of the angel now we have houston in certain books think of dante's great divine comedy there's a there's a guide to lead him through at first virgil and then later on beatrice but uh in this one it's an angel and remember how john is warned off from worshiping the angel the whole message of the book of revelation is that only god is to be worshipped the angel says to john i am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters and that's important so i think that as we consider that we then think of the angel taking john around and in the spirit he shows him something which is really too vast too glorious too wonderful too bright you can use practically any adjective you like of splendor and glory and light to describe what john is seeing but what we see is also perfect proportion and at the same time there are signs about that perfect proportion which come from the past one remembers that the high priest himself in the temple wore a great breastplate with 12 jewels upon it signs of the 12 tribes of the old israel and now here are jewels on every wall and on every wall to the names of the twelve apostles it carries it through to the new israel if you like which is for all nations all tribes all peoples for all who would enter those gates that's one of the great messages and the way in which the way in which john very carefully gives the jewels and precious stones that he knows now the pearls were only the pearl trade was only then a relatively new thing and so uh it was not um uh odd for him to think there may be pearls of much much bigger size but here those mighty gates which we'll find stood open were made of one pearl well what an image but john is reaching out for the most precious images the street of the city in pure gold like glass and all of that becomes so wonderful but in perfect proportion the georgians in their architecture were very keen on perfect proportion because they thought that people in that architecture would live in a rational way because of the perfect proportion around them our library in the the deanery is the shape of a double cube and that means that it's got the the the uh the height and the the the uh not not the length but the depth shall we say the width uh in in the the same but at the the the whole length is double that but it's georgian proportion with great windows with light coming in and here we are with human proportion that john is looking at with that massive city but even that is clearly only an allegory of what the gathering in of all humanity for the gates lie open with invitation as we shall see as this goes on so all of that this morning and more to come tomorrow because the picture gets better and better as we sit this morning under the yew trees a sign of very ancient life here no one can really date a utree it has immense powers of regeneration and uh when it splits and hollows open up inside it's resistant to disease within those hollows better than most trees and as i said it's very poisonous indeed one has always found it in holy places as they've been identified in cultures in areas where these trees grow but there are astounding areas of them i remember near salisbury cathedral an area near cumbisit on lords radner's estates called great use and when we went there walking through the great use was the the most extraordinary experience the darkness given by the eu's and in the middle that occurring but i remember in i think it must be 1975 during the three hours service at which the and this was good friday the choristers didn't come they would sing shorter services and later on even song for good friday but they had to be entertained and we took them in the snow it was i think about march the 28th in the snow to great use and the snow lightened it a bit but in the middle of those ancient trees the children made a snowman and somehow there was light and laughter and creative activity but around us stood trees far too old to date simply as trees at other times i've been very conscious of them with their topiary work when we visit pers castle in north wales the topiary work with the use there is astonishing you can probably find it on on google and and and see the pictures if you've not been there at paris castle and banks and banks of views in different shapes are there and at the same time i will remember as being rector of tisbury in wiltshire there was the most and still is the most ancient new tree in the churchyard which predated the church being there according to david bellamy he thought it was at least two thousand even three thousand years old but dendrochronology doesn't help us much with yew trees they seem to defy it and that tree i remember standing by it's hollowed and and uh that some had thought it was best to put a filling in rather like a dentist with a tooth but i remember standing there one day by it and a little group of people led by someone came up and i began to explain i said i'm the director here and i began to explain the utree and the uh the the leader of the group said well i i'm actually the the wrecker of tisbury in martha's vineyard and we have a slip of this yew tree which was planted in our churchyard in martha's vineyard in the united states probably in the early 19th century and it grows strong so don't worry if this tree begins to fail because it has strong daughters the other side of the atlantic i said that you was very toxic it was used of course for the longbows uh of the the english archers and and became the the weapons and they decimated the use because they needed them for for the longbows but nevertheless nowadays their medicinal properties particularly in the treatment of cancer have come to the fore because that poison destroys in some way or another it becomes good for dealing with things which are attacking us in humanity and once again we have this not only this biodiversity for the use of the leaves and all this sort of ground gives good shelter for hibernating hedgehogs and things of that sort so they can go into the orchard and rummage and and the rest but it also means that our biodiversity and the way in which we connect with creation becomes important in all the things that we are discovering about health and strength and the combating of pandemics where we could talk long and hard about the yew trees but it's really time to say our prayers and so let me look at what we're going to be remembering today or who we're going to be remembering today first the diocese of sheffield in england the church of england and pete wilcox the bishop there and his people the diocese of eastern zambia in central africa and william mccombo the bishop there and his people and the diocese of easton in the episcopal church of the united states and santosh murray and the people in that particular diocese and here we are as a diocese are praying generally for each other in these advent days as we go step by step through advent and as we do so today we're asked to pray for those who are most affected mentally and in sorrow or a sense of helplessness and hopelessness during this particular pandemic well of course we can do that from right across the world and we think also of any whom we know to need our prayers at this particular time as we say the advent college and then together in our own languages the prayer our savior taught us almighty god give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life in which your son jesus christ came to visit us in great humility that when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who liveth and reigneth with you and the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so 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 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 no much of silence now as robin sings um as we say our own prayers for this day [Music] [Music] i wanted before the blessing to remind you of the advent hymn sleepers wait rock it out and uh particularly the last verse here it is praise to him who goes before us let men and angels join in chorus let harp and symbol add their sound twelve the gates a pearl each portal we haste to join the choir immortal within the holy cities bound ear now heard ought like this nor heart conceives such bliss alleluia we raise the song we swell the throng to praise the ages all along christ the son of righteousness shine upon you scatter the darkness from before your path and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory 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 [Music] you