good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of wednesday the 23rd of february as we come to say our morning prayers as i always say welcome wherever you are in the world and bring your own concerns and intentions on this day our prayers are were never more urgent than for the situation in ukraine and russia and the people living on both sides of that border they must be very frightened indeed but the world itself is cast into attention about the military situation and so all we can do that right across the world this morning is to undergird that with prayer and we we we know that from the darkness light will also always emerge but timing is in god's hands and also the hands of those who can influence this for good so we say our prayers most urgently this morning not forgetting those who are in other kinds of dangers through flood and tempest and wind but i'm about to say that this morning here in england well in south east england in kent it is one of the loveliest mornings that we've had this year and there's been a frost which has given a clarity to the air but there's not a breath of wind and there is a pure blue sky and the sun shining down because it's now crested the wall as it shines here into the the herb garden and tiger here is enjoying the sunshine as well as we say our prayers together on this beautiful morning here so i wish i could send you some of it through the lens but but enjoy the light that it's giving and we're here in a special place you'll see as you look beyond and over the the roofs of the sheds and and to the greenhouse the beautiful mimosa tree in full bloom and it it's it's rather delicate fronds but it's opulence in yellow flowers becomes something of a future at this wintry time of year and we give thanks for that but also it will serve as an illustration oh see tiger um an illustration for things that later on in our reflection we will be thinking about as we come to the end of the first book of samuel after our long journey well let's say our prayers on this particular morning you're okay there's still a little bit of milk now you almost deprive yourself of everything by your big and athletic leap let's say our prayers then on this particular morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made and as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep 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 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 our psalm this morning on this 23rd morning of the month is psalm 111 alleluia i will give thanks to the lord with my whole heart in the company of the faithful and in the congregation the works of the lord are great sought out by all who delight in them his work is full of majesty and honor and his righteousness endures forever he appointed a memorial for his marvelous deeds the lord is gracious and full of compassion he gave food to those who feared him he is ever mindful of his covenant he showed his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations the works of his hands are truth and justice all his commandments are sure they stand fast forever and ever they are done in truth and equity he sent redemption to his people he commanded his covenant forever holy and awesome is his name the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have those who live by it his praise endures forever it's a wonderful psalm for this morning and full of hope but pointing us always to that uh sentence which we mentioned yesterday at the beginning of psalm 62 which i said overarched all psalms on god alone my soul in stillness waits from him comes my salvation and here with one of these psalms which begin with alleluias which we're still allowed to say because it's not quite lent yet and it's good to say it on a morning like this with the sun shining on us both here tiger isn't it so let's uh go on with our reflection i mean our lesson and our reflection about that afterwards and uh taking up the scriptures i've come now to chapter 31 of the first book of samuel so today we shall end this long and uh really telling book in the history of the israelite nations judah and israel at that time here's chapter 31. now the philistines fought against israel and the men of israel fled before the philistines and fell slain on mount gilboa and the philistines overtook saul and his sons and the philistines struck down jonathan and abinadab and malkishua the sons of saul the battle pressed hard against king saul and the archers found him and he was badly wounded by the archers then saul said to his armor-bearer draw your sword and thrust me through with it lest he's uncircumcised come and thrust me through and mistreat me but his armor bearer would not for he feared greatly therefore saul took his own sword and fell upon it and when his armor bearer saw that saul was dead he also fell upon his sword and died with him thus saul died and his three sons and on the same day together and when the men of israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the jordans saw that the men of israel had fled and that king saul and his sons were dead they abandoned their cities and the philistines came and lived in them the next day the philistines came to strip the slain [Music] they found king saul and his three sons fallen on mount gilboa so they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the philistines to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people they put his armor in the temple of ashtaros and they fastened his body to the wall of bethshan but when the inhabitants of jabesh gilead heard what the philistines had done to saul all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of king saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of bethshan and they came to jabish and burned them there and they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in jabish and fasted for seven days [Music] they're the first book of samuel ends and it ends with that tragic conclusion to king saul's reign we have followed that through the 31 chapters of one samuel and have seen how the journey started with hannah coming to shiloh where the lord's ark was the ark of the covenant to eli the priest who saw her praying and asking that her womb might bear children and that prayer as you remember was granted and she then when he was weaned brought little samuel to shiloh to serve there at shiloh the book has taken us through tragic stories of the nations violent stories but also tragic stories of hopes dashed in human lives like the life of saul but in covenants and promises given in human relationships as with the companionship and friendship and total love of jonathan for david and david for jonathan and we remember the sadness of their parting as jonathan went back to his royal duties and they'd met out in the fields secretly when jonathan now believed that his father was intent on killing david and david walked away and we've followed the story since then too it is in always a foundation stone for the royal line of david and the root of jesse which prophet spoke of and that royal line of course is the line from which our savior was born and we remember let me say it again in the earliest of the gospels the blind man bartimaeus at the gate of jericho shouting son of david son of david have mercy on me and that title is one that people loved to give jesus himself so let's just go back to this chapter 31 for it was really presaged in that story which we told yesterday with the woman who was traditionally called the witch of endor who was so kind to saul and when she saw his fear insisted on giving him full hospitality to help his strengths at this moment when she saw he was afraid we do not know whether the message of samuel to saul was something she knew about but we do know that uh saul himself fell as though dead on the floor in fear after that sense of samuel presaging total disaster and this is why the lord has not answered you and now here we see this this disastrous battle on mount gilboa and the the the complete slaughter of the israelite armies and the tragic death of saul and his sons but at the end there is an act of faithfulness and brave kindness and honor to king saul which will be recognized by king david when he assumes that the royal title which certainly hasn't happened yet but he will honor this act of bravery and kindness remember as we go all the way back when in the hopeful days of his youth saul with all his strengths and stature took over as the first king that samuel had chosen for the people who had cried out let us have a king like other nations and the first act that saul was able to do for his people was when jabesh gilead was being attacked and they were in a hopeless state in the siege and if they surrendered their surrender would only be accepted if every one of their men had the right eye gouged out you remember and uh then uh saul heard of this and fell upon the the army's besieging jabesh gillian and rescued the people there that was never forgotten by the people of jabish gilead and here when they hear what has happened to saul and how his body and the the bodies of his sons have been taken and are now being exhibited in shame on the wall of bethshan and his armor now as a trophy in the temple at ashteroth they travel bravely through the night secretly the philistines feel all their battles are over they're celebrating and but the men of jabish gilead come and they take tenderly take the bodies of saul and his sons including jonathan and carry them back to jabesh gilead and there they reverently shall we say cremate burn the the bodies and the bones and the ashes are then again reverently and with great honor buried under now here's a definite article the tamarisk tree in jebus gilead it's obviously a a tree which is significant in the community of jabesh gilead and so to bury someone there shows great honour i said we'd come out here with the beautiful flowering mimosa behind us and the the slenderness of its fronds uh and also the opulence of its yellow flowers remind us of the tamarisks tree which has a multitude of pink flowers in its flowering but its fronds tend to be quite slender and yet it can give shade and clearly is significant now i want to say that this morning when we were talking about this fletcher's memory is much much better than mine and he said but we've recently mentioned a tamarisk tree in one of the stories haven't we and i said have we and he said yes we have perhaps you could search for that it's really not long ago and um i scratched my head and couldn't remember this and eventually i i found in 1 samuel 22 if i go back to that and it's not long ago because we've skipped some chapters and we're only on chapter 31 then in that chapter 22 and verse 6 we read now king saul heard that david was discovered and the men who were with him also discovered and king saul was sitting at gibeah that was his capital during the 22 years of his kingship under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand and all his servants standing about him there's something about the tamarisk clearly which is significant in terms of honor for their in the midst of the capital gibia the royal capital at that time for jerusalem did not belong to the the israelite uh tribes at that time um and uh david would take his capital at hebron but gibbia was seoul's capital and he was sitting there in his splendor as a king with his spear in his hand the spear which was such a danger both to david and to jonathan when one of his his his moves came upon him when he became violent and determined on violence towards either david and at one stage to jonathan himself for his disloyalty to him and his loyalty to david and here he is sitting in gibeah under the tamaris tree once again the tamaris tree it's a recognizable tree in all its flowering giving the king honor and shade and so the significance of the men of jabesh gilead traveling bravely by night when the philistine armies have already won the whole pitch and taking down the bodies of saul in their dishonor and his sons and reverently honoring them and taking them back to jabesh and then sensitively burying them under the tamarisk tree where they had known saul to sit in his own capital and there his memorial would be as i say that act of charity obedience loyalty and honor will not be forgotten so it's with that that the story ends the tamarisk tree in jabish and then as a sign of mourning for king saul and his sons the men of jabesh gilead or the whole population i'm sure fasted for seven days so the last verse verse 13 of 31 would just been a tragic and violent uh end to a sequence of events when one could see it building up ends with that graceful story and the courage of people who didn't count their lives um as dear as the fact that they needed to honor their king who had died and come and bury him and his three sons they're under the significant tamarisk with his pink flowers in abundance and his graceful fronds but his significance for saul for that had been the seat of his power in gibbia and now we've got behind us the enormous flowering of a tree a bit like that um perhaps i should point back also to the significance in genesis 21 i think it is when abraham after the birth of isaac in beersheba let's have a look uh 21 yes plants a tamarisk tree there and that too seems to be a significant symbol of what is is is going on there so uh i can't actually find the passage but i've got it so verse 33 of chapter 21 of genesis for those of you who want to look it up abraham planted a tamarisk tree in beersheba and called there on the name of the lord the everlasting god and abraham sergeant many days in the land of the philistines so the significance of that tree is not mentioned many times but each time as a place of great significance so um we have only now uh five more ordinary days of morning prayer before lent begins a week from today so we have some threads to catch up but i'm not going far into two samuel just far enough to establish david on his throne in jerusalem and meanwhile tomorrow i want to explain to you what we should do throughout lent and how you'll need to buy a notebook it won't be a hard task i assure you but it's good to have a sort of journey together through the days of lent from ash wednesday next week march the 2nd on the way through till easter day but for the moment let's think of a significant date on this day and it is very very coincidental for george frederick handel the composer composer of messiah was born on the 23rd of february this day in 1685. he was born in the lands of the holy roman empire and those states and cities have exotic names and at first um he he lived to be he lived until 1759 but at first his life was very much in the lands of the holy roman empire and he was the son of an eminent barber surgeon barbers and surgeons tended to be the same kind of thing in those days in the court of the margrave of brandenburg as i say these people have the most wonderful names in their cities and courts and he himself tried to dissuade his father he was i think he was 64 when handel was born he tried to dissuade his son from a musical education but nothing could stop handle from he was banned from going to anywhere where there was a piano and there's a story told whether it's fictitious or not that he managed to smuggle the tiniest little clavichord or harpsichord to the top of the house said that in the middle of the night he would have a keyboard right up in the attic whether that's true or not we don't know but sure enough it is that in uh 1710 by then he has been recognized as a great musician and becomes kappelmeister to the uh prince elector of hanover prince george well he'd spent time in italy some years in italy before then and as he was in italy he learned to create beautiful operas in italian and he became famous for that and he decided when he was invited in 1712 to leave the service of the elector of hanover george and come to london where he was commissioned by queen anne to write things there and he was known already for his italian operas and for his orchestral music he was a rising star so he came to england in 1712 and really from then on he saw himself as as british really uh and although he he might travel back and forward he became eventually uh in in uh 17 uh let me just see have i got the date done well he became a naturalized british subject at sam stage in his life and really that became his base because he was so valued over here that he actually thought this is where i must be and at first he was confounded by the fact that when queen anne died the elector of hanover whose services left became king of england george the first and so he found himself serving him again and at that time you have things like handles water music being created in 1717 created for the king and operas and anthems the italian operas were commissioned by the english nobility for their houses for theaters and anthems he wrote zadok the priest for the coronation of george ii in 1727 it's been sung at every coronation of an english or british monarch since but at the same time in 1737 we're skating on fast because the relevance of all this still has to come in 1737 he had the most colossal physical and mental breakdown and all kinds of things happened to his body and and parts of it began to fail him and i think he must have feared the end and it caused him to have a complete change of heart and lifestyle and it's then that we find him turning instead to a kind of work not an italian opera in italian at all but a kind of work that is associated most with his name and that's the oratorio and by 1739 having tried out some biblical subjects esther and deborah and athaliah in 1739 he has his first great success with an oratorio and that oratorio is soul it's the story of king saul it's very much the oratorio tells the story of uh one samuel that we've been following now i've written some of this down because it's quite interesting to see how it develops the librettist the person who wrote the words for him was charles jennings who became famous again with messiah but at the same time there's an uh an immense amount of scripture there and a lot of jennings writing poetry about it and creating a story in that way is quite operatic and the cast well i've written them down this is the necessary cast for saul saul base merab that's saul's eldest daughter soprano michael his next daughter who becomes david's wife soprano jonathan tenor david alto samuel bass witch of endor tenor and so it goes on even doe egg the edomite base is there and the whole thing begins just as goliath has been slain and david is being brought back in triumph to saul and there's a great chorus of this at the beginning with instrumental works and the kind of of joy that handel gives us in his oratorios and then the story begins to unfold in act one wherein a happy story and saul sings young man whose son art thou and david says or things the son of jesse thy faithful servant and the bethlehemite and saul says or sings return no more to jesse stay with me and then we get unfolding not only saul's love for david in the beginning and taking him into his service but also jonathan's love and commitment for david which is reciprocated and because of that mirab jonathan's eldest sister in this story despises jonathan for having that commitment to some so when someone's so common and lowly and already those tensions are beginning to build up so by the time we get to act two we're into the dark moods of violence and all that is played out in beautiful arias and choruses and one enters into the darkness there in act three we would we leap on in act three were with the witch of endor and that message being given and then the catastrophe that we have read this morning and at that point when saul and his uh sons are killed on mount gilboa we have the very famous dead march from saul which is a very famous piece of handle which is played at royal funerals and has become a very significant piece of music and after that the news being brought to david and david's lament well that's one of the things that we shall go into at the very beginning of to samuel just just to go a day or two into that before we we change tac after that of course um handle rate israel in egypt a a piece which is often sung it's a great piece for choruses and it tells the story of the plagues of egypt and all of that but at the same time of course 1742 saw messiah and that just swept the board in terms of popularity and and handel's name becoming absolutely synonymous with oratorio but i thought what a wonderful thing that here we are on this very day telling the tragic end of the story of saul and the bravery of the men of jabesh gilead and the loving honor given which david also will give when he hears the news and at the same time the date connected with george frederick handel who from that 1737 date when his life changed after a serious breakdown in all sorts of ways then he became someone who longed to tell the bible stories in oratorio dramatic oratorio and one of the first of those saw our own story so let's say our prayers on this day which is retaining its warmth and has burned all the frost off the leaves now we are praying uh this morning um with the tamarisk tree behind us the members are behind us there we're praying together for the diocese of mount kenya south in the anglican church of kenya and we're praying for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover for emma bishop at lambeth and in the diocese today the parish of since xavier's west gate on sea and for karen gooding in her ministry there so let us then we reach for the other book and we shall pray together the special collect for this week the week of the second sunday before lent so join your own prayers your own intentions which were certainly holding ukraine and the the people of russia in that tension there in our prayers this morning but but remember all those personally whom you would like to give thanks for or pray for on this day 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 each in our own language and in our own way we say 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 reflection now as we bring our own thoughts to this moment in our prayers [Music] texas [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] yes [Music] yes [Music] is hey [Music] my [Music] uh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] we've been listening to part of handel's dixit dominus words taken from psalm 110 which coincidentally is one of the other psalms for this morning this 23rd morning of the month we could have read that i read psalm 111 but here's psalm is one of the royal psalms the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until i make your enemies your footstool may the lord stretch forth the scepter of your power rule from zion in the midst of your enemies noble are you on this day of your birth on the holy mountain from the womb of the dawn the dew of your new birth is upon you the lord has sworn and will not retract you are a priest forever after the order of melchizedek the king at your right hand o lord shall smite down kings in the day of his wrath in all his majesty he shall judge among the nations smiting heads over all the wide earth he shall drink from the brook beside the way therefore shall he lift high his head the first verse is quoted by our lord in the courtyards of the temple to the pharisees and uh uh the psalm is one that we would normally sing on or say on christmas day noble are you on this day of your birth and uh so um it's a good sign to listen to but the uh the the dixie dominus is quite a long piece of music but we will put that on in the end if anyone wants to hear the the whole of it sung it's sung by the choir and orchestral members from our own king's school with soloists and it was sung when they were singing in the uh the chapel of the royal naval college at greenwich so um that is on at the end of all that we're doing now 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 so you can leave us out here i wish you could all be here with us uh in the garden in the sunshine as the sun gains and a measure of warmth and i don't think we'll want to go inside much will we tiger i shall have to to start doing all kinds of things but i can leave you with the great tamarisk tree mimosa flowering in all its glory of the sunshine behind you good point you are stretching in the sunshine it's as though the years opening up again you'll cover me with milk hmm [Music] texas [Music] oh yes [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] hey [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] so [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 16. 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