good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of friday the 8th of april welcome wherever you are across the world as we gather to say our morning prayers we first of course undergird everything in our prayers for ukraine and the people there and we remember those things that we have seen and know about remember also those who are giving full hospitality to those who have fled from their own country leaving their families very often behind and very often it's mother and children younger children who come and the um older uh boys are left with their fathers to protect the state of ukraine uh and uh restore its integrity shall we say so let's make that a a first prayer it's a friday and some so we've come into the front of the deanery to uh forest friday here we are in the forest of dean here and uh the early flowers the little daffodils are now beginning to go over but it's still quite early in spring for many of the other bulbs that are coming up the bluebells but we do see lots of little flowers called glory of the snow most of them that i can see here are blue ones there are white ones too there's there are little narcissite coming up uh as well i can see fratillaries and i can see a whole sea of muscari great pyracents but as the weeks go on we shall see more and more under the trees here each forest friday you will see it develop as we say our prayers and we give thanks for the new beginnings of the coming of spring and of course we are now coming towards the end of passion week and looking towards holy week itself but for the moment here are prayers for the friday of passion week oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon us your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind does we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this eighth morning of the month is psalm 40 i waited patiently for the lord he inclined to me and heard my cry he brought me out of the roaring pit out of the mire and clay he set my feet upon a rock and made my footing sure he has put a new song in my mouth a song of praise to our god many shall see and fear and put their trust in the lord blessed is the one who trusts in the lord who does not turn to the proud that follow a lie great are the wonders you have done no lord my god how great your designs for us there is none that can be compared with you if i were to proclaim them and tell of them they would be more than i am able to express sacrifice and offering you do not desire but my ears you have opened burnt offering and sacrifice for sin you have not required then said i lo i come in the scroll of the book it is written of me that i should do your will o my god i delight to do it your law is within my heart i have declared your righteousness in the great congregation behold i did not restrain my lips and that o lord you know your righteousness i have not hidden in my heart i have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation i have not concealed your loving kindness and truth from the great congregation do not withhold your compassion from me o lord let your love and your faithfulness always preserve me for innumerable troubles have come about me my sins have overtaken me so that i cannot look up they are more in number than the hairs of my head and my heart fails me be pleased o lord to deliver me o lord make haste to help me let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed who seek after my life to destroy it let them be driven back and put to shame who wish me evil that those who keep insults upon me be desolate because of their shame and let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad let those who love your salvation say always the lord is great so i am poor and needy the lord cares for me you are my helper and my deliverer oh my god make no delay before we go on uh the camera is beginning to show you the tree called the pride of india which reminds me that this afternoon at 2 30 our time in the united kingdom 7 p.m seven in the evening in india i'm conducting a bible study and question time on part of the seminar on the mount for saint thomas's cathedral mumbai so 2 30 here 7 o'clock uh in india and so if you if you want to come in online uh for that session with our friends who've sung for us on several occasions now from mumbai and if you want to do that then fletcher was putting the details for the zoom entry onto that for those of you who would like to do that and we give thanks for our friends in the cathedral of saint thomas in mumbai on this day already that the day is far advanced for them so i'm turning now to the the gospel lesson this morning and we're taking up from where we left off yesterday with jesus now in jerusalem and the people surrounding him and the disciples mingling with the people i'm starting from verse 20 of chapter 12 of saint john's gospel now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some greeks so these came to philip who was from bethsaida in galilee and asked him sir we wish to see jesus philip went and told andrew andrew and philip went and told jesus and jesus answered them the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified truly truly i say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone but if it dies it bears much fruit whoever loves their life loses it whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life if anyone serves me they must follow me and where i am there will my servant be also if anyone serves me the father will honor them [Music] now is my soul troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour but for this purpose i have come to this hour father glorify your name then a voice came from heaven i have glorified it and i will glorify it again the crowd that stood there and heard it said that it attended others said an angel has spoken to him jesus answered this voice has come for your sake not for mine now is the judgment of this world now will the ruler of this world be cast out and i when i am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself jesus said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die so the crowd answered him we have heard from the law that the christ remains forever how can you say that the son of man must be lifted up who is this son of man so jesus said to them the light is among you for a little while longer walk while you have the light lest darkness overtakes you the one who walks in the darkness does not know where they are going while you have the light believe in the light that you may become children of light this is a hugely important passage for us here at canterbury because those first few verses are the verses from which we get our mission statement for the cathedral to show people jesus just four words and those four words become something that has to be lived out sometimes unwittingly by and unknowingly by every member of our community lived out in the creative tasks the physical creative tasks of the work that they're doing and lived out also in the um study which many help people with in our libraries and archives and even when we're reading the scriptures and explaining them in the word from pulpits and at the same time in conversation when people are asking what is happening here and our staff is saying are saying to them well and these maybe even even people watching a table in in our little hotel here in the lodge and saying well today all the people outside have come for a university degree ceremony or a service a memorial for someone or the bell is ringing because and all those questions being answered and then at the same time of course in our worship as the bell rings out in the rhythm of the day for worship then that is the time to for this community to offer spiritual things but it's not the only time for we well know that in the beauty and satisfaction of the work that often their hands are accomplishing in the stained glass studio or carving the stone or making flower arrangements for others to enjoy all of these things become a way in which the spirit is exalted and the exaltation that the person feels is giving glory to god but also sharing our hospitality with others and that too is a word of enormous importance here to show people jesus lived out simply in the life of the many hundreds of people who work here as paid staff or volunteers doing things to help others who come here and it all came from here this little scene i imagine it happening in the temple courtyard the evangelist doesn't say that it did but if you think back to the synoptic gospels which this evangelist keeps inferring that we have knowledge of then these days of the time before jesus is arrested in this holy week next week those days between palm sunday and good friday jesus was teaching in the temple in the outer courtyard of the temple where everyone could come foreigners as well all the people could gather there as you went further and further in towards the holier places of the temple then there was a selective entry but just outside in the outer courtyard which was vast all kinds of things could happen and everyone could enter said that it makes perfect sense to think that with the disciples uh milling around in the crowd and the crowds all around jesus listening to him enormous interest in this this prophet as many of them are thinking and the pharisees are thinking and certainly the chief priests are thinking this this person is a complete troublemaker and needs to be really got rid of quite quickly but on the outskirts of the crowd i imagine whose name itself is greek but we're told he comes from bethsaida in galilee standing and he's obviously got a welcoming face and we know that from the fact that it's philip once again who's discovered at the feeding of the 5000 the little boy who's got a breakfast of loaves and fishes but on this occasion it's quite different the greeks shyly come up to him and say sir we would like to see jesus and then something shall we say of collective evangelism happens for philip tells andrew and andrew and philip go to tell jesus those are two that appear very very early on named together in this gospel right at the beginning you can look back and see it in the first chapter of this st john's gospel philip and andrew and andrew then in the first chapter takes his brother to see jesus on this occasion they are wanting to take these greeks foreigners to see jesus and this moment becomes the crucial hour in saint john's gospel how often have we heard jesus say even from the wedding at cana of galilee my hour is not yet my time has not yet come and almost there's been a sense of him withdrawing from jerusalem because he knows that when that time comes it will be in jerusalem and one goes back to that sentence in sin luke when the little boy of 12 looks at his mother and his father and says did you not know that i must be in my father's house i imagine him here in this outer courtyard teaching as we see it happening day by day in the gospel of saint mark one day after another teaching in the temple and arousing the hostility of the authorities but he's arousing the attention of more than his own people and when andrew and philip come and tell jesus these these people want to see you and maybe they're a little bit uh doubtful because jesus has been talking to his own people and both of these are galileans country folk uh philip and andrew who've come up to the big city and are now standing in the most important place in their whole land and they're just saying to jesus these people want to see you to see what his reaction will be and jesus reaction is shall we say absolutely earth-shattering colossal this prompt has caused the hour to come jesus answered them the hour has come for the son of man let's emphasize again that that means the representative of our humanity the son of man to be glorified lifted up according to the vocation that the father has given him glorified and in that action god himself will be glorified but first he talks about what it means in creation for something seeming to die and then to sprout again and produce much fruit and he uses that image of the way in which that good news that he had brought right from the beginning of this gospel that gift of god will seem to die and then be raised to glorious new life which will find its fruitfulness not in his humanity but in ours starting on the lakeside or in the upper room in those days of easter time soon after the day of resurrection with the twelve themselves who have been really finding it puzzling to understand what jesus is getting at some of the time and too shy to ask or even when he gives the answer still not understanding and they've much to go through yet but here the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified i say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains a single grain if it dies it bears much fruit and then this strange uh sentences about how we are to look at our lives whoever loves their life loses it and whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life the um poet a houseman who was a sort of uh he used to call himself a high church atheist but uh uh clearly in his his uh lecture on poetry he mentions that that sentence is one of the profoundest philosophical statements as well as a theological statement that was ever made and it actually uh earths itself in our human condition for again and again people who absolutely set their own eye on something and think this will all be mine i i love this so much we're back with the the man with his barns building bigger and bigger well that then involves them in being sort of satiated and and and growing bored and depressed the more things they're given of this us goods and and qualities and the the less they seem to appreciate it and we have to remember once again [Music] that their creative instincts to journey and and to i mean journey in a a way which goes towards a goal maybe in their creative life and then is on the mountainside on a plateau so to speak and looking out to where they've got and the moment they lose sight of the most important thing being somewhere beyond in spiritual and physical and mental terms then life in all its fullness drops away from them but the minute they realize that in going on the journey of a mental development a spiritual development most of all or a physical development of creative gifts then life begins to take on a bright new meaning i could give so many examples in ministry of people being recreated by a new relationship by a new skill by a new realization by a physical or spiritual gift being given to them which will develop and allow them once again to pace simply step by step forward that's what all this is about and jesus very often uses these metaphors in order that we can understand what human life is capable of when we are made in the image of our creator and embrace his gifts if anyone serves me they must follow me and where i am there's the present tense there will my servant be also and one could turn that on his head and say and where my servant is or the one who has embraced that gift which has been given in the life of jesus then there i am also so that when people come and say i would like to see jesus then they must see jesus and all that he offers in the quality of us first because we are the ones who then by spending ourselves in his service and sharing all that are the ones who are showing people jesus four words of a mission statement for this community but it comes from these foreigners asking the question and then jesus saying i when i am lifted up and instantly our eyes go to the cross as the evangelist will expect because he is assuming much knowledge already from the synoptic gospels and i'm when i'm lifted up jesus arms outstretched to embrace not just his own people but the whole wide world like the song he's got the whole world in his hands but those hands are nailed to the cross in order that god's work in the dying of the seed and the fruitfulness of that seed the gifts of the kingdom thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven be realized day by day step by step in total simplicity not the whole picture that is for the beyond but nevertheless so many fascinating parts of the jigsaw piece placed in simplicity one by one as we step forward in our particular location with our particular skills and our particular gifts but lived out in a community where those pieces come together so that it's not just a vocation this showing people jesus for me or for one person alone it's something for our whole community and something to be lived out in the ordinary things of daily life and then in the next part of this and i bid you to read it again we'll come back to it in holy week of course because that's where we're tending then jesus himself is beginning that wrestling with his human sense and limitations he's taken flesh the word made flesh and dwelt among us we beheld his glory the glory is of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth says the prelude to all of this but what it costs will be now lived out in holy week and in terms of his own humanity shrinking from the pain and the suffering that he's going to go through and the loneliness when all the 12 run away so all these things are going to come step by step in holy week but we've got a a preview of that today and then that lovely sentence uh walk while you have the light less darkness overtake you the night is with you for a little while yet that's in his human flesh but nevertheless when the spirit is given the light is always with us if we claim it and that too is wrapped in this prophecy which jesus is speaking at the prompting of philip and andrew on behalf of these foreigners it's a glorious passage and like all of st john's gospel it bears reading again and again an embracing in our own life we'll come back to st john tomorrow and many times in holy week next week i wanted though to just think of one particular date only one this morning because with something else to do as well and the uh particular date is in 1904 on this day an entonce cordial a an agreement a cordial agreement was reached between two nations who had been enemies and fought wars with each other over and over again century by century and very near to here is i'm talking about england and france and france was for england the old enemy or for these islands great britain the old enemy and the united kingdom but in 1904 an on taunt cordial an agreement let's put aside our differences and work for each other's interests across the world because these were nations at that time that had interests across the world and they realized that they were damaging each other in what they were doing if they didn't come to some accord and the vision for that came i think first through to not the heads of state nor yet in this country the prime minister to start with it came with the two foreign ministers or in this case the foreign secretaries of our two nations in france teorfield del casey and here in uh england the marquis of lansdowne and he was the foreign secretary who had the imagination to see that this kind of taunt would serve the interests of both nations right across the world and that enmity was not the way forward friendship was now lord lansdowne was much helped as was the prime minister who was aj balfour at the time much helped by the fact that the new king who took over from queen victoria edward vii he took over in old age from queen victoria having been the prince of wales for years and years he loved paris and he loved the french and so in 1903 he prepared the way by going on a state visit to france to paris and uh that was quite a brave step for there was still an antipathy between the old adversaries and the king arrived and all dressed up in the the uniform of a of a british field marshal and was met with great state uh arrived on the train and then taken in a carriage with four beautiful horses and with uh a president lube down the champs-elysees and the people cheered but some at that first arrival of the king were very doubtful and other things were shouted as well and one of the king's staff said the french don't seem to like us and the king answered well why should they and and then as the the enjoyment of the king in everything that was happening and in everything that was provided for him in the theater in military parades and as that expansive personality opened up he became very very popular indeed which paved the way for lord lansdowne and uh mr del casey to present to their uh the president of france and not only to the king but to the prime minister in in london aj balfour the suggestion for an ontant cordial that when nations get on together then all kinds of things can be achieved and that was the formation of a friendship which very much went on through the conflicts of the 20th century and they were to be appalling conflicts both in the great war and in the uh world war ii when uh britain and france fought as firm allies and remember that uh when any kind of memory of of those terrible conflicts is is uh in our minds then we rejoice in that alliance setting aside hundreds of years of fighting together and and hating one another and making fun of one another and all of that that that went on um very very sadly uh i think very sadly uh the government at that time in 1905 lost an election and uh mr asquith uh who took over from the early death of the first liberal prime minister who came in at 19 in 1905 and henry campbell bannerman and and in 1908 asquith took over and his uh foreign secretary thought what a good idea to the the french are in and on taunt with russia as well and so why don't we make that a triple on taunt because in the middle of europe there was a triple alliance between the german empire the austro-hungarian empire in italy the kingdom of italy at that time and of course the minute that happened it became more than a friendly alliance to help one another right across the world it seemed to those nations of the triple alliance in the middle of europe that they were now surrounded by another alliance of russia and of france and of great britain and the nervousness that began to came then instantly instantly began to sow the seeds of what happened in 1914 but the anton cordial of course which remember today is the most wonderful thing that it has caused a friendship between the french nation and the british nation from that time forward and we rejoice in that because they are our near near neighbors we look across from here on the coast of kent just 21 miles on a clear day and can see there the coast of france so thanks be to god for an entent cordial and many more and may many more anton cordial throughout the world be forged in gestures of friendship never never called an alliance it was simply called an ontart and a nice agreement of friendship and and that's a lovely thing a positive thing not a defensive alliance but a positive friendship which might engender friendships among others now how much we we wish that for the ukrainian people and uh i think that that um when we go on to a different dimension in the moment in our broadcast here this morning to you we will be thinking that in a very heartfelt way so but for the moment let's say our prayers and then at the end of that i've something else to to share with you we're praying this morning in uh our calendar of prayer for the anglican communion for the diocese of krishna godavari in the united church of south india and mumbai is in the united church of north india this is the united church of south india so we have a nice indian dimension and the tree the pride of india being a sign of that in our garden this morning in the diocese we're praying in a general way for all those who live in poverty and and we of course pray for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover and emma bishop at lambeth and we use the collect for this week for the fifth week of lent and bring your own prayers your own intentions as we pray together most merciful god who by the death and resurrection of your son jesus christ delivered and saved the world grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory through jesus christ our lord amen and the collect for lent itself almighty and everlasting god you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may receive from you the god of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through jesus christ our lord are men so we say each in our own language and our own way 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 now for your reflection i'm surrounded by little birds who are in the trees and singing different birds from the end of the orchard with our robin down there [Music] he's got the whole world in his hands [Music] [Music] he's got [Music] in his hands [Music] me brother [Music] [Music] he's got everybody here in his time she's [Music] he's got the whole [Music] she's got the whole [Music] this so so [Music] i said that we've another aspect to deal with this morning and it's a really lovely one because you will remember julia campbell who we've spoken about many times and who's spoken to us on morning prayer before and she of course was brought up in mariappol and her family had been in mario paul and we know exactly what that city looks like now from all the pictures on our screens and we're horrified by that but i wanted to um say that we had the news when we were in the orchard a few weeks ago of julia's mother and that the family coming out but only a a really short distance away from mario paul they've been in danger since and then communication was broken again now i have yulia to speak to us this morning she's going to carry the story on from there and i know that all of you will be longing to hear how that's gone so julia good morning good morning it's wonderful to have you with us and i know that everyone uh who is part of our morning prayer will be really wanting to know how things are so do do tell the story of how it's progressed since we last spoke there's a lot to tell and it's all very very positive for a change um which is which is why i'm so excited to see this and so i will take it slowly back you know to keep it interesting i'll take it slowly back to um time when as you mentioned we have much connections uh after three lovely days of being able to hear my mom's voices to be able to speak to them and make plans and to see to see them on the video call and you know to know that they're finally in this more or less safe place and they've got food and water together and supporting each other so we've had that wonderful uh three days together and after that unfortunately um all communications have been cut off again and the reason being is the uh the russian woman the russian troops have made a decision to cut off the ukrainian um telephone providers and then introduce their own uh the the next region provider which is it's an internal um i'm not going to go into too much detail but just to explain it it's an internal um telephone provider so you can only call from that in number two number so to the dnr uh effectiveness so they weren't even able to make any moves outside of that so there was no internet there was no nothing basically they weren't able to communicate with anybody again and that lasted for very very long 10 days of again not knowing how they're doing not knowing what to do next i don't know what their plans are how you know how how far are they willing to go for the next step obviously because it's a long journey out and because geographically mario paul is closer to russia so much farther away from the western ukraine and if you want to go to the western ukraine it again it's a huge treacherous journey through the war-torn ukraine uh where there aren't any safe corridors there's no because you know that there's no ceasefire along the corridor um you know the vehicle even with volunteers even with the letters you know the right children in the car those cars are still targeted and there's so many victims along the route so for me for them to go that way was unimaginable because it's such a long journey it was probably four to five days and because there were twelve of them in the house where they they were you know staying together and on these two cars it just wasn't any possibility for them to go because actually after a long sports process they've decided that one of those cars was not suitable because it is kind of a bigger jeep car and we have heard numerous stories of those cars being taken away by the russian army and utilized and that's where we were left and that for 10 days we had nothing no no information and uh i started getting um text messages from my friends because my parents my mum was able to contact one of my friends because there were 15 followers from the neighbors and from the soldiers themselves as well which for me is quite a painful thought and um image but they were born from these soldiers just to to give us some wings to let us know that they're okay and so one of those text messages um then said i was told that um they made an attempt to leave that house in the beach and they made an attempt to go uh towards the uh the now the occupied territory because the border the checkpoint with them and when they arrived um they were told that there were three thousand people in the queue in front of them and uh that was full filtration even in the itself process where they would take and that's that's world your documents they would check all your belongings they would check your phone they would check your photographs any video images anything you have they will check men for bruises from um rifles or you know they would check people for um tattoos of any kind of ukrainian symbols or anything like that and then so obviously because the process is so intense they could only process about 80 to 100 people a day so if you imagine a queue of 3 000 and only 80 to 100 people a day a good you know little short speculation will give you about a month uh in the queue so they obviously turned around and they went back and for us that was a huge blow and [Music] another text message where um i was told that they're already in brdansk it's a city on it's a city closer to the russian border but it is now an occupied territory and uh it's closer to crimea so i didn't know anymore didn't know any details i only knew that was my mom my cousin and my niece only three of them have arrived and they're staying with my friends and they're staying the night and then the next day and they're heading towards crimea and this was always the plan for us to uh transit via crimea and then try and get out either to georgia or uh to watch turkey so that was a huge step forward and uh very very hopeful and uh so yesterday they went from denver towards crimea and uh it was a two-step journey so they they had to arrive towards the border with crimea then they had to go to the passport control get into the um into crimea and then on the other side they were met by my wonderful friends and very very helpful um family who picked them up and now they are with them in the house and they are well they are well fed they looked after um you know i can talk to them i've been on the phone to them uh i've been in the video chat with them and uh one thing that really struck me was um when i was talking to my mom yesterday and she was sitting there chatting away and i said oh you've got such lovely rolls of cheeks and she said you know it's the first time that i felt warm in about 35 days because as you can imagine there's no heating and with the temperatures were below zero you know when they escaped um the place where they went to and so for the whole period of time they've been sleeping in their clothes and they've been commuting jackets under so many blankets and for the first time yesterday my mom finally felt warm in in over 35 days and it just was my heart so this is step one of the journey there and today they're trying to find out what route they can take this train options their buses and cars so we're just trying to establish what to do next and uh as soon as my mom gets the turkey obviously i'm just waiting for her and i'm going to fly over there and meet her and then be back in london with me and my cousin and my niece are going to go to georgia where they've been expected as well they've got friends there who are going to look after them and her husband is going to come and meet them because he's so that's the latest from me well julia that's the most wonderful news and our hearts are really glad that you will be reunited very soon now we pray with your mother uh and also that the two other members of your family will be received in in safety by other friends we shall continue to pray constantly for all people of ukraine and particularly those in in the east in those war-torn areas there and our our prayers are fed by the the pictures of of that that land and it redoubles our efforts to send our contributions also to to assist uh those who are attempting to give both hospitality and to travel and all these things that we can do it's a tiny part of assistance in a situation which all of us are horrified by i gather that part of the journey in the the uh the cars was was through through not through roads but through fields and forests is that right yes yes because that was the only way to go around that queue where people were sitting and luckily the person who was driving them he has made the journey several times going across picking up his own family so she knew more or less safe routes but yes it was through the forest it was through what my mom described picture from ditch on the road it was just holes in the world there wasn't a road effectively and um because the car was quite low with an old car and they uh they were just too worried that the car is going to get stuck in one of the ditches they all have to come out of the car and follow the car's foot so basically most of the journeys uh follow in the car for that period of time because um it it just wasn't there in the road and i became my huge concern um now known fact that um they they you know mine everything's at the area but luckily um there were a few people who haven't done this who would hopefully achieve you know um he managed to get through but my cousin was telling me yesterday that even along the way there were cars that were blown off and burned um so i just don't can't imagine what the mom has seen along the way and uh how you must be longing to embrace your mother actually at home here in england when you bring her home uh and give her a relaxed time together i think i'll just not let him go very very long time well that big hug is coming from us to you as well from a garden congregation right across the world to you as a symbol of everything that your people are suffering at this time and uh please be absolutely aware of our prayers and i know that fetter and i are keen uh when when uh your mother comes here to to to have you here to the deanery and and enjoy the conversation here in more relaxed times but but thank you for sharing all that this morning it's it's it's so feeds our imagination and and makes us even more urgent in our prayers and and our offering to ukraine thank you julia and god bless you and god bless all your family as well okay thank you we'll meet soon okay bye so that was julia campbell who is the events organizer within the precincts for our cathedral school our king school but we've followed that story and just one human story in the middle of all that story of ukraine which gives urgency to our prayers and i'm delighted that julia was able to continue the story which is a story of such joy for her and for her mother and the two members of the family now on their way to georgia we hope so we end our prayers as we always do with the blessing and then we'll go about our daily work christ crucified draw you to himself to find in him a sure ground for hope a firm support for faith and the assurance of sins forgiven and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always amen [Music] but before we go the answer to yesterday's riddles which i've got the book here and uh we're still on the really easy ones we're told uh and so these were you can hold me in your left hand but not your right what am i well it's your right hand and then the other one was i am always coming but never arrive what am i and the answer is tomorrow two for today i drape the hills in white i do not swallow but i do bite what am i and you can catch me but you cannot throw me anywhere what am i and then lastly this morning the big book of lost words and the acronyms that they form and this morning our word is fern f-e-r-n fern and there's a lovely fern in the picture here and if i'm going to read it upside down perhaps i can't actually i'll do it this way around there we are so here's the acrostic going downwards ferns first form is furled each frond fast as a fiddlehead reach rolled and unfold follows fern flares now fern is fully fanned and over the page shows those full fans we have plenty of those in our garden and here under the um little plant below is a frog looking at us and then up here i think probably a wren tiny bird being held by the ferns as a little bit of protection so thanks be to god for all the gifts of his creation and enjoy your day wherever you are and continue to pray for the people of ukraine [Music] you