good morning and welcome on this morning of the fifth sunday of easter as we come to say our morning prayers in the deanery garden here at canterbury cathedral wherever you are in the world be welcome later in the morning we shall celebrate a eucharist together which will remain on our website throughout the week but for now we give thanks for this new day oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice hallelujah blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as once you ransomed your people from egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your risen son may we the firstfruits of your new creation rejoice in this new day you have made and praise you for your mighty acts blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever 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 the first psalm for this tense morning of the month is psalm 50 and we read some verses from that now the lord the most mighty god has spoken and called the world from the rising of the sun to its setting out of zion perfect in beauty god shines forth our god comes and will not keep silence consuming fire goes out before him and a mighty tempest stirs about him he calls the heaven above and the earth that he may judge his people gather to me my faithful who have sealed my covenant with sacrifice let the heavens declare his righteousness for god himself his judge hear o my people and i will speak i will testify against you o israel for i am god your god i will not reprove you for your sacrifices for your burnt offerings are always before me i will take no bull out of your house nor he goat out of your folds for all the beasts of the forest are mine the cattle upon a thousand hills i know every bird of the mountains and the insect of the field is mine if i were hungry i would not tell you for the whole world is mine and all that fills it whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me and to those who keep my way will i show the salvation of god the sacrifice we are asked for is a sacrifice of thanksgiving [Applause] and we give that for the gift of this new day this sunday in the season of resurrection of easter tide our lesson this morning comes from the book of the prophet ezekiel and it's in chapter 37 beginning at the first verse ezekiel for 12 years has been an exile with his people in a land far away from jerusalem and his home and he dreams as he sits on the banks of the river kibar and prophetic dreams are given to him none more dramatic than this one the hand of the lord was upon me he brought me out in the spirit of the lord and set me down in the middle of the valley it was full of bones and he led me around among them and behold there were very many on the surface of the valley and behold they were very dry and the lord said to me son of man can these bones live and i answered o lord god you know and he said to me prophesy over these bones and say to them o dry bones hear the word of the lord thus says the lord god to these bones behold i will cause breath to enter you and you shall live and i will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that i am the lord so i prophesied as i was commanded and as i prophesied there was a sound and behold a rattling and the bones came together bone to its bone and i looked and behold there were sinews on them and flesh had come upon them and skin had covered them but there was no breath in them then he said to me prophesy to the breath prophesy son of man and say to the breath thus says the lord god come from the four winds o breath and breathe on these slain that they may live so i prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood on their feet an exceedingly great army he said to me son of man these bones are the whole house of israel behold they say our bones are dried up our hope is lost we are indeed cut off but i will put my spirit within them and they shall live and i will place you in your own land and then you shall know that i am the lord i have spoken and i will do it so marvelous vision of new life new hope a new way forward for that nation it gave them in the end the vision to go back and rebuild their holy place but much more than that it gave them confidence as a nation as new life came into them see how all the physical things are nothing until the spirit and the breath the same word in the greek the spirit and the breath comes into them and at that point the winds blow the spirit and the vision into that host of dry bones so that they become a living nation a living nation with hope for their future this is a time of great hope we're surrounded by a garden full of beautiful things in fruit and flower a bit back two or three weeks ago in the middle of april we read browning's poem oh to be in england now that april's there perhaps this morning it's good to remember verse two of that poem and after april when may follows and the white throat builds and all the swallows hark where my blossomed pear tree in the hedge leans to the field and scatters on the clover blossoms and drew drops at the bent sprays edge that's the wise thrush he sings each song twice over lest you should think he never could recapture the first fine careless rapture we are surrounded by bird song but were also surrounded by trees which a bit back looked bare i'm sitting under the ash tree here and the great trunk of that tree goes up into strong branches and then into twigs as we were thinking earlier but it's the fruitfulness of the seed blown by the wind which creates life we remember at this easter tide the resurrection life of our lord jesus christ who breathed the spirit into his church and created it as a community in every nation to proclaim the good news of the new life and hope and vision that god longs to give us we give thanks for that on this sunday in easter tide as we come to say our prayers on this morning that dry bones may live and be full of life and vigor [Music] as always in this place we as we come to say our prayers give thanks for areas of the anglican world and today on this tenth of may we pray for the anglican church of kenya and for the primate there an archbishop of all kenya most reverend jackson olie and all the people in kenya whom he looks after in our own diocese as we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth we're asked within this diocese of canterbury here in east kent very near the shores which look across to europe to pray for all refugees during this covid19 crisis and all that they face at this time pray for those who minister to them in whatever way so we first say the prayer for this sunday the fifth sunday of easter tide almighty god who through your only begotten son jesus christ have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life grant that as by your grace going before us you put into our minds good desires so by your continual help we may bring them to good effect through jesus christ our risen lord amen so we pray our prayers on this day for all those whom we know and love and those for whom we would wish to pray and we pray also that we may be in england in the united kingdom in every nation of the world communities full of hope and full of fruitfulness for good works for the welfare of others remembering here in this nation how our queen's message ended to us giving us hope that although the streets may seem empty at this lockdown time they are in fact filled with love and care for each other which no lock down can prevent so let's say the prayer that our savior taught us in whatever language and in whichever way we like to say it 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 lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen so a moment of silence for our own prayers on this sunday morning the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be among you and remain with you and amongst those whom you love today and always are men