oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] russian r is [Music] oh foreign [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] true [Music] good morning and welcome to the deanery garden on this morning of the feast of the epiphany january the 6th thursday january the 6th wherever you are in the world feel welcome it's a crisp frosty morning with a pure blue sky and as one walked across the lawn this morning your feet made the sound of crunching on frost and crunching on frosty leaves but no wind whatsoever and this is the time of year for all kinds of new beginnings and celebrations not only the feast of the epiphany which we'll be keeping but also the beginning of the celebrations of christmas for the orthodox communion so we wish them a happy christmas at this time of year as their celebrations for christmas begin with their calendar this evening and as we enter the orchard we're going to give thanks for the garden with a wassail song which is another custom of this time of year and no one should give more thanks for the garden than the thousands of us who are part of the garden congregation because it has been our focus for all the seasons of the year as we've given thanks to the creator and especially for the gift of his son jesus christ our lord through the the christian seasons through the year and the many who join us from all different kinds of cultures we give thanks for but the garden has been our focus and so on this white morning of frost when the trees of the orchard are in a deep sleep we shall sing a warsail song to go through and then we'll think a little bit about that when we come there now fletch is going to be brave and take an action shot as we go up through the orchard to the top of the orchard singing a traditional wassail song here we come a wassailing among the leaves so green here we come i was selling so far to be seen love and joy come to you and to you your worst sale too and god bless you and send you a happy new year and god send you a happy new year so we were sailed through the orchard and ask odds god's blessing upon the trees which are at the moment in their dormant period and the green leaves are provided by other trees than the fruit trees we've come here by this lovely honeysuckle fragrantissimus and the mahonia here which is actually bursting into golden flowers at this time of year and around us the green leaves of the ivy and the green leaves of the holly and the green leaves of the bay tree but the trees are absolutely in their sleepy state and uh we are praying for a good spring when it comes and the fruitfulness of the trees after their resting period the beehives too are in their sleepy period with the bees safely in their hives and with enough honey and glucose for them to be feeding on safely at this winter time of year but the colors of the sky and the sun on the top branches are just phenomenal now there's one other custom at this time of year we've got the lovely star lit here as a sign of the epiphany which we're going to celebrate we'll go back into the house to do that but uh fletcher last night made a traditional warsail cup which is now been heated up again and uh is steaming here and so i'm going to pour some of this it's you heard the recipe in the herrick poem yesterday of the apple juice and ginger and nutmeg and the way in which the apples by baking them and forming a sort of snow with their white centers mix in in our culture for apples are very much the fruit that we have in this orchard as well as the the pears and plums and everything else but i pulled two because i think it's a bit unfair for me not to give this to fletcher as i come down here so if actually here's a wassail cup steaming and i'm going to trade it for something else and that is another tradition at this time of year the pulling of a cracker and so we'll do that and i get the big bit and uh in it uh well let me go and sit down and see what's in it and then uh put my wassail cap down here nice and warm on the hands [Music] i'm being placed by the director in the right chair so you could see me let's see what's in here uh well first of all as always in a christmas cracker there is a crown for no one gets a cracker without a crown and it happens to be a gold crown which actually we can use a bit later on but it's not for me to wear this morning i'll put that there there's one other thing that always appears in a cracker and there's a yo-yo there's a toy in there as well there's a joke i'll read it to you i hope it's a decent joke says uh doctor doctor i keep thinking i'm a christmas bell the doctor says just take these pills and if they don't work give me a ring that's as corny as every it's corny as corny crow here it's corny as any cracker joke i've ever heard so uh we toast you in the wassail cup which is strictly non-alcoholic with its nutmeg and ginger and apple juice and the ginger beer in it actually it's really good and it's got the uh the flavor and heat of the ginger in it as well we're going to begin our service here but only the very first bit and then which will go inside and we will think of uh the way in which uh the the the wassail is both giving thanks but it's also looking forward to the growth of a new season with the spring coming this has been a peculiar year because as i walk through the arch down there below hazel catkins are already hanging on the hazel trees there and they i wouldn't have expected until late january or february uh but it's been very very warm now suddenly we're into white frost and it this seems more seasonal for epiphany so let's begin our prayers today as we bless the trees bless each other and give thanks for the garden oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your light springs up for the righteous and all the peoples have seen your glory blessed are you sovereign god king of the nations to you be praise and glory forever from the rising of the sun to its setting your name is proclaimed in all the world as the sun of righteousness dawns in our hearts anoint our lips with the seal of your spirit that we may witness to your gospel and sing your praise in all the earth 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 the new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever are men so after that epiphany beginning with one more sip of the wasala cup because it's too delicious not to we'll take the gold crown and go into the deanery to reflect on the feast of the epiphany and read our psalm and our scriptures and then together think of all the meanings that derive from this wonderful feast of the epiphany so so all right there we are okay so we've come inside to begin our psalm together and it's a very special psalm for epiphany because this is a principle feast of the year like christmas day and easter day the feast of the epiphany and our psalm is psalm 72 and as i said the other day i shall see better to read without these old spectacles on give the king your judgment o god and your righteousness to the son of a king then shall he judge your people righteously and you're poor with justice may the mountains bring forth peace and the little hills righteousness for the people may he defend the poor among the people deliver the children of the needy and crush the oppressor may he live as long as the sun and moon endure from one generation to another may he come down like rain upon the moon grass like the showers that water the earth in his time shall righteousness flourish and abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more may his dominion extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth may his foes kneel before him and his enemies lick the dust the kings of tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute the kings of sheba and siba shall bring gifts all kings shall fall down before him all nations do him service for he shall deliver the poor that cry out the needy and those who have no helper he shall have pity on the weak and poor he shall preserve the lives of the needy he shall redeem their lives from oppression and violence and dare shall their blood be in his sight long may he live unto him may be given gold from sheba may prayer be made for him continually and may they bless him all the day long may there be abundance of grain on the earth standing thick upon the hilltops may its fruit flourish like lebanon and its grain grow like the grass of the field may his name remain forever and be established as long as the sun endures may all nations be blessed in him and call him blessed blessed be the lord the god of israel who alone does wonderful things and blessed be his glorious name forever may all the earth be filled with his glory our men are men a wonderful epiphany psalm psalm 72 and now we come to our lesson from sin matthew's gospel chapter 2 and this is matthew's account of the coming of the magi the wise men from the east [Music] now after jesus was born in bethlehem of judea in the days of head of the king behold wise men from the east came to jerusalem saying where is he who has been born king of the jews for we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him when herod the king heard this he was troubled and all jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people he inquired of them where the christ was to be born they told him in bethlehem of judea for so it is written by the prophet and you o bethlehem in the land of judah are by no means least among the rulers of judah for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people israel then herad summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared and he sent them to bethlehem saying go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word that i too may come and worship him after listening to the king they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was when they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they saw the child with mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him then opening their treasures they offered him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned in a dream not to return to herod they departed to their own country by another way the lesson of the epiphany of the three strangers the wise coming from the east to jerusalem which has become a sign of our lord being a light to lighten all nations as simeon will say when we keep the feast of the presentation of the baby jesus in the temple at the beginning of february and yet we sing his canticle every afternoon at even song dimitis to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of his people israel for this is the gift of that chosen nation to the world the birth of the christ child but meanwhile the wise are not quite certain where to go for they themselves seek a king in a royal palace and they go instead first to headed and herod hears their story and becomes troubled because he instantly sniffs a threat to his power and this is head of the great who held sway over judea at that time by the time our lord has grown up and begins his ministry the romans have taken over following the death of head of the great taken over that part of the holy land as we know it so that pontius pilate was the authority in jerusalem but at this time it was head of the great and the wise ask where is the child to be born herod some summons his own wise counselors and says to them where is the anointed one to be born and they say in bethlehem for thus it is written in the prophet you bethlehem are not least among the cities of israel because from you will come a child who will rule over your people well there's a threat and we saw on heavy innocence day how herod eventually reacts to that with bloodshed and violence but for the moment he plays deceitfully and says to those who have come strangers in their wisdom you go and find him and then come back to me and tell me exactly where he is and i will come and worship him also so they set off guided by the star in some translations of the scriptures the magi are translated as astrologers they certainly are star gazers and the sign in the heavens that they have seen has caused them to travel to journey along the way from their own places to come together and to seek the birth of one who will be a gift for all the nations and by the light of the star they find him in bethlehem and they enter and find the child and marry his mother and they kneel and worship him the word in all his silence for a newborn baby and those with all kinds of human wisdom which is reaching out for eternal wisdom kneel and worship and offer gifts which have always been a symbolic gift so we read in the prophets of prophecy of isaiah and also in the psalm today the kind of gifts which kings offered but we know that the gold a fitting gift for a king and recognition of his kingship and then the frankincense and incense is burned in worship to god so the divinity of christ is also proclaimed by the gift but myrrh mer is for burial it's mer and spices that are brought to the tomb on easter day by those who have come to anoint the dead body of jesus and find the tomb empty but mar is the sign of all the suffering that the christ child must go through those signs and epiphany is full of signs but the best sentence comes last having been warned in a dream not to return to herod they return to their own country by another way remember that the earliest christians were called followers of the way and here are the three strangers being led in a different way you can take that in whatever dimension you like for the signs of epiphany are never to be held by one meaning alone and as i say epiphany is full of signs but essentially also it contains three major signs in our lord's life as we unwrap the gift as we were saying yesterday when we were thinking and as we unwrap it we do so during the next few days so that a second sign is given at the baptism of jesus when by then he's become 30 years old or so according to luke's timing and as he is baptized john the baptist bears witness to the fact that he himself saw the dove descending but in other gospels it's jesus himself who perceives his own vocation at that time and then the third sign at the wedding at cana of galilee when water is changed into wine of the best kind the three major signs of the epiphany but epiphany as i say is full of signs and uh it's a time when i also like to read a particular poem which you will know well and it talks about the thinking of the wise as first they come not knowing what to expect and then at the end they go home by a different way i'm sure you've guessed already which poem it is it's t.s eliot's poem the journey of the magi and it is full of meanings and symbols and signs of what is to come and what is and also what still has to be prayerfully thought through the journey of the magi it begins with a quotation from a christmas sermon preached to the king by bishop lancelot andrews at the beginning of the 17th century and then eliot's words take over a cold coming we had of it just the worst time of the year for a journey and such a long journey the way is deep and the weather sharp the very dead of winter and the camel's gold sore footage refractory lying down in the melting snow there were times we regretted the summer palaces on slopes the terraces and the silken girls bringing sherbet then the camel men cursing and grumbling and running away and wanting their liquor and women and the night fires going out and the lack of shelters and the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly and the villages dirty and charging high prices a hard time we had of it at the end we preferred to travel all night sleeping in snatches with the voices singing in our ears saying that this was all folly then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley wet below the snow line smelling of vegetation with a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness and three trees on the low sky and an old white horse galloped away in the meadow then we came to a tavern with vine leaves over the lintel six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver and feet kicking the empty wineskins but there was no information and so we continued and arrived at evening not a moment too soon finding the place it was you may say satisfactory all this was a long time ago i remember and i would do it again but set down this set down this were we led all that way for birth or death there was a birth certainly we had evidence and no doubt i had seen birth and death but had thought they were different [Music] this birth was hard and bitter agony for us like death our death we returned to our places these kingdoms but no longer at ease here in the old dispensation with an alien people clutching their gods i should be glad of another death powerful and moving meditation by t.s eliot with so many signs and symbols even the empty wine skins waiting for new wine or the hands dicing like the soldiers at the foot of the cross for pieces of silver the price of betrayal you can almost go through line by line and spot the signs but you can do so also with the passage we read from sin matthew and with the prophecies in psalms and isaiah for this is a time of signs and symbols of the following of the star on the way there and a new way shown by the light of the christ child on the way home i bought the christmas cracker inside we opened in the garden and inside still is the crown which is of course a sign of this day a sign of kingship it happens this cracker had the crowning gold but we're used to wearing them at christmas parties in all kinds of colors but i'm going to place it somewhere special yesterday we had here the king cake for 12th night and beyond today is some breads that we've baked but it's very special bread roska de reyes the spanish call it and it's sweet bread for this particular occasion the bread of kings shaped like a crown and covered in wonderful fruits as a sign of all the epiphany season brings us in the birth of the christ child so i'm going to put this crown on the roska and uh there are other cakes of that sort there's one called a roscon de reyes which is cake rather than bread but we bake this as bread with proper yeast inside it and let it prove overnight and set it in the oven early this morning and the house was filled with the fragrance of this epiphany bread and i'll put the crown on it as a sign that this is epiphany bread and that people as we said yesterday there we are uh and the caribbean front with the wise men now worshiping the christ child and as we said yesterday the sign of the crown and the celebration is something which is done in enormous style and with enthusiasm in spanish cities and communities i spoke a little bit yesterday about the receiving of the kings when we were there as night fell on the eve of the epiphany and they came in three boats across the water and were received just in that small township but if you go to the really big cities then processions and drums and the kings arriving in great state to be greeted by all the young people some riding horses some marching with songs and drums but on this day epiphany itself i remember getting up and traveling together to the old cathedral at mercia right in the center of that ancient town which 20 years ago was rather smaller than it's grown today but the ancient center is of enormous beauty and we went to massa and there at that mass the priest at the service produced the christ child rather like the one sitting near to me which came from bavaria as a sign of christ being born and the nations of the world being drawn to his light and kneeling and worshiping and we joined the people in that of going up to the child kissing the baby's knee it was called and yet it was a sign a spiritual sign of our devotion to the king of kings and lord of lords on that epiphany morning but we had thought to have lunch in murcia and found that the whole of spain in their best dresses and and suits were out having lunch together everywhere every restaurant completely filled on this day and we were simply lucky because we were pointed to a place which turned out to be a a kind of club and i found that i had a reciprocal arrangement when i showed up a particular card of introduction with a a a place here in england and we were shown to a table and found ourselves uh not looking quite so smart as the local people not looking smart at all really but we had the most magnificent epiphany lunch in a culture which causes this day to be far more important than christmas day and it was a a wonderful thing after that to travel through the night with so as it got dark quite early with the stars above us to a holy place in the mountains called caravaca and there we um went to a a service in their chapel high upon the hill and the thing about caravaca is that it it is famous for its cross with the double bar uh from an historic vision that was held in the sigh in the sky and you think of the the the cross of uh constantine of the of the in this sign conquer but there it's caravaca we went and were sitting and there i remember there was a family in front of us where a little boy had clearly been received as one of his christmas gifts a whistle and the spanish young father was having the most intense difficulty in stopping his child blowing this whistle which he had and if he didn't want to take it away from him he kept saying and the little boy would get softer and softer with blowing the whistle but just as things became very very quiet again the whistle would sound again and also through the streets of that town lit up with lights as evening fell a cat came to lead us through and uh that i remember that the cat sitting on the wall washing the the the i don't know with harold hid his paws as uh he sat there and the stars above us very clear at caravaka that on that night so long ago but we remember these occasions as part of the feast of the epiphany and the way in which so many different cultures celebrate christmas as the orthodox begin their own christmas celebrations at this time there's one other poem that i wanted to read it reminds me of the occasion when i spent this epiphany season in india at chennai which used to be called madras at madras christian college and there there's a resonance also from original heber who was a bishop in the uh earlier part of the 19th century and he became bishop in india having been an english parish priest and and died too young but he was known for writing beautiful hymns and one of them is an epiphany hymn and i wanted with memories of lovely madras christian college and the chaplain nurse persian who's kept in touch ever since and praying for the health and welfare of that place today here is heber's hymn for the epiphany brightest and best of the sons of the morning dawn on our darkness and lender sign aid star of the east the horizon adorning guide where our infant redeemer is laid cold on his cradle the dewdrops are shining low lies his head with the beasts of the stall angels adore him in slumber reclining maker and monarch and savior of all say shall we yield him in costly devotion odors of edom and offerings divine gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean myrrh from the forest or gold from the mine vainly we offer each ample oblation vainly with gifts would his favor secure richer by far is the heart's adoration dearer to god are the prayers of the poor brightest and best of the sons of the morning dawn on our darkness and lender sign aid star of the east the horizon adorning guide where our infant redeemer is laid it's a fine prayer for epiphany morning as we say our prayers and we think of so many different areas of the world in need of our prayers in any kind of trouble perhaps this morning our prayers should go for the peop to the people of kazakhstan where trouble has broken out which we pray will not escalate into something much more dangerous so we think of the the folk in kazakhstan as we say our epiphany prayers and in our anglican communion today we are praying let me turn the page from yesterday we are praying for the diocese of northern izon again in the church of nigeria in the uh province of niger delta and here in the diocese we pray for archbishop justin particularly because this is his birthday so i sent him greetings from us all very early this morning and that he might have a happy birthday and a happy epiphany as well and then we pray for rose bishop of dover emma bishop at lambeth and all parishes in our diocese on this feast of the epiphany as the faith of the christ child and the light he gives to all nations is made known here so let's say the special collect for this day o god who by the leading of a star manifested your only son to the peoples of the earth mercifully grant that we who know you now by faith may at last behold your glory face to face through jesus christ our lord amen so together in whatever language we like to use 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 amen moment now for reflection and thanksgiving for all these signs and wonders on epiphany morning [Music] bring your gear [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 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 this epiphany tide and always amen you