[Music] good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the deanery garden on this wednesday the 22nd of july it's the feast of since mary magdalene and we shall concentrate our reflections and prayers on that feast welcome to you wherever you are in the world today here in the united kingdom it's the birthday of young prince george he's seven today so we wish him a happy birthday at the same time looking at the anniversaries of people who were born today my i noticed a warning always to public speakers who can get into tongue twisters because this was the birthday in 1844 of dr william spooner who became the warden of new college oxford i'm sure he was a very scholarly man but he's remembered only for mistakes he's meant to have made in his speaking by swapping the first letters of certain words and making nonsense of the words one of them uh one remembers of him attempting to show a lady to her seat and instead of saying may i show you to your seat madam he said may i sow you to a sheet madam and those sorts of things he himself said the only spoonerism he'd ever remembered was in announcing a hymn which we don't seem to sing these days which was conquering kings their titles take he had announced it as kinkering kong's their title take and caused the whole chapel to burst into laughter well that is remembered more than all his scholarship it's very difficult when you find yourself in the middle of a tongue twister and there's another one in the list for today which used to amuse the uh comedian uh eric morkum and he would tease the immaculate diction of james alexander gordon who for 40 years read the football results on the radio at five o'clock on a saturday afternoon and uh he eric wong can have found this this what he thought was a tongue twister if that ever happened it would happen between a game of east fife and four far athletic and it would read east five four and he would get james to say this as a joke but in fact on the 18th of uh of sorry the 22nd of july uh two years ago that match actually happened so someone else because james is retired had to announce that particular tongue twister but we're all guilty of those when we're speaking aloud let's get to this morning's feast and our prayers mary magdalene gives us an easter kind of message because she was easter's first messenger running to the apostles from the garden and saying i have seen the lord a wonderful sentence of resurrection o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice alleluia 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 does 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 on this 22nd morning of the month is psalm 107 it's a long psalm but a beautiful psalm i'm going to read the last half of it and it's in sections which all talk about a kind of home coming from a dark situation and every time a section ends you get let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children so we're starting at verse 23 those who go down to the sea in ships and ply their trade in great waters these have seen the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep for at his word the stormy wind arose and lifted up the waves of the sea they were carried up to the heavens and down again to the deep their soul melted away in their peril they reeled and straggled staggered like a drunkard and were at their wit's end then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were count then were they glad because they were at rest and he brought them to the haven they desired let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children let them exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the counsel of the elders the lord turns rivers into wilderness and water springs into thirsty ground a fruitful land he makes a salty waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell there but he makes the wilderness a pool of water and water springs out of a sasti land and there he settles the hungry and they build a city to dwell in they sow fields and plant vineyards and bring in a fruitful harvest he blesses them so that they multiply greatly he does not let their herds of cattle decrease he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes they are diminished and brought low through stress of misfortune and sorrow but he raises the poor from their misery and multiplies their families like flocks of sheep the upright will see this and rejoice but all wickedness will shut its mouth whoever is wise will ponder these things and consider the loving kindness of the lord let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children today we break our regular reading of luke but we're still with luke we're at the beginning of chapter 8 for the special morning prayer lesson of the feast of saint mary magdalene it's very short we started verse one soon afterwards jesus went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of god and the twelve were with him and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities mary called magdalene from whom seven demons had gone out and joanna the wife of chuza herod's household manager and susanna and many others who provided for them out of their means the gospels don't attempt to be biographies in the modern sense of the word and we look in vain sometimes for shall we say domestic or human details that we inquisitively want to know but if any gospel gives us that kind of detail it's saint luke and here is a very important passage indeed and it talks about the role of mary magdalene in the ministry the messianic ministry of jesus and also on the journey later into judea from galilee there's been an enormous amount of muddle and nonsense talked about mary magdalene mostly because of confusing her with the story at the end of chapter 7 which has nothing to do with her whatsoever luke never names forgiven sinners but he does name those who are healed in some other way and follow on and here is one at the morning prayer in the cathedral which we said earlier this morning the first lesson from the old testament was the story of young david playing his harp to quieten the evil spirit which was depressing king saul and that kind of story tells you what kind of thing that mary might have been suffering from it's not any kind of sinfulness it's some kind of lowering of the spirit and anything was put down to a demon in those days i say all that because clearly she was a woman of means and also she was a friend of joanna the wife of head of the tetrax steward chuza mary came from magdala on the western shore of the sea of galilee and joanna from tiberias where herod's palace was and they become part of the little group of women who look after the resources of jesus and his followers as they make their journey their dangerous journey down towards jerusalem this is a sort of faithfulness which is mostly hidden but it's recorded here in st luke just in a sentence and we thank luke for it later on he will talk about the the women who came with jesus from galilee we know who they are because they're named here you can add to them also mary the son or the mother of james the son of alpheus and i think it's similar i remember a pilgrimage setting off from here i think 36 people but i'll probably be corrected of different ages all on bicycles who are going to do the via francina pilgrimage we set them off from the stone which is the beginning of that pilgrimage here in canterbury it goes all the way to rome and that they were going to take i don't know how long it was three weeks on bicycles to get to rome but with them as importantly went a wagon which actually prepared the way for them as far as i remember it was a largish land rover and it was driven by our old administrative officer and that little wagon of people prepared the way going on ahead seeing to the bicycles and things of that kind and also providing enormous amount of energy giving food i remember enormous numbers of fruit cakes and bananas being taken and at all the stopping points the pilgrims relied on those who were the support group to give them the energy for the next day they were part of the pilgrimage but in a different way and here we are in the same way with this group of women who are going to follow jesus all the way mary is named by saint luke as one of those who after they get to jerusalem stays around the site of the crucifixion seeing where jesus is laid and on the morning of resurrection as everyone else is still frozen from the sabbath the day before and not knowing what action to take i'm talking about the 12. it's the women who are up and busy the group who had come with him from galilee who go to the tomb and fly back to tell the apostles that the the tomb is is empty and they've been given a message and as we know from st john's gospel mary magdalene goes back to the tomb she is the one who is given the important message of resurrection she is able to say as she has knelt by the tomb and heard her name called by the risen lord i have seen the lord it's a sentence every christian wants to say whether it's in heart or mind or vision in the same way that jesus says to thomas blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe but in so many ways we do see the lord in human situations and in each other and in our prayers the way he communicates himself to us but mary magdalene is a huge vision of that we know a place a very special place in provence where it is firmly believed the relics of the mary magdalene are buried at saint maxima but then from that church where there is the tomb and many pilgrims go you can first of all take a a car halfway up a very very steep road and then it's up to you to climb up to the chapel of st mary magdalene where it was thought she in later life would pray it looks out over the countryside of provence and over to the mediterranean sea and that was something that caused journeys all around to happen but certainly the spirit of mary's devotion to the lord is there and we found it to be so every time we've climbed up there we found it by accident but it is a wonderful place of pilgrimage a holy place and on the first occasion we were there and down below there is a a monastery of dominicans who look after the chapel which is in a cave on the on the hillside and it's very beautiful when you're in the cave with its altar and lights it's simply running water gives you a chance to just have that small trickle of water helping the flow of your thoughts but outside when we came out below a group of pilgrims at the lower monastery were singing it's a word that makes me sad at the moment because we can't sing yet and that singing awoke the joy of resurrection which mary so much represents we give thanks for this woman of means from magdala and her friend joanna the wife of herod steward who were helped by jesus in some way and who decided that they would follow him and join themselves to that messianic mission it needn't surprise us that in the beginning of luke's next volume the acts of the apostles that group of women are still there with the twelve and with mary the mother of jesus and jesus brothers as the inner core for that's where mary belongs apostle of the resurrection we give thanks for her today so let's say our prayers on this day and as we do so we remember our friends in the united states particularly in their fight against the pandemic the coronavirus and we remember also all areas of the world which are attempting to combat this and keep people safe we pray to dave in the anglican communion for northern zambia in central africa and for albert chama the primate there for belize in the west indies and for philip wright and the diocese of kanya kamuri in south india and the bishop there er chelya and we are continuing to pray for parishes in the dover deanery and the missional learning communities in that area dinery today so we bring our prayers for our own communities and for those whom we know and love at this time and those whom we have in our thoughts because of any situation we know needing our prayers we use the special prayer for this feast of saint mary magdalene almighty god whose son restored mary magdalene to health of mind and body and called her to be a witness to his resurrection forgive our sins and heal us by your grace that we may serve you in the power of his risen life who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen and the ordinary colleagues for this time god you have prepared for those who love you such good things as pass our understanding pour into our hearts such love toward you that we loving you in all things and above all things may obtain your promises which exceed all that we can desire through jesus christ our lord men so as we say the our father in whatever language and in whatever way you like to say it we give thanks on this feast day of saint mary magdalene for our lord's resurrection and pray that in our life and in our prayers we may constantly be saying her words i have seen the lord 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 of silence as we make our own prayers through 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 the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and would pray for today and always amen [Music] you