good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the january garden on this friday the 24th of july it's a significant date it's it's a time when we're beginning to ease the lockdown but other stipulations and rules have been put in place so today everyone for example must wear masks when they go into shops and the church has followed that rule so i've just come back from a morning prayer in the cathedral and celebrating the communion where a face mask for me as well was advisable and we've followed that for the welfare of all it reminds us how these things separate us i almost have to tell people when i'm wearing a face mask when i'm smiling because we read one another's expressions on our faces but at least it means we can gather together this is a rather gloomy day today in the garden which will please our friend carys in wales because as she watches our morning prayer she always says it's raining in wales but sunny in kent so i hope today it's gray in kent and carius is having good sunshine in the principality of whales so let's begin our prayers o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the true the only light banish all darkness from our hearts and minds 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 as we wake refresh 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 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 24th morning of the month is psalm 116 i love the lord for he has heard the voice of my supplication because he inclined his ear to me on the day i called to him the snares of deaths encompassed me the pains of hell took hold of me by grief and sorrow was i held then i called upon the name of the lord o lord i beg you deliver my soul gracious is the lord and righteous our god is full of compassion the lord watches over the simple i was brought very low and he saved me turn again to your rest o my soul for the lord has been gracious to you for you have delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears and my feet from falling i will walk before the lord in the land of the living i believed that i should perish for i was sorely troubled and i had said in my alarm everyone is a liar and how shall i repay the lord for all the benefits he has given to me i will lift the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the lord i will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his faithful servants o lord i am your servant your servant the child of your handmaid you have freed me from my bonds i will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the lord i will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people in the courts of the house of the lord in the midst of you o jerusalem hallelujah we turn this morning to the 22nd chapter of the gospel of saint luke and we have arrived now at the point of luke describing the events leading to jesus's crucifixion begins of course with preparations for the passover meal which they are to share together now the feast of unleavened bread drew near which is called the passover and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put jesus to death for they feared the people then satan entered into judas called iscariot who was of the number of the twelve he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them they were glad and agreed to give him money [Applause] so judas consented and sought an opportunity to betray jesus to them in the absence of the crowd then came the day of unleavened bread on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed so jesus sent peter and john saying go and prepare the passover for us that we may eat it they said to him where would you have us prepare it he said to them behold when you have entered the city a man carrying a jar of water will meet you follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house the teacher says to you where is the guest room where i may eat the passover with my disciples and he will show you a large upper room furnished prepare it there and peter and john went and found it just as jesus had told them and they prepared the passover it's a significant time and at this point we see how preparations have been made so that jesus and his disciples can sit together in what might be called table fellowship they will sit and receive the bread and the wine blessed by the host with jesus himself essential moments of the passover but also this table fellowship seals what you might call an extended family one learns new phrases all the time during this lockdown and one of them of course is family bubble in the cathedral church the chairs are set out giving two meters of distance in the nave for people from each other except that those living in a family bubble may sit together without danger for they share the life of the family at home and they do the same in the cathedral church sitting together it's an interesting concept this concept of the extended family but i remember it well when working with the church in tanzania in the 1990s where the highly respected former president almost seen as that the father of the nation of tanzania julius nyeri had this principle of ujimar which meant altogether in the extended family not necessarily in blood relationships but caring for each other in family units with other guests enfolded in that extended family of which i myself became one little communities just looking after each other i was glad to see the grace of ujimar in tanzania today we see it as jesus comes with his extended family of disciples together those whom he has trusted made his friends and the desperate part of the next few days which we shall read day by day the desperate part is that from those friends he is going to face betrayal desertion denial terrible things right at the end of st luke's gospel almost at the last verse of the last chapter jesus explains to the disciples those who are left the 11 and those around them that everything that has been recorded in the law of moses and the prophets and he adds and the psalms has been fulfilled well one doesn't have to look far in the psalms to find betrayal desertion denial perhaps most we would look to psalm 55 where in looking around for the ones who were hurting him the psalmist says it wasn't an open enemy who did this to me it was you my companion and my own familiar friend we took sweet council together and walked in the house of god as friends and in psalm 41 also those who have shared my bread have turned their hands against me we took sweet council together and walked in the house of god as friends let's not think of judas as anyone whom until that moment when temptation luke is more forthright satan enters him and he gives in to that temptation we don't know why so many theories have been propounded but until that moment there was no distinction there and the sense of the disciples even having entrusted with judas with the money bag which we find in john's gospel whatever explanation is given by the writer of sin john's gospel judas is just one of the disciples the closest in that band and here today we hear of the intended betrayal luke even gives a reason he will find a time because he's so close to jesus he can find a time when no crowds are present and it's the crowds that those who want to put jesus to death are afraid of this is a desperate betrayal but no more desperate than the fact that those whom jesus has tried so much to share his messiahship with will at the first moment desert all his disciples forsook him and fled we shall read later and then most hurtful of all because of fear when courage fails the denial it's almost harder to bear the betrayal and hurt of a friend than it is to face physical hurt or situations which are not of their making when friends and family are supporting us these are the deepest wounds of all for our savior and here we see them opening up in this short passage today we can also reflect a bit on the support group that we've been thinking of mary magdalene joanna susana mary the mother of james the son of alphys perhaps it's those who've prepared and furnished the upper room for the passover it will become so much a place of lockdown after the death of jesus too and a place as far as luke is concerned when the whole group receive eventually the gifts of the holy spirit and burst out from lockdown to give good news to the world all those things are so significant today i uh saw in the anniversary list that today is the anniversary of the birth of alexander dumas who wrote so many novels that that we know well but let's just think of the three musketeers which used to excite me as a a child reading it and their motto very much one for all and all for one in latin it is actually the motto of switzerland one for all and all for one and that is really what the extended family ujimar is about it's that which makes the breaking of the table fellowship in betrayal desertion denial such a terrifying thing as we watch jesus become more and more lonely by the desertion of friends let's say our prayers on this particular day and we are praying today in the anglican communion for the diocese of northwestern pennsylvania in the episcopal church of the united states and praying for sean rowe there and the diocese of bethlehem a diocese also in the episcopal church of the united states and kevin nichols the bishop there and his people here in the diocese of canterbury as we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth we pray for the dover town group of parishes saint mary's and saint martins in dover itself and the communities of charlton gustin and buckland the clergy melissa carter josiah de souza junior sean sheffield angie stupel and all those who help them in that ministry the whole community there we think of our own communities and pray for them and bring to our prayers any whom we have in our hearts and minds those whom we love and those whom we are conscious of who need our prayers at this time so the prayer for this week merciful 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 amen so we say together the prayer our lord taught us to say in whatever language and in whichever way you would 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 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 silence for our own prayers and perhaps for any whom we know to feel themselves deserted or betrayed by family or friends so the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds and 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 those you would pray for today and always amen