Morning Prayer – Friday, 4th March 2022 | Canterbury Cathedral

good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral as we come to say our morning prayers on this friday morning of the 4th of march of course we preface our prayers uh with a welcome to all of you and tell you to bring your own intentions and concerns but many of those i know will have images of the people of ukraine at this time and our hearts really bleed and ache for them and also we think of those who've had to leave their homes as well as those who are in danger and are leaving so much behind often also members of their own family as they seek safety in other places what we are seeing also and i came home yesterday um afternoon and found uh fletcher um actually shedding tears in front of the television i thought what do you what's sad and it wasn't there weren't tears of of of sadness and grief there were more tears uh of of joy that so many of those living in the countries around ukraine hungary and poland and germany had come out onto the stations and were standing there with placards of welcome saying we can take four people we could take six people all of that so that in in one case i think on the german station there were there were more offers of hospitality in homes than there were people needing them and that actually um touched both of us as we saw that outpouring of love and hospitality from for for those who suffered so much remember at 9 11 uh the the the thought that the most common message that was sent through the telephones of those in so much suffering were messages of love to those that they loved and that sense of of love and hospitality and warmth overcoming all this violence was very much an image as people arrived looking bewildered and frightened and tired at the stations yesterday and that i think will go on and we shall mention it from day to day we have been and flesh has done a lot of work on this looking at those charities which can help most and uh he was in touch yesterday with the the red cross uh and uh the the um unicef folk who are uh involved in all of this many other organizations i rang yesterday the sovereign order of malta because they are doing work actually in ukraine itself so on sunday we're intending to put on on morning prayer those ways you might contribute uh on online and as you as you see that maybe you can make your own choices but we'll say something about that on sunday morning is not only our prayers but also action from the prayers which become important the combination shall we say and uh the epistle of st james would would would be very fierce on this the combination of faith and works how faith shows itself physically with the way in which we respond to those who need so much at the moment so on this friday morning let's begin to say our prayers and we've come back to the the same point of the well where we were yesterday because we left that story halfway through if you're if you're noticing you'll notice i'm at a different point of the herb wheel and so your view behind me is different but nevertheless we're looking at the same fountain and we shall go back to that when we return to the fourth chapter of st john's gospel in our reading and the reflection which follows but for the moment let's begin our morning prayers and bring any other intentions you have of course to our prayers this morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise hear our voice o lord according to your faithful love according to your judgment give us life blessed are you god of compassion and mercy to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of our sin your light breaks forth like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance as we rejoice in the gift of your saving help sustain us with your bountiful spirit and open our lips to sing your 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 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 it's the fourth morning of the month i always enjoy the first psalm of the fourth morning psalm 19 which gives the most wonderful hymn of praise for the creation itself and the way it speaks of its creator the heavens are telling the glory of god and the firmament proclaims his handiwork one day pours out its song to another and one night unfolds knowledge to another they have neither speech nor language and their voices are not heard yet their sound has gone out into all lands and their words to the ends of the world in them has he set a tabernacle for the sun that comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoices as a champion to run his course it goes forth from the end of the heavens and runs to the very end again and there is nothing hidden from its heat the law of the lord is perfect reviving the soul the testimony of the lord is sure and gives wisdom to the simple the statutes of the lord are right and rejoice the heart the commandment of the lord is pure and gives light to the eyes the fear of the lord is clean and endures forever the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold more than much fine gold sweeter also than honey dripping from the honeycomb by them also is your servant taught and in keeping them there is great reward who can tell how often they offend oh cleanse me from my secret faults keep your servant also from presumptuous sins lest they get dominion over me so shall i be undefiled and innocent of great offence let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight o lord my strength and my redeemer wonderful juxtaposition of the glory of creation speaking out of the glory of the creator but at the same time of the law of the lord which our lord himself in his earthly life helped us to interpret in a way that was fulfilling not the letter of the law but the spirit of the law in all its flexibility and here we have that section in the middle which is likened to gold or better than gold more to be desired than gold much fine gold sweeter than honey lovely images but the three verses speak about qualities of the law the law of the lord is perfect the statutes of the lord are right the fear of the lord is clean the judgments of the lord are true and jesus all the way through the gospels is saying i came to fulfill not to destroy the law and he interprets what the spirit is saying to us in the precepts of the law and how we interpret that for the welfare of others and also our own activity in response all of that in that lovely psalm 19 as we turn now to our reading again as we left it yesterday we're back in the gospel of saint john chapter 4 and we're beginning today just where we left off at verse 27 you will remember that jesus having had the conversation with the woman at the well she ends that conversation saying to him i know that messiah is coming who is called christ when he comes he will tell us all things jesus said to her i who speak to you am he and we left it there with that great overarching i am echo amy which often gets a natural illustration to describe it and give a likeness in the i am statements i am the true vine i am the bread of life i am the way i am the truth i am the life and here we have not that but simply jesus's own humanity saying to the woman i am he and it's a wonderful ending but we've left the woman there who's come to draw water and at this point the disciples returned from shopping they've been out buying food leaving jesus who is tired out from the journey but has gained new refreshment by talking of those living waters which he's willing to give to the woman and wanting her to receive which will be a wellspring welling up in fountains of the spirit within her own life and here the disciples return verse 27 just then his disciples came back they marveled that he was talking with a woman but no one said what do you seek or why are you talking with her so the woman left her water jar and went away into the town and said to the people come see a man who told me all that i ever did can this be the christ they went out of the town and were coming to jesus meanwhile the disciples whom you remember have been shopping were urging him saying rabbi have something to eat but jesus said to them i have food to eat that you do not know about so the disciples then said to one another has anyone brought him something to eat jesus said to them my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work do you not say there are yet four months then comes the harvest look i tell you lift up your eyes and see the fields are white for harvest already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that sower and reaper may rejoice together let's get your tail out of my face so that sewer and reaper may rejoice together for here the saying holds true one sows and another reaps i sent you to reap that for which you did not labor others have labored and you have entered into their labor many samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony he told me all that i ever did so when the samaritans came to jesus they asked him to stay with them and he stayed there two days and many more believed because of his word they said to the woman it is no longer because of what you said that we believe for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the savior of the world it's a wonderful passage with many illustrations but let's say first of all that it does what we've said before since john's gospel is always doing it actually works on two levels the earthly level and the heavenly level the actual finite creation and the world of the spirit and all this is going on with the signs that jesus is talking about and we give thanks for it but as we um think of what's going on let's think first the disciples return and as i say they've been shopping and they've got the necessary food they've gone off to buy food and they've come to refresh jesus with the food but they come and they find a woman talking to him at the well and this is early in jesus ministry they've not yet got used to the fact that jesus will always be ready to talk to anyone rules and customs mean nothing to him if he himself is wanting to give the good news and the gift of this living water to someone that's the image that he's using because they are by the well welling up for eternal life and so they don't ask they simply are surprised and look at one another you can imagine the looks being given who is this what is she wanting but at the same time the woman is wanting very definitely to go and share this wonderful thing that she has discovered and bring all her friends to jesus and the sign of that leaving everything that before had been concerning her behind is the vessel she has brought to draw water which was her great concern at the beginning and she said to jesus you have no bucket no no vessel to draw the water so how can you give me water i will have to give you water but now the vessel is simply left standing now it's one of those details which gives us the sense of this being a wonderfully true eyewitness account she left her jar her bucket there by the well it was irrelevant now she's gone back to saika to the city and she's telling the people come and see come and see here's someone who told me everything i ever did she has become the minister of the evangel of the good news this woman of samaria that has had the conversation with jesus whose name we don't know well that actually is quite common in st john's gospel john doesn't name the mother of jesus he doesn't name the beloved disciple uh whom many think of courses he himself and at the root of all this gospel i believe that too but many hands also have helped us understand it from the community the johannine community which developed from the ministry of john the apostle so in that way you're making the most amazing mess and uh so here we are you've got enough room have you um in in in that way that the woman becomes the witness to everything that went on and the people when they come say to jesus stay with us echoes of the emmaus road abide with us and he does stay with the the samaritans for two days again breaking all customs said that the surprise of the disciples and their constant thinking of the things which are on earth for the moment and their constant getting things wrong is the way in which the fourth gospel helps us ourselves to work at two levels we've had a psalm all about creation teaching us the things but that the creation leads us to the wonderful gifts and the life of the creator and in that way jesus teaches and he shows the wonderful flexibility of the law which is causing us then to interpret that in all its perfection and and all its flexibility of the welfare of one another but then jesus turns to the image of the harvest now this is a favorite image of his and very often he uses it as a a sign that all things which have been created go forward to fruition and then are harvested and the harvest of the wheat or the harvest of the flowers in the seeds aren't the most decorative or showy or wonderful parts that decorate but they also are um just small seeds which you can snap off and shake and then they go into the ground and if the ground is moist and ready and there's warmth then up comes the growth of new life but jesus is talking about whole harvest fields and how in those fields the workers have to rely on one another now saint paul uses that image as well i planted someone else will reap the harvest because people have to rely on one another in this and sewers and reapers in the end will rejoice together because what is important is the true harvest this is a wonderful image it's one that our lord favors a great deal and we could choose and we do it harvest time reads lessons about that and lessons about seed being sown and fruitfulness not just in the plants but in human lives all of that we we think of but today what is the most important thing is that jesus is talking about the urgency of the work done work being done and he could point to the woman as somebody who actually was straight into the work she couldn't even wait she even left her bucket behind she's gone off to begin the work of spreading the evangel the good news that the creator has sent in the person that she is now beginning to know is the christ the messiah that they've been waiting for and jesus has given them the message that and that we read this yesterday that the time is coming and and now is that uh the true believer will not um worship god on mount jerizim or to jerusalem but will worship him in spirit and in truth that means anywhere of course there will be holy places where people gather together but to worship god in spirit and in truth is the option for us whenever and wherever we are and it's very very necessary that that all happens so all the things around us are part of our holy place when we are worshiping in spirit and in truth and we don't work alone and sarah and reaper rejoice together but let's look let's look at the new title that the samaritans give to jesus the lots of titles in st john's gospel and titles like son of man son of david all of these titles but here's a new one which the samaritans have coined the savior of the world it's a wonderful title and it's given by the foreigners from psycho the savior of the world it reminds me and instantly when i say the savior of the world i'm transported to the scottish national gallery in edinburgh where i've talked about the lovely portrait of lady lady agnew which is one of my favorite sergeant portraits but there is also a wonderful el greco painting which is called the savior of the world and there jesus himself is extending his hand in blessing his uh right hand i think as you look at the painting but i i didn't remember and his other hand is resting on an orb which is representing the world it's the most beautiful painting by el greco and is many of you probably know it but is in the scottish national gallery in edinburgh so all of that comes to us in this sense of the work being done being shared the harvest being so great the urgency so great to spread the evangel that one has to rely on someone else and you take comfort from that and the woman is now the evangelist working running back already at work running back to psycho while the disciples are saying rabbi i have something to eat and jesus saying jesus is quite refreshed by what's gone on um jesus is saying uh well um i i have food that you don't know about and then he's now talking on to the spiritual plane saying that energy comes when the work of god is being done and the the woman is already racing back to zaika to do that and as we leave that little paragraph the people are coming to him when they arrive they beg him to stay with them and then they say eventually what the woman has told them many things on the way they're probably hard to stop her talking because she's so excited by all of this but she's the bearer of the evangel now they asked jesus to be with them abide with us we could say and he stays for two days and then they say to the woman now we believe because we have heard with our own ears and not simply because you have been the witness and sara and ripa are working together to gather this harvest which will become really uncountable because none of those people are named they are simply symbols of the work of planting the harvest and bringing it to fruition and many hands are involved well it causes me once again so many of these things remind me of occasions it causes me to uh to think back to an occasion it must have been in i think 1967 when i was working in the university library at a study of alexis de tocqueville the french philosopher who who wrote a book on the ancient regime in france but also on democracy in america and i came across inadvertently was my first introduction to him a book of poems by robert frost whom we talked about quite a lot and i opened it to a poem which i read which became my first robert frost's parent and it's called the tuft of flowers and i not only read it i wild away the time for maybe a quarter of an hour copying it out into the notebook where all my notes of tocqueville were and it's always remained a favorite so i'm not going to apologize for reading robert frost again having read yesterday um his friend's poem uh edward thomas um but here is robert frost writing this at the age of 22 and he was born in 1874 and this is written in america at that time he came to england to 1912 to 1915 and we were talking about that yesterday but this is an early poem which was published eventually and it's simply called the tuft of flowers and it's spoken by going one going and it could have been him probably was to turn grass in a field which had been sized early in the morning so that the early dew would give sharpness to the blade and he comes to find the grass in the noontide sun lying as it is here's the poem i went to turn the grass once after one who mowed it in the dew before the sun the dew was gone that made his blade so keen before i came to view the level scene i looked for him behind an isle of trees i listened for his whetstone on the breeze but he had gone his way the grass all known and i must be as he had been alone as all must be i said within my heart whether they work together or apart but as i said it swift there passed me by on noiseless wings a wilder butterfly seeking with memories grown dim or night some resting flower of yesterday's delight and once i marked his flight go round and round as where some flower lay withering on the ground and then he flew as far as i could see and then on tremulous wing came back to me i thought of questions that have no reply and would have turned to toss the grass to dry but he turned first and led my eye to look at a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook a leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared beside a reedy brook the size had bad i left my place to know them by their name finding them butterfly weed when i came the mower in the dew had loved them thus by leaving them to flourish not for us nor yet to draw one sort of ours to him but from sheer morning gladness at the brim the butterfly and i had lit upon nevertheless a message from the dawn that made me hear the awakening birds around and hear his long size whispering to the ground and feel a spirit kindled to my own so that henceforth i worked no more alone but glad with him i worked as with his aide and weary sorted noon with him the shade and dreaming as it were held brotherly speech with one whose thought i had not hoped to reach men worked together i told him from the heart whether they work together or apart it's a poem i love to read and once again i found myself copying it out this morning early this morning and thinking i'd forgotten that but it's saying all the things that jesus wanted to say and at the moment he was talking with his disciples about food and and the way in which the harvest is being gathered he was working with the woman she was his partner in this work of gathering the harvest one sows another reaps and the importance of all that becomes really important to us because we never know whose work we are finding to complete and hand on and that poem of robert frost says there is a great companionship in the fact that we're never really working alone we're taking up work and if it's god's work even more so and finding what gifts we can add to that so that in spreading the evangel and spreading the gift of the spirit and that giving of the gift of the spirit is what the whole of st john's gospel when the hour comes to for jesus to be lifted up and then the imparting of the spirit to the disciples in the upper room afterwards that's the way in which all tend but his fellow workers although they don't know it are all around him with the twelve and yet they pick up some surprising companions on the way and here is the unnamed woman of samaria today's evangelist working with jesus in body racing back to psycho in mind thinking of all the things he's told her and in spirit bringing the people themselves back to jesus to beg him to stay with them abide with us and he stays in that foreign city two days imparting the spirit to them so let's say our prayers today on this friday of the very first few days of lent we are praying today on this 4th of march in the diocese sorry in the the anglican communion for the diocese of cabungo in the anglican church of rwanda it's a french-speaking diocese and at the same time for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for emma bishop at lambeth but the diocese has not given us any parishes to pray for today so we ourselves will pray for all those whom we know to be in need and return ourselves to the communities of ukraine and pray for all those who are being uh good news spreaders not only uh in in words but also in in resources and the work they're doing and sharing the situation of all of those whether having left their country or sharing the dangers in ukraine itself so let's say the prayer for lent and then we shall join together in the different languages of the our father 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 amen so together in our various languages and our various ways of saying it the prayer our savior the savior of the world the new title given by the samaritans to jesus is has taught us to say when we meet together 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 and reflection now as we say our own prayers i heard a story from the bible [Music] when i was just a little girl [Music] about a broken hearted woman [Music] who met the savior of the world [Music] thought it was just another story one that the preacher man would read [Applause] but as i'm sitting here at home drinking red wine all alone i think that woman might be me [Music] cause tonight i feel just like the woman at the world wondering how someone could [Music] i guess maybe that's why grace is so amazing staring at that empty bottle [Music] i swear i caught a glimpse of him [Music] he met me right there at the bottom and turned that wine to live in water and taught me how to love i again just like the woman of the when i can't world myself but you want me as i am that sounds crazy i guess maybe that's why grace is so amazing it's no longer just a story when i read it cause i've seen him for myself and i believe it [Music] cause tonight [Music] but you want me as i am and that sounds just like the story from the bible [Music] i heard when i was just a girl i'm the brokenhearted woman [Music] who met the savior of the world [Music] christ give you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourself take up your cross daily and follow him 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 now and always are men we remember at this time all those who are risking much to share the news of all that is going on on both sides of the border in ukraine and on the russian side too and the ukrainians in huge danger of their lives because of the military activity all around them and the bombs that are falling the missiles that are falling but at the same time the russian journalists who are really in fear of of arrest for attempting to get news out from that side of the border too and then we have the heartening story of the mother who was trying to attend the russian soldiers who have been uh captured and the very young russian soldier there in the the field which you probably have seen the story of of the ukrainian mother first of all giving him some hot tea and and something to to revive him he's in great distress and distress in the situation he finds himself in which was all unexpected for the russian army they'd never thought that they were coming to war and at the same time she then asks him because she's speaking russian too this is going right across the border about his family and she takes out her phone which is a video phone which can actually phone through and phones his mother and then holding it there his mother begins to talk to him and the young man bursts into tears as his mother talks and the other mother says if you if you come here you can take your son home it's a really touching moment of two mothers communicating across that war divide and the young man being at that time the care of both of them shared work even in the midst of all that war so may god bless you as you continue to say your prayers for ukraine and also go about your daily duties don't forget to write your line tonight as the time comes on a good thing that happened today just the one line well tiger perhaps a bit more solid breakfast for you would be the ticket okay [Music] make me [Music] [Applause] so much [Music] my soul [Music] let me bring home [Music] may never [Music] to be [Music] it is important [Music] so much [Music] with all my souls [Music] is [Music] r so you

Channel: Canterbury Cathedral

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Keywords: Worship, faith, pray, prayer, reflection, holy, catholic, roman catholic, Christian, Anglican, Episcopal, spiritual, Canterbury, England, cooking, recipe, music, garden, meditation, community, news, huffington, bbc, god, jesus, god channel, god tv, pewdiepie, trees, canterbury, prayers, daily mail, telegraph, times, metro, guardian, russia, ukraine, cathedral, call, way, frost, thomas, well, water, vessel, olivia lane, edinburgh, el greco, national gallery

Id: mY5OSPWnrbQ

Length: 44min 45sec (2685 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 04 2022