good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this saturday the 5th of december as we meet for our morning prayers early in the morning it's a clear day today no wind and it's saturday morning and so we've come to be with the animals at breakfast time and we're using as our tree the really the largest tree within this area it's not strictly speaking indigenous but it's been here a very long time i'm meaning the great bay tree behind me we've mulberries here we've apple trees but here's the bay tree and the wisteria is here still covered in leaf none of these indigenous but many of them here for a long time but it's the bay tree which we are actually going to concentrate on in our tree reflection but also this morning let's feed the animals their breakfast first and then we'll talk about our reflection and all that we're going to do but here's a saturday morning treat for them and you'll hear the noise of our duck at the moment but i'm going to feed winston and the boys first and there this side they're already out because they sleep in the little log house here so winston boys who are hey here we are winston and then we'll let the little girls out as well come on okay come on hey girls let's put this down here for them all around and then they've got plenty of room there we go put this here okay there we are kemi [Music] it's wonderful how silence falls and i'll just shut the gate here there we are and we're set for our own thoughts and reflections in this saturday context so that noise is it chickens realizing that there's food around it's a day of many many anniversaries this december the fifth some days are unlike that and i'm i'm going just to detail a few um so let's see that in in 1952 the great smog in london which in the end was was ended by the clean air act gradually through the 1950s but in 1952 4 000 people lost their lives through breathing difficulties in london in the great smog it's hard to remember those days when you actually couldn't see a few yards in front of you because the the smog was so dense and this happened in autumn times 1958 saw two step forwards which seem rather old-fashioned now uh the subscriber trunk dialing on telephones was first begun the queen made a telephone call to the lord provost of edinburgh from bristol and that seems such a a long time ago in terms of technology but at the same time in 1958 the preston bypass was opened on this day and that was the first motorway in england and now we just take them for granted there's a whole list of of of people um christina rossetti was born on this day in 1830 walt disney was born on this day in 1901 mozart died on this day in 1791. alexander dumas died on this day in 1870 claude monet died in 1926. in 2012 the great australian philanthropist named elizabeth murdoch died and in 2013 nelson mandela died and we remembered yesterday in 1976 that benjamin britain died the great composer now i'm going to just do a little bit on all of those not separately in the reflection that's why i'm going so fast over them today just a word about a place dear to our hearts the college of william and mary in williamsburg uh in virginia and there there is a canterbury chaplain and in 1776 phi beta kappa the oldest academic honor society in the united states held its first meeting in the college of william and mary so we pray for the college of william and mary today and give thanks for our links with it from canterbury so let's begin our prayers on this particular day which is important for another reason as you'll see when we come to read our lesson o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise reveal among us the light of your presence that we may behold your power and glory blessed are you sovereign god of all to you be praise and glory forever in your tender compassion the dawn from on high is breaking upon us to dispel the lingering shadows of night as we look for your coming among us this day 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 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 our psalm on this fifth morning of the month is psalm 24 the earth is the lord's and all that fills it the compass of the world and all who dwell therein for he has founded it upon the seas and set it firm upon the rivers of the deep who shall ascend the hill of the lord or who can rise up in his holy place those who have clean hands and the pure heart who have not lifted up their soul to an idol nor sworn an oath to a lie they shall receive a blessing from the lord a just reward from the god of their salvation such is the company of those who seek him of those who seek your face so god of jacob lift up your heads their gates be lifted up you everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in who is the king of glory the lord strong and mighty the lord who is mighty in battle lift up your heads oh gates be lifted up you everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in who is this king of glory the lord of hosts he is the king of glory so we come to our reading which is from the book of the revelation to john and we're in the very last chapter and i'm beginning to read at verse 6. and he said to me these words are trustworthy and true and the lord the god of the spirits of the prophets has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place and behold i am coming soon blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book i john i'm the one who heard and saw these things and when i heard and saw them i fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me but he said to me you must not do that i am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters the prophets and with those who keep the words of this book worship god the angel said to me do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near let the evil doers still do evil let the filthy still be filthy and the righteous still do right and the holies still be holy behold i am coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what they have done i am the alpha and the omega the first and the last the beginning and the end blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood i jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches i am the root and the descendant of david i am the bright morning star the spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come let the one who desires take the water of life without price i warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book if anyone adds to them god will add to that one the plagues described in this book if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy god will take away their share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book the one who testifies to these things says surely i am coming soon amen come lord jesus the grace of the lord jesus be with all amen well that's the end of quite a little pilgrimage the whole of the month of november for we began on monday november the 2nd with the book of the revelation and have come through now to saturday december the 5th and we've been brave and i thank you for it in doing what i said yesterday and staying absolutely with the readings given to us in our electionary except when a special day or saints day took their place or a sunday interrupted and that is important in the way we worship and again as i said yesterday it's tempting always to choose passages which are favorites of ours passages which are joyful and happy but like the psalms the book has taken us through terrifying scenes and scenes of suffering and tragedy as well as scenes of the greatest glory attempting to be described in words in the whole of the new testament and has brought us through to visions of that which is beyond which words cannot really describe but here in the end the whole thing becomes rather moving for john is left with the angel and the angel again gives him the warning that the angels are only fellow servants of god with us with your brothers and sisters he says the prophets to whom god sends his spirit and that's an important lesson all the way through this book for the message always from john is the only worship that can take place is from the whole of creation to the creator but the other message is that the creator has taken human form in jesus who has given so many different names a whole kaleidoscope of names used for the king of kings and lord of lords but today names like the bright morning star all taken from the old testament prophets and books and john reinterprets them for us as we go through we've come to an end but as t.s eliot whom we quoted in little giddy yesterday says that which we call an end is very often a beginning and if we think we have even begun to scratch the surface of the images given to us in this strange and rather wonderful book then we're mistaken we shall go back to it individually and as the lectionary brings it to us time and time again and different phrases will give us courage but there is a marvelous point at the end when the church's voice is heard in the spirit the spirit and the bride say come it's a liturgical moment it's a moment of eucharist it's a moment when those little communities in exile and facing such terrible persecution are breaking bread together and saying to the lord as we do at every eucharist come lord jesus and the answer is given in the past in the cross in calvary of the giving up of that life and in the birth of the messiah which we're about to celebrate at christmas time it's given in the future with visions of knowing that fallen fallen is babylon the great earthly powers have their time and pass on and it's given in the present when anyone in trial becomes what is so important to john from the very beginning and we almost are going back to the beginning with some of these sentences a conqueror one who overcomes and when that overcoming takes place that overcoming even to death takes place then jesus comes and is there with them at their particular calvary john is clear that a time of great crisis is about to happen and is already happening he himself in exile but what is clear also is that he believes that those who have heard in the spirit the songs of the eternal zion zion of the heavenly jerusalem will in the roman courtroom at the roman scaffold in the roman arena here also the voice calling out from the vision of heaven fallen fallen is babylon the great on this day and i didn't mention this is one of the dates in 1931 the huge cathedral church of christ the savior in moscow was destroyed by the order of stalin it stood not far from the kremlin it was big enough to hold ten thousand people there in 1882 tchaikovsky's 1812 overture was performed for the very first time on the eve of the coronation of alexander iii and in 1931 this sign of christian worship of the orthodox church was blown up with dynamite and became a field of rubble so great that it took a year to clear the pictures of that day are devastating and they are of course in black and white as the towers of this great place of worship collapsed with an explosion ordered by the state for they were intending to build the palace of the soviets right across it in fact that building was interrupted by the war but afterwards the place lying derelict eventually became a public swimming pool and bits and pieces of it were taken away to use in all kinds of of stations and undergrounds and and buildings and what it must have meant to faithful christians at that time in moscow and throughout russia is uncountable well in 2000 at the feast of the transfiguration the new cathedral church of christ the savior in moscow was dedicated and so many had given of their wealth to recreate that which had been destroyed for here was a time when worship could begin in that holy place again and the first act was the church's desire to canonize the murdered imperial family but all of that happened as one generation passed and another came into being but that worship of ten thousand in a huge place is just the same as the worship of maybe two or three persecuted christians that john is thinking about at the end of his revelation who in the breaking of bread are just as clearly as since stephen seeing a vision of the great heavens opened and the lamb of god reaching out and coming to stephen's own calvary which will be replicated by thousands and thousands of faithful people through the years that followed until now and on into the future a wonderful book a puzzling book a difficult book but we've made the journey and we've seen a whole kaleidoscope of different colors with the light of christ shining through them but some looking rather opaque at times to us and then in a different configuration being the very sentence we want i named this morning christina rossetti walt disney mozart alexander dumas claude monet elizabeth murdoch nelson mandela benjamin britton all in different ways painting a great picture of creativity i so much remember the enjoyment that the performance in a church of noah's flood which britain composed to be done just like that and all the creatures or the performance of the magic flute by mozart in the garden here with choristers playing the creatures in the magic flute which come forward around uh the tamino and all of that happening actions of creativity include monet's pictures all of god's fine creation and the beautiful garden at juvente nelson mandela's courage and faithfulness all the way through in his desire to create a new and reconciled south africa and christina rosetti painting pictures of faithfulness in small cameos one of which we shall use with great joy at christmas in the bleak mid-winter frosty wind made moan earth stood hard as iron water like a stone snow had fallen snow on snow snow on snow in the bleak mid-winter long ago a verbal picture as great as any great oil painting but we use the gifts we have tomorrow on the 6th of december all the boys next door in linuker house who live here beside me are doing a sponsored row from 6 in the morning till six in the evening in shifts in their bubbles as we call it during this pandemic for a local charity i'll say more about it tomorrow but each one doing what they can for one another during this time of crisis and the revelation is all about a time of crisis and the capacity of humanity when doing things together and with the vision of the creator working also with the creation in their hearts minds and imaginations what can be achieved so we give thanks as we sit under the baitry the baitry which was and is the sign of conquering they reads were given to those who had conquered in a multitude of different ways in greek society in roman society and still now the bay wreath in racing as it's given formula one um is still used and of course we use the bay leaves here to flavor all kinds of food we give thanks for it but we give thanks for it mostly on this day as we finish the book of revelation as a sign of triumph the ability to overcome and to have a vision that in the end that which is in the heavenly vision will overcome all that is finite and passing in earth's life for the moment though humanity suffers individuals suffer many crises and as we pray for them in their different ways you will bring your own prayers this morning to our words of prayer on this saturday the 5th of december we're praying in the anglican communion today for gesabo in rwanda the diocese there and for laurent bander the primate and the diocese of edinburgh in scotland and john armis the bishop there and all the people of that diocese and here in the diocese of canterbury as we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth we are praying for the living of advent well and praying for john marlow the dialysis and director of ordinance so let's pray our own prayers but bind them together in the advent collect bring your own concerns together to a time of prayer almighty god give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life in which your son jesus christ came to visit us in great humility that when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit now and ever amen so we pray each in our own language 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 of silence now for your own prayers christ the son of righteousness shine upon you scatter the darkness from before your path and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory 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 today and always amen hello clemmy you finished your breakfast okay okay we're all quite quiet this morning it's amazing how breakfast makes people rather quiet as they're enjoying it and digesting it how are you disturbing your breakfast don't i hey