good morning and welcome on this wednesday the 28th of october welcome to the deanery orchard at canterbury cathedral and bring your own prayers as we always say feel welcome wherever you are in the world as we use the readings and prayers for this day it's a feast day it's the feast of two of our lord's apostles since simon and saint jude and we shall be thinking of them in our reflection and also the readings will change this morning to honor this particular feast day an important one at the same time it's a lovely autumn day a day in the fall when the leaves are all turning and falling but at the same time two beautiful english robins are singing to each other in the trees here answering calls about their own territory i think the robin is one of the birds that stays with us all the time and is also very vocal in the winter it seems not to distress him at all it's probably why we have the robin redbreast on so many of our christmas cards later on well let's just look at some of the dates that were important today but others we shall come to in our reflection itself and we think of this in terms of political importance because in 1971 the house of commons backed the then prime minister edward heath and he then had permission for the united kingdom to apply to join the european economic union now that's not the european union that's the what used to be called the common market a a free trade area and that's how everything started which gives us particular political problems today in this nation but at the same time we remember that in 1886 president cleveland of the united states dedicated the statue of liberty was a gift from france built on uh stone its foundation from an area we know well cassie in the mediterranean but it stands as a sign of the liberty of the united states which was the ideal at that time and it was president eisenhower who re-christened the island on which it stood liberty island it's the day when bill gates the co-founder of microsoft uh you an american businessman and philanthropist huge philanthropist was born and we think of bill and melinda gates this morning and give thanks for all that they've been able to achieve in philanthropy by what he was able to gain from microsoft in poetical terms it's the day that ted hughes the poet laureate died and in literary terms it's the day that evelyn war the novelist was born and we remember all those things if you want to delve right back into history in 1420 it was the day that beijing became the capital of the ming dynasty in china when the forbidden city was completed and is also the day on which in 1636 the general court of massachusetts established harvard college which became harvard university not the first university in the new world because in 1538 on this day the university of saint thomas aquinas was founded in what is now the dominican republic well all those things and we could go on with many many more but there are some things which which happened on this day which we will remember in our reflection with thanksgiving and some with sadness oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise visit us with your salvation and sustain us with your gracious spirit 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 and as we wake refreshed 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 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 this morning on this 28th morning of the month is psalm 132 and we read some verses from that psalm now lord remember for david all the hardships he endured how he swore an oath to the lord and vowed a vow to the mighty one of jacob i will not come within the shelter of my house nor climb up into my bed i will not allow my eyes to sleep nor let my eyelids slumber until i find a place for the lord a dwelling place for the mighty one of jacob the lord has sworn an oath to david a promise from which he will not shrink of the fruit of your body shall i set up on your throne if your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that i shall teach them their children also shall sit upon your throne forevermore for the lord has chosen zion for himself he has desired her for his habitation this shall be my resting place forever here will i dwell for i have longed for her i will abundantly bless her provision her poor will i satisfy with bread i will close her priests with salvation and her faithful ones shall rejoice and sing there will i make a horn to spring up for david i will keep a lantern burning for my anointed psalms like psalm 132 remind us of one of the titles of the christ of the messiah the title that blind man cried out at the gates of jericho son of david have mercy on me and we rejoice in that title and we turn this morning to quite a short lesson but we're on familiar grounds we've gone just for this day back to the gospel of saint luke and i'm at the sixth chapter for the reading given to us on this day of since simon and saint jude and it's talking about jesus and his desire to choose the twelve chapter six verse twelve in those days jesus went out to the mountain to pray and all night long he continued in prayer to god and when day came he called his disciples and chose from them 12 whom he named also apostles simon whom he named peter and andrew his brother and james and john and philip and bartholomew and matthew and thomas and james the son of alpheus and simon who was called the zealot and judas the son of james and judas iscariot who became a traitor and jesus came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people it's the beginning because what is about to happen after acts of healing amongst that the people who have brought folk to him what is about to happen is the great sermon on the plane as it's called in luke's gospel in luke's gospel jesus goes up into the mountain to pray but comes down onto flat ground to teach and walk about an easy place flat ground for the sick to be brought to him probably in luke's mind luke the doctor but also luke being greek was used to teachers walking in flat places with their disciples and teaching there as they moved around and we get both images in the gospels the salmon on the mount matthew the sermon on the plane luke jesus must have given that teaching many many times to many many people in different ways but thanks be to god both evangelists collect that teaching together for us at the same time luke lists the apostles he used that word apostle more than any of the other evangelists in their gospels and he uses it in a particular way for an apostle is one who is sent with authority and a particular task if you like a representative but with an authority of their own commissioned to do just that and jesus with the number of the 12 which is very much a scriptural number from the tribes of his own people chooses 12. of all those who are disciples notice when they stand on the plane there are many many more disciples around but there are the twelve and luke has just named them for us and he will do that again in chapter one of his second volume the acts of the apostles and then he adds to them the brothers of jesus and the mother of jesus as those who are waiting for the fulfillment of the gifts that jesus has promised so what does it mean to be an apostle in that way well let's think first of these two simon the zealot which might mean he was a member of that extreme party which wanted to get rid of the romans out of the land in which they lived or it might just mean that he was zealous and got that nickname well we don't know jesus wasn't above himself giving people nicknames like peter the rock you're my rock and james and john the sons of thunder all of those things we don't know but those titles give us a flavor of the diversity of characters amongst the apostles and then saint jude judas quite often called judas thaddeus because he is thought to be the same disciple as named in other lists called thaddeus but again we can't know it's a speculation and nor can we know anything really about their own background or much about what happens to them later they are seen as a pair when they are evangelizing but what life meant for them later we don't know there is an ancient tradition that simon the zealot visited roman britain at the time of the queen berdyce boudicca as she now tends to be called and in that way we remember the way in which stories circulated about the apostles but what we do know is that at the very beginning it wasn't just peter who was the foundation stone it was all of them the 11 for even in that list judas iscariot who was to betray him is set to drop away and matthias will take his place to make it twelve and here this morning is a celebration of the twelve with since simon and saint jude nevertheless jude is not silent for in saint john's gospel chapter 14 and verse 22 it's he judas not iscariot says the evangelist who asks the question lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us but not to the world just one sentence one question but that question prompts the richest and deepest part of what is known as the farewell discourses jesus says farewell to his disciples for it evokes the promise of three gifts which are still accessible to us first the promise of the gift of the spirit the counselor the advocate the comforter who will be given so that they may really be apostles sharing the good news and enjoying the good news whatever fate brings to their mortal lives the gift of the spirit who will teach them all things your questions will be answered judas jesus is saying for the gift of understanding and counsel will be given to you and the knowledge of how to share this gift gift number one gift number two the peace such as a world cannot give peace i leave with you my peace i give to you not as the world gives give i to you a beautiful sentence given in answer to jude's question but actually still a promise given to us today whenever we read that answer second gift and third gift the gift of the promise to come again to them the ways in which jesus comes to us are many and varied but at the end of all time there is that promise too that he will be there i will come again and then as they go forward into the next chapter and he continues i am the true vine and looking round at them you are the branches always one wanting to use natural illustrations and always walking about but we give thanks this morning for judas not iscariot as in john says in his gospel for judas's question and the three gifts in promise for us and for them that that question provokes now a gift can be used in many different ways and there are ways this morning that we think of people using gifts and making of them something which really encourages cheers and causes people to remember with a smile and talk to one another about i'm going to talk about harry corbett who in 1947 i think bought a glove puppet when he was on holiday it was a little bear a yellow bear and that glove puppet as a piece of equipment as a gift was something that in the simplest way but also in a very intricate and wonderful and creative way he chose to use he began to talk to this silent glove puppet and when they went together and this was the first time in 1949 they appeared on black and white television in order to make the bear stand out he took soot and rubbed it on the ears and nose and from then on the little bear who's one of the iconic characters of children's early television that is still gives enormous pleasure when you watch the the the uh the shows from then on the bear was called and at first it was just and harry corbett talking to each other in different situations a bit later on he got a sidekick called sweep and uh for a long time it was just that the two of them and if you look back at the old black and white films you can see how they were teaching so many things amusing at the same time but you find them in a chemist shop and in a factory and in a garage and making things and it an extraordinary kind of of way of using a particular gift creatively encouragingly and also imaginatively so many others have used their own gifts in that way one thinks on this day of the philosopher john locke who was so important to the way in which liberal english politics developed after the 1688 revolution he wrote two treatises on government and really um philosophical empiricism which stood at the very foundation of the age of enlightenment and also political liberalism was a contribution that locke made and at the same time he wrote a book called the reasonableness of christianity well christianity is we hope reasonable but it's a much deeper knowledge than that and those gifts that we spoke about the apostles receiving and jews question prompting and our ability to receive them today is much deeper than just reason and we know that in our reflections they're gifts which affect body mind and spirit simple gifts simple promises the gift of a spirit which within you will encourage and teach and show you so many things and particularly how you can use your gifts and i can use mine the gift of peace when we settle ourselves and aim to receive it and the gift of coming again always a lovely gift from a friend i'll see you again and jesus says to them don't be worried let not your hearts be troubled you believe in god believe also in me and then the three gifts well whatever gifts you have and whatever apostleship which paul himself widens in concept so that from then on not only his apostleship but barnabas and apollos and those two characters i always wonder about in the list at the end of paul's epistle to the romans andronicus and junias whom paul says share they're my kinsmen they share my imprisonment but they also share apostleship and they were in christ before me we know nothing whatsoever about them but that's so for so many in our world and this morning by this means we can say our prayers with one another and give thanks for that so let's say our prayers on this particular morning and i have a special intention in the anglican communion today for on this day the new bishop of colombo in the church of ceylon in sri lanka is to be consecrated to be bishop dushantha lakshman rodrigo and we pray for not only him and his ministry and his diocese which is uh strangely under the direct jurisdiction of the archbishop of canterbury and so we feel we've got a a really close connection there but we pray not only that but for him but also for the whole island of sri lanka which has been troubled by so many things uh in recent decades tragedies of civil war and tsunami and is now facing as we all are the the difficulty of lockdown and pandemic but this is a day for rejoicing at the consecration of bishop dushantha and also in the anglican chameleon in our regular list we pray today for the diocese of rhode island in the episcopal church of the united states and for our friend there bishop nick knisley and we also pray for our two great friends of ours in rhode island at narragansett father andrew mead and his wife nancy on this particular morning so for that diocese and also the diocese of dallas in the episcopal church and george sumner the bishop there and all the people in his diocese here in this diocese as we pray for archbishop justin bishop rose of dover bishop tim at lambuth we also pray for the parish of saint luke's in ramsgate and for paul worldage and his ministry there and all his people so we say that the prayer for this particular week as i've said before this week it's a prayer which exhorts us to give thanks for and use the gift of the holy scriptures blessed lord was called all holy scriptures to be written for our learning grant that we may in such wise hear them read mark learn and inwardly digest them that by patience and comfort of your holy word we may embrace an ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which you have given to us in your son our savior jesus christ amen so as we think of those three gifts prompted by saint jude's question we hold silence to say our own prayers on this feast day so god give you grace to use the gifts he has given you to his 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 so you