good morning and welcome on this saturday morning october the 24th and remember in england if you're living in england that tonight the clocks change and go back back one hour getting winston back is uh an a great uh activity these days i'm going to give them their breakfast in a moment saturday morning so we've come into the the animals as uh has become our habit and it's a dry day with a thin cloud wherever you are in the world please feel welcome and when i put breakfast down we'll begin our morning prayers let me just do that first and that will get them out of our there we are some breakfast for them all round and perhaps also some corn here for the chickens so the pigs don't eat everything and we'll see how they go and then we can concentrate on our prayers as we enjoy the nourishment being given to the animals and their enjoyment of that so this morning the 24th of october first of all it's united nations day and perhaps that's the most important date for us to think about in our prayers to pray for antonio guterres the uh secretary general of the united nations and all the united nations organizations we ourselves of course are a unesco that's the united nations educational scientific and cultural organization a unesco world heritage site it's one dimension of this holy place but we give thanks for the work of the united nations and the former secretary general ban ki-moon said in 1917 the the united nations works for the entire human family of seven billion people and cares for the earth our one and only home well that we remember this morning uh on this day when the charter was ratified in 1945 the moment 193 nations belong to that worldwide organization so let's give thanks for that other things on this day simply of interest in 1260 charts cathedral was dedicated in the presence of the king of france louis ix and we give thanks for the life of shark cathedral with all its beautiful stained glass a good uh companionship of of of creativity through our workshops in that way and also on this day uh marianne north english biologist and painter was born and she became someone who with quite a fortune left her when she was a widow she she traveled the world and she painted the flowers and plants of the world in their own landscapes so that behind are wonderful scenes of the world now if you want to see that you can usually go to the marianne north exhibition room gallery in kew gardens it's a place when on a rainy day at q you can go and get the freshness of of of hundreds of her paintings from right across the world at the moment of course galleries like that are closed because of the lockdown but you can see a wonderful virtual tour of the marion and north uh um gallery if you if you click on the link below i enjoy enjoyed going through that tour seeing the plants that she painted with such care perhaps we think about her a bit later on as well um on this day also in 2005 rosa parks the american civil rights activist died and so we remember her and we also remember that on this day tycho brahe the danish astronomer nobleman in denmark astronomer and alchemist whose exact charting of the skies and observations confounded the theory of aristotle that the stars were forever and in eternity fixed because in 1572 a supernova suddenly appeared bright in the sky and this was new and even our queen elizabeth the first called for her astronomer thomas allen and said what does this mean but it meant thanks to uh tycho brahe's uh scholarship and exact measurements it meant that all kinds of new theories about the the stellar universe and our own world were being discovered well one could go on uh this is also world polio day and so of course we're thinking of those suffering from the pandemic but we also remember the way in which people used to suffer much more commonly from polio and at um i'm just going to say that the best description of those iron lungs which we remember people having to be put into and the results of polio um the best description is is found in dustin lance black's book mama's boy where he describes in great detail how his grandmother suffered from that disease and was an absolute heroine in his life well for all that um we give thanks and it causes me to remember another arrow prayer this time of dag hammerschold the second secretary general of the united nations dag hammershell said for all that has been thanks to all that shall be yes an arrow prayer for all that has been thanks to all it shall be yes as we begin our prayers on this morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night 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 and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence so 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 118 it's a long psalm and i'm going to read from verse 14 the lord is my strengths and my song and he has become my salvation joyful shouts of salvation sound from the tents of the righteous the right hand of the lord does mighty deeds the right hand of the lord raises up the right hand of the lord does mighty deeds i shall not die but live and declare the works of the lord the lord has punished me solely but he has not given me over to death open to me the gates of righteousness that i may enter and give thanks to the lord this is the gate of the lord the righteous shall enter through it i will give thanks to you for you have answered me and have become my salvation the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone this is the lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it we remember in that particular psalm that verse 22 is a sentence which jesus used for the sons who are deep in his head and in his heart the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and it is marvellous in our eyes well we're going to go back now for the last time because this is the last chapter to sin paul's letter to the philippians and this is chapter four but i'm prefacing it with the first half of the chapter three the verse one of chapter three just just the half sentence which i think begins this passage finally my brothers and sisters rejoice in the lord i entreat euodia and i entreat sintaike to agree in the lord yes i ask you also true companion helps these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life and rejoice in the lord always again i will say rejoice let your reasonableness be known to everyone the lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and your minds in christ jesus finally brothers and sisters whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there is any excellence if there is anything worthy of praise think about these things and what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the god of peace will be with you always i rejoiced in the lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me you were indeed concerned for me but you had no opportunity not that i am speaking of being in need for i have learned in whatever situation i am to be content i know how to be brought low i know how to abound in any and every circumstance i have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger abundance and need i can do all things through him who strengthens me yet it was kind of you to share my trouble and you philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel when i left macedonia no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only even in thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again not that i seek the gift but i seek the fruit that increases to your credit i have received full payment and more i am well supplied having received from epaphroditus the gifts you sent a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to god and my god will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in christ jesus to our god and father be glory forever and ever amen greet every saint in christ jesus the brothers and sisters who are with me greet you all the saints greet you especially those of the emperor's household the grace of the lord jesus christ be with your spirit and there the letter ends the most beautiful letter but i believe it to be entirely paul's writing but a composite of three different letters in the hands of the philippians we saw one of them yesterday dealing with a specific problem which had been inserted by whoever collected them and put them together from the philippians collection and here in the middle of what we've had this morning is another little letter which i believe was sent to them the moment epaphroditus arrived it's a grateful thanksgiving for the gift not only that he brought which supplied his needs but the gift of epiphanitis himself who as we learned later became ill there and they were worried about him and so on paul wouldn't have waited that long to send that letter of thanks and it speaks of earlier times and also of his anxiety when he first arrived in should we say rome to uh um be a prisoner there the rest of the letter is is is much later and he's about to send epiphanitis back he the the the recovery from his illness having taken place he's fit to travel and he's taking another letter back now you may disagree with all of that but he keeps closing the letter or opening it and there are greetings of the same kind well it would be a whole thesis to go on with that this morning but what we do get at the beginning of this first of all and this is part of the the the long letter that epiphytis is going to take we we get up we get a a sense of his worry that two senior women in the church of the philippians are at loggerheads they're really quarreling in a bad way with each other you're not to eat the paper winston and um he he is saying unity and harmony is everything and then he appeals and here's another puzzle we have to be always miss marvel with this this morning and we won't get to an answer but a puzzle because he appeals to a loyal yoke fellow in the philippian church a genuine yoke fellow and the word in greek is or when he's speaking that's so many people have said who is this and theories have abounded or you could simply see it as someone's name which it could be and in appealing to this person named only once he says as with anissimus in the word useful he he makes a play on the greek word and says you genuinely are a yoke fellow uh and i don't know but someone there is being asked to help these two women who are causing fraction because they they won't step down from their position we've all known men and women and people in communities that just can't let go of a grievance and then amass supporters around them and paul says that there really is no place for this in the christian community and he appeals this is his farewell let's remember it's very difficult to read this passage without the the anthem of henry purcell rejoice in the lord always coming to mind and giving you the rhythms of the thing let's remember the word rejoice also means farewell it can mean a greeting or a farewell and it reads very much like a farewell you can see it coming through all of this this is his goodbye and every time the word appears but he he lists the things they should reflect on and it's a beautiful list of qualities and has been read so many times whatsoever is pure whatsoever is just what's the most wonderful list so they're both the the intention to say farewell and the intention to make them rejoice and also the intention to make them reflect on the things that he has told them let's remind ourselves again they didn't have the gospels written down everything had to come by word of mouth or by bits and pieces of letters that got through and some of those have remained to us in great thanksgiving well this morning i want to give huge thanks for this letter to the philippians and the insight it gives us despite all its problems and the puzzles actually are a nice thing to reflect on and think about but despite all of that this is pure paul at the end of his ministry now fixed and chained but talking about the soldiers the praetorian guard and the members of the emperor's household who are hearing about jesus because of the way he is able to tell the story and that's a good lesson for us but it's a time probably when paul is having to say with doug hamersheld for all that has been thanks to all that shall be yes this is a a day on which a particular poet she's called denise levitoff was born in 1923 if you hadn't heard of her well neither had i and the the fact that she was born on this date brought her to attention and we've enjoyed some of the quotes that she is a poet came up with these are these are lovely but i want to go on to something else as well both she said both art and faith are dependent on imagination both are ventures into the unknown and in certain ways writing is a form of prayer and writing poetry is a process of discovery you can smell the poem before you see it i like that but i like even better because i found it so much to be true it is fatal to one's artistic life to talk about something that is in process that's magnificent the thing forms itself inside you now there's some verses in job chapter 12 which again i like a lot and especially on a morning like this chapter 12 7 to 9. ask the animals and they will teach you ask the birds of the air and they will tell you ask the plants of the earth and they will instruct you that's a a wonderful verse as we hear ban ki moon's invitation not only to take care of the billions of people in the human sphere but also the earth which is our one and only home and to listen to what its creatures and plants are saying to us as tycho brahe looked into the stars to listen to what they were saying to us but i wanted to just read to you one of denise levitoff's poems and it's based on those verses here it is come into animal presence no man is so guardless as the serpent the lonely white rabbit on the roof is a star twitching its ears at the rain the llama intricately folding its hind legs to be seated not disdains but mildly disregards human approval what joy when the insouciant armadillo glances at us and doesn't quicken his trotting across the track into the palm bush what is their joy that no animal falters but knows what it must do that the snake has no blemish that the rabbit inspects his surroundings in white star silence the llama rests in dignity the armadillo has some intention to pursue in the palm forest those who were sacred have remained holiness does not dissolve it is a presence of bronze only the sight that saw it faltered and turned from it an old joy returns in a holy presence and that is the most wonderful thing to think about on this day when we give thanks for the epistle to the philippians which paul has given us an old joy returns in a holy presence so we will perhaps put a link on to that poet and you can read some more of her works but for the moment let's say our prayers on this day and see where we are in our anglican communion [Music] 24th of october we are praying for the diocese of rajaf in south sudan and for edward oliver matthew tombe the bishop there and the diocese of chiang in rwanda and francis caronera the bishop there and his people and the diocese of kuching in southeast asia and dan al-judy the bishop there and his people and here in this diocese as we pray for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth we pray today for the parish of christchurch ramsgate and for peter tisard in his ministry there and all his people so bring your own prayers to the prayer for this week which we shall say this morning for the last time a new one tomorrow but we can say almost this prayer together without any kind of prompting it's one of those it stays in the head just preserving a book from the intentions of clemmy a prayer that stays in the head oh god for as much as without you we are not able to please you mercifully grant that your holy spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts through jesus christ our lord amen so together in our various languages we say the prayer our lord 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 as we say our own prayers on this saturday morning 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 download the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and upon those whom you would pray for today and always amen hello hey hey i'm going to come up