good morning and welcome on this morning of wednesday the 7th of october as we say our morning prayers together here in the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral wherever you are in the world bring your prayers and feel welcome as we think about issues of this day wherever you are and bring in heart and mind those issues to our prayers normally we look back a bit on these mornings before we start it what may have happened on october the 7th in other years let me start with the uh the death of sir hubert parry the great composer of church music we know his music well to blake's poem jerusalem and did those feet in ancient times walk upon england's mountains green but also we sing one of his tunes to the very popular hymn dear lord and father of mankind forgive our foolish ways and his huge coronation anthem i was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the lord is sung on grand occasions so often so we give thanks for his creativity we remember certain broadcasting events in 1922 the first royal broadcast on what was in the wireless by edward prince of wales on this day in october the 7th and also in 1946 the first bbc woman's hour and that that's poignant really because on october the 1st of this year dame jenny murray who was a household name who had for so many years since 1987 presented woman's hour retired and there's great thanksgiving for that should we call it a ministry in broadcasting of so many issues and reflections through all those years if we're thinking of entertainment then we in this nation um those of us who are old enough will remember that jane torvill and christopher dean won a gold medal at the 1984 winter olympics for dancing on ice ice skating to ravels bolero and received 12 perfect full marks for artistic impression as well as the gold medal and jane was born on this day in 1957 so we give thanks for human creativity it's also desmond tutu's birthday he was born in 1931 so happy birthday to him and it is is uh the time when we think of various conflicts but i want to do that in the context of the reflection because it fits very well with our thinking of what is happening to sin paul today so let's let's begin our prayers at this point 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 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 morning psalm is psalm 36 sin whispers to the wicked in the depths of their heart there is no fear of god before their eyes they flatter themselves in their own eyes that their abominable sin will not be found out the words of their mouth are unrighteous and full of deceit they have ceased to act wisely and to do good they think out mischief upon their beds and have set themselves in no good way nor do they abhor that which is evil your love o lord reaches to the heavens and your faithfulness to the clouds your righteousness stands like the strong mountains your justice like the great deep you lord shall save both man and beast how precious is your loving mercy o god all mortal flesh shall take refuge under the shadow of your wings they shall be satisfied with the abundance of your house they shall drink from the river of your delights for with you is the well of life and in your light shall we see light o continue your loving kindness to those who know you and your righteousness to those who are true of heart let not the foot of pride come against me nor the hand of the ungodly thrust me away for there are they fallen all who work wickedness they are cast down and shall not be able to stand so we turn once again to the acts of the apostles and take up from where we left that story yesterday as luke continues to tell of what is happening paul is in the tower of antonia the tribune has brought the council the jewish sanhedrin to listen to paul but still there's no resolution and when once again there is uh an enormous outcry then paul has been taken away and it's the tribune's intention to decide what to do about paul we're starting at verse 12 of chapter 23 when it was day the jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed paul there were more than 40 who made this conspiracy they went to the chief priests and elders and said we have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed paul now therefore you along with the council give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you as though you were going to determine his case more exactly and we are ready to kill him before he comes near now the son of paul's sister heard of their ambush so he went and entered the barracks and told paul paul called one of the centurions and said take this young man to the tribune for he has something to tell him so he took him and brought him to the tribune and said paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you as he has something to say to you the tribune took him by the hand and going aside asked him privately what is it that you have to tell me and he said the jews have agreed to ask you to bring paul down to the council tomorrow as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him but do not be persuaded by them for more than 40 of their men are lying in ambush for him who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him and now they are ready waiting for your consent so the tribune dismissed the young man charging him tell no one that you have informed me of these things then he called two of the centurions and said get ready 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to go as far as caesarea at the third hour of the night also provide mounts for paul to ride and bring him safely to felix the governor and he wrote a letter to this effect claudius lysius to his excellency the governor felix greetings this man was seized by the jews and was about to be killed by them when i came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him having learned that he was a roman citizen and desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him i brought him down to their council i found that he was being accused about questions of their law but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment and when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man i sent him to you at once ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him so the soldiers according to their instructions took paul and brought him by night to antipatris and on the next day they returned to the barracks letting the horsemen go on with him when they had come to caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor they presented paul also before him on reading the letter the governor asked what province paul was from and when he learned that he was from silesia he said i will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive and he commanded him to be guarded in herod's praetorium well the story moves on and everything that luke is telling is within the context of that prophecy of paul that he is to bear witness in rome paul is a precious prisoner to the tribune he is a roman citizen by birth and it's the tribune's responsibility to see that he is treated well by roman law and now a plot has been hatched to kill him as he's being brought again to the sanhedrin the jewish council shows you what a small society jerusalem was in that day it's not the capital of the province of judea caesarea as the capital where the roman governor is but meanwhile paul's nephew the son of paul's sister first time we've heard of them has heard of the plot and comes into the barracks and paul has him sent to the tribune and the tribune acts instantly he's wary of his own position wary of some enormous riot starting in jerusalem in the middle of all of this there's a roman citizen that he has the duty as tribune to protect with the garrison he has at his disposal this sets this firmly in that context and paul's journey is to roam is not going to be one that he makes of his own accord somehow this is going to happen in a very different way and the next four chapters of the acts of the apostles will tell of that journey but meanwhile paul is taken under armed guard a huge armed guard to caesarea which is 70 miles away from jerusalem the great center at that time for judea where the governor felix who was the governor around 55 the year 55 and so we can we can date this at the moment and and see how this is going on and uh paul is going to go there and meanwhile the tribune whom we now learn the name of claudia sliceus claudius because that was the emperor who gave him his citizenship and lysius his proper name and he writes a very formal letter everything correct according to roman law sending a roman citizen to the governor and then the governor would need to have the accusers in front of him and so there's a pause as we come to the end of this chapter and we meet felix we'll think a bit more about him tomorrow because he's an interesting character and his own family are interesting in terms of the context that we're speaking of and so let's leave felix till tomorrow but meanwhile let's think of all those details that that uh luke is mentioning of the assassins and the the armed guard and a very heavy armed guard and roman law being kept there i said before that that this was a day with many dates of conflict and if i look at october the 7th there are signs of conflicts which we can go to let's go to a very poignant sign for on this day in 1915 nurse edith cavill was sentenced to death her statue stands um right outside the door of the national portrait gallery in in london they're just off trafalgar square and her case when she was shot in the middle of the first world war was one that won all hearts at that time she was a victim of that conflict and so so many were at that time and at the same time we think of things which have caused strife and think in 1763 this is an interesting one of a royal proclamation by king george iii which forbade uh us any any uh settlement of of settlers in what would become the united states beyond the appalachian mountains a line was drawn down the appalachian mountains and the settlers but potential settlers and land speculators were forbidden to go beyond that line because that was seen to be land of the indigenous population and that caused an enormous amount of friction with the settlers and land speculators from then on and was a contributory factor towards the conflict which would break out between the the british government and the those who were already living there and so we remember that proclamation in 1763 something which added to conflict in 2001 on this day the war in afghanistan began after 9 11. so 9 11 to october the 7th and today the war began and then we think of a conflict which happened in 1571 now here in england we tend to know the date 1588 which was the defeat of the spanish armada and uh that was a a battle which seemed to be of immense importance it was nothing to europe compared with the victory which don john of austria at the age of 24 won with the ships of the holy league against the navy of suleiman the magnificent uh he had died but he had extended the ottoman empire to its his biggest extent right up to the gates of vienna and the fleet that he had built was immense and was now setting out to conquer christian europe right across the mediterranean and go to rome itself and beyond and the holy league joined together from spain and venice and rome and all over and on this day early in the morning commanded by the illegitimate son of the emperor charles v john don john of austria don juan the fleet set out and won a complete and total victory which was unexpected really against the power of the ottoman empire and from this moment you can chart the decline of the ottoman empire over the years this was the high point and for europe this was the time which was the crucial day well these these days change the course of history but there are days when armies fight and people die and people feel that they have to do that for protection like lysis providing enormous armed guards because of the threat to paul's life this is part of humanity's story and in the context of all that we're doing they are great days of turning so at present the battle that we're fighting is a very different one against a pandemic and the whole of humanity is involved in it and yet there's the sense of of needing to struggle and exert all efforts and uh the the the the admirals that that don uh juan of austrian one remembers that wonderful gk chesterton poem don john of austria is going to the war and it's like a drum beat all the way through and his admirals say to the 24 yeah um old uh and and very sort of galant and figure of their commander-in-chief the son of the old emperor charles v um caution caution and he says to them this morning is not a time for caution gentlemen it's a time for courage and today probably is a time as we look forward to months possibly of a very hard struggle against the pandemic it's a time for steadfastness which is a wonderful quality when we're fighting a battle and we're fighting a battle for humanity within the context that i keep saying of the life of this planet well let's begin our prayers but let's first remember also that in 1944 on october the 7th the dumbarton oaks conference in which the united states the soviet union the united kingdom and china met together at dumbarton oaks georgetown in washington if you've been at the most beautiful place we love those gardens but in the house there and uh lord halifax was representing the united kingdom wellington coup who was the chinese ambassador to the united kingdom was there to represent china edward stetinius i don't know how to say that word i hope the united states will forgive me he was your under secretary of state at the time and andre gramico the russian ambassador in the united states concluded the conference which was the precursor to the setting up of the united nations that was well before the war finished so we give thanks that in the midst of conflict resolution can be found and an imaginative way forward and that too demands as much courage and steadfastness as the morning of the battle of lepanto let's uh say our prayers together so on this day we pray for the diocese of pittsburgh in the episcopal church of the united states and dorsey mcconnell the bishop there and the people of pittsburgh and also the diocese of chubu in japan and ichiro shibusawa the bishop there and his people here as we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and for tim bishop at lambeth we pray for the whitstable team ministry today and that includes the parishes of all saints whitstable centaurfidge sea salter sindalfidge whitstable saint peter's whitstable and we pray for the clergy rachel webley paulette stubbings simon tillotson rob tugwell david van ali and all who live within the compass of those parishes bring your own prayers on this morning as we say the prayer for this week almighty god you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you pour out your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself and so bring us at last to your heavenly city where we shall see you face to face through jesus christ our lord amen so we say the prayer that our lord taught us uniting our nations by saying them prayer in our own language 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 our own prayers this 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 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 whom you would pray for today and always amen [Music]