[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral as we come to say our morning prayers on this sunday the 20th of december it's the fourth sunday of advent and we're very near to christmas now wherever you are in the world bring your prayers and intentions together yesterday of course in the united kingdom we had very serious news of the restrictions that have been imposed upon us which will have a huge effect on our celebration of christmas which is now only five days away but we've seen in in some news articles that there are sentences like christmas has been cancelled we want to say as the advent candles burn and the last one will be lit in a moment that christmas can never be cancelled however we are to spend it christmas is the most powerful gift of heaven to each of us of course it will seem very different but there will be opportunities to encourage one another and keep each other safe and at the same time to receive the gift of the christ child born all those years ago in bethlehem but still able to encourage and give light to those who walk in dark places through those who receive his grace today there's a little verse in the carol a little town of bethlehem which goes oh holy child of bethlehem descend to us we pray cast out our sin and enter in be born in us today it's saying really that christmas day can be any day of the year in the terms of the christ being born in us as we say our prayers and then set out to give his light to a dark world we can be imaginative in the way we get in touch with each other and we can remind ourselves all the time that we're doing this to keep each other safe to bring real light to those who are afraid and lonely and in dark places and as we do so feel the grace of christ in our hearts overcoming our irritation and anger that we can't carry out those christmas plans that we had but at the same time we can think of new ways and be inspired to new methods of helping each other and then gradually through the dark months of 2021 continuing that until we come once again we hope to a place of safety and a place where we can once again unite in the way of gathering which will be denied to us at christmas time i'm going to light the advent candle and i'm going to make an intention myself that we will find new ways of encouraging people day by day and particularly on christmas day itself on friday now but this morning let's light the last of the candles which we've lit one two three and now advent four very near now to christmas day and say in our hearts and minds christmas can never be cancelled and wish each other the happiest of christmas because we're keeping each others safe going to begin our prayers i'm sitting in front of the dogwood tree today and we'll think a little bit about that in our reflection because it has some wonderful lessons to teach us but meanwhile here is the beginning of morning prayer for this advent four oh 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 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 the 20th morning of the month is psalm 103 and i'll read some verses from that now bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with faithful love and compassion who satisfies you with good things so that your youth is renewed like an eagle for as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy upon those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far has he set our sins from us as a father has compassion on his children so is the lord merciful towards those who fear him for he knows of what we are made he remembers that we are but dust but the lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom has dominion over all bless the lord you angels of his you mighty ones who do his bidding and hearken to the voice of his word bless the lord all you his hosts you ministers of his who do his will bless the lord all you works of his in all places of his dominion bless the lord o my soul we're reading this morning the first sentence there is seven verses long of saint paul's letter to the romans it's an interesting sentence because it's almost like our apostles creed as you'll see it's stating paul's intention but also embracing the faith which he knows has called him to be an apostle to all the nations here's verse 1 to 7 of chapter 1 of the letter to the romans paul a servant of christ jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of god which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from david according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of god in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead jesus christ our lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations including you who are called to belong to jesus christ to all those in rome who are loved by god and called to be his saints grace to you and peace from god our father and the lord jesus christ it's a wonderful sentence it's long as a greeting but paul wants to establish everything for them and to say what a great gift of grace he is giving them the church in rome was one that when he's writing this he didn't know true he knew one or two of the people that were there because he'd met them in other places but he certainly didn't know the whole church because he'd not been there he would go there as we know as a prisoner at the end of his life but for the moment he is establishing his apostleship and an apostle is one who is sent with a message and in this case of good news for that's what gospel means good news and here he is giving the good news of jesus christ himself he roots it in the story of the prophets that's why at our carol services we always now read passages from the prophets proclaiming that the christ will be born of the line of david and then share our human life but then give the gift of the holy spirit his own life having been verified by resurrection from the dead and all of that is established here just as they were saying a creed and some believe that bits and pieces of what paul has put into this are parts of christian worship as it was in those days but what we do have is something rather like we say in the apostles creed that jesus was conceived by the holy ghost and born of the virgin mary and in that we also believe that he was resurrected from the dead and by all of that released the gifts of the spirit in the same grace to us that's why we can be lights to one another even in the darkest places and at the hardest times that's why this vocation of having the christ born in us today is one that we embrace gladly and actually take strength from even though sometimes the vocations were offered are hard i remember that when we were mending the great south window recarving all its stone a vast task we took out the 12th century glass and we put them down on light boxes in the crypt so that people could see some of them and many of them were ancestors of jesus because they had been placed all around the highest windows of canterbury and over 40 of them still remain with us and so we set some up on light boxes and a friend of ours jeffrey weaver who came across from the getty museum on the west coast of america in los angeles saw them there and said could some of those come to us we could make a wonderful exhibition of them so for the first time they left canterbury and went off to the west coast of of america on the shores of the pacific and were put up in a wonderful exhibition and then when they were coming back they went to new york and in the same way made a wonderful exhibition and when i was explaining them in new york one of the broadcasting agencies said to me well why were ancestors put all around the cathedral at that time and it came from adam all the way through those lists that we find in matthew and luke up to mary herself and joseph in the windows and the answer i gave was because it showed not only the distinctiveness of each human being for every ancestor looks different whether we david or even methuselah but at the same time it showed that jesus was born into a real human community at a definite time and from there the gift rooted and flowered and we claim that gift every day as we say our prayers it's a very important lesson on this day when the college the special prayer for today mentions the vocation of mary her vocation was a hard one and the journey that she and joseph made to bethlehem for the birth of the christ child was a hard one but what she was giving us by the inspiration the indwelling of the holy spirit in her vocation was the birth of the christ child to be a light to lighten all nations and paul in that passage says and i'm an apostle of that to all the nations coming from the definite community where jesus was brought up and in which he lived his human life but then released to be a light in every point of darkness but always lights need someone to kindle them and that's our opportunity not only now at christmas time but for each other in the possibly dark months ahead and that killing of a light is a holy vocation which is presented to us in opportunities that we don't know are going to happen when they occur day by day it's a wonderful paragraph to read this and i hope you will read it again and see just what is there in terms of christian faith but most of all and when we say our our father in a moment we say this that the will of god for us and the vocation given to us to be christ's light in this world thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven day by day the qualities of the kingdom of heaven in all its light and glory can be given by such simple gifts of encouragement and we can be imaginative about that this christmas time to one another i'm sitting here in front of the dogwood tree and there's an american dogwood behind me a chinese dogwood over there but most of the little english dogwoods are in the hedges round about i've got some bunches of them here and i mention it because this corner sanguinea and two versions of it here this one is known as winter fire but this one here which is red and is full of red tips here we know dogwood cornus was used to make crosses and so the red has always been symbolic of the vocation which jesus himself found hard when you think of gethsemane and so when we think of the gift of jesus at christmas time and the baby in the manger we also have to link that with the passage which leads us up through to the cross at the easter sequence and beyond to resurrection that's why the dogwood the cornus sanguinia which means a blood is suddenly been a significant sign of jesus is not only coming but also of his to the totality of his sacrifice for us and the gift of the cross but for the moment let's think of christmas and the lights here and be determined that christmas cannot be cancelled we shall live it through and have the happiest time that we possibly can by encouraging each other here's the collect for today and as we say it we think of the anglican communion we've been asked to pray today for the work of all mission agencies and the mothers union throughout the world and i myself have witnessed in very very difficult circumstances particularly in the southern sudan and tanzania groups of the mothers union going around and being the complete social services to prisoners in hospital and prisoners in prison and and taking meals into to places where no meals are provided when people are sick so we we think of that with the mothers union and we also think in our own diocese of refugees and people who are homeless at this time and uh so let's say our prayers for all of those that we love and all those that we are um thinking we will want to pray for today here's the colic for advent god our redeemer who prepared the blessed virgin mary to be the mother of your son grant that as she looked for his coming as our savior so we may be ready to greet him when he comes again as our judge who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen and then the advent connect 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 in the last day 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 one god now and forever amen this is the day when united nations gives the sense of solidarity of all nations across the world but we also have to think of our own uh our own archbishop who is coming to share christmas with us today and will be here throughout christmas at his cathedral church and we pray for him in his ministry for bishop rose of of dover and also bishop tim at lambus and so we come together now with our own intentions wherever you are in the world and say the prayer our savior taught us in whatever language you would like to say it 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 for our own prayers now 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 now and always amen there are two dates rather special um december the 20th was the day first of all that the brothers grimm in 1812 uh gave their fairy tales to the world and many of those will be made into pantomimes with red riding hood and cinderella and all of those kinds of things which cheer us up at christmas time but also in 1946 on this date the film it's a wonderful life with james stewart was first premiered and that's a a film that always cheers us at christmas time it's talking about a life that someone began to feel was utterly useless and you remember an angel who i think was probably called clarence came down to help the man realize that even though he thought life was at the worst possible point where he was utterly useless in the world we would be better off without him he's shown that actions throughout his life have helped people in such ways that he had no concept of so it's always cheered us up that and when it ends with the bell ringing to show that clarence has got his wings and and at the same time all the people he's helped grown up into a cheerful group around him give us the sort of christmas story of the best possible kind so it's a wonderful life which i'm sure you all know very well but it never fails to move one one one sees it