good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this tuesday the 21st of july we're sitting here in front of the deanery on this fine morning and welcoming you from wherever you are in the world to say your morning prayers with us here in front of the house you may hear a little bit of the noise of the contractor's yard because in the school holiday which it now is although we've not seen pupils here for a very long time the contractors tend to do necessary works on the school building so if you hear hammers and chisels that's what that will be may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night oh come let us sing to the lord let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving and be glad in him with psalms for the lord is a great god and a great king above all gods come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the lord our maker for he is our god and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand 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 oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our morning psalm on this 21st day of the month is psalm 105 and i'll just read the first few verses of that psalm oh give thanks to the lord and call upon his name make known his deeds among the peoples sing to him sing praises and tell of all his marvelous works rejoice in the praise of his holy name let the hearts of them rejoice who seek the lord seek the lord and his strengths seek his face continually remember the marvels he has done his wonders and the judgments of his mouth oh seed of abraham his servant o children of jacob his chosen he is the lord our god his judgments are in all the earth he has always been mindful of his covenant the promise that he made for a thousand generations so we continue with our reading of the gospel of saint luke and we are taking up from yesterday jesus in luke's gospel still in the courtyard of the temple speaking to the people around him and while some were speaking of the temple how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings jesus said as for these things that you see the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down and they asked him teacher when will these things be and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place and jesus said see that you are not led astray for many will come in my name saying i am he and the time is at hand do not go after them and when you hear of wars and tumults do not be terrified for these things must first take place but the end will not be at once then he said to them nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and pestilences and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven but before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake this will be your opportunity to bear witness settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer for i will give you words and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends and some of you they will put to death you will be hated by all for my name's sake but not a hair of your head will perish by your endurance you will gain your lives but when you see jerusalem surrounded by armies they know that its desolation has come near then let those who are in judea flee to the mountains and let those who are inside the city depart and let not those who are out in the country enter it for these are days of vengeance to fulfill all that is written alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days for there will be great distress upon the earth and roth against this people they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations and jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the gentiles until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled it's a terrifying prophecy which is found both in saint matthew and saint mark which we count the earliest of the gospels but here in luke there are one or two significant differences there's a detail of description which could suggest and we can say no more than that that when he is writing this this event has already happened for in the year 70 the roman armies in the end surrounded jerusalem we have the terrifying descriptions of that dreadful siege in the works of the historian josephus who was present he was jewish himself but present as almost a negotiator between factions and was witnessing the siege from the camp of the roman army and his history describes in terrible detail all that happens and some of those details seem to be here in saint luke the city was surrounded by armies legions of roman soldiers camped on the mount of olives garden of gethsemane denuded of its trees and there in the valley below the mount of olives as those of you who've been to jerusalem will remember is the hill of zion the city of jerusalem on it stood the temple of king herod the great which in jesus's time was still being finished so no doubt as they stood in the temple courtyard the sound of chisels on stone was still to be heard it was one of the wonders of the world at that time built in beautiful white marble and etched with all kinds of precious gifts and that's what the people are noticing in luke it's all the people who are hearing this in st mark it's just a few of the disciples sitting on the mount of olives and looking down but in each they're saying how marvelous all this is as i might say about the cathedral here that i can see in the sunshine beside me on the left how marvelous all this is jesus says take no notice of that the implication is that as they have found because we're at the end of that series of questions and answers the city is full of violence factions and at the same time violence against jesus himself who is seen by his preaching to be a threat to those who have the established authority so that when the roman armies enter jerusalem the bloodshed is desperate and thousands and thousands of people innocent citizens they had been trapped in there at the time of the passover pilgrims who'd come and were in the city for that's when the siege began it went on till august and when it was over the temple and the city laid in charred ruins destroyed and the roman general titus took many many of them back to slavery in rome and had a great triumph parading the sacred candlestick the menara and the altar of the bread of the presence in rome as a triumph against this troublesome nation terrifying was luke describing that from an historical perspective and looking back and showing that this prophecy was a completely definite one about the city of jerusalem or had it not yet happened we don't know but we do know that all temple worship ceased and all the people connected with it were slaughtered or scattered in the year 70 and we remember that and remember that holy places are of their time and are not at the heart of everything when jesus was talking about the temple destroy this temple he says and i'll rebuild it in three days he's talking about the temple of his own body and when he's looking back to prophecies in zechariah about what may happen to jerusalem and talking about they will look on him whom they pierced which is a prophecy in zechariah he's talking about the temple of his own body which becomes the focus for the way in which we receive the message from heaven and all things which will point to the good news which jesus gives us there was a time here in the middle of the night in june 1942 when fire rained down on this cathedral church and the houses around it and everyone thought that is the end of this place in fact the cathedral itself was spared in the middle of that bombing raid of enormous ferocity just as in the middle of the civil war enormous amounts of damage was done but it was restored and meanwhile had to people had to come out and worship as best they may well this is a very different kind of crisis that we've been suffering this year though the prophecy talked about pestilences pandemics as being part of human life and so the cathedral has been locked down as you know and we've had to make the gardens our cathedral which we've done and found many images to help us understand the stories of the gospel for jesus's teaching mostly was given outside on the road in the villages we give thanks for that we give thanks also that our own bodies are temples of the holy spirit and they are in the hands of god so that nothing can touch them even though they may in earthly terms be destroyed the eternal dimension is much greater than that so let's say our prayers on this particular morning and we pray on this day the 21st of the month for the diocese of north west and coli in uganda and for amos magazine the bishop there and all his people and the diocese of bendigo in australia and for matt brain the bishop there and that diocese and its communities and people here we pray for archbishop dustin of canterbury for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and for the parish of alchem saint anthony with capel leferne st radigand and harms and lawrence and for brian williams in his ministry there we've been remembering capel the firm recently because of the great memorial there to those who fought in the battle of britain and on this morning i imagine it's a clear air and a clear sky you can see france quite clearly from the cliffthat so we bring our own prayers together and in your hearts and minds keep in mind those for whom you would pray on this particular morning here's the prayer for this week merciful god you have prepared for those who love you such good things as pass our understanding pour into our hearts such love toward you that we loving you in all things and above all things may obtain your promises which exceed all that we can desire through jesus christ our lord amen and the colict at the end of the psalm we read god of our earthly pilgrimage feed your easter people with the bread of heaven that we may hunger and thirst for righteousness until we reach our promised land through jesus christ our lord amen so in whatever language you like to use and in whichever way you would like to say it we join together in 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 for our own prayers on 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 and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be among you and remain with you and with those whom you love and would pray for today and always amen