good morning and welcome I'm sitting here in the Cathedral Church of Christ in Louisville Kentucky and I'm joined in morning Prayer by the dean of the cathedral Matt Bradley and we're going to say morning prayer together and you are very welcome to join us as always welcome to those of you who are regular members of the garden congregation and perhaps even to some new faces from across the world wherever you are feel free to join in our prayers and in your homes to make your own prayers too so we're beginning morning prayer and this time we're using the book of common prayer of the Episcopal Church of the United States Lord open our lips and our mouth shall Proclaim your praise GL glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever amen Allelujah we're going to say the vany psalm 95: 1-7 come let us sing to the Lord let us shout for Joy to the rock of our Salvation let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to him with Psalms for the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hand and are the caverns of the earth and the heights of the hills are his also the sea is his for he made it and his hands have molded the dry land come let us bow down and bend the knee 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 oh that today you would hearken to his voice so we say together this morning Psalm 84 how dare to me is your dwelling oh lord of hosts my soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh rejoice in the Living God the sparrow has found her a house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her Young by the side of your altars O Lord of hosts my king and my God happy are they who dwell in your house they will always be praising you happy are the people whose strength is in you whose hearts are set on the Pilgrim's way those who go through the desolate Valley will find it a place of springs for the early Reigns have covered it with pools of water they will climb from height to height and the god of gods will reveal himself in Zion Lord God of hosts hear my my prayer hearken oh god of Jacob Behold our Defender oh God and look upon the face of your anointed for one day in your courts is better than a thousand in my own room and to stand at the threshold of the House of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked for the Lord God is both son and shield he will give Grace and Glory no good thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk with Integrity oh lord of hosts happy are they who put their trust in you glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever amen amen a reading from Luke Chapter 13 beginning in the first verse at that very time there were some present who told him about the galileans whose blood pilate had mingled with their sacrifices he asked them do you think that because these galileans suffered in this way that they were worse Sinners than all other galileans no I tell you but unless you repent you will all perish as they did or those 18 who were killed when the Tower of Siloam fell on them do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem no I tell you but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did then he told this Parable a man had a fig tree planted in his Vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it and found none so he said to the gardener see here for 3 years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and still I find none cut it down why should it be wasting the soil he replied sir let it alone for one more year until I dig around it and put manure on it if it bears fruit next year well and good but if not you can cut it down the word of the Lord thanks be to God this being morning prayer we'll say the song of Zechariah the Benedictus on page [Music] 92 blessed be the Lord the god of Israel he has come to his people and set them free he has raised up for us a mighty savior born of the House of his servant David through his holy prophets he promised of old that he would save us from enemies from the hands of all who hate us he pred to show Mercy to our for fathers and to remember His Holy Covenant this was the oath he swore to Our Father Abraham to set us free from the hands of our enemies free to worship him without fear holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life you my child shall be called the prophet of the most high for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way to give his people knowledge of Salvation by the forgiveness of their s in the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of Peace glory to the father and to the son and to the holy spit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever amen amen 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 amen the Lord be with you and also with you let us pray Our Father Who Art in Heaven 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 for forever andever amen show us your mercy oh Lord and grant us your salvation clothe your ministers with righteousness let your people sing with joy Give Peace O Lord in all the world world for only in you can we live in safety Lord keep this nation and All Nations under your care and guide us in the way of justice and Truth let your way be known upon Earth your saving Health among all nations let not the needy O Lord be forgotten nor the hope of the poor be taken away create in us clean Hearts oh God and sustain us with your Holy Spirit Lord you have taught us that all our doings Without Love are nothing worth send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love the true Bond of peace and of all virtues without which whoever lives is counted dead before you grant this for your only son Jesus Christ's sake who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit one God now and forever amen amen so Matt it's good to be with you here in this Cathedral Church oh it's such a pleasure to have you with us thank you for making the trip over it's been a very good trip and we've been here now 3 or 4 days and got to know some of your people but to sit in the church here empty um you've been here now how long I arrived uh first Sunday of February in 2020 so it's been a little over four years now and much of that was during the pandemic it was yes time to come I had five Sundays in person with the congregation before we all shut down and went to our our corner so I I met many of the congregation for the first time in well in Virtual worship familiar tell us about your family first to when you came was a different story when I came um my my mother and brother were here in Louisville it was my wife Hannah and I moving from Murray Kentucky which is in Western Kentucky um by the time the pandemic ended we had two kids uh so Sam was born in October of 2020 um and and Bethany was born in June of 2022 so um it it had was a change in our family configuration that we'd hoped for for a long time um it must have been a strange time for Hannah with with Sam there and and coping with with just the two of you all alone in the house it was it was it was a strange mix in that on the one hand it was really lovely family time because with the nature of the pandemic we were at home quite a bit more without a lot of outside engagements but figuring out how to negotiate those life transitions without as much Hands-On support from particularly the Parish Community that really wanted to be physically present they did had a virtual baby shower for us and all these lovely things pretty good they couldn't wait to see you baby Sam well they certainly know them now Sam and Bethany as well as we saw yesterday worshiping here um what did the cathedral strike you how did the strike you when you came first into it and what potentials did you see there that was really good ground for you on a personal level um my life has been interwoven with the life of the cathedral here in Louisville I came and sang as a part of our children's choir at an Coral even song when I was five so that my first interaction I was married here ordained here um and so it was uh in many senses just kind of a a dream to be here as Dean um the cathedral was coming off of a six-year interim um and so what had been asked of me in the search process and what I was looking forward to getting into was um sort of resuming and uh reimagining what a regularized Ministry looked like here with a real Focus um our our I guess our Touchstone here at Christ Church is that we're a city a congregation in the heart of the city with a heart for the city so getting to know the needs of the downtown Louisville Community and finding out how we were called to come alongside our neighbors and and serve those needs so that was really the the Mandate for for my time as Dean here and that could start almost at once or did the pandemic hold much of that up it changed it um so um you all had the opportunity to get to know some of the folks who run the uniting partners for women and children uh shelter here so um part of it was figuring out how we adaptt our ministry here to let them continue to serve part of it was just the simple Act of um you know this was not glorious but uh with all the downtown buildings closed a lot of our neighbors who are not housed didn't have a place to use the restroom so we put portalets in the Closter of the cathedral and and just let folks come in and refresh themselves and um we have a a monthly uh first Sunday community breakfast where we open up on a typical Sunday sit down hot breakfast um and that we changed to a bag breakfast and we served out the front door of the cathedral into open air so we just tried to change how we were doing that work um and then we we got pretty intimately involved with um some of the folks who were organizing some of the racial Justice protests around the police killing of bana Taylor at that time and so um opened up space for um they had liaison trainings and um uh nonviolent protest trainings for those who are going to go on demonstration and so we had all the chairs removed from the Nave at that time because of the pandemic and so they came in and brought in their folks and taught them the basics of nonviolent protest and um it was really we felt honored to do that and then we actually wound up serving a sanctuary there was um a curfew that was put in place ahead of the announcement of that verdict and um uh one of the places that was exempt from curfew were people who were going to houses of worship after 900 uh p.m. you had to be either on the way to work or to house of worship and so folks who went out and protested um could come back here and we would close the gates and they stayed overnight and um and that enabled them to have their witness and then be safe afterward in a Way co changed us is it did and there's no going back from that I don't think but it changes different Societies in different ways how do you how do you think it's changed here have people grown closer or that's interesting in in some ways I think it has brought our community closer together and has really um I think it's rekindled that spark of a desire to serve the needs of so many folk became apparent during the Pandemic those gaps in our social safety net uh and so I think that that has become a real a real Focus for our ministry here at the Cathedral um and when people had been apart for so long one of the charisms I think of this congregation is its desire to just be in fellowship with each other and that back of to in community I think some of the challenges are that as I said the Mandate was to figure out how to be a a in many ways a Parish church for this community in downtown post pandemic uh downtown is trying to figure out what its future is because like so many downtowns at least in in America um the economic model was built on office workers in town and then the builds around that serving those office workers and with a limited return to fulltime in office work we're trying to help a community that of which we are a part figure out what its new identity is and you have plenty of empty spaces during a working week now whereas before they were full of people yes we're at about a 26% uh vacancy rate in our class A office spaces downtown uh so folks are are shifting in some places to reimagine those and and then renovate them into residential spaces which again changes our ministry profil so figuring out how to outreach to to new neighbors in downtown and let them know we're here yeah we've so much enjoyed the last few days and the the occasions you've given us to be with your people in forums and and opportunities to think and study together and and they are are thinking and gentle and and kindly people and one feels that very strongly when when we we are are mixing with them is that how you would describe what you found here first or is that is that the tone of the place oh yes the this the cathedral has always had um a congregation that seemed to be really really attracted to um a thoughtful Christianity um they're really interested in getting to know other people hearing their stories and experiences of Faith making room for those different lived experiences of of discipleship even if it's different than their own personal experience that there's a real sense that like there's space for all of us here so and and a hospitable people too we've we've certainly had the hospitality in in the the the the sandwich and lovely things lunches that have been provided when we've been giving a forum here and the humor that's that is around that too so it's been it's been a great time and I thank you for that Hospitality it was our pleasure now you're about to have to give a certain kind of hospitality to to the 81st General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America can you say a bit about that because this is different from our synodical system tell us how the the the convention works so the convention happens every 3 years each uh dasis um sends a deputation made up of four clergy and four lay people U that um constitutes the house of deputies so it's a bicameral legislature and then the house of Bishops is the other house of the general convention um and each of those bodies will deliberate over legislation while also having worship um and in this case once every third General convention we elect a presiding Bishop who serves as the primate for the Episcopal church so uh that'll take place um this this year in in the in general convention in Louisville in in Louisville and in fact the house of Bishops will come from the convention center to Christ Church Cathedral and in this space we'll uh gather to make the election of the next presiding Bishop which will then be convered confed by the house of deputies now this is a crucial decision not just for the Episcopal church but for the whole Anglican communion um we've grown used over the last nine years to the vibrant and passionate but careful and lovely Minister Ministry of of of Michael Curry and uh everyone is sad to see him go though if anyone has deserved arrest after he's suffered so much with with one illness after another and really kept going and kept that passion and and J via his his sense of joy in the gospel is always there then it's Michel and uh so there will be many prayers set I think at this time we we appreciate that and and I I know that um the presiding Bishop Michael says he feels the prayers that people are praying on his behalf and that really does give him that strength to keep going and as you've mentioned some adversarial circumstances in his ministry yeah we are so looking forward to the the Saturday uh the 22nd of June um at 700 p.m. Eastern Time Zone um Bishop Curry is going to preach a Revival at the Yum Center which is the big Stadium downtown excellent um we expect up between 5 and 8,000 worshippers at the service wonderful and um it'll be a really a one last large opportunity for him to really proclaim the gospel of Christ's love uh in the way that is unique full of compassion one of his great um favorite hymns is there is a balm in Gilead yes and and uh he he he is uh giving Comfort to the the sinick soul of all all of that um I think that his ministry is certainly not over it'll give him a freedom to continue that Ministry without all the immense responsibilities of being the primate of the United States Episcopal Church uh and and then does the new primate take over straight away is that no the the uh the transition will happen in October um although traditionally and I'm sure it will be the case at this General convention the closing Eucharist of the general convention the uh presiding Bishop elect will preach the homy at that service Friday so that that will be this the sort of beginning of that transition so no pressure for that person then none at all right who's who who would who would dare to to feel any any kind of anxiety following up Michael Michael Curry no I think that's so that's so no this has really been an an an inspiration not only being here at the Cathedral but having time with your Bishop um Terry and Linda Su his wife in fact she was one of the acolytes here yesterday serving when I was um stepping in for you at the altar and it it was lovely to on two occasions be with them at a meal and and be able to talk to them so thank you for this I know that we Shan forget that and it's been formative for for both of us to to be here uh in Louisville well thank you and and just a thank you also to the members of the garden congregation who joined us this week in person or online um I I I I was stunned to to see that um like don't guess I should have been uh one of your congregation members flew in for the tea from from Naples Florida and back again the same day which was I think just a testament to to your all's Ministry and and the connections you well it's it it actually has been quite a pilgrim Journey for for from the mo moment that the pandemic began until now and we have felt very supported all the way uh and these should we call them pilgrims hostels that we've stayed in on the way Cathedrals and churches around have been really magnificent in in in folding us with support and and love as we've come through so thank you for that we're going to you and I will will um have some time I think in Central Park it just so you can show us one of the should we call it lungs of the city where people get fresh air and everything else but let's just finish our morning prayer and give a blessing and then we can we can go off to the uh the Central Park and see that too that sounds poly oh God the author of peace and lover of Concord to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect Freedom defend us your humble servants in all assaults of our enemies that we surely trusting in your defense may not fear the power of any adversaries through the might of Jesus Christ Our Lord amen amen Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we may not fall into sin nor be overcome by adversity and in all we do direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen amen would you like to give us your blessing May 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 this day and remain with you always amen thank you so much for being here this morning and for Hospitality given thank you Dean robt it's a pleasure thank you so we can go on talking now okay wonderful Tesha always likes a little bit of informal conversation afterwards so tell us about Sam and Bethany and what's happening to them today oh well uh Bethany had her 2-year-old checkup today so she's uh all all up to spec and all all good things glad yes she was yesterday Bethany was the most exuberant and Sam became a little bit shy but uh he's a thoughtful one he is uh yes and Bethany was they went into the doctor's office today and she was uh utterly compliant yes to all the things and as soon as uh soon as Hannah got him back out to the car she's back to being a 2-year-old so right okay Sam Sam's doing doing well today he was excited to get his grandma to come in and oh good yes and we were glad to meet um your mother yesterday in church she she she was thrilled she was really uh looking forward to your all's visit she's been a member hasn't she of of the garden congregation time yeah yeah and so seeing all of that and then then answering questions from from people who've been with us all the way along sometimes taxes us cuz they know more about things than we do right they've had the benefit ofie you [Laughter] right it was uh you know the number of people from the congregation who just who texted me yesterday afternoon of course with feel better but just say oh Dean Robert was Splendid and and he and Fletcher were just so kind and gracious and lovely and just for the parts of the church that often when folk are touring around um get missed or passed over cuz we're just not on the main routes right it's it's a real treat for for us to be able to welcome you well the great thing is one sees all sides of the communion in different nations but there is this thread which we were trying to discuss at one of the forums um of what it means to be an Episcopal Anglican and it it certainly means something like what we've just done having a liturgy which we can use but from that uh you you develop something quite informal in a way of spirituality as well and that can be done just simply individually wherever we are or together in groups or in lovely spaces like this which we've taken advantage of this weekend so thanks very you're very welcome okay let's be on our way let thank you on our way out of the cathedral Fletcher and I were asked to go to see our friend the bishop of Kentucky Bishop Terry White and so we decided to do that and have a conversation with the bishop before we joined Dean Matt in the Park it's a very great pleasure for Fletcher and for me to be here in the office of the bishop of Kentucky Bishop Terry White and we have had the pleasure over the last 5 days I think now of meeting quite often with both you bishop and indas Su your your wife and in fact Linda Su was on duty in the cathedral as an acolyte on on Sunday morning so we feel very much the sense of the The Hub of a a family of the dasis and that's been really supportive to us as we've been here do you want to speak a little bit about what you've been doing this morning well sure thank you I I really appreciate this time and U so much value our time that we've been able to spend together this morning here in Louisville um we gathered to celebrate uh 144e Ministry known as the home of the Innocents and this home was started by an Episcopal priest uh uh right next door here at Christ Church Cathedral who sought to create um a place uh an orphanage and a place for abandoned children um and be incorporated within the Commonwealth and it started as a single house with eight beds um today that Ministry of the home of the Innocents uh serves over 11,000 in the Commonwealth and uh just recently received a $30 million uh line item from the state legislature to help build for continuing work there um the Episcopal connection is strong there uh here in Louisville the Episcopal Church helped settle so many things uh from hospitals um to uh beginning the home of the Innocence as well as Retirement Home and so forth but um sister Emily Cooper is uh really in the early days a deaconness um who was uh called by the bishop to help carry on this work and over a couple of decades it continued to grow and grow and grow um uh the Jewish Community became strong Partners working together in this work and now uh it is both uh uh faith-based in terms of its support from individuals and from entities as well as uh as I said from the legislature and from other donors we're here to enrich the lives of Children and Families with hope health and happiness and those words speak now more than ever around this pandemic Hong Kong is taking emergency measures as a mystery pneumonia has infected dozens in China's Wuhan city the the White House has issued new Travel warnings as the US Reports its first confirmed death related to the Corona virus New York becomes the epicenter of the Corona virus outbreak as thousands are infected Governors begin enacting stay-at-home orders the United States reports 100,000 deaths related to the Corona virus as states begin to reopen no one knows when this will be over we knew the governor was going to be announcing that we should stop visitation in our fa facility and the night before that happened we um called all of our families to kind of give them a heads up that this would be announced and it's a big deal to say that you can't come visit your child thinking of it as a mom and as their pediatrician about how they were going to respond I was thinking you know this was going to be really hard for a lot of the families to hear but um what happened is I started calling the families is they were telling me thank you they were saying it through tears but they were saying thank you for keeping their child safe and for being proactive you know it's hard when a parent asks you to um hug their child for them or tell them good night because they can't be there and I think our families are so amazing um they've been through so much with their kids you know their lives have been very difficult and for them to have one more thing added to their plate is really hard to see they were so grateful that we were trying to take all of these steps to protect their kids and that was a night I will always [Music] remember the children and families that come to us at home of the Innocence come to us under very different circumstances in Kar Chari pediatric convalescence Center a child once they become a resident and they begin receiving activities therapy compassionate nursing care you know that the Miracles are beginning to happen when the child begins to engage with our team member at any point in time during the day there's certified Jefferson County public school going on there's PT speech therapy sessions going on there's exceptional compassionate nursing and Respiratory Care going on this is a place unlike any other that I've I've ever been there is so much happening 24 hours a day here and at the heart of it all are these children everything everyone does every day we come to work is for these kids when a child comes to us for treatment in our residential uh program or our emergency shelter once they walk in the doors and they transition that's when The Healing Begins our kids are at the home because they come from a very dark place they come from a place that we cannot imagine a place of hurt a place of pain a place of pure trauma and torment it's one of those things where you hear stories about kids that come from different demographics and backgrounds but you don't realize how close to home it is a lot of these kids have never had any consistency in their life and then they come here to the home and we we change that we give them what they haven't had to see them go from you know I hate myself I want to hurt myself I'm going to cut myself I'm going to hang myself I'm going to destroy myself and in the process I'm going to destroy this place but we don't stop because we recognize that and we're going to love you anyways because even though you expect us to turn our back on you and you expect us to get angry and you expect us to get fed up we're not going to we're going to still be standing there with compassion with love and we're going to say whenever you're ready we're here for you to see a kid put in the work and actually become successful when they leave here and you know they're going to be it's it's almost like watching your own kid grow that is I think that is amazing to actually see the transformation like that means a lot that's the one that you know just like that's why I do what I do in Open Arms Children's Health when a parent brings their child in for a doctor's appointment or a dental appointment or maybe they're having their hearing checked or they're having their C or implant turned on you know that a conversion has happened because the family walks in they know the staff that they're working with and they begin to see improvements in their child's health so open arms Children's Health Services a wide variety of children uh our Refugee population uh we also service children in foster homes we service children in the general public anybody can come use Open Arms Children's Health it's a really special place to be it's a really important uh Organization for the community each individual service that we offer sure it's it's one one type of service but when you bring it all together um it's the heart of our city when I would talk to the kids about what was happening and why they couldn't go to school and why they couldn't visit with other people in the building and lots of times their response would be well it'll be okay and you know they're right it'll be okay and um you know they were ready to to move on to the next thing and I think that says a lot about their feelings of safety in our building and them trusting us as their caregivers through all of this it's just made me realize how every person who works at the home we all really have that same passion for the kids like we all are on the same path and I think that if we always look back to what our mission is and what's important that will never be steered off course as to what's the best thing for our [Music] kids it was a fantastic uh celebration this morning and uh we're very much looking forward to another 144 years indeed absolutely thank you for for sharing that tell us a little bit about the the dasis you've been here some years now I'm in my 14th year yeah and um so for those who can uh take a look at a map of Kentucky we are we have the Western half of the Commonwealth so if you uh were to draw a line from Louisville in the north and kind of go through Bowling Green uh to the Tennessee Border we are everything West um the dasis of Lexington takes everything uh to the east they like to say they're on the right side of the dasis of the state and we're very happy to say well we're on the left side of the Comm well um but the First bishop Benjamin Bosworth Smith um uh traveled by train and boat and at that time there was just one uh one dasis for for the whole state and so you find many churches in the Louisville area but you also find in many uh county seats uh where the church um was planted and where it began to grow and again because of of that travel along the Ohio as well as by Rail and Bishop Smith very much insisted that in uh the Episcopal Anglican tradition that all the priests would be Seminary trained that was not the way that it was for many missionaries he wanted solid preaching and solid teaching and of course U celebrating the sacraments according to the prayer book and so forth of course uh Bishop Smith um by virtue of uh his seniority became the ninth presiding Bishop at one point during his tenure and so he had a suffragan bishop here while he was in New York doing work not just for the Episcopal church but was raising funds to help build the church here in Kentucky sure I think we' become very aware of the massive distances that have to be traveled in the United States which these days can be made very quick in an aircraft but in those days must have been not only slow but dangerous we we've spent some time at the Ohio Falls and seen how that was really crucifying for many boats and vessels that were trying to use that waterway at the time and now it's become almost a pleasure stea activity and and is very safe that's true well and and River travel has always been important and so one of the Ministries that is located here in the dasis is in Paduka and it is the Seaman Church in for brown water as they say for for for rivers and it is one um one of the places where uh episcopalians will gravitate St Nicholas Chapel is there uh there are also two um piloting um um what do I want to say it's like a huge video game but it's actually where folks trained to be pilots and do the work on on the rivers and when I was a new bishop uh I was able to uh take one of those simulators and unfortunately um I took out a bridge um on the river that where I was going um but um that connection with the Seaman Church Institute is another way that we find ourselves in the dasis also connected to the broader church and of course to the Fantastic Ministries uh um in Blue Water uh at the various ports yeah and when you see these huge Rivers it it's it's really mind-blowing and you you say a chapel of St Nicholas who is of course the patron saint of those in danger at Sea and one can see that on a river like the Ohio or the Mississippi things could be very tricky indeed especially when there's a waterfall as the Falls were there and when it's icy that's when it is that is when it was is hugely dangerous it is not uncommon for priests to hop on at one port and then uh get off a couple of ports later and and always the chapl is so well received and such support yes um from those who who own uh ships and those who who rely on ships to uh get things up and down and so forth and um uh it it it is a Ministry a lot of folks who are watching this maybe in uh American congregations where they uh knit things and create things that are sent to um to the Seaman Church Institute to be given to these Sailors and many of them are very young and so we spent some time in Charleston where the really big vessels which carry the the goods and food of the world around and we're we're um talking to to various seen there and and we met a captain of one of these enormous ships and of course now they can't go through the Panama Canal and they can't go through the Sirus Canal one because of water levels and the other because of wars and that means that they have to to be at sea for much much longer and so the chaplen has become hugely important and you can see how this would be the case also on on the huge rivers to Yeah Yeah you mentioned St Nicholas and all of us have and you mentioned also the Deacon S and others uh from your work this morning we all have our own Saints who are local and commemorated in our areas and no doubt you have some here we do and um and I tie that together with um I've had the privilege to serve two terms on the standing Commission on liturgy and music for the Episcopal church and always the calendar is one of those things that that um people are interested in and want to know about and um the the American Prayer Book very much indicates that local commemorations are to be the rule in places and so what are those lives to lift up and so uh I can talk about four very briefly that that uh we have here um in this in this dasis um Alexander Hamilton mcneel was the first Deacon of color that served in Kentucky he served in Hopkinsville y um and he came to us from the dasis of Missouri uh the bishop brought him here to help with uh um uh with the black Parish in Hopkinsville and it was meant to be not only a place where um Divine worship would take place and Sunday school would take place but also education right and and schooling would take place and um there there's some exchanges with the bishop at the time saying we currently have 50 students and a waiting list somewhere around 200 that if we had uh a better building if we had uh more resources available my wife and I could be doing this all the time he his wife was a school teacher and so it was um as as we say Reading Writing and arithmetic but also it was about how to do a job application and how to to interact with folks this was following emancipation but of course uh very complicated in Kentucky and points farther south about uh race relations and and uh um and whether reconstruction was going to to take root or not um Alexander Hamilton mcneel um worked tirelessly and his health became an issue and and his story is that during his time um that as he was studying reading for orders he had gone to what is now Howard University in order to um have a degree and be able to pass his examination as a deacon but while um taking his ordination exams for the priesthood um he died oh I'm sorry and in a very moving tribute um the bishop says that perhaps uh because of of his intense commitment to to serving others in the Name of Christ and studying for the priesthood that it may have actually um taken his life and so we commemorate him in October uh around the the date of his death and uh it brings together those who now serve at and are served by the Alexander Hamilton who went by the name of Aaron Aaron mcneel Center which is uh a community organizing group that helps provide food uh education um and uh many other programs that that benefit that community and especially the poorest in that area yeah um we also have um someone that's known to many folks uh Thomas inis down the road here not too far at GE AB but just a couple of blocks from where we are recording this um is the marker where he had his famous vision of all people shining like the sun indeed and episcopalians have really pardon the pond taken a shine to thomased and um and so not only to visit Gethsemane and to see his Hermitage and to be um um uh within within that atmosphere and so forth but also um at bman University here in Louisville there is a a great number of his writings and folks will travel here in order to be able to read firsthand his work um uh I mentioned sister Emily Cooper yes uh from the home of the Innocence and uh she um was one of those deaconesses the church was looking at do we do we separate out each individual or do we look at them all together and so she is included in the work uh right now in the calendar to commemorate all of the deaconesses who have had a had a tremendous role and our our fourth hero of the faith um in a particular way is Anne Braden Anne Braden will be familiar to Patriot that folks can see uh as a video as well as uh can read the book um she became aware of her privilege a faithful Episcopalian um she was actually moved by the hymn that was in the 1940 Himel is not in the current Himel uh titled once to every man in nation comes the moment to decide and she took that moment to decide theology maybe uh happens more than once but that moved her greatly yeah and she and her husband worked tirelessly um for for uh racial healing and Reconciliation and Justice and um they particularly focused on in the area where they lived um red lining yeah and uh in a very famous exchange she and her husband purchased a house that an African-American couple was looking to buy and then sold that house to the African-American couple um the house ended up being destroyed in a firebombing uh nobody was home uh luckily there had been a cross burnt uh set of set of Blaze on the uh lawn before that um but but an and Carl Braden were um charged with sedition and this was during the time of civil rights yes and uh she was a the bradens were faithful members of St George's Episcopal Church uh in Louisville's West End as we say here and um and the church and others rallied around her right next door here at the Cathedral there are still some parishioners who remember the bradens and walked with them and marched with them and worked with them um eventually uh uh the charge of sedition was dropped against an Carl was convicted and the Supreme Court vacated it by unanimous N9 to nothing decision right and and the work that we do in this dasis the Commonwealth of course has a complic ated history of inclusion and exclusion yeah and how um how um enslaved people were treated um and um we have we have things that we have been looking at in terms of both the Civil War era as well as the Civil Rights era era about things that the church did well and things the church has to Recon with and and repent of so here um we began in 2016 inviting our congregations to know their stories yeah um about how perhaps uh either enslaved labor or wealth derived from enslaved labor had contributed to the building of churches yeah um did records have baptisms and and burials and more names mentioned and so forth and and also being aware of local politics and even something as was the director given uh a membership at a club that was exclusive and you know just to come to grips with that and say going forward here are the things that we want to deal with um we we have General convention coming and one of the things that will happen at General convention is that uh during the Civil War um the uh recor of Christ Church Cathedral James C was also president of the House of deputies yeah he wrote a horrendous track defending slavery oh right and as a cathedral and as a dasis we have uh repented of that and held held the Liturgy and but we are asking General convention the house of deputies to do the same thing and it and a memorial has been sent to Convention and we very much look forward to that um uh Reckoning of that particular incident well please go May that happen let's just um leave the convention for a moment because I want to hear all about that but uh thinking of English dases uh sometimes the cathedral is placed in just the wrong place in the dasis and the bishop has to go on all sorts of Journeys to get to various parishes your life on a on a Sunday morning or at confirmation times in the in in the week when you're going around um how is it placed here as far as you're concerned is the Cathedral Church here just outside here well um I have my longest drive is 5 and 1/2 hours right so I have a particular relationship with my automobile in terms of spending a lot of time uh on the Travel um and of course that always comes up um you know in the search and discernment for the election of the next Bishop you know how will things happen so we use deaneries uh a great deal and and um a most collegial clergy in terms of getting together and and working together on a variety of things um Louisville is where the majority of congregations in the dasis are located and so that's a that's an easy drive because we live here in Lille um and then the number of places I go to where it actually gives me opportunity to to be there overnight and so um can have sometimes uh time with the priest on on Saturday evening or have been asked to speak with the vestri and have some time with the V about particular issues and then doing a Sunday morning as well our Camp is located about an hour and a half from Louisville towards the west and south and that is often times a kind of a central meeting place for a lot of I see people come together in that way yeah but you're you're here in the cathedral from time to time you don't I uh I am I um I I do Holy Week here beginning Palm Sunday and and for the great vigil we uh usually have confirmations and receptions and baptisms uh perhaps even from from uh congregations around here in the Louisville area um and then uh I do a Midnight Mass Christmas Eve here and then but those are those are particular times and so I also make a regular visitation to the cathedral so I get to spend time just with the cathedral congregation um they are um they're always very welcoming which is U which is a wonderful thing and the cathedral has is supported um very well across across the dasis which I know um is a is a wonderful thing when that happens well a cathedral's primary task is to pray for the the bishop who holds the seat within the cathedral it makes them a cathedral that your seat is there but I think uh Cathedral congregations understand that the bishop mostly is out in the dasis and and uh helping people there to feel encouraged to especially those widespread from the cathedral itself but we have had wonderful hospitality from the cathedral congregation and uh it's been wonderful talking to them at one or two forums and things of that sort which have been arranged by Dean Matt and it it's really been a wonderful task that we've been set here let they're very much they're very much involved in the city right yeah you in terms of uh um serving uh you know loving God and loving neighbor working for U Justice and peace and Louisville is well known for uh some most unfortunate and and horrific actions that have taken place and the police department is under close scrutiny and so how how do you build trust as a community and what role does the church have and does faith have in those conversations yeah let's turn to General convention which obviously is going to take a lot of your time up being the the host Bishop this time in in Louisville but at the same time there's the important aspect of electing a new primate can you tell us how the the the general convention is is formed and the its composition who will be here what sort of things they'll be talking about and then we'll talk about the primate all right very good um well you are correct there there is no shortage of opportunities right now in terms of working working on all this um so the general convention uh this will be the 81st General convention and meets every 3 years uh the pandemic messed up now we're back on track um and it is uh we have um two a byic Camal um set up where there is the house of deputies made up of four L and four clergy from up to forl and four clergy from every dasis and then the house of Bishops and together they work on resolutions which in many ways um in addition to the passing of a three-year budget yeah it's the mission statement of the church what are the priorities that the church as represented in both the house of deputies and in the house of Bishops um uh sees sees going forward for for the next three years um these are things um having to do in with internal work it has to do with peace justice issue with World Mission um how we are part of the broader Anglican communion we often times had visitors from other provinces of of the communion who who are here as well and um there is that legislative aspect which has a has a crucial role but it's also a lot like a family reunion mhm and that folks come together um because the Episcopal Church isn't International Church of the many dases that we have beyond our borders in addition uh to the work here um so a number of languages are spoken at the Liturgy uh every day begins with either Eucharist or morning prayer uh and homilies a time uh a time to pray together to hear the word of God and to use as many of those languages as possible so that people um are also able to pray in their own tongue and to hear hear the Liturgy of their beloved Church in their own tongue a great deal of work goes in goes into that worship um uh we also um and liturgy is always one of those big things that that um folks are interested in in terms of of um General convention um and you know while while perhaps the rest of the world won't take notice of a statement that the Episcopal Church makes about a particular issue um and one coming up obviously would be the the church in Jerusalem and the Middle East and and in the midst of horrific violence and death as we all know and and how we support them in the midst of a geopolitical uh contest and context but also whether the rest of the world really is moved by it or not it's important for the church to be mirroring Christ and the prince of peace and being talking about how we serve the least and the last and the lost and how we share of our resources to help make that work and the Archbishop of Jerusalem will be with us during General yes he's a great person that that you know that I think that um the Episcopal Church of the United States is holding a particular flame for um anglicanism and Episcopalian throughout the world and many Christians of of an inclusive nature as well in different denominations uh so I think that many Christians are looking to you during this time for for a lead uh and um we have certainly felt that the atmosphere over the last 10 years or so has changed a great deal here um post pandemic having been uh leaders of of conferences of clergy at Yale and finding rectors sitting together and there's a very different atmosphere with a certain confidence now at being an Episcopalian and I'm I I think we are grateful for that encouragement to to Anglican Episcopal ideals across the world which we were talking about earlier with the the the Liturgy and and most of all the inclusivity um so we are praying hard not only for your convention but let's go on to the next thing the election of the the new primate because that person has big shoes to pH right when Bishop Michael steps down right well we have been blessed um with those who have served as presiding Bishop in primate in terms of um ever since I've been in the church um you know you know understanding their their heart of of being a servant of the Servants of God being a clear Proclaimers of Jesus and of course Bishop Curry's the way of Love Yes of has U uh it even caught fire at at uh little wedding in Windsor it seemed like and so forth but that um um so for those who are not familiar with our polity um the presiding Bishop is not an Archbishop the presiding Bishop is not a metropolitan and and but is first among equals within the house of Bishops and so very much like the title says the presiding Bishop presides Y and keeps the conversation going and I like to think about um you know one of the roles of the bishop is uh you walk around the um the edges of things and try to bring in more people into the center yes and um so uh the pring Bishop's uh term is 9 years it begins on All Saints Day and so um there's a little bit of fun about saying so when your term is over it's on All Hallows Eve so uh so you do a little trick-or treating about that um so uh we have a long process that um where uh a bishop needs to be able um it's not a canonical requirement to serve all 9 years but um uh the term is for 9 years and some Bishops who aren't able to serve all 9 years and must retire at 72 do not not put their names forward um there is a committee made up of uh Ley uh deacons priests and Bishops that do um a variety of things listening to the church inviting input throughout the church about what are the gifts for Ministry that we look for in the next presiding Bishop yeah um Bishop Curry's ability to preach and communicate um is is not something anyone else needs to do you know that's a particular gift of passion and good humor as he's he's doing this and when you can laugh at yourself that's one of the greatest Gifts of all um but U but each 9-year cycle um there are new things in facing the church and what is ahead and so we know um that there are issues of sustainability um right now the reality is for every every priest we are ordaining two and a half are retiring right and so um one of the things that the church has been moving on we've done it in the dasis here is talk about many congregations are lay and clergy resourced clergy need to be shared in some ways we're also blessed where retired clergy help with things so uh there are some realities coming forward um for uh the Episcopal church for the next 9 years uh under under the next presiding Bishop but there are also tremendous signs of Hope where there are new communities that are being formed new worshiping communities you know that that uh grow out of things like a la love where where churches go together in an area to help provide enough money so anyone who comes to the laundromat can do their laundry and not have to pay anything and and and then or a food pantry and people gather there and then maybe you start saying evening prayer with folks around and then that begins to grow and a priest comes by and celebrates the Eucharist and suddenly you've got new Mission that's going on um new opportunities in in areas um uh dealing with those whose um dealing with opportunities for the Episcopal Church to grow in in Ministry to and with those um where English is not their first language yes Louisville I need to I need to come back to Louisville for a moment and say um Louisville right now is and Kentucky resettling the fourth largest number of immigrants in the in the nation goodness right now yeah and and that is and that has been the case for years in in joint work with with the federal government and so forth so you know how does the church continue to go beyond um it its its uh historic understanding of who it is and where its roots are and instead learn from anglicans who are coming from other provinces of the communion yeah whether it's from Cuba or from the Congo or um a variety of places where many immigrants are are being settled and so the presiding Bishop's role is to help help us also move from discussing those things to putting it into action absolutely yeah and um we have by my um certainly my feeling is that we have five people who've offered themselves for this discernment um who would bring some U some of the same gifts and also some different gifts and um we will have a Eucharist of the Holy Spirit on the Wednesday of General convention and then walk a block and a half here to the cathedral and the Bishops will elect um the next uh presiding bishop and then a message is sent to the house of deputies and in our poity the house of deputies confirms um that election and then um uh what will happen on the last day of the general convention is a celebration of the Eucharist with Bishop Curry as presiding Bishop uh as the celebrant and the presiding Bishop elect will be the preacher it's quite a moment it's it's a tremendous moment and um so I say this um as an American we expect a uh peaceful transfer of power during that time from one presiding Bishop to the next yes well both our nations are just about to face an election of of of a not in our case the head of state but of the the political um Head of State in it's in in the way things work the the first minister of the of the crown um ours happens on July the 4th and then that day it's over and I think that's a six week run from the time it was announced to that yours is quite an extended process and it must be quite difficult keeping keeping even in in these weeks when election fever begins to build up through well and if you look for instance at at Federal elections and particularly for for president generally things aren't official about the the candidates until after the summer conventions of each party well this has been an unusual year of course for that um but um our diois convention always falls um the second weekend in November which means every 4 years it's after the federal election but also State elections in other years and so forth and you know so so what is the message that the that the gospel brings well it means you know our our duty is to love God and to love neighbor and so what are the various ways that individuals and Society love neighbor what's the measure of a society in terms of of who we care for and um how we extend um all of those life liberty and the pursuit of happiness to to every every person it also means to rec with realities where that is not the case yeah and the church's role is to continue to rely on God to pray mightily to pray for our leaders um whenever I see whether a local official or a state official or a federal uh official um uh in a meeting of some kind I I let them know you know you are prayed for almost every Sunday yes in Episcopal Churches throughout the Commonwealth indeed and and um but it you you rely a lot on Hope because they're going to be about half the people not feeling good the day after an election and so um and this is this is an opportunity for the church to be at its best surely yeah yeah you've been very generous with your time this morning uh and it's been really wonderful but your your whole um Cathedral and and the parts of the dasis that we've seen have also been massively generous to us in welcoming us into their councils and homes and and also just being there to talk with us at the end of forums when questions are over and one begins to mingle it's hard to get away which is a a lovely facet of a family like this yeah so thank you for the hospitality of your dasis and thank you for your generosity and giving your time this morning we'll continue to pray for you and for Linda Sue thank you very much and I and uh um you you have you have just lifted Hearts so much you are an encouraging priest and the way that you uh you bring a sense of humility in in um opening the scriptures and according to the scriptures was the line from this past Sunday's uh homy and uh it has been a joy and U please know that uh that as as Bishop you always have a license to celebrate and preach here when you thank you very much that's very good it's been wonderful thank you thank you with the humanity of Jesus and it works I think a dream but the other thing is that we know how to prime the pump of prayer because you don't have to think what I pray about that you can open your your election and your prayer book and then once you've primed the pump your own prayers can take off it's easy well and and how's I wish I could turn down the volume on all the Christian folk who seem to really drive home that well there is actually one way to believe and one way to pray and one way to be a part of and by the way it's our way and if it's not this then you know if if we could just do what you all have done more broadly and just open up that place of Poss ability for encounter with God I think folks would find themselves to be quite faithful people if they absolutely no I think that's true that is so true we got a visit oh hello a greedy boy I bet he's waiting for the crowds to he probably is we've got one of those in the garden at home I perhaps told you that before that he loves to sit on your shoulder but if you want him off he'll bite your hand and he can nip quite hard I don't doubt that oh we have a a rather large colony of albino squirrels here over at the UFL campus and and that always is a a bit of a shock for for folks who are coming in for the first time ghost ghost squirrel pops out of the garbage we've seen black but not white ever black in Washington in the what are those Gardens called um Dumbarton Oaks oh yeah yeah trinsky WR an over I think actually looking very serious well I'm glad that the play was was good oh brilant brilliant actually and there was a moment when um he said but but soft what light from yonder window shines that one and Juliet came and the Sun opened up on that window massive can't pay for those kind of Heaven added the lights at that point it was terrific well and the the cast always does such a good time a good job of working through the timing with the overhead flights yeah yeah yeah yeah it that was good have you seen the film with Joseph fines of the young Shakespeare no which is the story in effect of the writing of Romeo and Juliet with Queen Elizabeth is yes I have yes it may be not called that is it but I I thought it was just called Shakespeare or something I think you're right it was maybe late 90s early I did I remember I think I in theaters actually really good yeah um all right can we start okay good so we've come here to sit on this stage where last night we saw a beautiful production of Romeo and Juliet uh and there was a great spirit of the city around us there were no tickets there was no cost we simply came and were plentiful supplied with whatever drinks and things we would want to to to get and had a really good evening and at some stage in the evening in the darkness all the fireflies started flying out of the grass and lighting up the woods as though we we should have been watching Midsummer Night's Dream I think in that point but no it was fantastic but this is an important facility for the whole city and you might like to talk about the atmosphere of the city and and how this kind of activity is so important well in in a lot of ways Louisville is a city of parks we have uh several Ormsby uh design parks and this is one of them here um and and it connects Louisville through a sort of Greenway um that that really becomes a lot of the the Gathering spaces for public events uh where people just kind of mix and mingle you you get folks from all walks of life who come in and squeeze in and rub should because the the quality of the production is wonderful and it's open to the public you know this this is my neighborhood theater I live three blocks uh east of here and so we'll Wander over with the with the kids and the strollers and when they get a bit tired one of us will draw a short straw and take them back and the other will stay for the end of the great end of the show and is that an open air thing or is that a theater inside oh no right here oh in here excellent I mean this is here all the time this over the summer months so it starts around the Memorial Day weekend and go through around Labor Day last night they said they were going to perform three plays and they're doing a couple of weeks of Romeo and Juliet and then a couple of weeks of something else and a couple of weeks of the third one and then from then on they would do one 2 3 one two 3 until the Su summer finished yes but we were absolutely fascinated by the way the people interacted and then at the interval the cast came down here so that the people could come and talk to them which was which was really good it is such a leveling space and really and the park itself winds up being I think almost a an extra character in the drama because you the stage flows naturally into the park around it absolutely yeah yeah and it it just seemed magic with the fireflies we don't get fireflies in England oh well yeah that's these Bright Lights coming out of the grass and just winking all around well Midsummer Nights was one of the Productions they did last summer and you know to have Puck on the guywire coming in soaring through the fireflies really it's it's a magical moment it's really quite something around and and then you've got sporting facilities and tennis courts and and uh and and the nice walkway through here yes we we really enjoyed ourselves the trees were so wonderful around us too they're huge it really is it's an urban Forest here and they you know they'll have um they'll have the teams of of folks who do uh care of trees of this nature they have competitions to see who can scale the trees in the park and it's all I mean the theme of this park really is community and accessibility they just redid the playground to make it um fully accessible to kids who are um in wheelchairs or otherwise and just really try to make it a a home you've known this all your life oh yes yes this Louisville's home for me so uh Central Park and and and the parks in Louisville spent uh so many hours in them growing up and to have the growing up and then your your your marriage and your your ordinations B ordinations within the Cathedral Church that's right and now care for it yourself how much has this changed in it in some ways it's very much the same the you know the trees grow with the park uh but but Shakespeare and the park has grown dramatically over that time um you know the building of the stage and the permanent Amphitheater here uh all since I've been a child those been have been added so you knew the Shakespeare from the word go yes yes you know it was always a a way that people could see Shakespeare without having to wait for a performance at the Center for the Arts and buy tickets you could just of course no we just decided we would come and and it it was as easy as easy to get here and and just walk over and find a seat right in the center here and and it wasn't crowded at all it was just a really happy atmosphere it was full without being squashed is that perfect yeah and totally um you'd say well behaved for an open air performance everything was quiet uh occasionally a jet aircraft would go over and you noticed a sight pause in the in in all that was going on but it it was a wonderful evening all to well it's been a honestly for me personally it's been a a point of reconnection also I had some friends from high school who uh will will text because they know now that I'm I'm just a few streets over through the magic of social media yes say oh we're in the neighborhood and and heading over to Shakespeare the park you want to come over meet up that's a lovely thing to be doing yeah yeah it's like a to give someone to be able to take them in that way yes and families were coming in here in in great measure so that was that was good so when you think of Louisville um what would you say to people about it it's its atmosphere and its society and and its Community as a whole it's a big city it's it's a big city numerically compared to to to others in in the region uh but it has really retained much of its connectedness and um a sense of community throughout so um you know I was previously serving in a a city of about 15,000 uh and so there's no surprise when you go to the supermarket there that people want to stop and chat and catch up U but it's very much the same here it's it's how big is Louisville in population roughly roughly 750,000 right so much much bigger much much they still want to stop and chat and they do and you you run into people or you'll start talking and people want to find connection yes oh well well what part of town you from or do you know this person and it's very much wanting to find that connection um and so when I always tell people when they come to Louisville what they can expect is um probably more on offer than they would expect from a city of our size yeah um but a a community where if you get turned around or you're looking for something you can stop someone on the street and ask them and people generally want fol to feel at home when they want to stop and chat exactly yes ABS beautiful Square next door with its fountains as well oh yes St James St James is famous for has an annual art fair that okay with the two fountains it's just beautiful it is beautiful homes um this this neighborhood in which we're situated is actually kind of a hidden gym it's Old Louisville it was the first suburb of the city and was originally connected by street car lines which we lost when the automobile became ascendant um but uh it is in in the US the one of the largest intact um neighborhoods of Victorian uh style homes so about 650 Victorian style homes um in and around right where we're sitting so yeah it has that feeling of of of spacious streets and a place where it would be good to live um but at the same time people come here and enjoy themselves within the park it's really diverse Community um in the residential neighborhoods around the park um they've kept a mix of U multif family and single family home so it really it's a neighborhood that's accessible to college students who are over at the University of Louisville or or folks who are looking for an apartment as well as people who are yeah purchasing a home to live in they always this is the airplane again so like good actors we would pause and but um they always say that Shakespeare is best performed in the United States because there are areas of the United States where the English spoken is the nearest to what was spoken at that time in the late 16th early 17th century you heard that fascinating I hadn't heard that yeah yeah this is this is this is the train now um um Fletcher always says that to hear Shakespeare and there's good scholarly reasons for saying this uh some areas of New England uh but other patch sorry appalation appal yeah in the Appalachians yeah Nova Scotia and Nova Scotia as well that that that um English was spoken in in that way because when you listen to the the way in which the actors were were using the English it was it's a very natural natural way of of uh of Performing and we were learning many things last night about this different style of Romeo and Julius it was it was really compulsive that's wonderful I I hadn't heard that but it makes sense we we've had a lot of the ethnomusicology uh work done in Appalachia for that reason can recapture the old folk songs uh that haven't been uh changed at all for Generations so and they still sung that yes they are yeah we were talking with the with Mark the the director of the choir earlier on about the way in which vaugh Williams Because the choir sang that lovely Anthem Yesterday by V Williams um Bor Williams would go with friends to various pubs throughout Royal England at the end of the 19th century beginning of the 20th and write down the tunes that were being sung to folk songs that were special to those areas and then many of them if they were very attractive he turned into H tunes and got writers to write beautiful hymns to and they do sing well because they were written for just singing along in in company and say the same thing here oh yes absolutely that that's already the community Spirit yeah absolutely yeah yeah well it's it's really good to sit here and and chat about the the the things that happen around um but we must actually you go back to duties and the family and everything else uh and we'll complete our our meditations in a different place but thank you for joining us this morning on this morning prayer and for being here for the garden congregations throughout the world wherever they are it's been a huge pleasure well it's a it's a a gift to be a part of this for for a little while and just praying for you all as you continue on your journey thank you very much indeed and us for you as [Music] well that will be us next Monday oh to part yes back to back home oh is it home next oh that's good yeah yeah it be nice put your feet up just for a bit before we go out to Spain to to to keep the um the chaplaincy of uh hosel for pilgrims in Santiago de compostella just for two weeks uh We've recently become Trustees of a group who bought a a hotel there under the offices of the Spanish Episcopal reform church and it's just about 5 minutes walk from the Basilica and pilgrims not necessarily Anglican Episcopal but it's it's called Casa anglicana and um I'm going to act as the the chaplain there and fet is coming to be part of the life of that place and both of us love going there so we're doing that a couple of weeks before we return to England and they there properly for a while that's lovely well to see I hope it is a good good trip there thanks very much thank you great to see you good to see you as well more araban it's a constant feature we just [Music] uh is the airport near yes and it's both uh passenger flights and the UPS package service is um based out of WV so this is the the home for this their primary Hub is here so actually the uh The Hub here in Louisville for UPS was the primary distribution site for all the co vaccinations in the US so it was you know it was life lights going out of the airport here as they div up vaccine and sent it here and there so it's always been UPS celebrated a milestone this week surpassing its 1 billionth covid vaccine delivery exactly a year after Kentucky hospitals received their very first shipment of the fiser Z dose wakeups Brook hash toured the UPS Healthcare facility in Louisville this morning where the vaccines are stored and shipped to more than 72 countries around the world weaving in and out of this assembly line of boxes dry ice and coolers is a team of 500 UPS Healthcare employees each with a responsibility in getting more than 40,000 doses of the covid-19 vaccine shipped out of this Warehouse every single day in the very beginning it was uh a lot of anxiety make sure that we could do this right uh we convinced ourselves first and then we convinced the the US popul ation that we could do this company president Wes wheeler says this facility was built specifically for the pandemic creating 7 to 800 jobs just in the Louisville area the FDA was approving multiple vaccines all with different storage specifications and the demand was high moving drugs at -70 celus is not not normal it is pretty unusual to be doing that but today it's routine every time the vaccines arrive on a UPS aircraft or in a UPS freighter truck uh you can see the emotion uh in our own people and they're very very proud to be part of it UPS uses specialized packaging that can maintain temperatures anywhere from 54 to 72 hours allowing the same trucks that ship your Christmas gifts to transport your vaccine in the same load we say we're delivering hope it's what keeps Gonzalo Rodriguez going knowing that I'm help saving a lot of people's lives in the world he's seen the facts CO's had on his own family none of them had passed away from it but they had hit pretty hard had to go to the emergency room things of the sort and I'm just here trying to play my part and my role to make the community and the world safer and make sure that we can make anybody that wants to get vaccinated have the opportunity to be vaccinated 1 billion deliveries in a year and there's no plan of stopping in Louisville Brook WHAS11 News on your side okay thanks very much Matt but everything so Matt's gone now back to his family and uh we are still here at the stage where last night we really did have the most amazing performance of Romeo and Juliet and this stage which is set up just for that is immensely versatile but there was a moment last night when the window here was the window that Juliet appeared in where Romeo said but soft what light from yonder window shines and the sun which was setting Shawn right onto the window there it was as though heaven was providing the stage lights for this I wanted to remark how often in the United States you can find Shakespeare being acted and how much people enjoy it but also various comedies more modern and and other kinds of plays The Shakespearean plays tend to fall into three categories they fall into comedy and tragedy and history and there are from the Greek plays of old senses of when an actor plays a part they put on a mask which shows what kind of character they are it might be a smiling mask might be a sad mask it might be an angry mask and I think we've said from time to time that those masks these hypocrates gave us our word hypocrite somebody who acts one way the mask and inside is quite quite different in Matthew's gospel Jesus keeps saying woe to scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites and that means you're not showing yourself as you actually are there's real evil inside you when that is being done so um I think that one of the things that Jesus is trying to cause people to do is to show themselves as they are and if that inside is is not something that really pleases their deepest emotions and is in need of healing remember him saying what do you want me to do for you so many times in the gospels then really the answer is to take off that mask and show yourself as you are and be the person that you want to be where back is if if um C Katherine statement um be the person God created you to be and and you will set the world on fire and here we are here the actors are for our entertainment and also for our what should we say learning about character are putting on an act they don't have to wear a mask they're clever enough to have themselves hidden while they act a particular character though I actually do remember a a story of which it was a children's story where a prince was cursed with such a an angry kind of face that he would wear a mask of happiness and kindness to people so that they would come to him and eventually when he fell in love with the the person who would be his princess um she begged him to take the mask off and he said no the person the person that is underneath you wouldn't like I I I don't want you to and she said come and in the end he agreed just for her to take off the mask and she said but it's just the same you're you're actually your face shows you to be kind and and and generous and he realized that by wearing that mask for so long that that which was inside him had conformed itself to the person he wanted to be and somehow I remember I don't know whose fairy story it is is but there is that sense that step by step then when Jesus his own eyes look into yours as his Humanity lots of airplanes this afternoon um his Humanity saying to you what do you want me to do for you and then a multitude of different answers come from people and really each morning when we come to our quiet time to say our prayers um it's a time when you can say you can hear the voice of Jesus saying what do you want me to do for you today and an honest answer is the best thing so that it's the the real you that is playing is not just playing a part but the real you that is answering what you need from the Lord on that day when we go home we have a a group called The Changeling theater company who act in various lovely Gardens in Kent mostly The Gardens of country [Music] [Applause] [Music] houses what I want you got and it might be hard to handle but like a flame that burns a candle the candle feels the flame what I got full stock of thoughts and dreams to scatter and you pull them all together and how I can explain oh yeah well well [Music] you you make my dream come true well well well [Music] you oh yeah you make my dream true yeah oh well the [Music] ends well to be or not to be that is the question whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of Outrageous Fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them to die to sleep to sleep per chance dream I there's the rub for in that sleep of death What Dreams May Come when we have shuffled off this Mortal coil must give us pause the Undiscovered Country from whose born no traveler returns puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have and fly to others that we know not of [Music] [Music] Thou Art sworn as deeply to affect what we intend as closely to conceal what we impart thou knowest our reasons urged upon the way what thinkest thou is it not an easy matter to make William Lord Hasting of our mind for the installment of this Noble Juke in the seat Royal of this famous aisle he for his father's sake so loves the prince that he will not be one to W against him what thinkest thou then of Stanley will not he he will all in all is Hastings done well then no more but this Go Gentle Kates being as it were far off sound thou Lord Hastings how he doth stand affected to our purpose and summon him tomorrow to the Tower to sit about the coronation if thou Dost find him attractable to us encourage him and lay open all our reasons if he be Len icy cold and willing be thou so too and so break off the talk and give us notice of his inclination for tomorrow we hold divided councils wherein thyself shall mightily be employed commend me to Lord William Tell Him Kate be his KN of dangerous adversaries tomorrow will let blood in P for Castle Kate speak go affect this business soundly my good Lords both with all the heed I can now my Lord what shall we do if we perceive the Lord Hastings will not yield to our compot chop off his head okay I warrant you once today I knew TW for many do call me fool what employment have we here now is the near the Gin peace and the spirit of humor intimate reading aloud to him [Music] [Laughter] by my life this is my L's H come along now these people have no idea what's going on so they need some help all right TR with Shakespeare get me wrong he's very very good but the trakes is no one speaks no one speaks no one speaks as clearly as they [Music] should might if you map but most of us I guarantee could use a quick [Applause] sh a sad sorry mess viol she's twin and so discards her dress and pretends to be an un to serve the duino but she doesn't know as soon as me it is what you but what you will night and could want him less so he sends the young Cesario to speak of his [Applause] [Laughter] he is what you but what you will meanwhile the sh not drowned at least not he batt with the waves and put up a manly fight now Antonio night and now he [Laughter] wants she loves her and she loves him and a he loves him rabish it prop [Music] noes [Music] she this is embarrassing do properly please come on she loves her and I've got your rabbish has back here no s a Toby on you all right then sorry right last time now loves her and she loves him but he a she and she loves Himes and he loves her but she loves him and he a she he loves him and loves it really takes no skill isn't isn't what you want but what you will in this final stanza which we'll turn a it isn't what you want isn't what you want but what you will on with the and every year they do a serious play and something which is a bit more cheerful and uh the serious play this year is Henry V 5 and the more cheerful play is n coward's present laughter and when we're home again we shall see both of them in an English garden and enjoyed both of them last year um we had something like osel or perhaps the year before oelo and then the comedy play was Oscar Wild's The Importance of Being Earnest and the amazing thing is that the actors would change themselves from The Shakespearean roles into a character in the comic play and it became very much uh an entertaining thing to see how how they would change from being a serious or a comic character in a Shakespeare play and turn themselves into a comic character or a serious character in a play of no coward or Oscar wild so we're going to move ourselves now because uh the the the planes are making it difficult to hear for you and we'll find a quieter place to do our last reflection we've stopped here on our way to our next location because we felt we really had to show you the uh ground on Church Churchill Downs where the Kentucky Derby is raced each year for two weeks before the races run and that's on the the races run itself on the first Saturday of May high society and enormous crowds gather here and spend uh a fortune at the Kentucky Derby Festival week if you motor around this place you will see all the Stables where horses are kept and behind me is the famous stand here with its Twin Spires at the moment these huge car parks are empty but during the weeks just a couple of weeks just before the first Saturday in may they will be filled with cars and massive activity here uh just for the Derby or the Derby sorry I'm being too English the Derby is is run uh is raced that afternoon of the first Saturday in May everyone in the grounds is um qu having had quite a lot of drink have a a massive singing of My Old Kentucky Home and then the race is run it lasts about 1 and a half minutes and after the race is over about a million pounds of prize prize money is one and uh I'm saying pound do of prize money is one so as I stand in the breeze here you're looking at the site of the Kentucky Derby and uh it's a a very historic site here we've stopped for a moment on our way to our next location which is very near now but we've stopped in the middle of the lovely Kentucky Hills and I'm standing outside one of the famous distilleries of bourbon this is a a a special part of of Kentucky and we are at Claremont at the James B Beam distillery bourbon was made almost by accident by a a Baptist minister of All Things by adding to the usual distillation of rye and and barley he added corn and created the the very um American drink of bourbon you find all kinds of Bourbons around here the the most famous at Bardstown but that's some 14 or so miles further on so we've stopped at this famous one too which will allow you if you want we've no time to do that this afternoon nor nor any inclination at the moment um to go in and have a complete tour of The Distillery and then a tasting I think that would be quite a a long activity but we thought you'd like to see this because it's of interest in this beautiful part of Kentucky and at the same time um you got uh the way in which this is made and lots of Roads around here and you can see um around the buildings of The Distillery and the name Jim Bean which is very very important to those people who drink bourbon it's on every shelf in in in every restaurant Cafe and and wine bath that you can possibly find here so enjoy the sight of the James B Beam distillery here at Claremont and then we'll take you on to the place that we're really going after this little stop that's [Laughter] good evening and welcome to this wonderful place which I'll describe in a moment as we say our evening prayer on this Monday the 10th of June welcome wherever you are across the world and this is an amazing place which was set up by the vision of a brewer in 1929 his name was Isaac W burnheim and he set up here in acres of land uh um an arborium so beautiful trees all around with the lake behind and at the same time a research forest and many many beds of flowers of all kinds and so at this time of evening it's a little bit gray but nevertheless the Majesty of the trees and of the flowering plants is very evident all around and also creatures sounding from the Lakeside and birds still in the trees as the sun begins to fall so he had a vision which he set out to his Trustees of this particular place and he said it was to be a a a place where there was to be no trading or trafficking or political arguments no distinction to be shown between rich or poor white or colored contributions are accepted at the gate but there's no charge to come in and there are plenty of places for folk to see it he said my vision Embraces an edifice beautiful in design which will rise at some carefully selected spot within the area it may be of marble or of native Stone within it there will be an art gallery therein there will be busts and bronze of men and women whose names have risen to places of distinctive honor in Kentucky a lasting and everpresent inspiration to the young people who gaze upon their faces there will also be a museum of natural history containing specimens of every animal that is classified in the wildlife life of this hemisphere will be provided for to all I send the invitation to come to recreate their lives in the enjoyment of nature in the park which I have dedicated to the use of the people and which I hope will be kept forever free well here we are on this evening and we found this a few nights ago but came rather too late but today we have time just to say our evening prayer here so join me in evening prayer oh God make speed to save us oh Lord make haste to help us blessed are you Lord God creator of day and night to you be praise and glory forever as Darkness Falls you renew your promise to reveal Among Us the light of your presence By the Light of Christ your living word dispel the darkness of our hearts that we may walk as children of light and sing your praise throughout the world Blessed Be god father Son and Holy Spirit blessed be God forever bless the Lord oh my soul oh Lord my God how excellent is your greatness you are clothed with majesty and honor wrapped in light as in a garment the sun knows the time for its setting you make darkness that it may be night oh Lord how manifold are your Works in wisdom you have made them all the Earth is full of your creatures when you send forth your spirit they are created and you renew the face of the Earth May the glory of the Lord endure forever may the Lord rejoice in his works I will sing to the Lord as long as I live I will make music to my God while I have my being glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever amen that this evening may be holy good and peaceful let us pray with one heart and mind as our evening prayer Rises before you oh God so may your mercy come down upon us to cleanse our hearts and set us free to sing your praise now and for forever amen our Psalm this evening is Psalm 47 clap your hands together all you peoples oh sing to God with shouts of joy for the Lord most high is to be feared he is the great king over all the Earth he subdued the peoples under us and the Nations under our feet he has chosen our heritage for us the pride of Jacob whom he loves God has gone up with a merry noise the Lord with the sound of the trumpet oh sing praises to God sing praises sing praises to our king sing praises for God is the king of all the Earth sing praises with all your skill god reigns over the Nations God has taken his seat upon his holy Throne the Nobles of of the peoples are gathered together with the people of the god of Abraham for the powers of the earth belong to God and he is very high exalted glory be to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World Without End Amen our lesson is from The Book of Job chapter 19 job if you know the story of job which is in what we call the wisdom literature of the Old Testament job has suffered a great deal at the hands of Satan simply because he could not believe that his worship of God was caused by anything more than the fact that every blessing had been given to him in life he had great wealth he had many children he had many friends and everything went well for job and in the dialogue which takes place between the Lord God and Satan at the beginning of the Book of Job Satan says are you may say that your servant job is full of righteousness but take away his possessions bring him sorrow bring him sickness and he will soon turn round and curse you and God then said well I give you leave to try and the whole book is the testing of job and here is job in his prayers to God questioning why this has happened to him he has put my family far from me and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me my relatives and my close friends have failed me the guests in my house have forgotten me my serving girls count me as a stranger I have become an alien in their eyes I call to my servant but he gives me no answer I must myself plead with him my breath is repulsive to my wife I am loathsome to my own family even young children despise me when I Rise they talk against me all my intimate friends app me and Those whom I loved have turned against me my bones cling to my skin and to My Flesh and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth have pity on me have pity on me oh you my friends for the hand of God has touched me why do you like God pursue me never satisfied with my flesh oh that my words were written down oh that they were inscribed in a book oh that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever for I know that my redeemer lives and that at the last he will stand upon the Earth and after my skin has been thus destroyed then in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see on my side and my eyes Shall Behold and not another the word of the Lord thanks be to God it's amazing how in Old Testament and New Testament phrases suddenly spring up one is in the middle of a desperate passage as with here where job is sitting amongst the ashes and is covered in a a a sore disease and yet from that very desperate situation comes this sentence which we know so well as the opening sentence in the beautiful solo of part three of the Messiah handles Messiah I know that my redeemer liveth and that at the last he will stand upon the Earth and after my skin has been thus d destroyed then in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see on my side it's very like sentences which appear in the middle of the Lamentations of Jeremiah at his most desperate nevertheless he announces the mercies of God never cease they are new every morning great is his faithfulness beautiful words again words we know to music but springing like a flower in the middle of the ruins of a building like a flower raising up amongst a dust Heap and being beautiful there and all the more beautiful because of all the surroundings here is job still professing his absolute faith in God I know that my redeemer lives so A Canticle now the Glorious grace of God is freely bestowed on us in the Beloved blessed are you the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ for you have blessed us in Christ Jesus with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places you chose us to be yours in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before you in love love you destined us for adoption as your children through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of your will to the praise of your glorious Grace which you freely bestowed on us in the Beloved in you we have Redemption through the blood of Christ the Forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of your grace which you have lavished upon us you have made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of your will according to your purpose which you set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Christ things in heaven and things on earth glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever amen the Glorious grace of God is freely bestowed on us in the Beloved those verses of Hope from the New Testament epistle to the Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 to 10 trust in the Lord with all your heart and be not wise in your own sight trust in the Lord with all your heart and be not wise in your own sight in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths trust in the Lord with all your heart glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit trust in the Lord with all your heart and be not wise in your own sight so as always at even song we use the song of the Blessed Virgin Mary Magnificat my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord my spirit rejoices in God my savior he has looked with favor on his lowly servant from this day all generations will call me blessed the almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name he has Mercy on those who fear Him from generation to generation he has shown strength with his arm and has scattered the proud in their conceit casting down the mighty from their Thrones and lifting up the lowly he has filled the Hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty he has come to the age of his servant Israel to remember his promise of Mercy the promise made to our ancestors to Abraham and his children forever glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever amen so as this day begins to come to an end we remember all those whom we pray for and would offer before God those who are suffering from war those who are suffering from sickness those who are suffering from loneliness and fear those who will spend this night in pain and those who will look after them and comfort them we name silently in our hearts not only those for whom we would pray in distress but those for whom we are thankful in our lives and in the middle of this wonderful garden set up by the vision of one man for his fellow citizens whatever their position whatever their resources to be a place of Solace where they can come and enjoy the fruits of creation and the creatures with whom they share this planet Lord you have taught us that all our doings without love are nothing worth send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love the true Bond of peace and of all virtues without which whoever lives is counted dead before you grant this for your only son Jesus Christ's sake who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit one God now and forever amen so as our savior taught us we also pray 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 the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen that sound you hear behind is one of the giant bullfrogs who live in this Lake together with enormous catfish and many smaller creatures and creatures of the water creatures of the banks of this particular Lake but also I watched just now a family of Canada geese going past mother and father and three goslings as they they paddled past truly in this place you never know quite what you're going to find and which flower will be blooming and which scent you will suddenly be arrested by and all is fresh and wonderful as this day comes to a close so we say together the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all ever more Amen Let Us bless the Lord thanks be to God last night we were on the central parks around the stage in the amphi there watching Romeo and Juliet tonight A different kind of theater with the trees and the wonders of creation and the sense of fresh new life sprouting everywhere and at the same time other plants which have fulfilled their Duty produce their seed needs and are spreading them around for New Growth The Book of Job in the end comes to a completion but all the way through if you read it there is a sense of the glory of God in creation and our own tiny vocation but listen to the Frog they puff themselves up and are about this big no one else here and we ourselves will soon be going home so thank you for joining us in this beautiful place and enjoy the tranquility and the loveliness of the water as the sun hidden by clouds but still gleaming sets for tonight all [Music] [Music] [Music] over [Music] [Music] all [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] true TL [Music] your sness of the world I am [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I have to seeing my [Music] my heart [Music] [Music] to end our day I'm sitting here beside the enormous width of the River Ohio and looking across at the city of Louisville with all its bright and wonderful lights and beautiful buildings illuminated but also I'm looking at a river which proved very dangerous indeed to navigate for hundreds of years the waters here cover a fossil bed where fossils of it's thought 390 million years of age and they used to be uncovered more devonian fossil bed here some of them you can still see beyond the Falls now the falls the waterfalls are under the siluette of the bridge over here and from about 18 1930 onwards people made different attempts to make the whole river navigable until a whole lock system was put in place and enormous nav navigable pools even for bigger boats uh came to be so many accidents had happened with people attempting to navigate the falls and huge uh river boats being wrecked on that that they had had to put in place and this um in the early years of the 20th century uh almost a lifeguard station on the side of the river but the lifeguards themselves were subject during their history there to loss of life as they attempted to rescue people but now the Falls are just beyond that bridge and at all times the river is navigable by the lagoons which have been created and the canal bypasses and locks that are put in place it's still an enormous river and a really fine River to sit beside in the day people come here uh and and see this historic site and there's plentiful explanation of this as you go up nearer to the falls themselves you can walk along the side but in the Darkness the river simply shining by the light of a a fairly new moon as well and we've just been treated to a glorious Sunset so this another of the sites of this part of uh the United States traffic crossing the bridge two Bridges now Beyond and then this bridge here also which spans the falls for