good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this sunday the 22nd of august as we come together to say our morning prayers wherever you are in the world and whatever your situation please feel welcome bring your own concerns and your own intentions and prayers for each other and those whom you know scenes that you may have in your head from the dramatic scenes across the media that we've been having we've come up into the orchard this morning because the readings and also even the historic dates give us a series of pictures and one of them is very much about seizing the moment and so we've come beside the pear tree here it's a conference pair uh because there's an old english saying there is only one day in the life of a pair if you don't seize the moment then it's either as they say too hard or too sleepy uh it's gone over one day in the life of a pair so we remember these scenes as we catch them today on the way through many of the scenes so across the world are scenes which are dramatic and dangerous for so many people there are scenes this morning of preparations as hurricane henry hits the eastern coast of the united states of america and uh we saw last night on television the dramatic interruption of the massive concert in new york central park which had been there to celebrate the coming together of new york people in the in in great crowds uh in the lull of the pandemic but then suddenly that announcement a dramatic announcement everyone must now leave for their own safety because a huge hurricane is approaching if it makes a landfall then very much we're thinking of all those in connecticut and new york and along that east coast and way up into to massachusetts and beyond there's a a great danger of that so hurricane earthquake we think of the people still of haiti fire across the world in burning areas we still continue to think of algeria and of the eastern mediterranean but we have fires in the western part of the united states in canada fires in so many different places fires in siberia huge fires in siberia and across into china and the amount of forests that are burning across the world is really uncountable so all of that and flood as well but at the same time war and the pictures in our hearts and minds of afghanistan of kabul and of kabul airport and people trying to keep others safe at great cost to their own safety those pictures just snapshots i've given you are ones that are in our hearts and minds as we say our prayers this morning we woke very much this morning uh disturbed in sleep the whole of canterbury i think um because an enormous thunderstorm broke out at about uh half past four this morning and the bedroom was uh suddenly um just alive with lightning flashes glimpses pictures of the of the room in a different way normally i'm there uh reflecting from about five onwards in the silence there uh by myself on a pile of pillows thinking what should we what should we reflect on today and as i do so or in the last few weeks the sun has risen in golden light well the light wasn't like that this morning and i'd know sooner um woken up and decided here's the the reflection we're doing then the thunderstorm broke and the sound of the rushing rain outside for a couple of hours uh has had uh punctuated everything i turned the light back off to enjoy the way in which the room lit up just for a second and then was dark again with the lightning and the enormous sound of the thunder eventually after a couple of hours it rolled away fletcher i find actually photographed and on his telephone also made a film of the way in which the storm unfolded and i've looked at a bit of that since and once again you get that sense of darkness with a little bit of light from windows and then suddenly the whole room full of light just for a nanosecond shall we say and yet the brightest light you could possibly imagine and all the power of the heavens crashing forth well all of that perhaps is helpful this morning in our particular lessons but now we find outside and you may hear a bit of that that although it's a sunday morning there is a sound of workmen clearing up from all the the torrents of water from the storm and the damage that has been done so we've come here into the orchard and i'm sitting very near the beehive so we're taking a risk because the bees having been shut in by the rain are now thinking rather like airport controllers that uh the flight is open again and i'm sitting just by the flight path but i think we'll be all right as you look at me on your left there's a cooking apple tree on your right there is the conference pair behind me you probably can't see it there's an asian pear tree these are in full fruit and the pears on the conference tree look like a christmas decoration and above me dripping on me a little bit is a weeping silver birch a beautiful tree here this morning so let's begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise reveal among us the light of your presence that we may behold your power and glory blessed are you sovereign god to you be praise and glory forever in your tender compassion the dawn from on high is breaking upon us to dispel the lingering shadows of night as we look for your coming among us this day open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen our hands to do your will that the world may rejoice and give you praise blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind does we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever are men our psalm on this 22nd morning of the month is psalm 107. i would generally only read sections of it but i think that because it's a series of snapshot pictures and has definite breaks like a liturgy almost like prayers and the same sentence at the end of the breaks well i'm going to read it all because those pictures are very dramatic o give thanks to the lord for he is gracious for his steadfast love endures forever let the redeemed of the lord say this those he redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south some went astray in desert wastes and found no path to a city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul was fainting within them so they cried to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he set their feet on the right way till they came to a city to dwell in let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death bound fast in misery and iron for they had rebelled against the words of god and despised the council of the most high so he bowed down their heart with heaviness they stumbled and there was none to help them then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he brought them out of darkness and out of the shadow of death and broke their bonds asunder let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children for he has broken the doors of bronze and breaks the bars of iron in pieces some were foolish and took a rebellious way and were plagued because of their wrongdoing their cell aboard all manner of food and drew near to the gates of death then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he sent forth his word and healed them and save them from destruction let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children let them offer him sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his acts with shouts of joy those who go down to the sea in ships and ply their trade in great waters these have seen the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep for at his word the stormy wind arose and lifted up the waves of the sea they were carried up to the heavens and down again to the deep their soul melted away in their pedal they reeled and staggered like a drunkard and were at their wit's end then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were count then were they glad because they were at rest and he brought them to the haven they desired let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children let them exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the counsel of the elders the lord turns rivers into wilderness and water springs into thirsty ground a fruitful land he makes a salty waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell there but he makes the wilderness a pool of water and water springs out of a thirsty land there he settles the hungry and they build a city to dwell in they save fields and plant vineyards and bring in a fruitful harvest he blesses them so that they multiply greatly he does not let their herds of cattle decrease he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes they are diminished and brought low through stress of misfortune and sorrow but he raises the poor from their misery and multiplies their families like flocks of sheep the upright will see this and rejoice that all wickedness will shut its mouse whoever is wise will ponder these things and consider the lovingkindness of the lord an amazing canvas but really a series of snapshots with people in desperate situations crying to the lord in their trouble and he delivering them in their distress for that we give thanks but we note the warnings in the sun that rivers can become dry and fruitful lands into salty wastes if the greed and wickedness of the people misusing the earth and all that fruitfulness is so great that all that fruitfulness and that refreshing water is destroyed on the other hand it can be turned round and the wilderness becomes streams of water once again lessons of the way that we treat our planet let's go to our reading today it's a very different reading today because it's a sunday morning and we're given the revelation of john chapter one and i'm going to read that now the revelation of jesus christ which god gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place he made it known by sending his angel to his servant john who bore witness to the word of god and to the testimony of jesus christ even to all that he saw blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near john to the seven churches that are in asia grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from jesus christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom priests to his god and father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him even so amen i am the alpha and the omega says the lord god who is and who was and who is to come the almighty i john your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in jesus was on the island called patmos on account of the word of god and the testimony of jesus i was in the spirit on the lord's day and i heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches to ephesus and to smyrna and to pergamum and to thyatira and to sardis and to philadelphia and to laodicea then i turned to see the voice it was speaking to me and on turning i saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash round his chest the hairs of his head were white like white wool like snow his eyes were like a flame of fire his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace and his voice was like the roar of many waters in his right hand he held seven stars from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and his face was like the sun shining in full strength when i saw him i fell at his feet as though dead but he laid his right hand on me saying fear not i am the first and the last and the living one i died and behold i am alive forevermore and i have the keys of death and of hell right therefore the things that you have seen those that are and those that are to take place after this as for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches is it a prophecy is it a dream is it a vision is it a letter is it a testament of faith is it a word of encouragement well in truth it's all of those things and the revelation if you use the word from the latin stem the apocalypse if you use the word from the greek stem but both mean an unveiling i'm making known of the vision let's think about the one who's writing we know his name his name is john it doesn't say which john but he does tell us that he is on the island of patmos and from the way he writes it's a punishment an exile he's alone he's not with his own folk and in that exile in that punishment he arrives at a particular sunday morning he a christian an ordinary christian like ourselves on a sunday morning in the spirit on the lord's day all of that is very regular and so too is the greeting that he wants to send and he names the number seven of the churches in asia minor turkey modern but really it's a symbol of the perfection that he sees of christ's church on earth with that number seven seven goes all the way through and seven is the name of is the number of perfection of of wholeness of the church itself in all its life but he names them and he sends them grace and peace rather like sin paul does in his letters so it is a letter well certainly is a message and it has to be written down and shared but in truth it's a series of snapshots all the way through the book some of them terrifying in the vision speaking of john's inner turmoil and his total agony for what is happening to so many in persecution and also to those like himself sent to be alone and praying for others so we think of this john our brother as he says sending us through this book which he's told to write down and make the vision known there are images from books like the book of daniel there are wonderful images of heaven there are terrifying images of earth which will come but we already are praying for terrifying images of earth and those caught up in them and we too are in the spirit in prayer on the lord's day so that this chapter is a wonderful one now what john hears from the angel he is told to make known if you read uh two corinthians the letter of saint paul chapter 12 his own time and say i know a man who uh some years ago whether in the spirit or outside i do not know in the fl and he talks about being caught up into the third heaven and there he sees and hears things so secret that he even the great apostle paul with all his capacity for writing can't describe it and those things as he says belong to infinity and paradise but so wonderful now this whole sequence of images like the lightning flashing on the room this morning and just giving us a nanosecond of a vision and all of that terror and wonder and the sense of can i share this can i put it into words very difficult to put images like this into words but the command is absolute and the command also says blessed is the one reading this aloud because so many of the people that this would come to were not able to read for themselves and blessed are those who hear and take lessons from these images given of this finite world with all its wonder and all its dangers all its capacity for life and all capacity of humankind to do harm and create where life was a barren land back to the psalmist all of those things come and john is obedient in so far as he can be to writing down those pictures that he sees so we give thanks for that for our brother john they're in exile all those years ago sending his message through on the lord's day in the spirit praying and praying for us in our situations for the one thing he's saying is that the lord the almighty jesus christ the firstborn from the dead has no concept of time being any distance or difficulty he is and he was and he is to come it's how john tries to express that sense of being out of time and yet in it huge concepts but in the life of the spirit everything becomes that and insight becomes like a snapshot well let's look at some of the things that are here for us today and we have here um in four particular different dates of august the 22nd little snapshots the first is in 1485 on this day at the battle of bosworth field king richard iii was killed and king henry vii won that battle and began what we call the tudor dynasty which would go through henry vii henry the eighth edward the six queen mary and then elizabeth the first and end in 1606 at that point the tudor dynasty now you well know that one of my favorite novels it's a strange detective novels because it did novel because it takes place in the hospital ward of the detective alan grant is written by josephine tay the last book she published she was dying of cancer at the time but she kept that to herself so that even very close friends like sir john gielgud whom she'd known for so long uh didn't know that she was ill and so um she was working at this and the hospital ward becomes a symbol of her own lockdown but it's a wonderful story and it's called the daughter of time and it's an investigation into the way in which those who win the battle control the story well we know that only too well so that richard iii could not control his own story but josephine tay who is rather on his side causes a modern detective alan grant to rewrite the story for him with proper methods of investigation and friend and and uh help from his lovely actress friend marta hallard who comes to visit him and tries to cheer him up in the hospital ward so that this this uh this book becomes an illustration of that old adage truth is the daughter of time if you look around the world in the way that politicians tell stories anyone tells stories i tell a story you tell a story we have control of the truth while we're telling the story and even though we try to be as faithful to the truth as possible everything becomes a matter of interpretation so let's think of the way in which this kingdom changed to a different dynasty on this day in 1485 and how much much later the body of king richard iii was found under a car park in leicester and now is in leicester cathedral and honoured but i want to give thanks for josephine tay and the lovely books that she wrote and especially that book the daughter of time 1642 on this day just as in 1485 the wars of the roses in english civil war ended on 16 in 1642 on this day king charles the first raised his standard in nottingham to begin the english civil war which began there between the parliamentarians and the royalists so that we're thinking of two ways that this nation changed and the way in which again the stories were told in a particular way afterwards and truth was shaped to help those who won but still held on to by those who had lost and were still wanting to state their case the other two dates are very different on this day in 1908 the french photographer ari cartier brasson was born and he is known as the master of candid photography he found it as a gift that he could do that and with a small camera would immerse himself in different cultures different situations and wanted to photograph just a moment a snapshot of human life and give it to the world in picture form we've seen how it's done in writing form we've seen how it's done in so many different ways but he just wanted to do it quickly with a snapshot and he became one of the greatest photographers of that kind his book of photographs in 1952 is called the decisive moment he lived on until 2004 and photographed so many political situations but usually in the faces and groups of ordinary people experiencing them in different cultures not only in europe but in africa in india in the far east all over and our thanks for those shots of human life responding becomes immense but there's one quote of his about what it means to be a photographer that i want to share and this is it i think it's a wonderful statement about creativity in a particular art form and he's comparing it to artists who are thinking about what they're painting he says for a photographer there is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you and you must know with intuition when to click the camera that is the moment the photographer is creative oop the moment once you miss it it is gone forever or we can say that about many moments in our own life once you miss it it's gone forever some situations return to us but not in the same way and we give so much thanks for only katie brasson's creativity in wartime in danger showing human life responding to situations and then perhaps this is my uh favorite date this morning and i've got here uh a piece of music it's by clone debussy for claude debussy was born on this particular day and i wanted to remember him he was born in 1862 on the 22nd of august but he is special because he too in his music and in the colors that that's a funny thing for me to say about music but i feel that the colors that he creates with the music he writes and particularly for me as a an inefficient pianist the way in which he writes i love playing the music of those who write songs in english style and all of that but to play debussy without words very often just and i've got in my hand his reverie for solo piano but probably our favorite piece of music played on the drawing piano is the first of his arabesques and that just simply draws up a picture of well um freshness and the sense of of relaxing within the context of this beautiful world that we've been given the reverie does just that when you play it it moves from key to key so easily as your hands touch the keyboard and it it starts in f major and then before you know it a couple of pages on you've moved into e major and then into c major and then back to f major you're not thinking that as you do it but what i find is every time i play it and the arabesque and so many of other of his pieces is that i'm waiting for that moment when that next chord happens and although i know what that's going to sound like it's fresh every time it's played and debussy has that particular gift so many of his preludes are given names like claire de lune moonlight and the reverie that the dream la feel ocean de la the girl with the flax and hair and of course his orchestral piece a la premidi du phone which was turned into a ballet a very important one his opera pelea melisand the same kind of colors he owed his um inspiration he said to no one uh but he had obviously taken all kinds of lessons through but he is so singular in the way he does that and the gift he gives to you to be able to do that one of his pieces one of his preludes is called la catedral on glutee the submerged cathedral and that's full of heavy chords and i remember that sir hugh walpole the novelist who went to king's school here in canterbury uh he he in his novel the cathedral actually instead of putting a quotation at the beginning of the novel puts the first bars of the submerged cathedral because it's a tale of how a cathedral becomes submerged in its own arguments amongst everyone there and forgets the glory of what it stands for well the great bell is sounding so we're going to say our prayers and then i shall leave you to go to matins in the cathedral here is the here is the the prayers for today we're praying in the anglican communion for the anglican church of south america and then in our own diocese for justin our archbishop and today for the favisham benefits which is of four churches peters and paul osbridge said mary magdalene magdalene davington saint mary of charity favisham and saint catherine preston next faversham we pray for simon rollins and daniel corcoran in their ministry there and for the life of those parishes as we remember rose bishop of dover and tim bishop at lambus and pray the collect for today first time we've used this one almighty and everlasting god you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy for giving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of jesus christ your son our lord our men so we pray in our own languages the prayer that jesus taught us our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever and ever are men so a moment of silence for your in prayers 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 upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always amen [Music] [Music] so [Music] bye [Music] so [Music] so [Music] my [Music] so so [Music] so [Music] foreign so [Music] me [Music] so [Music] um [Music] [Music] you