[Music] what [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] good morning and welcome on this sunday morning the second of august welcome to the garden of the deanery in canterbury wherever you are in the world a beautiful morning has begun here in england with a good fresh air after all the heat of the last few days and we've come out into the garden to say our prayers before acts of worship which will take place at a social distance in the great nave of the cathedral church but here we invite you wherever you are to bring your prayers as we say morning prayer together when looks at the anniversaries of this day there's a connection with the kind of contact people wanted to have with each other in 1784 the first properly designed royal mail coach set off on its scheduled first journey from bristol to london carrying the mail and in 1922 alexander graham bell died on this day the second of august the scottish man who is credited with uh inventing the telephone it was said he would never have one in his own office because he found it intrusive but a a device which was to go on and develop into the ways in which now in this lockdown we can communicate with each other remember also in 1895 the death of the explorer the scottish explorer and geologist joseph thompson who explored so much of the continent of africa and mapped and did his geological work there the thompson gazelle and thompson falls named after him but what i wanted to say was his motto and it's a good one is whoever goes gently goes safely whoever goes safely goes far remember that this morning as we begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you sovereign god creator of all to you be glory and praise forever you founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens or the work of your hands in the fullness of time you made us in your own image and in these last days you have spoken to us in your son jesus christ the word made flesh as we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us let the light of your love always shine in our hearts your spirit ever renew our lives and your praises ever be on our lips blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever [Music] 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 amen our psalm on this second day of the month the second morning of the month is psalm 10 it begins with a question a question from someone who is troubled and is looking around also at lives which are troubled in their own day and asking where is god in all this psalm 10 why stand so far off oh lord why hide yourself in time of trouble the wicked in their pride persecute the poor let them be caught in the schemes they have devised the wicked boast of their hearts desire the covetous curse and revile the lords the wicked in their arrogance say god will not avenge it in all their scheming god counts for nothing they are stubborn in all their ways for your judgment are far above out of their sight they scoff at all their adversaries they say in their heart i shall not be shaken no harm shall ever happen to me and their mouse is full of cursing deceit and fraud under their tongue line mischief and wrong they lurk in the outskirts and in dark alleys they murder the innocent their eyes are ever watching for the helpless they lie in weight like a lion in his den they lie in way to seize the poor they seize the poor when they get them into their net and the innocent are broken and humbled before them the helpless fall before their power and they say in their heart god has forgotten he hides his face away he will never see it arise o lord god and lift up your hand forget not the poor why should the wicked be scornful of god why should they say in their hearts you will not avenge it surely you behold trouble and misery you see it and take it into your own hand the helpless commit themselves to you for you are the helper of the orphan break the power of the wicked and militias search out their wickedness until you find none the lord shall reign for ever and ever the nations shall perish from his land lord you will hear the desire of the poor you will incline your ear to the fullness of their heart to give justice to the orphaned and oppressed so that people are no longer driven in terror from their land today being sunday morning we have a special lesson not our regular lesson in course from the gospel of saint luke but a lesson from the second letter of saint peter and we're beginning at the first verse of the first chapter [Applause] simeon peter a servant and apostle of jesus christ to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our god and savior jesus christ may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of god and of jesus our lord his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who has called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through them you make may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire for this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and your virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with mutual affection and mutual affection with love for if these qualities are yours and are increasing they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ for whoever lacks these qualities is so short-sighted that they are blind having forgotten that they were cleansed from their former sins therefore my brothers and sisters be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election for if you practice these qualities you will never fall for in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our lord and savior jesus christ therefore i intend always to remind you of these qualities so you know them and are established in the truth that you have i think it right as long as i am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder since i know that the putting off of my body will be soon as our lord jesus christ made clear to me that i will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things it's a wonderful passage and generally seen as one of the later books of the new testament but as i read it i was reminded of bunyan's pilgrim's progress what reminded me and it's why i'm sitting here this morning were the eight steps after the writer has mentioned the word the promises i remembered how in that story how christian in the first part of the story sets off much burdened by everything from the past on his back and going as he has been shown by evangelist in the direction of the eternal city he goes along well at first and neighbors try to turn him back but you remember how he falls into the slough of despond where all the filth and taint and corruption from the city of destruction wallows and drains into a slow which the king of the eternal city has tried so much to fill in but the slow is too deep and he falls into it and is in danger of being smothered by the filthy mess and mud all around him as he begins to sink a man runs up on the other side and holds out his hand and says give me your hand the man's name is help and he puts christian on the shore on that side and then he says to him why did you not use the steps and christian says i was so burdened i didn't see them these qualities in verses five to seven read to me like eight steps you remember how when christiana and the boys in part two go there they do see the steps but they're helped in all this by mercy who's traveling with them and one of the great things is to hold on to the promises so the steps begin with and we can play with the words the steps begin with the faith of someone which might be very fragile and by grace the writer says make every effort to supplement that faith with virtue moral excellence i suppose you could say that's step number two faith being step number one and then virtue with knowledge here's a mental quality rather than the physical quality of behaving well this is a mental quality of understanding and knowledge with self-control for the temptation is always to go back because the way is difficult and every step is an effort in our human life self-control with steadfastness or patience if you like keeping on keeping on and steadfastness with godliness this step is a spiritual quality and that's why we begin the day with morning prayer and reach out for prayers sometimes arrow prayers just a sentence as the day goes on and godliness with mutual affection and then mutual affection with love the thing about the journey in the um the thing about the journey in the pilgrims progress is that all the way along there are people to help if he finds them but some are no help and some want to lead him in the wrong direction but others which have to be perceived by all the other qualities there are there to help and the mutual affection is really important so here we have the eight steps which the writer of to peter give us and the sense the vision of steps which bunion gives us in the slow of despond which is there so often to suck us in and we need to be very careful of day by day with all those steps by grace allowing us to be part of the divine light this is a day also in 1865 when alice's adventures in wonderland were first published and lewis carroll who wrote them was a lifelong deacon oddly he never got ordained he was as a priest but he was one who took a delight in words and some of the things that he says in alice in wonderland are wonderful simply because of the way in which he plays with logic other things in his quotes like i can't go back to yesterday because i was a different person then is true of the time of this mortal life becomes very important indeed that we realize that the kingdom can be claimed here and now the kingdom promised in to peter is something to be claimed here and now and the steps help us to to do just that without too much backward looking and also one remembers carol saying who in the world am i ah that's the great puzzle and finally the uh the one for this morning i like best of all if you don't know where you're going any road will take you there well christian is following the light to start with to get to the wicket gate and then the road to the eternal city many will help him on the way but those steps the promises will help in the dungeons of giant despair in the battle with apollyon and all the way until he gets to the challenge of the river of death itself and later in part two his wife and children follow him helped by wonderful people as they go along mutual affection and finally full-blown love the quality of the kingdom itself so we remember that on this sunday morning sitting on the steps which represent the promises which we turn to in worship and act out in life we are praying today in our regular prayers for the anglican communion diocese of i'm wrong today we we are praying for all the provinces of the anglican communion because they would had the coronavirus not have happened be gathered in their bishops here in canterbury this would have been the last service of the great lambeth conference now we are hoping to have that in 2022 so it causes us to remember all the dioceses and provinces of our communion primates their bishops that people the world over pray for justin our archbishop also as diocesan bishop of this diocese of canterbury and rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambus and we continue today to pray for the parishes of the elam deanery those are the communities of acres cheraton street cheriton denton elam folkston hawkins highs liminge lim newington paddlesworth postling saltwood sandgate stanford and wootton villages some of you may know but in beautiful parts of kent and some right on the coast which looks over to france let's say the collect for this week the eighth sunday after trinity almighty lord and everlasting god we beseech you to direct sanctify and govern both our hearts and bodies in the ways of your laws and the works of your commandments that through your most mighty protection both here and ever we may be preserved in body and soul through our lord and savior jesus christ amen yes we rejoice in the promises but also remember joseph thompson's victim whoever goes gently goes safely whoever goes safely goes far we remember that as steps in our spiritual life as we say together the prayer our lord taught us in whatever language we say whenever we come together our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen moment of silence for our own prayers on this sunday morning the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always are men so um