good evening and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral as we come to the end of this sunday the eighth sunday after trinity august the second we have come to say our evening prayers together compline the last service of the day and we'll look back over this day and remember it in our own lives it's an anniversary of in 1865 the day on which alice's adventures in wonderland was published it became a firm favorite very soon and lewis carroll who was a clergyman based at christchurch oxford suddenly became a famous person lewis carroll was a non-deployment which she used i think we have to have in our mind because of its popularity the way in which victorian children were taught poems of it improving nature many of them were by isaac watts the great hymn writer we're used to reading his poetry as hymns oh god our help in ages past our hope for years to come but he also wrote little poems to help children realize their duties and really how serious life was one of them which has one or two quotations in which we're used to in the english language was this one how does the little busy bee improve each shining hour and gather honey all the day from every opening flower how skillfully she builds her cell how neat she spreads the wax and labors hard to store it well with the sweet food she makes in works of labor or of skill i would be busy too for satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do in books or work or healthful play let my first years be passed that i may give for every day some good account at last obviously alice knew that poem when she finds herself right down in the depths of the rabbit hole in her dream she tries to remember things because she feels she's been turned into someone else and one of the things she tries to remember is that little poem how does the little busy bee here's the passage from the first chapter of alice's adventures in wonderland if i'm not the same thought alice the next question is who in the world am i oh that's the great puzzle and she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself to see if she could have been changed for any of them i'm sure i'm not ada i can't be mabel for i know all sorts of things and she knows such a very little besides she's she and i'm i how puzzling it all is i'll try if i know all the things i used to know let me see 4 times 5 is 12 and 4 times 6 is 30. oh dear that's all wrong i'm certain i must have been changed for mabel let me try and say how dust the little and she crossed her hands on her lap as if she was saying lessons and began to repeat it but her voice sounded hoarse and strange and the words did not come the same as they used to do how does the little crocodile improve his shining tail and pour the waters of the nile on every golden scale how cheerfully he seems to grin how neatly spreads his claws and welcomes little fishes in with gently smiling jaws i'm sure those are not the right words said poor alice but what fun it must have been for children to having those very serious words suddenly replaced by something like that there are other poems of that sort of course in alice's adventures in wonderland and many more in through the looking glass and we give thanks for lewis carroll and all that he wrote to cheer us up and make us think for he was a mathematician and a logician and logic was his great stock in trade and he was able by that to make so many things seem ridiculous and give them a new perspective we'll use another of his poems at our reflection time at the end it's very different from that one and will help i think our sense of solitude as we end the day in reflection but let's first say compline the lord almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end amen be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour whom resist steadfast in the face but thou o lord have mercy upon us thanks be to god our help is in the name of the lord who hath made heaven and earth as we look over the last week we remember things that we would want to say sorry for sorry because we have failed and sorry we've failed to do certain things that we had intended we confess to god almighty the father the son and the holy ghost before the whole company of heaven that we have sinned exceedingly in thought word and deed through our fault our own force our own grievous fault therefore we pray god to have mercy upon us almighty god have mercy upon us forgive us all our sins and bring us to everlasting life amen turn us so god our savior and let thine anger cease from us oh god make speed to save us o lord make haste to help us glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen psalm 91 whoso dwelleth under the defense of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty i will say unto the lord thou art my hope and my stronghold my god in him will i trust for he shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter and from the noise and pestilence he shall defend thee under his wings and thou shalt be safe under his feathers his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day for the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noonday a thousand shall fall beside thee ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee yea with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the ungodly for thou lord art my hope thou has set thine house of defense very high there shall no evil happen unto thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways they shall bear thee in their hands that thou hurt not thy foot against a stone glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen in psalm 134 the behold now praise the lord all ye servants of the lord ye that by night stand in the house of the lord even in the courts of the house of our god lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the lord the lord that made heaven and earth give the blessing out of zion glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen thou o lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not o lord our god thanks be to god into thy hands o lord i commend my spirit thou hast redeemed me o lord thy god of truth i commend my spirit glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost into thy hands o lord i commend my spirit before the ending of the day creator of the world we pray that with thy won'ted favor thou wouldst be our guard and keep her now from all ill dreams defend our eyes from nightly fears and fantasies shred underfoot our ghostly foe that no pollution we may know oh father that we ask be done through jesus christ thine only son who with the holy ghost and thee doth live and reign eternally amen keep me o lord as the apple of an eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings so as always at this time we light a candle in memory of those whom we have known and loved who have died praying that they may rest in peace and rise in glory and we remember any who have died this week whether from the coronavirus or for whatever reason we hold them in our hearts and commend them to god save us a lord waking and guard us while sleeping that awake we may watch with christ and asleep we may rest in peace lord now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared before the face of all people to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of thy people israel glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen save us o lord while waking and guard us while sleeping that awake we may watch with christ and asleep we may rest in peace lords have mercy upon us christ have mercy upon us lord have mercy upon 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 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 blessed aren't thou o lord god of our forebears and to be praised and glorified forever let us bless the father and the son and the holy ghost let us praise and exalt him above all forever blessed art thou o lord in the firmament of heaven and to be praised and glorified and exalted above all forever the almighty and merciful lord guard us and give us his blessing our men vouch safe oh lord to keep us this night without sin oh lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us our lord let thy mercy lighten upon us as our trust is in the lord hear our prayer and let our cry come unto thee let us pray visit we beseech thee oh lord our homes and drive far from them all snares of the enemy let thy holy angels dwell therein to preserve us in peace and may thy blessing be upon us ever more through jesus christ our lord amen o lord who by triumphing over the power of darkness did prepare our place in the new jerusalem grant us who have this day given thanks for thy resurrection to praise thee in the eternal city whereof thou art the light wherewith the father and the holy ghost our livest and rainest one god world without end amen be present oh merciful god and protect us through the silent hours of this night so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world may repose upon thy eternal changelessness through jesus christ our lord amen we keep silence for a moment as we commend ourselves and all those whom we love and would pray for into the hands of god for this coming night [Music] watch thou dear lord with those who wake or watch or weep tonight and give thine angels charge over those who sleep tend thy sick ones o lord christ rest thy weary ones bless thy dying ones sooth thy suffering ones pity thine afflicted ones and all for thy love's sake and 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 you would pray for tonight and always amen so solitude a poem by lewis carroll i love the stillness of the wood i love the music of the rill i love to couch in pensive mood upon some silent hill scarce heard beneath yon arching trees the silver crested ripples pass and like a mimic brook the breeze whispers among the grass here from the world i win release nor scorn of men nor footstep rude break into ma the holy peace of this great solitude here may the silent tears i weep lull the vex spirit into rest as infants sob themselves to sleep upon a mother's breast but when the bitter hour is gone and the keen throbbing pangs are still oh sweetest then to couch alone upon some silent hill to live in joys that once have been to put the cold world out of sight and deck life's drear and baron scene with hues of rainbow light for what to man the gift of breath if sorrow be his lot below if all the day that ends in death be dark with clouds of woe shall the poor transport of an hour repay long years of sore distress the fragrance of a lonely flower make glad the wilderness the golden hours of life's young spring of innocence of love and truth bright beyond all imagining thou fairy dream of youth i'd give all wealth that years have piled the slow result of life's decay to be once more a little child for one bright summer day so so so [Music] this cool oh [Applause] oh so [Music] oh