[Music] [Music] um [Music] um [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] um [Music] good morning and welcome on this sunday morning the 4th of october for us it's harvest thanksgiving and it's also since the feast of saint francis and so that's why we've come in to be with the birds for he was not ashamed to spread the gospel message to the creatures of the earth as well we seem to have entered a period of persistent rain and so instead of being outside with the birds in the larger aviary we've come into the the inside where they've all gathered because the rain is not exactly the best thing for them and so you may hear it on the roof of the aviary but i'm in the turkey bit of the enclosure as well so these have grown up since you first saw them well we've just been listening on the morning television to david attenborough who has been speaking and will continue to speak i think throughout the day about the the state of the the planet and our necessity to care for it and so our two themes of saint francis of assisi and harvest thanksgiving on this world animal day when if everything had been um normal shall we say and not in lockdown we'd have been blessing animals to large numbers of people that would have brought their animals for blessing on the the grass of the precincts outside the cathedral it's always a wonderful day but we are here reminding ourselves of our own responsibility to care for the earth in many cities and places across the world people are running marathons and here in england is very very wet indeed but they will run in their thousands and so we wish them well just two or three little dates which of importance miles coverdale in 1535 published the first edition of the whole bible in english it was printed and on this day and we remember coverdale because his translation of the psalms are still the sounds that we sing or say from the 1662 book of common prayer they don't come from the 1611 king james bible they come from coverdale and he had a very poetic way with words and then on this day rembrandt died and milay was born rembrandt died in 1669 miller born in 1814. remember two of their paintings which are significant because they use the writings of saint luke one of them is the return of the prodigal son a very powerful rembrandt painting and melee the angelus the two people stopping in the field of potatoes with the church tower in france ringing out the angelus at midday for them to say their prayers and stop work two powerful paintings and both those stories of course the angels visit to mary angelus and also the prodigal son are only found in the gospel of luke whose writings we've been following throughout all these weeks let's then say our prayer and give thanks for the vision of francis o 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 creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made and as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep 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 and as 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 [Music] our psalm on this fourth morning of the month is very aptly psalm 19 the heavens are telling the glory of god and the firmament proclaims his handiwork one day pours out its song to another and one night unfolds knowledge to another they have neither speech nor language and their voices are not heard but their sound has gone out into all lands and their words to the ends of the world in them has he set a tabernacle for the sun that comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoices as a champion to run his course it goes forth from the end of the heavens and runs to the very end again and there is nothing hidden from its heat the law of the lord is perfect reviving the soul the testimony of the lord is sure and gives wisdom to the simple the statutes of the lord are right and rejoice the heart the commandment of the lord is pure and gives light to the eyes the fear of the lord is clean and endures forever the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold more than much fine gold sweeter also than honey dripping from the honeycomb by them also is your servant taught for in keeping them there is great reward using a special lesson today from the gospel of saint luke and it's chapter 10 jesus sends out the seventy after this the lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go and he said to them the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest go your way behold i am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves carrying no money bag no knapsack no sandals and greet no one on the road whatever house you enter first say peace be to this house and if a son of peace is there your peace will rest upon it but if not it will return to you and remain in the same house eating and drinking what they provide for the laborer deserves their wages do not go from house to house whenever you enter a town and they receive you eat what they set before you heal the sick and say to them the kingdom of god has come near you and then a little farther on the 70 returned with joy saying lord even the demons are subject to us in your name and jesus said to them i saw satan fall like lightning from heaven behold i have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you nevertheless do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven well we see jesus using one illustration after another from the natural world but the biggest of those on this day of harvest thanksgiving and the reminder of our responsibility to use the fruits of the harvest for the welfare of all and to harvest the earth wisely and not greedily the biggest illustration is of jesus sending out the good news amongst the seventy as though they are reapers going out to reap a glad harvest and that sentence rejoice that your names are written in heaven it's a very cheerful sentence indeed well this is the day that we commemorate francis of assisi he dies at night on the 3rd of october so this has become his feast day and there are two stories that i just wanted to remind you of you will know them well already i know one is of one of the brothers asking francis one day how to preach he had seen francis in action accompanied him in action through the villages and through the townships around assisi that beautiful place in italy and he said show me how to preach francis said meet me tomorrow morning immediately after the morning worship and we'll go together so they set off and they took a little bread and some cheese or whatever they were going to have for their lunch and uh they set off and soon they came to a cottage where an old lady was uh desperately trying to shall we say hang out washing or do some physical activity and francis stopped it once and called the brother over and they helped her with that went on a bit sat on the roadside and talked to some people who were having breakfast they shared some of that on the way through and we remember that mission to the 70 being said eat what they give you and talk and they talked and then encouraged the people and so it went on all morning and when it was time for their meal they sat down and saint francis began not only to eat but to share the crumbs and the birds came down and he began to speak to them as they crowded around him and it's very true that when you speak to birds so often the human voice in its rhythms will cause them when the sun is shining to start singing there are times of year when the song of all these birds is quite deafening and very beautiful indeed and francis rejoiced in that the song of creation responding to the life given by the creator so they went on all day long helping people seeing people going back to the uh friary in the evening and francis then said good night to the brother the brother said but i thought you were going to teach me to preach and to preach the good news and francis said to him brother we've been doing that all day long never forget that lesson and it's a very true one but then let's think of the other activity in the town of greccio when at christmas time francis decided that there was a way which would help the people never for to forget the invitation to enjoy the human company of our lord which began at bethlehem when the incarnation as we say it our lord took flesh of the blessed virgin by the holy spirit and was born in the simplicity of a stable with a manger full of hay where he was laid and francis wanted people to remember that but he also claimed not just the story from luke's gospel but a verse from the first chapter of the prophet isaiah that prophet who seemingly was so important to jesus said that was the prophet he used to read the lesson in the synagogue at nazareth when he was invited to francis used the verse the ox knows its owner and the ass knows his master stall but my people do not understand so what did he do he found first of all a cave and lit it with candlelight found a manger filled it with hay and then found with the help of a friend that he'd made who owned both an ox and a donkey and they were brought along and stood on each side but as for the crib figures well the people themselves became that it's the first i think the first recorded incident of a crib being made it was the inspiration for all other cribs from that moment onwards and we give thanks for that it happened only three years before francis died and enjoyed the company of heaven he had just got rid of all those things which he felt held him back from the kingdom of heaven but that kingdom could be expressed on earth and it was expressed best by valuing humanity and creation and all the creatures of creation and seeing it as he did in his great canticle of the sun as a hymn of praise to god psalm 19 did that for us this morning and the rejoicing is that as we're doing so our names are written in heaven so this morning we give thanks for the company of the birds and we also give thanks for our responsibility taught us by saint francis to value god's creation for as we've heard again from david attenborough very much this morning that that creation is in danger if we ourselves don't look after it and his most fervent rejoicing was in the fact that young people are the ones the world over who have suddenly woken up to the great dangers of our planet if we don't care for it in the best way possible we came across yesterday as we were looking at this day a poem that i've known four lines of and seen so often but i'd never known the rest it was written by a lady called dorothy francis gurney and she was a hymn writer and is best known for her wedding him oh perfect love but she also wrote this poem and i think when we come to the four lines you'll recognize them it's a nice poem to read on this day as we give thanks for the beauties of creation and for the song of the birds the lord god planted a garden in the first white days of the world and he set there an angel warden in a garment of light enfeld so near to the peace of heaven that the hawk might nest with the wren for there in the cool of the even god walked with the first of men and i dream that these garden clothes with their shade and their sunflecked sword and their lilies and bowers of roses were laid by the hand of god the kiss of the sun for pardon the song of the birds for mirth one is nearer god's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth for he broke it for us in a garden under the olive trees where the angel of strength was the warden and the soul of the world found ease that reminiscence of gethsemane adding so much to the four lines that i already knew and i've seen written on stone in so many gardens but the fact that god's own heart was broken for us under the olive trees as he embraced his vocation for us is the absolute ending for that wonderful poem by the hymn writer dorothy france's journey so let's say our prayers on this day of saint francis and of thanksgiving for the harvest as the rain falls a great blessing for the enrichment of the earth and we are praying in the anglican communion today for the anglican church of tanzania and pray for the primate that primate and imbo mundane the archbishop of tanzania and bishop of tanga and we also pray for all those who are being ordained priests at this time throughout the world last week we prayed for the deacons in our own diocese today we pray for ruth watson leslie hardy stephen o'connor simeon neville michael darkins john huffman and jackie darling as they receive ordination as priests in christ's church so this morning i'm not going to use the colic for the day i'm going to use two prayers of saint francis one certainly written by him and translated a short one first and the other that we're more used to which has been really put together in a very franciscan way may the power of your love o lord fiery and sweet as honey so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven grant that we may be ready to die for love of your love as you died for love of our love our men and the one we're more used to lord make us instruments of your peace where there is hatred let us sow love where there is injury pardon where there is doubt faith where there is despair hope where there is darkness light where there is sadness joy o divine master grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console to be understood as to understand to be loved as to love for it is in giving that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life in jesus christ our lord amen so we say each in our own language the prayer our lord taught us to say whenever we meet 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 now to the sound of the falling rain as we make our own prayers on this day of harvest thank giving and the feast of saint francis of assisi 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 foreign