good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the garden here on rather a gray morning with a misty rain in the air welcome to you wherever you are coming to us from across the world bring your own concerns as we say our morning prayers together on this thursday morning the 16th of july oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise visit us with your salvation and sustain us with your gracious spirit 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 are the work of your hands in the fullness of time you made us in your 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 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 oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our son this morning is psalm 80 hear o shepherd of israel you that led joseph like a flock shine forth you that are enthroned upon the cherubim before ephraim benjamin and manasseh stir up your mighty strengths and come to our salvation turn us again o god show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved o lord god of hosts how long will you be angry at your people's prayer you feed them with the bread of tears you give them abundance of tears to drink you have made us the derision of our neighbors and our enemies laugh us to scorn turn us again o god of hosts show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved you brought a vine out of egypt you drove out the nations and planted it you made room around it and when it had taken root it filled the land the hills were covered with its shadow and the cedars of god by its boughs it stretched out its branches to the sea and its tendrils to the river why then have you broken down its wall so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes the wild boar out of the wood tears it off and all the insects of the field devour it turn again oh god of hosts look down from heaven and behold cherish this vine which your right hand has planted and the branch that you made so strong for yourself let those who burnt it with fire who cut it down perish at the rebuke of your countenance let your hand be upon the man at your right hand the son of man you made so strong for yourself and so will we not go back from you give us life and we shall call upon your name turn us again o lord god of hosts show the light of your countenance and we shall be saved so we turn to our reading from the gospel of saint luke yesterday we found jesus teaching in the temple and now he turns to the people still teaching where we left him and jesus began to tell the people this parable a man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while when the time came he sent a servant to the tenants so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed and he sent another servant but they also beat and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed and he sent yet a third this one also they wounded and cast out then the owner of the vineyard said what shall i do i will send my beloved son perhaps they will respect him but when the tenants saw him they said to themselves this is the air let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours and they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him what then will the owner of the vineyard do to them he will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others when they heard this they said surely not but jesus looked directly at them and said what then is this that is written the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone it will crush him when one looks at calendars for particular days sometimes days are quiet others they are full of anniversaries today is one of those it's tragic to look at some of the anniversaries how in 1054 on this day the great schism occurred between the church of the west and the church of the east when the papal bull of excommunication was placed on the altar of hagar sophia in what was then constantinople a day of division and schism which still is in need of healing as we pray for the unity of christ's church and also a day of tragedy in the sense that this day saw the end of the 300-year dynasty of the romanovs and the tragedy being the appalling massacre of the tsar and his family and children there in yekaterinburg on this day the building of nations the fall of nations the building of human authority the fall of human authority this is the day in which in 1790 the congress in the united states announced that washington dc would be the capital and began to build that city building and putting down and at the same time it's a day when father sarah founded the mission at san diego that was in 1769 and that little mission is now a great city there which some of you will know on the pacific coast things rise and things fall at the same time people are creative and we remember on this day that in 1780 mozart's first opera was produced in vienna the abduction from the seraglio and also on this day sir joshua reynolds was born president of the royal academy and also a huge english painter and we remember the massive collection which is not here in england but in the huntington museum and gallery in pasadena and pray for our friend the curator that melinda makari as she looks after that and and explains everything about that creativity we think of those today who are involved in the arts and in performance because coronavirus has struck that dimension of our life very badly and so we pray for them but in all that yesterday and i've mentioned this book before it's called poem for the day yesterday evening i read the poem for july the 15th and i had never read it before it's by d.h lawrence and it's called the song of a man who has come through was written on that date in 1914 here it is not i not i but the wind that blows through me a fine wind is blowing the new direction of time if only i let it bear me carry me if only it carry me if only i am sensitive subtle oh delicate a winged gift if only most lovely of all i yield myself and am borrowed by the fine fine wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world like a fine an exquisite chisel a wedged blade inserted if only i am keen and hard like the sheer tip of a wedge driven by invisible blows the rock will split we shall come at the wonder we shall find the hesperides oh for the wonder that bubbles into my soul i would be a good fountain a good well head would blur no whisper spoil no expression what is the knocking what is the knocking at the door in the night it is somebody wants to do us harm no no it is the three strange angels admit them admit them so full of imagery the garden of the hesperides like the original eden full of fruitfulness and beauty and gifts and wonder which can be reflected in our lives but most important of all those three angels reminiscent of the angels who came to visit abraham and received his hospitality and brought news of all that would follow it's a poem full of courage but also of the fine wind which is always a sign of the spirit at work and here is jesus teaching in the temple courtyard teaching the nations and then turning from the hostility of those who confronted him yesterday and in their hearts wanted to destroy him simply tells a parable about someone planting a garden a vineyard and entrusting its fruit to others and then sending servants to receive the gifts of that fruitfulness and finding none finding only violence the servants were beaten and the beloved son thrown outside the wall and killed this is a prophecy but since luke tacks on two images from the old testament which jesus had used one is a verse of psalm 118. the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and the other is a mixed image from the book of daniel in chapter two and isaiah in chapter eight let's deal with the daniel one because it's a an imposing thing it talks of king nebuchadnezzar a mighty king having a dream of a mighty statue an idol it's head of gold it's breast of silver it's body of bronze it's legs of iron and it's feet of clay and of a small stone which appears and shatters the statue to a fine dust which the wind blows away and the stone grows to fill the whole earth what an image but the prophets were so full of images and it's an image that luke which he has taken from the teachings of jesus luke places just there together with the prophecy in isaiah 8 that the temple the sanctuary of god can be to us a sanctuary or a stumbling block all those things jesus is finding as he teaches there in the temple and the three servants like the three angels come to the garden seeking fruit come to the temple let's remember that the temple was not only still being built so the sound of chisels was at work around jesus for it was not yet complete but also around him in the sunshine would gleam in the walls in set in pure gold a vine stretching its branches and its fruits all around the temple a sign of fruitfulness but a sign which jesus hadn't found in the violence around him with some who had questioned him and had in their hearts his destruction he knew what he must suffer but he gives the crowds good news gladly in that garden of the lord which was the temple which he loved dearly but longed for it to be a house of prayer where the fruits of the spirit like the wind would carry the people with the gifts of god we pray for those gifts such this time and give thanks for the creativity of folk like d.h lawrence in that beautiful poem giving us images we remember from the scriptures but at the same time people like reynolds and mozart who despite the rise and fall and tragedy of the nations all of those things despite that still continue to be creative as we pray we can be so let's say our prayers at this time our history tells us that in 1439 the king of england banned kissing because of the plague so the wearing of a mask um is something that uh perhaps isn't as as dreadful as all that if it keeps us protected from one another and establishes the welfare of people in this time of pandemic this is a day when we remember all kinds of things but um we remember especially our friend the reverend justin lewis anthony who is to be inducted in peter and paul's church chingford tonight we pray god's blessing on him and remember his work at the anglican center in rome with great gratitude here in canterbury so too on this day we pray for our anglican communion and we pray particularly let me find the right day or i shall be in great trouble on this the 16th of the month for the diocese of northern michigan in the episcopal church of the united states and rayford ray the bishop there and his people the diocese of barisal in bangladesh and the bishop there shurab folia and his people and the diocese of barak poor the church of north india and paratosh canning and his people in this diocese we pray for the benefits of kale hill with westwell which is at present vacant it includes also the villages of charing and egerton and pluckley and we pray for those looking after those parishes at this time we remember of course those whom we know and love and bring our own communities to prayer this morning pray the collect for this week almighty and everlasting god by whose spirit the whole body of the church is governed and sanctified hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people that in their vocation and ministry each may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name through our lord and savior jesus christ amen and the collect at the end of psalm 80 faithful shepherd of your people as we look for the light of your countenance restore in us the image of your glory and graft us into the risen life of your son jesus christ our lord amen so we say each in our own language and in our own way the prayer which jesus taught us in whatever style we like to say it 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 forever and ever amen so in silence we pray that the fine wind of the spirit which d.h lawrence speaks of may carry us to those things which god has prepared for us to do for him now at this time of crisis for humanity 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 and upon all whom you love and would pray for today and always amen so it's