good morning and welcome to the garden of the deanery of canterbury cathedral on this friday morning of the 14th of august it's rather a gray and cooler morning in england today but welcome to you wherever you are joining us from across the world at this time of year saturday by saturday usually but sometimes on weekdays as well the garden would be full of people on a festival event the friends festival or a charitable event but of course this year it's been empty apart from us using it for our worship and we thought that we would add at a link from time to time at the bottom of the the website this page if you scroll all the way down beyond the books and everything else we'll we'll put some links on to tell you bits and pieces about the garden and maybe the house its history and things of that sort but this morning we have put a link on about some new arrivals which you can possibly some of you guess that so if you go down and find that if you find yourself interested you'll find the link there this is a very special day for canterbury because we commemorate on this day 14th of august two of the martyrs of our own time that's 20th century and 21st century who are in the modern martyrs chapel in the cathedral which was dedicated in 1982 the two that we commemorate on this day are maximilian colbert who died in auschwitz in 1941 and jonathan daniels who was killed in alabama in 1965 i shall be thinking about both of those in some detail during our reflection but for the moment let's begin our prayers o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all do you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 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 our psalm on this 14th morning of the month is psalm 71 in you o lord do i seek refuge let me never be put to shame in your righteousness deliver me and set me free incline your ear to me and save me be for me a stronghold to which i may ever resort send out to save me for you are my rock and my fortress deliver me my god from the hand of the wicked from the grasp of the evildoer and the oppressor for you are my hope o lord god my confidence even from my youth upon you have i leaned from my birth when you drew me from my mother's womb my praise shall be always of you i have become a portent to many but you are my refuge and my strength let my mouth be full of your praise and your glory all the day long do not cast me away in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength fails for as for me i will hope continually and will praise you more and more my mouth shall tell of your righteousness and your salvation all the day long for i know no end of the telling i will begin with the mighty works of the lord god i will recall your righteousness yours alone o god you have taught me since i was young and to this day i tell of your wonderful works forsake me not o god when i am old and grey-headed till i make known your deeds to the next generation and your power to all that are to come your righteousness oh god reaches to the heavens in the great things you have done who is like you o god what troubles and adversities you have shown me and yet you will turn and refresh me and bring me from the deep of the earth again increase my honor turn again and comfort me therefore will i praise you upon the harp for your faithfulness so my god i will sing to you with the liar o holy one of israel my lips will sing out as i play to you and so will my soul which you have redeemed my tongue also will tell of your righteousness all the day long for they shall be shamed and disgraced who sought to do me evil let me turn to our reading from the acts of the apostles lucas described peter's speech on the day of pentecost and we've come now at verse 37 of chapter two of the acts of the apostles to the reaction of those listening now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to peter and the rest of the apostles what shall we do and peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to himself and with many other words peter bought witness and continued to exhort them saying save yourselves from this crooked generation so those who received his word were baptized and they were added that day about 3 000 souls and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they receive their food with glad and generous hearts praising god and having favor with all the people and the lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved it's an amazing cameo picture by st luke of the earliest days of the church but also of peter beginning to formulate the teaching of the church some things though were certain what must we do and the word used is repent that takes us all the way back to the very beginning in fact in the earliest of the gospels saint mark shows jesus after his baptism and his time in the wilderness beginning his ministry as the christ coming to the people in galilee and using the word repent repent and believe in the gospel the good news says the voice of jesus and here with the memory also of john the baptist's baptism for repentance and forgiveness of sins and the lord at his own baptism knowing the spirit like a dove coming down upon him now gives the apostles the gift from the father the holy spirit and peter has come out to share it i am purposely sitting this morning in front of a davidia tree sometimes called a handkerchief tree or a dove tree because when it flowers it is covered with flowers which look like white handkerchiefs all over it or doves sitting upon it signs of peace and its leaves are very like the linden tree another tree which speaks of peace and reconciliation what peter is giving to the people in their nervousness at what is happening is a sign of reconciliation and peace receive the gift john the baptist had said the one who is coming will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire and now at this time jesus himself had promised that gift to his apostles and here they have received it and to those who had followed him and here they had received it and now peter is standing offering it to the people breaking down barriers repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ who had promised that gift and you will receive forgiveness of your sins and the gift of the holy spirit the same power that the apostles are experiencing for the promise is for you for your children for those who are far off for everyone whom the lord calls and when they receive it then as an early community they devote themselves to the apostles teaching so that they may learn more to the fellowship the building up of community to the breaking of bread sharing of meals and to the prayers and to the daily going to the temple for worship there two types of worship worship in the holy place as they offer their lives and their new community to god and worship in their own homes as they break bread and care for each other's needs and day by day we hear the lord added to the number those he was saving the gift of the holy spirit they will need that gift because they're about to set out into a world which is dangerous and where many of them will die for the faith as i said at the beginning august the 14th is a day on which we remember two of the martyrs of our own times meaning our own centuries the ones that we have lived in and they're named in our chapel of modern martyrs which was dedicated in 1982 the first of those whom we commemorate today is maximilian culver who was a polish priest and monk who was taken to auschwitz and who offered his life in place of another who was going to be taken and set in a sealed room to to die colbert went instead and the man who had a wife and children was spared and lived to well beyond as we shall see culver died on this day in 1941 on the 29th of may 1982 when pope john paul ii came here and knelt at the place of beckett's martyrdom where he gave his life he knelt with the archbishop of canterbury and the archbishop lit a candle for reconciliation and named a modern martyr the recently murdered archbishop of uganda gernani the womb pope john paul then lit a candle and named maximilian culver the polish monk who then had not been canonized but clearly it was in his heart and mind to do so for when he went back to rome in october of the same year he canonized culver we remember culver giving his life for another and when the pope canonized him that other in old age whose wife and children that too was standing watching the canonization of kolbe other saint we remember today is one from the episcopal church of the united states of america his name is jonathan daniels and jonathan daniels was a young seminarian at the episcopal theological school in cambridge massachusetts who went on a civil rights demonstration to start with in alabama at hayneville and he became so sure that this movement to ensure that everyone could benefit from the vote of congress which had just given all equal rights in voting he asked to go back after he had returned to the seminary and twice he went back but the second time having been imprisoned with a little group when they were let out he was with a young 17 year old afro-american girl ruby sales and as they were waiting for transport back for the prisoner just set them out they got a cool drink from grocers and a deputy uh sheriff there raised a gun to say to them just currently and raised his gun at ruby and when he fired jonathan daniels stood in the way and was killed he became instantly to martin luther king a symbol of martyrdom in that civil rights movement ruby lived on to be a civil rights worker in that way but in 1991 jonathan daniels was added to the calendar of the episcopal church on this day he was killed on august 20th but this is the day that they celebrate in their calendar and we remember to hear in canterbury for already his name was among the martyrs named in our chapel of modern martyrs these people are signs we remember that the word mata the greek word means witness a witness we've seen two ways of that in saint duke's gospel and and in the acts of the apostles peter has talked about eyewitnesses which is a different word and and bearing witness this kind of witness even to death martyrdom that needs the grace of the holy spirit to be courageous in situations where evil forces are at work so we give thanks for maximilian colbert and jonathan daniels today colber wrote in his book no one in the world can change truth what we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it the real conflict is the inner conflict beyond armies of occupation and the heterkums of extermination camps there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depths of every soul good and evil sin and love and what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our inner most personal selves there are also two short quotes where jonathan daniels and maximilian colbert's sound just the same daniels wrote take every failure as an experience because to be successful you need experience and colber wrote every fall even if it be very grave and repeated serves us always and only as a little step towards a higher perfection thanks be to god on this morning for them both so we say our prayers and we remember this morning in our anglican communion the diocese of okay ogum in nigeria praying for cornelius adagbada the bishop there and his people and the diocese of bukhavu in the congo and pray for bishop silvestri bahati and his people here in this diocese as we pray for archbishop justin and for bishop rose in dover bishop tim at lambeth we are praying for all the parishes and communities covered by the area deanery of romney and tenterdon that area deanship is vacant at the moment so we pray for the assistant area dean chris hodgkins and then pray for the officers of that deanery we bring our own prayers as always praying for those who will walk in danger today both of health and of safety as we remember the martyrs and we continue of course to pray for the people of beirut and the lebanon bring any that you have in your hearts and on your minds as we say the prayer for this day almighty god by whose grace and power your holy martyrs maximilian and jonathan triumphed over suffering and were faithful unto death strengthen us with your grace that we may endure reproach and persecution and faithfully bear witness to the name of jesus christ your son our lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen we say together each in our own language the prayer that our savior 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 lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men remember to silence now for your own 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 on those whom you love those whom you would pray for today and always amen right so