good morning and welcome to the deanery garden on this wednesday the 2nd of december the sun is just about to come up and break over the top of the wall on a frosty morning the leaves are on the lawn here are white with frost but i'm sitting on the steps of one of the bastions of the old wall with its roman foundations and uh up there quite often you've seen us film in warmer weather and it gives us a much higher perspective our tree this morning in this national tree week which as you know we've been going through morning by morning is the oak now there are no great oaks in the deanery garden at this present time there have been but not at this present time and so in order to keep the species uh represented here we've planted two young ones and the one that is just here is being planted for a specific reason what you're looking at in this great trunk is a tree that you're very used to which is the great ash tree and the ash tree on this side of the garden and its companion on the other side of the garden are architecturally massive but they are beginning to show signs of failing as so many ash trees are now that's a slow process but in a strange way uh the wildlife which shelters in the ash tree begins to know that uh a different a sort of trois yemage has begun to to start and and uh so you find different birds even woodpeckers coming here now and if we sit above on the bastion level that which i was talking about yesterday of different layers of ecology going up and up to the top tree canopy become very evident with the different kinds of birds and insects and moths and butterflies that you find up there and so this morning as i sit here there was a thrush singing right on the top the thrushes love to go high and high and sing and enjoy the morning one was singing as i went out to matins in the cathedral when it was only just beginning to break light but then down here there are blue tits around and also robins which which are at this level remember we were talking about levels of spiritual diversity in which we inhabit different layers and gain different lessons and certainly it's so with nature so this great trunk in order to help the biodiversity we're growing a climbing hydrangea up it but beside it to take over years from now is this oak tree and the oak of course is the sign and we'll think about this in our reflection the sign of strength and in the old testament righteousness and it appears so often in so many cultures as shall we say the monarch of all the trees and so today is the oaks day um let's remember too the various things which have happened on the second of december there's an awful lot of them so i'm not i'm only going to scatter around a little bit it seems to be uh the day of um in international happenings in the past and it's most importantly the united nations international day for the abolition of slavery and we remember that first and foremost and at the same time we remember various things which have happened it was the day when in 1804 napoleon crowned himself emperor of the french in notre dame he brought the pope all the way there and then decided he would crown himself because there was no more no one more important in the building and then in 1805 on this day his army defeated the armies of the emperor of austria and the tsar of russia at the battle of australis so at that time in the middle of that that section of history which we in england tend to call the napoleonic wars you find that this has happened on december the second in that very middle of the conflict in which so many european nations were involved it was today that dickens had his first public reading in 1867 in the united states of america it's the day in 1170 when thomas beckett returned to canterbury from his exile in france he was greeted with enormous enthusiasm as he landed and came up to spend christmas in his cathedral 850 years ago this year in 1170 and of course when we come to december the 29th that is the date of his martyrdom he came back to give his life in that particular way uh so we remember also in 1972 on this day that neville bonner became the first aborigine australian to be elected to the federal parliament a great step in the development of of that nation and we give thanks for it and uh then some interesting things in 1697 on this day the unfinished but new saint paul's cathedral following the great fire in 1666 was opened for a measure of public worship just as we've reopened this cathedral today to public worship after our lockdown and christopher wren was still building it it wouldn't be consecrated till much much later in 1711 it was finished after 35 years of building but we'll think about that too when we come to our reflection many other things on this day the death of aaron copeland the composer in 1990 the birth of maria callas the great diva in 1923 and then maybe we just note that in 1976 fidel castro became president of cuba and that was a long presidency so let's move on to say our prayers wherever you are in the world please feel welcome as we join our prayers and intentions on this 2nd of december oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise reveal among us the light of your presence that we may behold your power and glory blessed are you sovereign god of all to you be praise and glory forever in your tender compassion the dawn from on high is breaking upon us to dispel the lingering shadows of night as we look for your coming among us this day 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 and forever amen so we come to our son which this morning is 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 boasts of their hearts desire the covetous curse and revile the lord 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 judgments 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 their mouth is full of cursing deceit and fraud under their tongue lie 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 wait like a lion in his den they lie in wait to seize the poor they seize the poor when they get them into their net the innocent are broken and humbled before them the helpless fall before their power they say in their heart god has forgotten he hides his faith 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 malicious search out their wickedness until you find none the lord shall reign for ever and ever the nation 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 the land so we come to the penultimate chapter of the book revelation chapter 21 and we're beginning to read at verse 1 until verse 7. then i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more and i saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and i heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of god is with mortals he will dwell with them and they will be his people and god himself will be with them as their god he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away and he who was seated on the throne said behold i make all things new also he said write down this for these words are trustworthy and true you said to me it is done i am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end to the thirsty i will give from the spring of the water of life without payment the one who conquers will have this heritage i will be their god and each will be my child one of the most beautiful passages in john's series of visions and prophecies it's a lesson that tomorrow i shall read as the lesson for a funeral that will take place here in the cathedral crypt we can have 30 people socially distanced to a funeral and there will be tributes and memories and stories told but at the heart will be this beautiful vision i will dwell with them is the voice from the throne and perhaps we could say for time in the revelation is like these layers that we've been talking about and slips from here to there when we were dealing with the gospel of sint luke all through the early summer and into mid-summer day by day we read the story of how we believe god shared our life dwelt with us and and some of the visions have given us this too and gave his own life in place of ours and then was raised from death to new life well an all-encompassing sentence out of the passage that we've just read from john of patmos's revelation and the all-encompassing sentence is for this reflection for a new day and for every day for all peoples the voice from the throne saying behold i make all things new five words i make all things new and they are wonderful words and what has been wiped away in the list is the effects of human suffering pain and sorrow and tears separation all those things are healed by this vision the great sea is no more in this vision for to the people then the sea was a place of danger and in the visions from the sea bad things seem to appear but water of course is the water of life which moses struck from the rock in the wilderness to give refreshment and here we're talking of much more than finding springs in the desert we're talking of the eternal springs which in these last two chapters become very evident in the vision of the new jerusalem which we are asked to reflect on and begin to build here but which is essentially a vision of the beyond as the layers of spiritual biodiversity if we can use that image again as we sit here amongst the trees go higher and higher and beyond the tree to me this morning is a clear blue sky all of that is part of john's gift to us and we remember it with great thanksgiving as we read that lesson and then we remember to as i've said that this is a day when we think of the oak tree here's a very young oak tree but i wanted also first to think of saint paul's cathedral standing proud in the middle of the city of london and all its business we pray for saint paul's cathedral and its community on this particular morning when in 1697 it opened its doors for a measure of worship as building work continued and we think of the one whose image it was and whose vision it was so christopher wren probably still the best known name in architecture terrible thing to say that because there are many many more in english history if you ask for an english architect the one who comes mostly to mind to people is sir christopher wren who built not only st paul's cathedral but 53 london churches and many other buildings sheltonian theater in in in oxford many places he took inspiration from the work of those building in paris at that time the the the completion of the the louvre and bernini the the architect and sculptor actually shared his drawings with the young ren but what we remember is when i say behold i make all things new that ren who was born in the picturesque village of east noil in wiltshire which was one of my villages when i was royal dean of chalk in the 1970s and and early 80s um ren was born there but his father was the rector but five years after his father also christopher wren became dean of windsor and a very distinguished dean of windsor but it was at the time when the english civil war was breaking out and the young christopher wren saw the armies of the parliament and the puritans come in his father refused them the keys just in george's windsor and instead the notorious captain fog broke into saint george's windsor and pillaged it and christopher wren's family were evicted from the deanery and lived eventually at the home of a son-in-law in in a measure of seclusion through the years of the civil war the old dean didn't live long enough to see the restoration but christopher did and by then he had decided with enormous amounts of skills he could have used to be an architect and eventually he was appointed as the surveyor of the works in 1669 to charles ii at that time london lay in burnt ruins following the disastrous fire which has consumed the old cathedral and so many many other churches and houses and then in that year 1669 three years after the fire ren began his work i make all things new his vision was astonishing and one only has to look up at the great dome of st paul's cathedral which he lived to see he lived to the age of 90 and died much much later in 1723 and his work was finished there in 1711. what a wonderful moment that must have been when he died as you will well know probably his son also christopher didn't want a great monument inside the cathedral where he was buried instead just a a plaque in latin saying lector c monumentum requires kirkum spke reader if you seek a monument look around you well that's a wonderful thing in terms of how a vision can be accomplished and we give thanks for all that creativity this morning but we ourselves in terms of if you see the works of our creator and the one who came to dwell with us in our own human life then simply look around you at different levels as i am doing this morning and giving thanks for the fact that season by season the creator makes all things new but also in dwelling with us in human life which the gospels each in their way reflect then he taught us to know that each morning can be a new gift and the healing of forgiveness can give us a new day as we say at the beginning of all our services the gift of this new day in which we have a chance to reflect the qualities of the eternal in the vision the new jerusalem and that is a point of enormous comfort as we say our creed an article of belief i believe in the forgiveness of sins and the communion of saints well that's a wonderful statement for each morning as we begin again thinking of the sentence behold i make all things new so let's say our pres on this day and as we look at the list of those for whom we're playing across the world today we're thinking of the seychelles in the indian ocean and for james praying for james richard juan yin song the primate and also the diocese of eastern oregon in the episcopal church with patrick bell the bishop there and his people tend in our diocese this week to pray for general things we pray of course for our archbishop justin for rose bishop of dover and also for tim bishop at lambeth but throughout the diocese on this second of december we're praying for all schools and young people and those who care for them and uh that's a an enormous vocation in itself so let's join together in the connect for this first week of advent and then we'll say the prayer that our lord taught us in whichever language we like to use the mighty gods give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life in which your son jesus christ came to visit us in great humility that when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead we may rise to the light immortal through him who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever are men and 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 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 as we claim the gift of this new day and god's power in our lives to make all things new [Music] christ the son of righteousness shine upon you scatter the darkness from before your path and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you from those whom you love and those whom you would pray for today and always are men