good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this day of pentecost which used to be called in the english church wit sunday pentecost is a wonderful festival it's an outdoor festival and i've come into the garden of course the cathedral is is locked and so we're on lockdown but i've come to the kitchen garden because red is the color of pentecost the flames of the holy spirit and over this particular shed we've got a fantastic rose which is called etwalde hollande the star of holland it's a david austin rose and it is a beautiful red as a sign of pentecost may you all have a happy pentecost day wherever you are and wherever you are joining us from throughout the world we begin our morning prayers for this day oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise send your holy spirit upon us and clothe us with power from on high hallelujah blessed are you creator god to you be praise and glory forever as your spirit moved over the face of the waters bringing light and life to your creation pour out your spirit on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your presence 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 our son this morning is psalm 146 alleluia praise the lord o my soul while i live i will praise the lord as long as i have any being i will sing praises to my god put not your trust in princes nor in any human power for there is no help in them when their breath goes forth they return to the earth on that day all their thoughts perish happy are those who have the god of jacob for their help whose hope is in the lord their god who made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them who keeps his promise forever who gives justice to those that suffer wrong and bread to those who hunger the lord looses those that are bound the lord opens the eyes of the blind the lord lifts up those who are bowed down the lord loves the righteous the lord watches over the stranger in the land he upholds the orphan and widow but the way of the wicked he turns upside down the lord shall reign forever your god o zion throughout all generations alleluia we read a lesson this morning on this sunday the day of pentecost from the 10th chapter of the acts of the apostles beginning at the 34th verse it begins with peter having made a particular journey he had been in joppa which is on the coast of the mediterranean sea it was part of the roman governor's province in judea and the outlet to the sea for that little province but a message came to him from caesarea farther up the coast and this in the promise of a different governor samaria it came from a member of the italian cohort the occupying roman army and this man was a man of prayer he and his family his name cornelius not one of the jewish people but in his prayer he had been minded to send for peter whom he'd heard about and so he sent a message to joppa and asked him to come peter at the same time had received a vision from the lord a vision where a sheet having been let down from heaven he saw many kinds of different animals in it and as you well know in the old testament some animals are clean to eat some not and peter had never according to his jewish background eaten of the unclean and the voice said rise kill and eat and peter in the vision said but i've never done that with unclean things and the voice in the end after the vision had been repeated says what god calls clean you must not call unclean and then the message comes and so he goes to this household of the centurion of the italian cohort and finds himself in caesarea still on the mediterranean coast but very much amongst strangers and cornelius tells him how in his prayers he had a vision that he must send for peter and peter then begins where we are starting this lesson this morning on this day at pentecost then peter began to speak to them i truly understand now that god shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him you know the message he sent to the people of israel preaching peace by jesus christ he is lord of all that message spread throughout judea beginning in galilee after the baptism that john the baptist announced how god anointed jesus of nazareth with the holy spirit and with power how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for god was with him we are witnesses to all that he did both in judea and in jerusalem they put him to death by hanging him on a tree but god raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear not to all the people but to us who were chosen by god as witnesses and who ed and drank with him after he rose from the dead he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by god as judge of the living and the dead all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name now while peter was still speaking the holy spirit fell upon all who heard the word the circumcised believers who had come with peter were astonished that the gift of the holy spirit had been poured out even on the gentiles for they heard them speaking in tongues and extern god then peter said can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the holy spirit just as we have so he ordered them to be baptized in the name of jesus christ and then they invited him to stay for several days it is the most wonderful story because it shows the breaking down of barriers and the pouring out of the holy spirit to all nations and cornelius the centurion of the italian cohort having had the vision to ascend for peter causes him to make a journey no doubt a nervous journey to caesarea and there to be his guests all kinds of barriers are being broken down in this and peter now after this lesson has to go back and explain to the leaders of the church in jerusalem exactly what he has done and to explain why that's how the faith grew step by step from this day of pentecost the eucharist we read the lesson in the acts of the apostles of the locked down apostles breaking out into the street i said at the beginning that the day of pentecost is a day of open air where walls and doors and locks and bars mean nothing it's an extension of faith and the gifts of the spirit throughout all nations we give thanks for that and we feel ourselves very close to people throughout the world by means of these messages that we could send to each other they are messages of good news but of course they they don't take the place of being physically together and that we are praying for and making preparations for at all times here in england tomorrow there's a slight easing of what we might do a careful easing for everything we're doing is for the welfare of each other on this day at pentecost we have a a sign in flame and fire and the mighty wind of the way in which the power of god is able to break down barriers so let us pray on this day when locks and bars mean nothing to the giving of the spirit that the church's life and the life of faith in many will grow and grow both locked down and afterwards step by step back to normal life and beyond that so that the lessons of pentecost are not lost and the sense of our respect for everyone of all cultures and kinds in receiving the gifts of god is contained in what we do and say let's say our prayers for this morning as we pray for our anglican communion we're praying this morning for the anglican church of melanesia pray for the archbishop of the church there leonard dawaya who's also a bishop of timothy and pray for all his people we pray for justin our archbishop and also for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth pray also for the north stone's benefits in this diocese which looks after the people of bastid hollingborn leeds broomfield autumn langley hucking cernum dettling grove green and boxley pray for canon john corbyn the priest there in his ministry his reader virginia corbyn and readers in training anne harrison and peter roberts we give thanks for that very wide benefits and all the community life there at this time so we say the special prayer for the day of pentecost and then we'll use the sun collect for our own prayer god who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your holy spirit grant us by the same spirit to have a right judgment in all things and ever more to rejoice in his holy comfort through the merits of christ jesus our savior amen the colleagues at the end of psalm 146 and during this college we shall pray for ourselves for the gifts of the spirit and also for all those whom we would want to pray for on this day of pentecost lord of all our breath and being come from you yet our earthly end is dust as you loose the bound and feed the hungry so bring us in your mercy through the gave the grave and gate of death to the feast of eternal life where you reign for ever and ever amen in faith we receive the gifts of the spirit and the foretaste of that heavenly banquet even here on earth on many occasions as we meet together and when we meet together we always say the prayer that our lord taught us to pray in whatever language and in whatever way we like to say it for this is a day when the language of the apostles was understood by all so we say 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 for your own prayers on this very special day [Music] almighty god creator and sustainer of all life pour upon you richly the manifold gifts of the holy spirit and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and remain with you today and always amen