good morning and welcome to Canterbury Cathedral to the deia dinery Garden on this day the 26th of August which is a much nicer day than yesterday but the wind is still very strong and so I've sought shelter between these two Stone sides to the steps here as we say our morning prayers to keep out of the wind many anniversaries today but one of them is the birth of Mother Teresa St Teresa of Kolkata now as she is in 1910 Northern Macedonia which was then the Ottoman Empire in those days but we shall be remembering her on September the 5th which is the anniversary of the day that she died in uh 1997 and um we will give thanks for her more on that day at the same time this is a feast day of the mother of St Augustine of Hippo and uh St Monica is known as the one who encouraged him patiently through all his years of wandering in his mind and heart and finally finding his vocation so our prayer at the end includes the prayer for this day for St Monica but most of all today in our reflection I want to remember that this was the day in 1958 that Ray for Williams died and he gave so much to music that uh we want to give thanks for him in all sorts of ways so let's not just remember his L ascending which is a hugely popular piece at the moment but many other things uh including his Hymn for all the saints who from their labors rest that fine tune that we sing to that but we'll save that for our reflection as we begin our prayers this morning oh Lord open our lips and our mouths shall Proclaim your praise May Christ the day star Dawn in our hearts and Triumph over the shades of light 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 Li open before us let us pray with one heart and mind as we re joice 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 Psalm on this 26th morning of the month is a section of Psalm 119 and I'm going to say the section beginning at verse 105 your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path I have sworn and will fulfill it to keep your righteous judgments I am troubled above measure give me life oh Lord according to your word accept the Free Will offering of my mouth oh Lord and teach me your judgments my soul is ever in my hand yet I do not forget your law the wicked have laid a snare for me but I have not strayed from your Commandments your testimonies have I claimed as my Heritage forever for they are the very Joy of my heart I have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes always even to the end so we return to the Acts of the Apostles and I'm reading today from chapter 7 so I said at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles there are many long speeches in the acts at which L Luke's separates across the chapters but the acts are held together by presentations of the faith and today we are in the middle of the speech of since Steven before the Jewish Council and Steven chooses to recount the history of his people now he has a particular take on that history which is not going to please the members of the council any of them really and he's not frightened to say so although we think of him as one of the first seven deacons he certainly wasn't content simply to do his duty waiting at table he wanted very much to teach the faith and I'm taking the speech of Steven before the council up at verse 23 of the um uh chapter 7 and we are here with Moses and Moses is in Egypt having being brought up as a prince of Egypt but knowing that he was a Hebrew and we hear Steven now describe how Moses went back to his people and feels the stirrings of his vocation when Moses was 40 years old it came into his heart to visit his people the children of Israel and seeing one of them being wronged he defended the oppressed man and Avenged him by striking down the Egyptian he suppose that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand but they did not understand and on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them saying men you are brothers why do you wrong each other but the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust Moses aside saying who made you a ruler and a judge over us do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday and at this rort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian where he became the father of two sons [Music] now when 40 years had passed an angel appeared to Moses in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush when Moses saw it he was amazed at the sight and as he drew near to look there came the voice of the Lord I am the god of your fathers the god of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob and Moses trembled and did not dare to look then the Lord said to him take off the sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is Holy Ground I have surely seen the Affliction of my people who are in Egypt and I have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them and now come I will send you to Egypt this Moses whom they rejected saying who made you a ruler and a judge this man God sent as both ruler and Redeemer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush this man LED them out performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years this is the Moses who said to the Israelites God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers this is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers he received living oracles to give to us but our fathers refused to obey him and thrust him aside and in their hearts they turned to Egypt saying to Aaron make for us God who will go before us as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt we do not know what has become of him and they made a cal in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their own hands so God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of Heaven Steven's speech goes on and we shall go on with it tomorrow but what is evident is that he wants to emphasize that there has always been a history of rejection whenever one of God's chosen comes to set the truth before the people Steven is not disrespectful of the law he calls those laws given to Moses on Mount Si living oracles but had we started reading chapter 7 earlier we would have found that Joseph too who was sold by his brothers and sent away to the land of Egypt and imprisoned but then was exalted to become ruler and governor of the people Joseph too is seen as a sign that was rejected each of them like the patterns of Old Testament pointing in fulfillment to the story of Jesus each of them becomes a type of what Jesus himself was to be for his people and he too was rejected and suffered and died and was exalted this is what both Steven and Luke by setting out that speech in such detail such a long speech but every bit of it pays dividends in Reading because here is Moses standing before God and Moses who says to the people God will send one like me a ruler and Redeemer all of these things to Steven and to Luke point to Christ but Stephen is saying to the council as they sit in Jerusalem with the Great temple where Jesus has found no fruit only fine leaves if you take the parable of the Fig Tree and has pointed to his own self as the real Temple which will be destroyed and recreated in 3 days Steven making his speech has no time for the temple in his mind the children of Israel are a pilgrim people and they travel with their Tabernacle with them and that will become very apparent when he challenges the council with their own story and anger them in a great way but that we shall continue tomorrow let's just turn because it helps us too let's just turn to Ray for Williams who obviously is a a composer of enormous stature in the English catalog of composers in the 20th century up to 1958 when he died and his music is still treasured and valued he was a champion of the English Coral tradition and was a pupil of Parry who wrote The Great tune for Jerusalem and did those feet in ancient times but at the same time he saw Parry as a champion of the coral tradition of singing here in England and he wrote and encouraged others like him who were composing we pupils of Parry have if we have been wise inherited from him the great English Coral tradition which Talis passed on to bird bird to Gibbon Gibbons to pcel pel to Bill and green and they in their turn through the Wesley to Parry he has passed on the torch to us and it is our duty to keep it a light well if we look at the influences on vau Williams's music which he gave freely to the world but also to the English church to to sing and enjoy one of the most strong influences was his collection of folk songs which were sung by the people of this land known by heart and passed on in their singing around the fire in the ins and pubs of the of the land he went round with one or two others and collected them wrote them down and turned them into both orchestral music but also songs wonderful songs songs of travel and travel is very much where since Steven felt the pilgrim of people of God should be bour Williams was the musical editor of the English himn and his desire was that it should be a hym book with music of quality and integrity Percy Derma was the literary editor and it was published first in 196 and in it for the first time was the great tune for for all the saints who from their labors rest which we sing and enjoy but also a hym tune which he called down ampney which was the village in gler where his father was the Vicor when he was born and down amni goes to the hymn come down oh love divine seek thou this soul of mine and that hymn is well known not only because of his beautiful words but because of its tune in the same way as for all the saints As we sing it in procession there are many hymn Tunes which borne Williams wrote which are anchored in English folk song but you find that also throughout his music he conures up the story of his particular people in the way that Steven tells the story of his particular people and begs his companions in writing music to take on the torch for no creative form stands still and neither does the search for God and Truth as it receives the living oracles and goes on and traverses the world at the end of St Luke's gospel in chapter 24 in verse 44 Jesus before saying farewell to his disciples has pointed to things in Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms which point to him in the story of his people Steven tells the story in that way to those who attempted to forget it and say Here We Stand just here it can go no further when the gift which was given is a gift which is to be enjoyed and handed on breaking down barriers across the world a light to lighten All Nations and music is like that too an international language to be enjoyed and handed on on but always rooted in the influences which have created it so today as in this year 2020 we're expectant of a new version of the English Himel when that is published I don't know if the pandemic has slowed it down but there is a revised English himn with its green cover green was always the color of the English Himel and it suits it well because of the way in which Bourn Williams looked around the landscape in pieces like his lck ascending and gave us the green fresh growth of creation and sought for truth in his works and integrity just as we do in our prayers day by day so let's say our prayers on this morning this 26th of August and say that we are praying this morning for in the Anglican Comm un the dasis of Olympia and the Episcopal Church of the United States and Gregory Rael the bishop there and his people and the dasis of busoga in Uganda and Paul Moses Samson Nami the bishop there and his people and we pray for Archbishop Justin and Bishop Rose of DOA and Bishop Tim at Lambeth and today in this dasis the Parish of St Andrews deal which is at present vacant we think of all that Community there bring your own prayers as we say first and foremost the Prayer of St Monica whose day this is the mother of Augustine a mother who encouraged her son to explore truth and brought him to the good news of which he became a minister a servant faithful God who strengthened Monica the mother of Augustine with wisdom and through her patient endurance encouraged him to seek after you give us the will to persist in prayer that those who stray from you may be brought to faith in your son Jesus Christ Our Lord amen and the prayer for this week oh God you declare your Almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity mercifully Grant to us such a measure of your grace that we running the way of your Commandments may receive your gracious promises and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen so we pray each in our own language the prayer which Jesus taught us and we add our own thoughts and prayers as we say those words 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 a moment of quiet for our own prayers this morning 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 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 day and always amen