good morning and welcome to the dinery garden in canterbury cathedral on this morning of tuesday the 22nd of september it is in england a beautiful morning or at least in kent in england in the southeast a beautiful morning as the sun rises above the trees at the end of the garden and we are here under this enormous magnolia tree to say our morning prayers feel welcome wherever you are in the world and in heart and mind bring your own concerns it's usual for us now to look back on this date in history and some days are so full of events as this one is september the 22nd that i shan't do it justice but we could think of a few of the things which happened on this day in different years in 1735 here in england sir robert walpole was the first prime minister to occupy number 10 downing street a significant address and it's become a symbol of the prime minister so let's this morning pray for our prime minister here as you pray for all your leaders wherever you are uh boris and his partner carrie with their little baby are like any other family but at the same time he is having with his cabinet and those in any kind of authority nationally to make really difficult decisions and that's so for leaders throughout the world so our prayers are particularly for them and for him as he struggles with a a new rise in coronavirus across this land we remember also certain times of sadness and unhappiness in history and one remembers that in 1934 in a pit disaster in grasford mine 260 miners were killed while at their work in 1941 and this is a horror for all humanity the ss executed in the days of jewish new year in venezia and you in the ukraine 30 000 jews 26 000 of them two days ago and then 4 000 today and that is to the shame of the whole of humanity we remember here that in 1989 just 20 miles away at deal the ira set off a bomb at the royal marines school of music killing 11 and injuring 12. not nearly as big a catastrophe but everything according to its size is a horror for that community so we remember those occasions of disaster but we remember also occasions of joy and creativity and if i look at that then on this day michael faraday was born inventor of the dynamo the transformer the electric motor on this day irving berlin died and he gave us so many wonderful songs recently but i think in about 2013 there was a a show called top hat in london which collected so many of his songs together and one remembers songs like let's face the music and dance but also blue skies and white christmas and all sorts of songs that stay in our head on this day in 1955 commercial television began and in 1994 the friends tv sitcom friends debuted on nbc that has become iconic and and repeated so many times that i think so many people think of that little group as their friends too and that's a good thing because it teaches them the ups and downs of friendships with laughter and sorrow and different relationships and in 1888 the first national geographic magazine was published that's gone on again in an iconic way with pictures of our world so that on this day when we call it elephant awareness day the care of that wonderful creature and we think of those trying to save all the whales stranded off the coast of tasmania we are prompted to think of our world and also this day and this is a a scriptural thing for us in 1991 the huntington library in california made the dead sea scrolls available to the public for the first time well all those things happy sad story of our humanity we think of as we say our prayers on this particular morning and bring other memories oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades 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 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 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 the psalm on this 22nd morning of the month is the wonderful psalm 107 containing the illustrations of going down to the sea in ships and also prisoners in dark places it's a long psalm and you might read it yourself later in the day but i'm going to begin at verse 33 which talks about the way in which landscapes can change not only by the life that the lord god gives them but also by the effect of humans use of those landscapes and the way they change through history so psalm 107 verse 33. the lord turns rivers into wilderness and water springs into thirsty ground a fruitful land he makes a salty waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell there he makes a wilderness a pool of water and water springs out of a thirsty land now he settles the hungry and they build a city to dwell in they sow fields and plant vineyards and bring in a fruitful harvest he blesses them so that they multiply greatly he does not let their herds of cattle decrease he pours contempt upon princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes they are diminished and brought low through stress of misfortune and sorrow but he raises the poor from their misery and multiplies their families like flocks of sheep the upright will see this and rejoice but all wickedness will shut its mouth whoever is wise will ponder these things and consider the loving kindness of the lord we're returning today to the acts of the apostles and we started chapter 16 and at verse 25 but i need to recap a little bit because yesterday being saint matthew's day we read that we missed the section of the acts that would have been read in course and read a special lesson for saint matthew so today we find paul and silas in prison at philippi let's think about those things before we read we left them in troas and noticed that luke himself had for this little stretch joined the expedition and the team that are giving good news to a different place we saw paul's dream of the man saying come over to macedonia and help us so they are between the last time we joined them and now changing continents they're going from asia minor over to greece and we find them at philippi they've landed they've come through the island of samuth race and then they've landed and gone up to the roman colony and important city of philippi very different culture indeed you know what it's like being in a new city for the first time and you look around to see how do we get to know this city sometimes you take up a sort of recap at the place the next day and find that your first impressions aren't what they were sometimes you're pleasantly surprised by all the things that you find around you but paul and silas and whoever was with them and one can think that luke is one of those people now because uh we're listening to that story leo has joined us now and possibly you may hear the the the the noise of the children of our cathedral school getting ready for their morning lessons but luke is with them now and uh paul and silas had begun their work in philippi but then run up against trouble after some days there when they exorcised one of the the slave girls who were being used by people to prophesy as a way of making money and once paul and silas had had helped her and freed her from that the people turned against them and accused them of being jews who were teaching people to do things against roman custom see where we are now we're in an important roman city the the languages now are latin and common greek they've they've left asia minor and philippi is going to be one of those places later that paul writes one of his lovely letters to there's so many wonderful passages in the letter to the philippians but here they are in prison they've been thrown into prison and i'm going on from chapter 25 about midnight paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened when the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open he drew his sword and was about to kill himself supposing that the prisoners had escaped but paul cried out with a loud voice do not harm yourself for we are all here and the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear he fell down before paul and silas then he brought them out and said sirth what must i do to be saved and they said believe in the lord jesus and you will be saved you and your household and they spoke the word of the lord to him and to all who were in his household the jailer took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds and he was baptized at once he and all his family and then he brought them up into his own house and set food before them and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in god but when it was day the magistrate sent the police saying let those men go and the jailer reported these words to paul saying the magistrates have sent to let you go therefore come out now and go in peace but paul said to them the magistrates have beaten us publicly uncondemned men who are roman citizens and have thrown us into prison and do they now throw us out secretly no let the magistrates come themselves and take us out the police reported these words to the magistrates and they were afraid when they heard that paul and silas were roman citizens so the magistrates came themselves and apologized to them and they took them out and asked them to leave the city so paul and silas went out of the prison and visited lydia and when they had seen the brothers they encouraged them and departed well here are a massive facts to help our understanding of the development of the church there in philippi the first to have any strength in the continent of europe where we now are philippi the roman colony and the magistrates are roman magistrates and the police are under roman law and that law extends of course right over to judea itself but here this has become a latin culture and it's the roman law that is being used by paul and silas as well because as roman citizens they were exempt from the power of local magistrates they could and paul will eventually before the acts is over appeal to a much higher authority but if they're accused of anything against roman law well my goodness the the magistrates have done something far worse they've beaten uncondemned roman citizens and are in severe trouble with higher authorities therefore there's this marvelous passage where when the jailer who himself has been baptized in is one of the christian group and he has nothing to do with the jewish community so you see how it's extending now even into the latin culture of europe here um when the jailer comes and says good news the magistrates have sent to set you free and for him the magistrates for the supreme power and you can go go in peace that to the jailer is good news and paul and silas say no they have broken the law under which we live the roman law of the whole empire and that we've thought about long long before in our thinking both in the gospel and now of how that law gave people the capacity both to travel safely and to know a certain peace it was called the pax romana the peace of rome right across places of course there was trouble of course there were disasters there were a riot which caused paul and silas to be beaten in the streets but nevertheless people can appeal to the law and here they do so and you get the extraordinary scene of the magistrates coming down themselves cap in hand to apologize to paul and silas and to ask them politely to lead leave the city because they're in trouble now what do they do they go to lydia she was a character also we missed because of the gospel being read for saint matthew's day yesterday for when paul and silas were exploring philippi they'd gone to find people of the jewish community and found that there was a place of prayer that may have meant there was no synagogue and that people came together to pray and sing and the psalms and and uh amongst the people gathering by the river was a dyer of purple cloth very very expensive thing to be doing called lydia and she becomes a key member in the founder of the christian community in philippi she takes them to her own house in hospitality and that is one strand of what we shall see happening luke will take us at breakneck pace all the way through the years of the early church but one has to imagine there are times of stability and lydia's household becomes one of those so when they leave the prison they go back to lydia's household before leaving philippi but philippi will become an important christian community in the church and we shall learn some of the diversity of people there both from the epistle paul rights but also from this little scene here in philippi today so we give thanks for that and also in the should we call them the vicissitudes of human activity across the world some violent and some joyful some building up as the psalm said and some casting down sometimes working with god in creation sometimes working against the the flow of creation and damaging the gift that we have been given so in all things we pray in our prayers as we begin them today on this morning we pray that we will work as partners with our creator and also share in the gift that he has given us giving the good news in jesus christ and also the good news in those who are followers of the way who have now become become called christians and are working in god's world let's say our prayers and i'm turning to the anglican prayer list to know that on this morning of the 22nd of september we're praying within our own communion for the diocese of panama in central america and julio thompson the prime minister and his people the diocese of central pennsylvania in the episcopal church of the united states and bishop audrey scanlan and her people there and the diocese of kivu in rwanda and bishop augustine ahmana and his people are nice spread across our world in very different circumstances here in this diocese as we pray for archbishop justin bishop rose of dover and also for bishop tim in his work at lambuth we remember the parishes of barham downs with addison benefits and that covers the villages of barum women's world kingston addison and bishops born very near to here and beautiful churches and beautiful valleys but we think of those little communities also giving thanks for their life there we pray for stephan thomas the priest who looks after them there who's also the area dean of uh of um the the east bridge deanery so let's say our prayers together and we use the special prayer for this week of the year god who in generous mercy sent the holy spirit upon your church in the burning fire of your love grant that your people may be fervent in the fellowship of the gospel that always abiding in you they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service through jesus christ our lord amen so each in our own language remembering the different cultures that paul and silas and luke are walking through at the moment in our reading of the acts and saying it in whatever way we would like we use the prayer that binds us together 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 and 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 moment of silence now for our own prayers and intentions on this morning [Music] the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and if 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 and always amen you