good morning and welcome on this monday the 14th of december as we come to say our morning prayers and we've come into the working greenhouse to be quiet although there's a nice blue sky and sunshine outside but we've got a special friend here this morning who's not been on for a little bit and he is of course tiger and he's recovered well from his operation and is a fit and healthy cat though still a little bit shy and so he may choose to hide himself a little bit later in the program but we'll just sort of see where we go but it's lovely to have him back here with us looking so well and enjoying his breakfast and here in the greenhouse we're surrounded by many things which we'll talk about in a moment but uh first of all welcome wherever you are in the world as we come to say our morning prayers at the beginning monday morning of a working week the week before the week in which christmas day is uh on friday week and so things are getting very near but we are going on our advent progression day by day and we shall return later to our reflection on paul's letter to the thessalonians the first letter to the thessalonians i'm here um sitting in front of a spar mania africa this wonderful plant here who is a guest in this country anders sparmann hence the name sparmania a swedish botanist discovered this very versatile plant in south africa in the late 18th century he sailed with captain cook on various voyages of bringing back plants and brought this plant to england with its huge leaves and different times of year lovely flowers but what we've succeeded in doing is taking marvelous cuttings from it we're always experimenting to see which plants will grow and which won't and the spa mania is very very good at responding and so you'll see here potted the um cuttings that are growing well in the greenhouse and all around us other plants which are good to to have in in protection at this time of year in front of me which you won't see are all the dahlias which have been lifted and brought in out of the frost and they will go back and be replanted when the time comes so let's look at some dates which have happened on this particular day december the 14th in time gone by and we've got two cases of enormous flooding in the past one in the netherlands when the sea wall of what was then called the zelda zayn now the isomer collapsed in 1287 and killed over 50 000 people at that time and also in 1999 this is not the preserve of one century we go to many things but just on december the 14th 1999 torrential rains and flash floods in venezuela tens of thousands died there and the collapse of the state's infrastructure followed for a while natural disaster very very powerful but nowadays much more easy to get international help on site very quickly and we give thanks for that too in 1799 on this day the first president of the united states of america george washington died at mount vernon many of you may have gone there it is the most lovely place and we remember a good um visit there and uh we um had a happy time with uh looking around the the house of george washington guided by our friend tommy kaplan there and we remember with thanks this is uh the day on which in 1861 we'll come back to this prince albert the prince consort died and a great change took place in uh queen victoria at that time we'll return to that in 1922 john reath became the general manager of the bbc in 2013 the actor peter o'toole died best known probably for his role in lawrence of arabia that massive film and we remember him with thanksgiving his his acting uh career in film on the stage and on television 1918 women exercised the vote for the first time in the general election and then in 2004 the milo viaduct was opened which is still the tallest bridge in the world it was inaugurated on this day it's lovely to motor across it it's even better to motor underneath it and see it from afar which often we do on the way down to the south of of france so we give thanks for that it was built by norman foster uh the design of norman foster a british architect and we we give thanks for that that shortening of the distance because the enormous crossing it makes couldn't be crossed before in that particular way this also was the day on which the film philadelphia premiered with tom hanks and denzel washington and it was a brave film but it made people um change attitudes because it highlighted hiv aids and the community's most uh uh at risk at that time and people then began to talk about it more and that was the step-by-step solution to the whole world realizing what an international devastation this would be and still is in 1503 the french astrologer notre dames was born in saremi and we remember him and two birthdays of comedians uh comic actresses uh 1950 vicky michelle who was best known as yvette cart blanche in the long-running comedy series alow allo and vicky a lifelong friend of my partner here on on the camera and a visitor here as well and in 1972 miranda hart was born very well known much more recently for the sitcom just called miranda as it was almost autobiographical but extremely funny this is national post workers day also so we give thanks for those who deliver the post and particularly for paul our postman a friendly visitor every morning and we give thanks for his visits and what he brings so all of those things as we sit in front of the spa mania given us by the swedish botanist and we remember swedish friends particularly fred and amelia arvidsson fred was the school chaplain here at uh king's school when i came and he comes from sweden and uh this tall figure i remember walking into my drawing room and my sister had brought us a swedish friend who was feeling a little bit lonely and she was an elderly lady called angela and she was feeling a bit lonely and amongst all the english here and he walked in in his cassock and i said oh freddie angeles from sweden and he began to speak swedish and she looked up and said to me is such an angel or is it real and he said oh he's very real so we give thanks for fred and emilia this morning uh so now let's begin our prayers on this day before i i chatter on too much 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 on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm this morning 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 evil doer 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 important to many but you are my refuge and 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 i will hope continually and will praise you more and more my mouth shall tell of your righteousness and 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 oh god you have taught me since i was young and to this day i tell of your wonderful works forsake me not oh 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 well that's a vocation for us all day by day as we turn then to the first letter of paul to the thessalonians and we're reading from chapter five and verse one now concerning the times and the seasons brothers and sisters you have no need to have anything written to you for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the lord will come like a thief in the night while people are saying there is peace and security then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape but you are not in darkness brothers and sisters for that day to surprise you like a thief for you are all children of light children of the day we are not of the night or of the darkness so then let us not sleep as others do but let us keep awake and be sober for those who sleep sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night but since we belong to the day let us be sober having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation for god has not destined us for wrath but to obtain salvation through our lord jesus christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing well that's a a wonderful passage and again it shows his wonderful love paul's wonderful love for his little church in thessalonica in this earliest of his letters it's the sort of passage that one has almost to take word by word like jewels for the the earliest words we had from paul and yet all his thinking is there first of all a good advent lesson be watchful and reflect for we are children of the light and we remember that jesus himself said i am the light of the world to to reflect on the gospel giving us his words and the perhaps the i am passages in the fourth gospel the gospel of saint john is an important feature of this advent watching and waiting but at the same time we see in this little passage early thoughts of saint paul which develop and develop his writing from corinth and here are words at the end of faith and hope and love those three well that of course is his great message to us in the letter to the corinthians which he writes to them later when he is not with them with the same kind of worries but in a more developed way a much longer letter but nothing could be more loving than this little letter to the church in thessalonica and to see how those qualities which saint paul expects us to have as children of the light faith and hope and love and all the way through as we do in our reflections and we're prompted to by all the growing things around us and all those that we have care of and also scenes in the world and the experiences of others all those things prompt us to give shall we say metaphors of the kingdom of heaven see how he talks about a thief in the night the coming suddenly for nothing is secure each day is in the hands of god and nothing could tell us that better than the psalm which took us from early days right to when we are older and like me grey-headed when it's still our daily vocation to proclaim and sing of the works of god in our lives in our hearts in our thinking our reflections but there's qualities faith hope and love in that little passage paul refers to with images of protective armor the faith and love our breastplate and hope of salvation a helmet well he develops that further in the epistle to the ephesians of course it's a a constant kind of watch word but nevertheless it's important to see them here as i say like little jewels of early thought for us to pick up hope of salvation and again we remember that word as a word which bases itself on healing like the word salve which he counseled one of the churches in the early chapter of the revelation to get to anoint themselves to make bodily healing salve and salvation means not only healing for now and healing in our thinking and reflecting but healing in heart and soul in a spiritual way to salvation the protection which the light of the world offers to those who walk in light how much more we could say about this but it's for each of us to think of ways in which this lovely letter applies to us tomorrow we shall come to a conclusion but it's been a lovely little journey and i was saying earlier that there are one or two little things which are from this day of importance which can help us and the first was the way in which prince albert who came as a young man to marry queen victoria and found himself almost intentionally deprived of a role by those who thought this german princeling is not going to have influence over here but gradually by patience and fortitude the things he believed in became important not only to him but to victoria as the prince consort he became her best advisor and showed her how to be above politics when she had tended in her early reign before his advice came to side with the side of her favorite prime minister or something of that sort to be above politics and be the representative of the nation and also how he learned to influence for good so many creative societies slavery had been abolished in the british empire but not across the world and he became the patron and active patron of the abolition of slavery society everywhere at the same time the royal society of arts was really benefiting from his patronage and i suppose the most important example of everything was his success in being the influence which created the huge great exhibition of 1851 in creativity and international creativity with so many guests coming to the crystal palace at that time as a sign of what could be done in terms of hope so he died on this day in 1861 and the queen at first went into deep mourning that morning and that grieving never really ended she always wore black to the end of her life 40 years later but after a while the nation began to miss her and it needed all the charm of her prime minister benjamin disraeli to entice her out to realize that the people loved her and wanted to see her but albert's influence was everywhere and memorials sprang up and that kind of creativity is an encouraging influence on us all he was keen to do what lord lord reith when he took over the bbc had principles that the the bbc remind ourselves to inform to educate to entertain um i don't know that prince albert thought of things like that but certainly the great exhibition was an exemplar of all those things information and learning of the most modern kind at that time education constantly as people went to see and learn and entertainment which they enjoyed at the crystal palace and the palace itself which stood for many years before it burnt down was a great adventure for children and adults alike so that capacity to bring the light of christ in just ordinary ways encourage one another says in paul and build one another up the old word was edify from the latin verb for building but it's rather an old-fashioned word now so building one another up is is uh a metaphor that we can use and today there may be somebody who needs building up from you it's important and lastly i just wanted to mention peter o'toole i said he was known for lawrence of arabia he's also known for his role as henry ii um both in uh the film of ennui's beckett and later on in the line in winter as henry ii in older age but in beckett very different a play from the elliot murder in the cathedral which all takes place almost within the mind of thomas becket henry ii doesn't appear in this film if you've seen it you will know that peter o'toole and richard burton actually are beckett and and and henry ii are uh together and showing what their relationship is like all the way through and a very different kind of reflection in this important year for us of thomas beckett the 850th of his martyrdom anniversary of his martyrdom which will occur on december the 29th this year so we remember that too in our reflections as we explore what martyrdom means and self-sacrifice means in the modern world as well as in the time of beckett's martyrdom 1170. so let's say our prayers on this day i'll reach for the book without trying to disturb my friend here too much on this day we are thinking of the diocese of sodor and man here in england and peter eagles the bishop there in his ministry and the diocese of el camino real in the episcopal church of the united states that's right on the west coast and mary gray reeves the bishop there beautiful area looking out onto the pacific and we pray also for this diocese for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and for the whole of our diocese today we're asked for in general terms in the diocese at the moment for all who are parents and for god's blessing in their parenting at this difficult time of preparation for christmas with all the restrictions of the pandemic and the inability of others to come and visit so let's say our prayer today first the colleague for this week and then the general collect for advent o lord jesus christ who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found in acceptable people in your sight for you are alive and reign with the father in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever and then the advent conduct itself almighty god give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on 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 but in the last day when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who lives and reigns with you in the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we pray the prayer our savior taught us in our own language wherever we are 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 moment of silence now as we say our own prayers in christ the son of righteousness shine upon you scatter the darkness from before your past and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory 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 are men well what a good boy you been haven't you people be glad to see you back and looking so well all right