good morning early in the morning on friday may the 8th and this nation has woken to a bank holiday a public holiday in thanksgiving for the anniversary of the e day peace was restored to europe on this day in 1945 throughout the day there will be celebrations and at 11 o'clock this morning we shall hold a solemn two-minute silence both of thanksgiving and remembrance for all those who gave their lives in that conflict wherever to restore peace first to europe and then later in 1945 to the rest of the world but for the moment i've come on to the roof simply because i know that if i came up here on this day in 1945 the scene would have been quite different this house in the front was a complete wreck and also scenes of of large-scale bombing in the precincts and even worse in the city beyond were all around but for one day the citizens stopped to give thanks that that particular danger of war was over and the task of rebuilding lay ahead so we come to say our morning prayers on this day oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice alleluia blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as once you ransomed your people from egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your risen son may we the first fruits of your new creation rejoice in this new day you have made and praise you for your mighty acts 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 i'm using today a special psalm for this day psalm 46 god is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth be moved and though the mountains tremble in the heart of the sea there the waters rage and swell and though the mountains quake at the towering seas there is a river whose streams make glad the city of god the holy place of the dwelling of the most high god is in the midst of her therefore shall she not be removed god shall help her at the break of day the nations are in uproar and the kingdoms are shaken but god utters his voice and the earth shall melt away the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our stronghold come and behold the works of the lord what destruction he has wrought upon the earth he makes wars to cease in all the world he shatters the bow and snaps the spear and burns the chariots in the fire be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in the earth the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our stronghold we read part of the lesson from the gospel of saint luke continuing from where we left off yesterday i'm starting at verse 16 of chapter four and jesus came to nazareth where he had been brought up and as was his custom he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day and he stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet isaiah was given to him he unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the lord's favor and jesus rode up the scroll gave it back to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say to them today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing jesus came home to his own village where the people knew him where he had grown up in those hidden years we've been talking about perhaps it's a lovely thing to remember that the faces around him in synagogue were known to him and on this day when we are locked into our own homes we remember all those who in 1945 were coming out of their homes to a sense of peace but also a view all around them physically of terrible destruction i remember growing up in a village outside the city of bristol and when you went into the city of bristol suddenly you crossed a line and beyond was simply devastation and rubble that's how this city was beyond the cathedral after the great baiduka raids which took place in 1942 the city was a victim of someone looking at an ordinary tourist guide a badger guide and deciding the way to suppress the nation's morale was just to destroy their cultural and religious centers canterbury had never thought of itself as a target my predecessor hewlett johnson the red dean although the house had had suffered an explosive bomb in front of it in october 1940 during lunch when he had to run to the cellar and the front of the house collapsed in nevertheless canterbury was not seen to be a target and he was laughed at when he used older staff because all the young men had gone away to war to remove the stained glass windows those ancestor windows we were talking about yesterday from the 12th century which you can see the site of all the way along level with the the great rose window in the north transept he had them placed safely in the crypt he brought earth into the cathedral itself to suppress bomb damage should it come and he was laughed at but in a way he was prophetic about what might happen in that particular conflict and the fact that we still have one of the largest medieval archives in europe and also acres of that stained glass to tell the pictures not only the ancestors of jesus but of bible stories was because someone had the foresight to take care rebuilding would take a long time and in 1942 in that dreadful raid the cathedral library next to the chapter house here was destroyed all around houses were destroyed incendiary bombs rained onto the cathedral and beyond on the other side cannons houses were destroyed but four old men stood on the roof here and shoveled off the incendiaries and happily in a pool of smoke and a city which was a fireball they shoveled the incendiary bombs off the roof and saved the cathedral from that tower bell harry today at three o'clock the bell will ring for five minutes that was the time that the prime minister winston churchill on may the 8th 1945 declared peace again in europe tonight our queen will address us at the same time that her father king george vi addressed the nation at nine o'clock but through the day people will be having picnics in their homes and gardens and remembering all that it cost in that generation my parents generation for many of you grandparents great grandparents generation at that time and also the cost emotionally and in resources of the next decade of rebuilding slow work rationing for the nation all of that but for today a time to sing and give thanks and that's exactly what we intend to do [Music] [Laughter] [Music] is [Music] time [Music] [Music] hello [Music] is [Music] foreign r [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] so today a day of great thanksgiving and that thanksgiving will space itself through those occasions tonight we're asked when the queen has broadcast to sing the song we'll meet again don't know where don't know when but i know we'll meet again some sunny day and that gives us a sort of sign of how they resolved to build up again afterwards the enemy to this nation and to the world is very different on this morning like no other enemy we we've seen in our own lifetimes but the same kind of resolve the same kind of patience with one another the same kind of a long perspective of rebuild with few resources because we will have spent much in attempting to defeat this enemy and save lives all those things come back into play so that our thanksgiving should be tinged with resolve the king's speech at nine o'clock on that day was a serious speech as well as a speech of thanksgiving but for today the sunshine and the green leaves of england here speak of a happy thanksgiving for peace in europe being restored in may 1945 so we come to say our prayers and first i'm going to use the prayer for this week and then afterwards the general thanksgiving which we shall say and that is part of our own thanksgiving during prayer but for our prayers we as always in this place mention areas of the anglican world today the diocese of mundry in south sudan and bishop bismarck azumu and his people there and also the diocese of isabel in melanesia and ellison the bishop there and in this diocese we pray for the king's wood benefits which at present is vacant in his parish priest so we we pray for them and all the people who worship there so a general thanksgiving which we shall say after our easter prayer almighty god whose son jesus christ is the resurrection and the life raise us who trust in him from the death of sin to the life of righteousness that we may seek those things which are above where he reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen almighty god father of all mercies we your unworthy servants give you most humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and lovingkindness we bless you for our creation preservation and all the blessings of this life but above all for your inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our lord jesus christ for the means of grace and for the hope of glory and give us we pray such a sense of all your mercies that our hearts may be unfaintedly thankful and that we show forth your praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up ourselves to your service and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days through jesus christ our lord to whom with you and the holy spirit be all honor and glory forever and ever amen so some silence for our own prayers wherever you are in the world and a silence of thanksgiving for all the mercies of encouragement and love from those you know wherever they may be the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon those whom you love and would pray for today and always amen [Music] oh [Music] us [Music] is [Music] uh [Music]