[Music] good morning and welcome to the dinery at canterbury cathedral on this advent sunday morning be welcome wherever you are in the world as we begin a new christian year together we begin with the sense of having come inside because of the gusty wind still outside and this for a particular reason which we'll see in a moment but at the same time those gusty winds have been much more than that during yesterday and throughout the night and many people are what thousands and thousands of people are without power in these islands and in scotland too there's been loss of life so we remember that remember also the storm force winds in the channel and we think again of migrants who at enormous risk are attempting to cross the channel we remember those who lost their lives drowning just outside calais and we've been praying for those but today also the european ministers are meeting to find some solution to this problem and we pray for them as they make their decisions so we ourselves are going to concentrate on the message of advent itself as a new christian year begins so bring your own concerns your own intentions and those whom you would want to pray for at this beginning of all the themes of our christian year o 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 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 advent is a season of four sundays sometimes it begins in the earliest days of december this year it's earlier and it's the first of these sundays is on the 28th of november this year and so here we stand at the gateway to a new christian year and we have certain things that remind us of those four sundays and of course that's why we've come inside because we have here with us the advent wreath which is a great sign of how advent progresses but advent rather like our introduction is a season of light and darkness it's a season of judgment and bright light is very often needed by that either metaphorically spiritually mentally or physically when we're making a judgment about things so each sunday there's a tradition of lighting a candle and then adding another and another and another until christmas day itself brings a different kind of light with the birth of our lord jesus christ but for the moment advent sunday is a day when we assess all those things and when really the best judges of anything within our own lives are we ourselves but we pray for the light of christ to shine in those dark places and uh that's why like uh ant and dec and the uh i'm a celebrity get me out of here had to come inside because of that storm force our wind we've come inside because of the gusty winds we wanted to light a candle and that would have been impossible in even the gusty winds outside it's a nice day outside there's blue sky now and the winds are abating but i'm going to light the first of the advent candle christ's light in a dark world there we are nice and still here inside but itself showing us christ's light during our worship on this day and our reflection will carry those themes further but first our psalm which is psalm 132 on this 28th day of the month this 28th morning of the month and we're actually in themes which we've been discussing quite recently of how sometimes a vocation which someone believes is for them like moses leading the people into the promised land finds it's only for them at a certain section of the journey and then the thing has to be handed on and here in this psalm is king david thinking that he is the one who is going to build the lord's house in fact that vocation was for his son solomon lord remember for david all the hardships he endured how he swore an oath to the lord and vowed a vow to the mighty one of jacob i will not come within the shelter of my house nor climb up into my bed i will not allow my eyes to sleep nor let my eyelids slumber until i find a place for the lord a dwelling for the mighty one of jacob now we heard of the ark in ephrathah and found it in the fields of jar let us enter his running place and fall low before his footstool arise o lord into your resting place you and the ark of your strengths let your priests be clothed with righteousness and your faithful ones sing with joy for your servant david's sake turn not away the face of your anointed the lord has sworn an oath to david a promise from which he will not shrink of the fruit of your body shall i set upon your throne if your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that i shall teach them their children also shall sit upon your throne forevermore for the lord has chosen zion for himself he has desired her for his habitation this shall be my resting place forever here will i dwell for i have longed for her i will abundantly bless her provision her poor will i satisfy with bread i will close her priests with salvation and have faithful ones shall rejoice and sing there will i make a horn to spring up for david i will keep a lantern burning for my anointed as for his enemies i will close them with shame but on him shall his crown be bright as we say that psalm we see how light and darkness the lantern burning in watchfulness for the anointed one and these four candles will gradually be lit sunday by sunday until we come to the festival of the arrival of the anointed one of the royal line of david our lord himself jesus of nazareth born in a stable in bethlehem and those candles keeping a lantern burning for the anointed help us through the advent season a season of judgment special lesson for today i'm using the one that the lectionary gives us on this day and it's from sin paul's letter to the romans chapter 13 and starting at verse 8 it's an interesting epistle because we know that at the time paul himself says as he writes that letter to the christians in rome he has at that time never been there he knows some of them through having met them in other places in churches which he himself has founded but he's writing as one who is writing to others and quite tentative sometimes and at other times quite firm in his apostolic authority to that group of christians which he himself did not form so here is this passage from romans 13 beginning at verse 8 and it's set for us because advent is a day when we consider judgment and shine the light in dark places oh no one anything except to love each other for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law for the commandments you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not covet and any other commandment are summed up in this word you shall love your neighbor as yourself love does no wrong to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law besides this you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed the night is far gone the day is at hand so then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light let us walk properly as in the daytime not in orgies and drunkenness not in sexual immorality and sensuality not in quarreling and jealousy but put on the lord jesus christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires saint paul giving his apostolic advice to the community of christians in rome but advent sunday gives us a whole myriad of images the one that is common is of light overcoming darkness night is far spent my father used to say and day is at hand was his waking cry sometimes as he came in with morning tea and uh that sentence actually over arches the sentences and the pictures of judgment which are used some of them quite terrifying some of them taken from the apoc apocalyptic material even of jesus himself when he's talking to his disciples looking at the temple on that day in holy week when one of them says look at all these stones how marvelous they are and jesus says i tell you not one will be left standing on another and the disciples say tell us when the hour is coming and those scenes of judgment become immensely important but the best image is always of light shining in darkness and that's the one that's here being used night is far spent and day is at hand counting up to the coming of the anointed one with the good news we could go to another of sin paul's epistles this time to a community that he knew well the community of christians in corinth now there he was if you like the founder and father of that little community which grew and grew and in his letters to the corinthians he writes as one knowing them but also full of warnings how easy it is to slip away from the light to cease to judge our actions by the light of christ and in the third chapter of his first letter to the corinthians you will remember that he talks about how people's work and what they have actually created from the gifts given to them by god as individual particular people how that work will be judged he says it's as if something is judged by fire and there are things which fire cannot destroy and other things which are shall we say combustible and nothing much is left and that passage in 1 corinthians 3 when he's trying to insist on the unity of all who spread the gospel the good news saying the night is fast spent the day is at hand put on the lord jesus and make no provision for the things of the flesh all those messages coming from the apostolic epistles are part of that but most of all the fact that we are made in the image of our creator to use those creative gifts and to judge and help other people judge when we are using them well we know when we've been judged and often a person doesn't know that they're judging us it's just by something they say which causes us to think yeah i've got that really wrong and i see that and it's very often not the ones that we would expect to be saying that now there's a passage in the gospel of saint matthew which actually we read yesterday as the lesson for matins in the lectionary in the cathedral itself and it comes in matthew 11. right at the end of matthew 11. is jesus speaking when the messengers of john the baptist have gone away and he has already issued a judgment against the way in which people are not receiving the gospel and then he says and this is matthew 11 verse 25 to the end of the chapter at that time jesus declared i thank you father lord of heaven and us that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children yes father for such was your gracious will all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal them come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light the judgment is quite often placed before the disciples in the form of a little child and we know that from incidents in the gospel but this little passage begins in the form of a prayer a prayer of thanksgiving to the heavenly father i thank you father lord of heaven and earth jesus's words that these things have been hidden from the wise and understanding meaning in worldly terms and revealed to little children well there's a judgment and at the same time that judgment is one that we might see on ourselves from the faces of children crying out to us for help encouragement assistance protection welfare in this world there's a passage also in the book of daniel i'm going from judgment pictures to judgment pictures is daniel chapter 7 and this will take me to a particular date that we want to remember today in daniel chapter 7 daniel has a vision a vision in the night a dream if you like and in it he sees a vision of heaven and there in heaven he sees now some of the translations say an ancient one i i i wondered why the other day that that actually didn't didn't really satisfy me that was i wanted it to say the ancient of days which was the traditional translation and i questioned to myself well why why is the ancient one not like the ancient of days and i think it's for two reasons the first is because of the hymn immortal invisible god only wise in light and accessible pid from our eyes most blessed most glorious the ancient of days that that point yes that's a reference but it was much more than that and it's the date today that reminded me of it because this is the day in 1757 november the 28th that william blake was born poet yes we'll think of that in a moment and engraver and artist very much so but his favorite engraving was the ancient of days a vision of the creator spreading and this is a quotation from proverbs spreading a compass over the depths and of the earth it's an extraordinary image but first let's complete the image from daniel because there's more we see as the ancient of days takes his seat and this is a daniel's vision a prophetic vision and then there's a sentence the court sat and books were opened a heavy judgment is about to be made and then suddenly one like and i'll use the traditional words because jesus uses them of himself but he's got a much wider interpretation one like a son of man came forward and there's a sense of an advocate there for us and for humankind at that time of judgement we know that that title son of man can be translated in the ancient languages into a a representative of our humanity but we're used to the title son of man jesus using it of himself so let's think of that image which daniel gives us the ancient of days we'll come back to bleak blake's image in a moment and then to the son of man stepping forward just as the books are opened to take the judgment on himself that's an advent picture let's go to blake's great engraving the ancient of days but let's think first of those poems that we know of william blake i think i've said to you before that when i was ordained a deacon my sister gave me his songs of innocence and songs of experience and i took it as a nice little gift with her inscription in the front with much love but as i've read them over and over again it's become more apparent why she gave it and it's all about judgment our judgment of ourselves and our sudden by grace perception of another judging us although they don't know it and sometimes that comes in the eyes and being of one very innocent if one looks at the the question shall we say which is the best-known poem of blake well in the songs of innocence it goes to the lamb little lamb who made the dust thou know who made thee you know that little pain in the songs of experience it goes to the tiger tiger tiger burning bright in the forests of the night and those those eyes of the tiger stare out at us in the sense that that beautiful beast might soon be extinct in the wild because of our treatment and our lack of protection of the habitats and creatures of this world songs of innocence songs of experience but then again the words of blake's almost throw away poem it is great at his preface to that great poem on milton um and we know it as jerusalem and did those feet in ancient time walk upon england's mountains green of course it's talking about the humanity of our lord jesus christ and the everlasting question which can't be answered did his feet walk here and there was a tradition that that that happened and what would he have found and blake talks about those satanic mills now there's been quite a lot of questions about what that was but it's quite easy to think that by the time that blake himself died in 1827 the mills which were using children and caused causing their life and the life of all those who were poor and vulnerable to be endangered without safety and needing champions in parliament all of those things were happening but at the same time blake in prophetic imagery gives us that poem which causes us to think that christ's feet may still walk here and at that um time put on the whole armor of god put on the lord jesus christ comes in blake's terms and it's we who are singing it as individuals bring me my bow of burning gold bring me my arrows of desire bring me my spear oh clouds unfold bring me my chariot of fire i will not cease from mental fight nor shall my sword sleep in my hand till we have built jerusalem in england's green and pleasant land it's in our hearts and minds from paris music but the image is one of advent judgment on the satanic mills and then the sense of and we can do something about this in our daily lives a judgment but let's then go back suddenly to the picture which blake gives us the ancient of days his own favorite engraving he once and again would would copy it for people people would ask him about it it was it was written simply i'm sorry it was drawn simply as a frontier piece for his little book europe a prophecy and that ancient of days spreading the compass on the earth as though measuring it and judging what beautiful thing is about to be created with the wind sweeping the white hair which which uh and the white beard which daniel speaks of with the ancient of days but somehow blake loved that painting and just three weeks before he died he gave did it again for a friend and then at the end said well it's done i can mend it no more is he talking about the painting or the sense that his life was ebbing in 1827 and the mending means i can't alter things anymore i've judged it and now i leave it like this we give great thanks for blake's vision his vision given to us in innocence and experience his prophetic vision rather like the prophet daniel of so many dreams in the night and his vision of the creator whom to whom jesus would pray i thank you father lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children let then the little children judge us one of his uh one of his poems and i've got the songs of innocence and songs of experience here and one of the songs of innocence is called the little boy lost and the little boy found here it is it's just four verses two different poems but side by side the little boy lost father father where are you going oh do not walk so fast speak father speak to your little boy or else i shall be lost the night was dark no father was there the child was wet with dew the mire was deep and the child did weep and away the vapor flew the little boy found the little boy lost in the lonely fenn led by the wandering light began to cry but god ever nigh appeared like his father in white he kissed the child and by the hand led and to his mother brought who in sorrow pale through the lonely dale her little boy weeping sort blake but this morning for the bbc michael moore pergo to i would see uh and he's and his wife are great friends of ours but i would see him as a prophetic voice and we've seen that in the pandemic has read out and given um a reflection for the bbc and his voice which begins the reflection with that little phrase from the epistle to the hebrew be not forgetful to entertain strangers because in some doing some have for in so doing some have have entertained angels unawares he doesn't say it in those words but that's what he's he's meaning in his first sentence and then and you can listen to this you can you can click on the bbc link and and find this because it's in the news today he then imagines a child drowning in the channel holding on and first the voice of their mother we don't know whether it's a boy or a girl it could be either the voice of their mother is speaking to them and giving them not only strength to hold on hold on hold on but also a vision of what this land this green and pleasant land this england which blake speaks of could be and it's clear there's an uncle in manchester waiting for them and their fingers are losing the will to obey their mind and at first it seems the mother's voice was saying it and then she's gone and the waves are coming around the child and the strength of the fingers grows weaker and weaker until just as the waves close over a strong hand grips the wrist and it seems that help has arrived and the vision drawn of the land um together with the sentence but nowhere is perfect is one which is a judgment on us who live here but it will be a judgment anywhere in the world for a child's eyes and cry as in blake's poem becomes a cry for help which the one nearest can give might be the simplest form of encouragement to one another and it's not only children it's anyone who's vulnerable that's the real advent judgment as we light a candle a candle of reflection helped by the scriptures helped by things like the ancient of days drawn by blake but held by anything which causes us to start and think i could do something about that if it's only a contribution but much better still if it's an encouragement physically to one that we can help it's a huge topic but we've four nice sundays to think about it and all the days of advent to go on and just find ourselves judged but lifted by the son of man who steps forward just as judgment is about to be given and comes with good news and wounded hands of forgiveness let's say then our prayers on this advent sunday morning there's a new colleague for us in the diocese we're continuing to pray for all the worship of advent in every parish and in every faith community here and in the anglican communion we're praying for the anglican episcopal church in brazil and we think of our friends there we have a member of our garden congregation pedro who keeps in touch very much and we we pray for all of the ones that you will know yourself and we also have paula who keeps in touch with us and sends us beautiful things as well in terms of her own creativity that she draws and writes and and uh we we thank her for that often times these reachings across the world with people we've never met are things which ourselves recreate us and cause us to make judgments of how we behave to one another around us here then is the advent collect it's one of the best of the year 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 that on the last day when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen that's the prayer we say every day of advent we might add another colleague for other days but that prayer is the advent prayer now in the time of this mortal life is the time to take action let's then say the prayer our savior taught us in whatever language you like to use 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 for ever and ever amen moment of reflection now on this advent sunday morning [Music] uh [Music] please praise us [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] please [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] christ the son of righteousness shine upon you scatter the darkness from before your path and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory and 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 this advent sunday and always are men perhaps we should remember that we have our own tiger tiger burning bright but he's burning for his breakfast i'm sure outside so we'll go and find him and satisfy his needs [Music] you