good morning and welcome on this morning of the 2nd of june 2nd of june for those of us who are older is a reminder of that wonderful day the 2nd of june 1953 when the queen was crowned and although the rain poured down the celebration in the streets after so many years of war and then so many years of rationing and a day of festival suddenly broke and crowds slept even in the parks of london on that wet morning they gathered together and cheered and cheered as the new queen was crowned so we pray for her today and pray for all those who are in lockdown across the world we welcome you from wherever you are on this day it's a day when our regular reading of the gospel of saint luke brings us to the point of transfiguration and so we've come to a place which in early early morning is quiet already the sounds of the city are coming from outside but it's a place that we would come to to escape and just be quiet for a while in our garden we call it the bastion garden this is also in anniversary terms the anniversary of the birth of thomas hardy we were in dorset yesterday conducting the funeral of a long long-standing friend out in the open air in a woodland burial and so much reminded of that wonderful novelist thomas hardy it's also the birthday of sir edward elgar hardy born in 1840 elgar in 1857. we give thanks for hardy's writings thanks for elgar's music on this day as well so many things to give thanks for so we begin our morning prayer oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise visit us with your salvation and sustain us with your gracious spirit o come let us sing to the lord let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving and be glad in him with psalms for the lord is a great god and a great king above all gods come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the lord our maker for he is our god we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind but 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 are men we use this morning psalm 10 on this second morning of the month it speaks of the cry of the poor and the dispossessed across the world and therefore in our hearts and minds many images come to mind on this day as we make our prayer with the psalmist why stand so far off oh lord why hide yourself in time of trouble the wicked in their pride persecute the poor let them be caught in the schemes they have devised the wicked boast of their hearts desire the covetous curse and revile the lord the wicked in their arrogance say god will not avenge it in all their scheming god counts for nothing they are stubborn in all their ways for your judgments are far above out of their sight they scoff at all their adversaries they say in their heart i shall not be shaken no harm shall ever happen to me their mouth is full of cursing deceit and fraud under their tongue lie mischief and wrong they lurk in the outskirts and in dark alleys they murder the innocent their eyes are ever watching for the helpless they lie in weight like a lion in his den they lie in weight to seize the poor they seize the poor when they get them into their net the innocent are broken and humbled before them the helpless fall before their power they say in their heart god has forgotten he hides his face away he will never see it arise o lord god and lift up your hand forget not the poor why should the wicked be scornful of god why should they say in their hearts you will not avenge it surely you behold trouble and misery you see it and take it into your own hand the helpless commit themselves to you for you are the helper of the orphan break the power of the wicked and malicious search out their wickedness until you find none the lord shall reign for ever and ever the nations shall perish from his land lord you will hear the desire of the poor you will incline your ear to the fullness of their heart to give justice to the orphaned and oppressed so that people are no longer driven in terror from the land so we turn to our reading from st luke's gospel and today we are in chapter 9 beginning at verse 28 now about eight days after these sayings jesus took with him peter and john and james and went up on the mountain to pray and as he was praying the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white and behold two men were talking with him moses and elijah who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish at jerusalem now peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him and as the men were passing from him peter said to jesus master it is good that we are here let us make three shelters one for you and one for moses and one for elijah not knowing what he said as he was saying these things a cloud came and overshadowed them and they were afraid as they entered the cloud and the voice came out of the cloud saying this is my son my chosen one listen to him and when the voice had spoken jesus was found alone and they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen it is an amazing story but we have to see it in the sequence of what is happening and our main witness is peter himself the gospel of saint mark tells the story with great clarity and traditionally from earliest times peter was seen to be the influence in the gospel of saint mark and never minded putting in things which were in a sense putting him down into a place where he had at the time not understood what was going on instead matthew's gospel there is even a sense of location in matthew the disciples with jesus have gone as far north as it is possible to go in galilee and even crossed the border beyond and we're in caesar caesarea philippi when jesus told them of what it meant to be the messiah the suffering and the death that would ensue and the glory of resurrection and they had not understood but the sense that his friend could suffer smote peter and as you will remember he says to jesus this will never happen to you lord and instantly all the temptations of the desert reappear the temptation to set aside that suffering to go back with his friends be a useful rabbi and be well respected and be at home in galilee and he turns on peter and says get behind me satan you speak as humankind speaks not god because he has been wrestling as we've seen day after day and finding that what he is saying is not understood they've wandered wandered wandered to find the sense of aloneness but the crowds have followed but now they're well beyond that and instead they go to what matthew calls a high mountain to me the obvious place of that is mount hermon just beyond caesarea philippi almost 3 000 feet high this snow-capped mountain so strange at the end of the territory that these rural folk these fishermen and people from galilee would have known and jesus is wandering wandering north north and then he just takes the three on one last attempt to show them exactly what the messiah ship will mean and they climb and climb and climb we have a a story about saint anselm as in anselm is buried here and over his tomb in the south side of the cathedral where the sun shines in there is the most beautiful marble which was put there marble altar which was put there only probably 13 14 years ago and it's made of aosta marble from the alps where anthem anselm grew up obviously we know him as an archbishop of canterbury as someone who was abbott of beck and also someone who was a great scholar whose works are still very much read and respected but he was brought up in a family which wanted him to be a an important diplomat or or ruler in the state and we're told by anselm himself that because he was troubled by this and felt there was something different in the destiny that he must follow that he wandered amongst the snow-capped alps and there early one morning as the sun no doubt shone on the snow in great glory he had a vision of himself being invited into the banquet of god and from then on he knew what his vocation was and our sculptor stephen cox in creating the altar and cutting the aosta marble has found white veins which suggest snow-capped mountains so that when you are celebrating you see these snow-capped mountains on the shining alter top and know yourself to be inviting people into the banquet of god a heavenly vision poised midway between heaven and earth jesus has taken them that far probably into the snows of mount hermon and their confusion and the sun on the snow and jesus there gives them a clear insight to the glory of the one who has been leading them as their friend and as peter says of himself in saint markins in matthew he didn't know what to say he was confused they'd been hearing of moses and elijah and the prophecies and what messiah must suffer they don't understand and here suddenly is a vision vouchsafed to them in a wonderful way transfiguring jesus from his humanity to the glory that would shine through it's something that is kept in their mind and hearts they said nothing to anyone at that time later as with so many visions and so many holy moments so many times that are special they made everything clear everything but for the moment peter said something ordinary we're on a mountaintop let's make shelters for you and a cloud covers all and when the cloud has passed they find themselves only with jesus and they go down the mountain and there at the bottom they begin their journey south as we shall see in the days to come and south means heading for jerusalem and what it means to fulfill the destiny of messiah and for them in total clarity but not in total understanding to act out with jesus in terrifying human detail all that will happen to him in jerusalem at calvary and beyond the cost of vocation but also the insight of destiny being given today in this transfiguration story heaven's seal of approval and jesus now after prayer on the mountain knows deep down what he must do and that involves all those around him as well and he knows what cost that will be for them as well as for himself on this day we remember all kinds of folk in our prayers and you see behind me here on the stone carved the name lucy lucy was the daughter of the dean of canterbury ian white thompson and we're told by her mother who is still very much an active part of our lives that uh she was very attractive and had many suitors and i don't know who carved that but it's for lucy lucy in older age has been very ill recently and we've prayed for her and thank god she's made a wonderful beginning of recovery so we think of her today as a symbol of all those that we shall be praying for in our prayers but first and foremost let's do what we always do and pray for those places in the anglican communion to begin with as we pray for justin our archbishop and the whole communion but today especially for the diocese of nelson in the province of aotearoa new zealand and polynesia and the bishop of nelson steve maina all his people in nigeria the diocese of acuri and simeon borokini the bishop and his people and in south nigeria the diocese of israel ngua sauce and the bishop there isaac noir beer the bishop who looks after the people there we pray for them too in this diocese we are still praying for the north down's benefits and that involves the parishes and communities that bastard hollingborn leeds broomfield awesome langley hucking surname detling grove green and boxley today we pray for mark pavey the team vicar under canon john corbyn and then the reader in training peter roberts so we use our prayers for today saying first of all the prayer of pentecost god who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your holy spirit grant us by the same spirit to have a right judgment in all things and ever more to rejoice in his holy comfort through the merits of jesus christ our savior pray a prayer for ourselves o lord from whom all good things come grant to us your humble servants that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good and by your merciful guiding may perform the same through our lord jesus christ amen so as we come to say the prayer our savior taught us we pray particularly for those who today cry for justice having in our minds psalm 10 and that prayer to god we keep them in our minds and hearts throughout the world wherever we are and pray that that cry for justice will be answered not only from heaven but on earth to by those who are the hands and mind of christ here so in whatever language you use and in whatever way you like to say it we pray 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 as we contemplate the capacity of heaven to transform our human lives with gleams of glory we keep silence for a moment on this lovely morning the spirit of truth lead you into all truth give you grace and power to proclaim the word and works of god and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be among you and with those whom you love and would pray for today and always amen [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh wow [Music] [Music] [Applause] okay uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] you