good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of thursday the 14th of october it's a cool awesome morning here and we've come into the woody area just before we get to the orchard simply so that you can have a look at the way that the various trees are beginning to turn and the leaves are beginning to get their autumnal colors it's a sunrise through thin cloud shining through the leaves and i'm sitting under the canopy of this large mulberry tree with this very naughty trunk which you will have begun to know well the mulberry is not losing its leaves yet it's one of those that holds onto them and on this side i've got a sycamore tree as well but apart from that around me are various trees which are beginning to turn color and on the ground in the dampness of this time just as there are the mushrooms on the lawn there are tiny toadstools and different sorts of fungus growing up here so that the damp air which is good for the trees and there's no wind this morning but the damper is causing the mushrooms and toe stools to grow and it's fun to see what comes up each morning so sharing another sunrise fletcher wanted to make an apology to you all this morning because yesterday we were played or he was plagued with technical problems but at the same time when we watched the work the the result of his his uh work with yesterday's broadcast he suddenly said oh oh dear that's the wrong portrait and the first of the two portraits of kanova were not was not a a portrait of kenova it was a portrait of edward onslow ford who had created the statue on or the statues around the marlow memorial which appeared later in the broadcast the amount of technical work there is to do just um staggers me and it's quite beyond my comprehension so i'm sure there's no need to apologize but just in case some of you thought why is kenova wearing late 19th century dress that is edward onslow ford a very famous sculptor now we're being drawn joined here by our guinea fowl who are being curious of what we do so if you hear the clucking noises that's the sick skinny fowl on their morning watch walking around the garden just to see that all is well very conservative creatures indeed and hate any kind of change so if you put a bucket in the way they'll look at it as though it's something absolutely strange and foreign on their path and spend a long time before they go around it i should say also they love the look of their own faces so if as a puddle or any kind of mirror they'll stand for hours or if they're looking into their reflection in the glass of the windows of the house in the french windows they'll they'll stand for hours looking at them they're very interesting birds indeed and and lovely to have around so here we are beginning our prayers together bring your own concerns from across the world as we say our morning prayers 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 does 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 son this morning on this 14th day of the month 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 a portent to many but you are my refuge and my strengths 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 for my enemies are talking against me and those who lie and wait for me my life take counsel together they say god has forsaken him pursue him and take him because there is none to deliver him oh god be not far from me come quickly to my help o my god let those who are against me be put to shame and disgrace let those who seek to do me evil be covered with scorn and reproach but as for me 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 o 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 your righteousness o god reaches to the heavens in the great things you have done who is like you o god what troubles and adversities you have shown me and yet you will turn and refresh me and bring me from the deep of the earth again increase my honor turn again and comfort me therefore will i praise you upon the harp for your faithfulness so my god i will sing to you with the liar o holy one of israel my lips will sing out as i play to you and so will my soul which you have redeemed my tongue also will tell of your righteousness all the day long for they shall be shamed and disgraced who sought to do me evil it's a wonderful sound speaking of a lifelong journey and different experiences of the way in which god appears to someone throughout that life-long journey so we give thanks for the insight of the psalmist this morning from youth to the time he like me became grey-headed and uh it's a psalm that i i love to read so here now uh is our continuation of the book of the exodus from where we left off yesterday where pharaoh has said to moses and aaron because they've they've angered him by coming to ask for the release of the people of the hebrews whom he's treating as his slaves and workforce and so despite moses and aaron and to punish the children of israel for being as he says lazy and wanting to escape their work he has ordered them now to make bricks without straw unless they collect it themselves which increases their work as they have to go out to find the straw to consolidate the bricks and i'm reading from verse 10 of chapter five of the exodus so the task masters and the formal of the people went out and said to the people thus says pharaoh i will not give you straw go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it but your work will not be reduced in the least so the people were scattered throughout all the land of egypt to gather stubble for straw the task masters were urgent saying complete your work your daily task each day as when there was straw and the foremen of the people of israel whom pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them were beaten and were asked why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday as in the past then the foreman of the people of israel came and cried to pharaoh why do you treat your servants like this no straw is given to your servants yet they say to us make bricks and behold your servants are beaten but the fault is in your own people but pharaoh said you are idle you are idle that is why you say let us go and sacrifice to the lord go now and work no straw will be given you but you must still deliver the same number of bricks the foreman of the people of israel saw that they were in trouble when they said you shall by no means reduce your number of bricks your daily tasks each day they met moses and aaron who were waiting for them as they came out from pharaoh and they said to them the lord look on you and judge because you have made us stink in the sight of pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to kill us then moses turned to the lord and said o lord why have you done evil to this people why did you ever send me for since i came to pharaoh to speak in your name he has done evil to these people and you have not delivered your people at all the first steps of the journey of moses and aaron as they fulfill the task that god has set before moses and called aaron to join in with so that he can be the mouthpiece of moses the first steps have proved disastrous not only for the people of israel but also for moses and aaron in their position of would-be leaders of the people in fulfilling god's plans to let his people go free they have come and asked the pharaoh and the response has been these people are lazy that's why they're trying to get away i don't believe a word of what you're saying and to punish them we shall no longer give them straw with which to make the bricks that they are building public buildings for us in slavery and as you well know those bricks those clay bricks baked were made firm and held together by the clay being mixed with the stubble so that they became properly solid otherwise they were much more inclined to fragment and be very fragile and so in going out to collect the stubble and then coming back to try and make the same quota of bricks which the foreman says the pharaoh has given command must be made in the same way pharaoh has given them an impossible task and he knows it but it's a punishment and the punishment which then rebounds as they look for blame the foreman meeting moses and aaron and saying to them you've made a stink in the eyes of pharaoh you're no good to us at all and i think probably the the word that over arches this passage at the end is the word why moses says it twice why have you sent this message to the pharaoh but not delivered your people and then underlying that why did you pick me for this task and the inference so he doesn't say it i know i knew i'd be no good at it i told you i'd be no good at it why have you chosen me as we said yesterday the past can open up but steadfastness is needed to believe that it's the right path and that a stopping place is not necessarily a permanent hindrance but a way in which one is being told to wait for the lord a lesson that we've had a few days ago or at the same time think and reflect of the way forward and cry out as the psalmist did this morning in psalm 71 cry out to god in a time which seems like a misadventure when you want to say why why have you done this cry out and let that mix like the mix of the clay and the straw become the solid intention of the next steps forward all of that is there but we were talking last night when we were talking about this lesson and thinking how we would go forward and fletcher said that the pharaoh is forgetting that he is only sitting there in great state because all those years ago his predecessor invited the children of israel of jacob to come and live as guests in the land of goshen and there over several hundred years they grew into a prosperous people who no doubt enriched first of all in their freedom the land of egypt but certainly had protected them right at the beginning that's why they were invited to stay because of the work of joseph had protected them from the famine and the insight of joseph had meant that the pharaoh's throne remained secure at that time and the people of egypt were fed as were the nation's roundabouts short-term memory of history and we also reflected and we'll continue that reflection tomorrow how in the middle of the 16th century here in canterbury there was an influx of people fleeing from paris and from france to escape murderous treatment because they were huguenots and i've said before and many of you will know that we have a huguenot chapel in the crypt it's a side chapel nowadays but at first when the huguenots came they grew into such a number that much of the crypt was used and you can see the mark of their triptych there but also there's a stone in the floor to say this is where the huguenots used to worship they still worship continually on the temporary permission given to them by my predecessor the dean in the 16th century and when that happened they came at a time when canterbury because of the reformation because of the dissolution of the monasteries because of the ceasing of work and employment by the monks of the the many abbeys and small convents and monasteries which were around here as well as the great ones the economy of this city was collapsing and at the same time the lucrative uh trade for the citizens of having pilgrims come here constantly ceased when the shrine was destroyed but the influx of these visitors who were given temporary permission foreigners coming here fleeing from persecution temporary permission to be here they came with skills particularly skills as weavers and here in canterbury their businesses flourished and they began to give employment as they were employed themselves so that there was even a type of cloth called canterbury cloth which the weavers of the huguenots could produce so that those who had come fleeing persecution and were treated with generosity suddenly became a lifeline for the economy of this city in the 16th century and from then on began to grow and develop nowadays that their numbers worshipping here are quite small but they are a sign of the way in which this place and this cathedral church this holy place were enriched by the coming of people of a completely different strand of christian worship we'll talk about that more tomorrow as well but for the moment let's think of this short-sighted pharaoh who in intending to s to to to punish these people he's used as slaves is usu using a policy of leadership which is really going to backfire on him in the end but meanwhile moses is reduced to saying why why oh lord have you treated us us and we learn the lesson which our lord himself tells us that when we come in our prayers to the creator and say our prayers quietly or as a community to god it must be in total honesty so that if there are questions about the way god is seeming to treat the vocation that is given us or there are questions in one's own life it's not the the best and tranquil side of us that is needed in prayer that day even though we're taught that we must begin all prayers with thanksgiving a thanksgiving for this opportunity to cry out to the lord and say why why we give thanks for the opening of this new day but lord give us insight if this is the way you want us to go forward or if we have made a mistake make us realize what that is to go back a few places and go on but honesty in all ways is what god wants from us as moses is now crying out in honesty to the lord why have you sent me to do this it has only resulted in a worse treatment of my people there are some dates today which are worth remembering to help us in this kind of path the long-term president of tanzania most respected man uh julius now rari died on this day the 14th of october 1999. he died in london in thomas's hospital and he was a very devout roman catholic and a a full mass a requiem mass was held for him in westminster cathedral but then he was taken home back to tanzania and then a requiem mass held for him there someone who is called by the tanzanians and having worked in in tanzania i i know the respect in which he is is held mualimu the teacher but also the father of the nation and he had been first the prime minister of tanganyika in 1961-62 but became its first president on independence in 1963 and then later when tanganyika was merged a year later with zanzibar then the two nations still remaining uh separate in many ways and and zanzibar and its culture was not simply subsumed into tanganyika but nairari went for the welfare of the people of the of the island of zanzibar but from then on respected their culture too and the joint nation was called tanzania so he became president of tanzania and retain that role from 1964 when it became tanzania right through to 1985 and then lived on as a respected elder statesman and father of the nation until this date october the 14th in 1999 he was a person who lived life simply a person of great devotion wanted no titles at all and his staff all simply called him zay and in swahili that means old man but old age is treated with such intense respect and a senior figure being called ms is being given total respect and it was enough for him that go back to the psalmist forsake me not when i'm grey-headed but m's a means old man and in the plural the was a are groups of elderly people greatly respected simply because age gives a wisdom and perspective and in that simplicity of life he forged a nation based on the principle of ujamaa all together and in that all togetherness stability after independence was given to tanzania and from time to time they were able to go and help other nations most principally in 1978 and 79 going to assist the stricken people of uganda who were suffering on under the role of president idi amin and helping them to be released from that yoke which which was a terrible yoke to be to be under at that time and they went to help a neighbor but mostly uh the ujjamar was for his own nation so that all cultural groups minority groups of asians minority groups of europeans amongst the tanzanians were all embraced to be tanzanians and i said the culture of the zanzibaris as well at that time so that one sensed that huge respect and still does for the person of the mualemu the teacher julius nareri faithful catholic christian but respecter of others and someone who wanted to build a united society and faced many difficulties many dangers much opposition on the way through no leader can go without that but at the same time holding to that simplicity of life to his own devotion respecting others and to the principles of ujamaa which he uh set out in his statement at arusha now i remember arusha very well most of our links in tanzania from the the time that i was there were with masasi and and dara salam and the diocese of the the middling and the south but arusha's in the far north from there you're near to the slopes of kilimanjaro and the other side of that is kenya but also you're on the slopes of mount meru which is a mountain which is much more possible to climb than kilimanjaro with its great height and i remember it because we were linked in the peripheral diocese with an agricultural project there and i spent many happy hours at that unhappy days at that that project of of agriculture and forestry and teaching people to be self-sustaining and to treat everything around them and we had many tanzanian experts helping us do that and i learned many lessons there about the trees there and the plants and what was good and what was not and the way that the climate was helping those particular plants and trees and always beside me was another person from england who i grew to know well he was very definitely an mse an old man who had worked so much of his agricultural life as an agri agricultural officer in tanganyika and then tanzania and on the island of pemba which is uh north of of zanzibar and he was someone much respected by them not only for his grey hands but because of his agricultural knowledge and his intense sense of building community so many of the things i learned about nairari julius naire who taught me also by geoffrey wilkinson who taught me basic swahili at the same time and was a good teacher but our probably our favorite times were in not only the agricultural institute on the slopes of mount meru in arusha but also in the guest house of the convent in masasi of the nuns there in the deep south amongst the cashew woods a very green area of tanzania i mustn't get too sentimental about it it's nairari i wanted to talk about because he as a leader was one who successfully held his people together and also was much respected as a peacemaker receiving both the narrow honor from from india and the gandhi honor both of whom are given for those who internationally have helped the cause of peace and then today also this is the 81st birthday of sir cliff richard the english singer and i say english but actually he holds british and barbadian citizenship and he had been born in 1940 in india lucknow on this day october the 14th so we wish him a happy 81st birthday and he has been still singing on a postponed 80th birthday tour which couldn't happen last year because of the pandemic he's one of the best-selling music artist of all time 250 million records and so many of his singles became number one um and i think he's the the best seller after elvis presley one of his heroes and the beatles but that's a group so you could say he's the second solo artist but backed so often by that group the shadows lots of you all know an awful lot more about him than i do but i remember very much growing up with his sounds from the late 50s and 60s with uh songs like living doll and traveling light and then the films the young ones and summer holiday in 1962 1962-63 those tunes still stay in the head but he was someone who at one time thought when he embraced uh he'd been baptized as an anglican but when he embraced his christianity to the full he thought should i then give up this life and uh live a different kind of life in in expressing my christianity and so many friends said to him no by doing what you're doing you have a much better way of if you like the the the mission statement of this cathedral church showing people jesus in great numbers and so he went on and we give thanks for so many of his songs and the energy he showed decade after decade after decade and even christmas songs like mistletoe and wine which reached a number one at christmas he was knighted in 1995 um but then in august 2014 of course he faced and you will know this well unjustified charges which were in the end thrown out but he suffered greatly from that and has received massive compensation from the way he was treated by the police and the bbc but if you listen to two completely different desert island discs that he made on that famous program where someone is interviewed and said which desert which dis would you like which music would like to take to a desert line and they're interviewed about their life he made one in 1960 with roy plumley who was the founder of that and in that he has a young man setting out and someone who's a bit nervous with it all but a a a program of optimism and then he made another in 2020 with lauren laverne completely different interviewer and there of course says enormous joy in the path which has been so supported on the way through but one feels the hurt and sorrow at that tragedy of his life which he says will never really go away and yet that doesn't cause any diminution of his firm faith or his delight in causing people to rejoice in the music he's giving which is going on now still as he sings at the age of 81 and uh having that wonderful tour of the 80th birthday trip postponed because of the pandemic but now being able to to do all of that he's mostly now relocated to new york and it was there that we last saw him in a a a restaurant which was a favorite of ours just off lexington avenue in the upper east and it's now sadly closed it was a little quite simple french restaurant and we saw saw him there momfiti cafe and uh saw him there and he had been when all the 2014 uh situation broke had been coming here to canterbury cathedral as you'll see on his wikipedia entry and he wrote a letter and said he wouldn't come to to perform here because all of this would overshadow what was doing so we were able in the the cafe to say how sorry we were that that had not been able to happen and to to wish him well that in new york all of these steps in completely different situations we remember today but the exodus will take us with moses and aaron along a path which has many dangers and many doubts of the why why have you done this to me why have you caused me to come and do this to my people and it becomes part of the way of faith to know that there are stumbling blocks and stopping places when prayer is most needed so let's say our prayers together right across the world this morning as we complete this little section of the exodus but we'll go on tomorrow with with another section we are on this particular day the 14th of october continuing to pray for the area of parishes and communities around the town of dover the dover area dinery but today we're asked to pray for those who are chaplains to organizations organizations of all different kinds educational um the hospitals the communities all of that and there are four names given for those so it's not too long a list to read so we're praying for malcolm sawyer david slater toby marchand jonathan russell and praying also for our archbishop uh justin and for the uh for rose bishop of dover and also for emma bishop at lambus and in the anglican communion today for the diocese of glasgow and galloway in the scottish episcopal church so let's say our prayer together and as i say each day this is one we can know well oh god for as much as without you we are not able to please you mercifully grant that your holy spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts through jesus christ our lord amen so in our own language in our own way we join in the prayer which 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 your own prayers the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord 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 today and always amen you