good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the deanery garden on this tuesday morning of september the 8th we've deliberately come back here because this when we come to the acts of the apostles is a repeat of the story of peter's dream which he uses once again to try and convince the others of the need for the gospel to be given to the diversity of creation and so here we are surrounded by the diversity of creation as an image of peter's dream i've been asked to say something about tiger and tiger has had his operation um and is in in good health but is still very nervous about meeting both other creatures and other people so we're treating him tenderly he's eating well he's watching himself and he's in his own place and one day we'll bring him back for you all to see but uh he is in good hands and also i want to say that today is the feast of the nativity of the blessed virgin mary and we remember that with great joy as a new beginning yesterday was so full of anniversaries that there was one that i didn't actually use it goes well today and that is the uh in 1996 86 um desmond tutu was made archbishop of cape town and primate a shining light he is for us all in breaking down barriers loosening things up whenever he's with us there's a sense of joy and freshness and we wish him well and give thanks for that really groundbreaking day when he was made private in 1986 he held that position for 10 years 18 1986 to 1996 we give thanks for that there are many anniversaries today there always are of september the 8th it's the day when the british took new amsterdam from the dutch and uh a little later called it new york instead so we pray for the citizens of new york today and all kinds of anniversaries but three of them are in my mind and those we shall use when we come to our reflection frederick mistral the provincial french poet and nobel laureate was born in 1830 friedrich mistral was someone who wrote many poems but we go to cassie in france and enjoy the mediterranean most summers and he wrote of cassie paris well that means whoever has seen paris but has not seen cassie has seen nothing his loyalty to that place taught me how to say the word because in fact until i knew his poetry i used to pronounce it like black currants cassis and now cassie is the the way in which it is pronounced as a community on the coast of the mediterranean we remember him and we remember also that on this day in uh 1886 siegfried sassoon the poet was born and we remember that in 1949 on this day richard strauss best known for his operas but orchestral pieces and songs died we will think of all of those as we come to our reflection for they can help us this is also unesco international literacy day that was established some long time ago but here on this unesco heritage site world heritage site we remember that this is international literacy day and the importance of literacy which unesco has always championed right across the world well i'm going just to give our diversity of creatures some breakfast maybe it will keep them a bit calm and uh then we can begin our prayers surrounded as we think of st peter's dream particularly later on by all this diversity of creature o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands blessed are you sovereign god creator of heaven and earth to you be praise and glory forever as your living word eternal in heaven assumed the frailty of our mortal flesh may the light of your love be born in us to fill our hearts with joy as we sing 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 say 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 part of psalm 40. i waited patiently for the lord he inclined to me and heard my cry he bought me out of the roaring pit out of the mire and clay he set my feet upon a rock and made my footing sure he has put a new song in my mouth a song of praise to our god many shall see and fear and put their trust in the lord blessed is the one who trusts in the lord who does not turn to the proud that follow a lie great are the wonders you have done o lord my god how great your designs for us there is none that can be compared with you if i were to proclaim them and tell of them they would be more than i am able to express sacrifice and offering you do not desire but my ears you have opened burnt offering and sacrifice for sin you have not required then said i lo i come in the scroll of the book it is written of me that i should do your will oh my god i delight to do it your law is within my heart i have declared your righteousness in the great congregation behold i did not restrain my lips and that o lord you know so we turn to the 11th chapter of the acts of the apostles as luke continues to tell the story of the early church and peter now returns to jerusalem they've already heard of what has happened in caesarea he comes i'm sure with a sense of nervousness but still the confidence of the fact that what he has done has been the work of the holy spirit now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout judea heard that the gentiles also had received the word of god so when peter went up to jerusalem the circumcision party criticized him saying you went to uncircumcised men and act with them but peter began and explained it to them in order i was in the city of joppa praying and in a trance i saw a vision something like a great sheet descending being let down from heaven by its four corners and it came down to me and looking at it closely i observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air and i heard a voice saying to me rise peter kill and eat but i said by no means lord for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth but the voice answered a second time from heaven what god has made clean do not call unclean or common this happened three times and all was drawn up again into heaven and behold at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were sent to me from caesarea and the spirit told me to go with them making no distinction these six brothers also accompanied me and we entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen the angels stand in his house and say send to joppa and bring simon who is called peter he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved you and all your household as i began to speak the holy spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning and i remembered the word of the lord how he said john baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy spirit if then god gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the lord jesus christ who was i that i could stand in god's way now when they heard these things they fell silent and they glorified god saying then to the gentiles also god has granted repentance that leads to life it's a very significant passage for luke as himself a greek speaking christian of the new way and he has caused this to be a turning point in the acts of the apostles a really important turning point peter gets high commendation from luke for the way in which he tells the story shall we say a bit nervously in front of the council in jerusalem an informal greeting not the official council which will meet later in the acts of the apostles to hear the story these are folks who are hostile to what he has done and he has to explain himself so he does it in the greek catheters step by step and that's the word that luke himself uses for what he is doing when he is explaining to a theophilus right at the beginning of luke's gospel what he will do he will set out all he has found out step by step cathec says and we give thanks for the fact that luke did that but also on this day of the feast of the nativity of the blessed virgin mary which is a symbolic feast of new beginnings where as in the psalmist someone responds to the will of god for them and says i delight to do your will oh god then we think of luke's putting before us of the blessed virgin mary right at the beginning of his gospel and also right at the beginning of the acts of the apostles when she is there with those who have gathered to await the coming of the holy spirit an important point but twice and luke is good at doing these things of underlining it twice in those first two chapters luke says mary kept all these things in her heart the first time pondered them it's exactly what we're trying to do as we read the scriptures at any time or even sentences of psalms to store them in our heart and ponder them and we're helped by god's gifts in creation and by one another and situations in our life of joy and sorrow to do just that even in difficult circumstances which peter finds himself in now do notice that although the holy spirit has been poured out on that group in caesarea in the household of the centurion of the italian cohort cornelius the holy spirit doesn't take away all problems there's much more to come but peter is sure that he is doing the work of the spirit and also in luke's first two chapters the problems aren't taken away from mary for simeon who utters the prophecy a light to lighten the gentiles also says a sword shall pierce your own soul also as though the secret thoughts of many which will be laid back will be given nourishment by the opening of mary's heart where so much has been stored and pondered and that is true at the beginning of the acts of the apostles as it is at the beginning of the gospel to relate back to how luke tells that story and to find the resonances is a very important activity keeping them in our heart and pondering them and this feast is a reminder of that yes there's joy for the moment in those who are hearing him in jerusalem but they are then going to have to work out in their minds how many of the rules of the law and of the jewish faith these new converts are going to have to keep and that's going to be a cause of much argument as this goes forward the life of the church has never been without discussion and argument but also prayer and the sharing of the secret thoughts of our hearts with each other so that the way can go forward well let's think of these three people that i mentioned mistral who lived out his life in provence and i always think of cassie as a place of sun rises on the sea some of the most beautiful sunrises we've observed across the sea at cassie with all the colors of creation unfolding and a new beginning rather as we say the gift of this new day and richard strauss well of course many many operas and wonderful four last songs but my favorite work of all of his is just a little song it's called morning morgan in the german and perhaps in english better translated tomorrow and the english translation of the lyrics begins tomorrow's sun will rise in glory beaming and in the pathway that my feature wonder will meet forget the earth and lost in dreaming let heaven unite a love that earth no more shall sunder a new beginning a fresh beginning as with god's work for the blessed virgin mary as the spirit fills her and lastly sassoon well sassoon was somebody who had a long journey through the appalling devastation of the trenches of the first world war life-changing life-changing ever after for that journey wasn't over he came to faith late but he certainly came to it and some of his very late poems are the most telling for us as we read them but again my favorite is quite a short one and it's a story of freshness of the gift of a new day as the war ends this is it and i'm sure most of you will know it everyone suddenly burst out singing and i was filled with such delight as prison birds must find in freedom winging wildly across the white orchards and dark green fields on on and out of sight everyone's voice was suddenly lifted and beauty came like the setting sun my heart was shaken with tears and horror drifted away oh but everyone was a bird and the song was wordless the singing will never be done a wonderful poem of freedom on this day perhaps as we think of people keeping this feast across the world the most important place to think of is the island of malta where this feast is known as the feast of our lady of victories for three times in their history a siege has been broken and they've been given freedom the first when the ottoman empire besieged them and on this day the siege ended the second when the french besieged them and on this day of the year the siege ended and the third in 1943 when the italians besieged them and on this day the siege was lifted so today there will be fireworks and there will be songs i'm sure in the island of malta and everyone will suddenly burst out singing so let's give thanks for the diversity of the world and creation and for the ability with the good news always to have a new beginning here is the prayer for this day and i ask you to bring your own prayers and intentions as we say our prayers almighty and everlasting god who stooped to raise fallen humanity through the child bearing of blessed mary grant that we who have seen your glory revealed in our human nature and your love made perfect in our weakness may daily be renewed in your image and conform to the pattern of your son jesus christ our lord men so as we say the prayer our lord has taught us to say in whatever language and in the full diversity of of the human race right across the world and also we think of the gift not only of this day but the possibility of the gift of other days to use according to the will of god for us we say together 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 so as we give thanks for peter's dream we keep silence thinking of our own new beginnings as each new day unfolds you would have brought many intentions and prayers to that saying of the our father and to the silence but as we come to the end of our prayers we remember today especially in the anglican communion the diocese of osaka in japan and andrew iso the bishop then his people and the diocese of canterbury in england and our own primate justin welby archbishop of canterbury pray for the diocese and for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and today our very near neighbour the parish of saint martin and st paul and for mark griffin parish priests and hannah thompson his curious and we pray for the whole community of that parish the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds and the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord 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 um