good morning and welcome to the january garden on the 5th of september a saturday morning here in canterbury cathedral it is a lovely morning but here where i've come outside for breakfast time here um the sun has not yet reached into the orchards here but uh the sun i can see shining brightly with a clear blue sky above it i can see the tower of belle harry here and next door the joy is that the choristers have returned so that tomorrow we shall have live singing for the first time since march the 16th that's a long time to wait but it's a it will be a great joy um and i've come out here because of course we are in the middle of the story of cornelius in the acts of the apostles with saint peter's dream of all kinds of creatures being shown to him clean and unclean according to his practice uh and so here we are with four footed creatures with birds of the air unless you should think that we don't have any reptiles here well i'm afraid i've brought uh achilles here and she's come to join us uh and uh i'm sorry this is a thingy uh who's come to join us to represent reptiles this morning in st peter's dream so we have the hens and the pigs and the tortoise here athini a greek tortoise i'm going to put her here while she's beginning to wake up and then she can eat some green leaves so let's remember for the moment one or two things that have happened in uh the past on this day september the fifth and perhaps for us the most extraordinary thing that happened was that in 1174 four years after the murder of thomas beckett canterbury cathedral was almost destroyed by a huge fire it left the shell of land frank's building and the crypt intact so there's much there still but it allowed for a total rebuild and that's what we see now which was developed over the years some of the stained glass even was saved from the 1070 building and that would make it the oldest stained glass in the world of this type and even the 11 89 glass which we have a great deal of showing biblical patterns and patriarchs and prophets and kings is some of the oldest stained glass in the world but on this day in september in 1174 the cathedral burned times of destruction times of creation and at the same time um we think of 1646 the end of the english civil war which oliver cromwell and his armies had won and on this day in 1646 the office of archbishop of canterbury was abolished cromwell felt that was for good of course we know that in 1660 when king charles ii returned he made william jackson his archbishop the bishop of london who had said prayers with his father and stood with him on the scaffold when charles the first was executed but for today we remember again times of destruction times of creation and change and the way in which it is managed in 1914 the first battle of the man began the very early in the great war german british french troops all involved and in six days half a million people were killed winston is taking notice of athene i don't think he's ever seen a tortoise before and uh then um in uh 1969 this is a beautiful thing um gavin maxwell the author and and uh scottish um well uh what should we say a biologist an anthropologist and all sorts of things interested in creation he died on this day but we remember him this is the joy as author of ring of bright water when the lovely iraqi otter midge pill becomes the the the absolute star of this book any of you who have seen otters play will instantly smile because they are creatures who will play all day long up and down mudslides play with little pebbles and juggle them and and they are the most wonderful creatures and then in 75 1975 and in 1979 we remember in 75 an ira bomb exploding and killing people in the lobby of the hilton hotel in london and in 79 the queen leading this nation in the funeral of lord mountbatten who with members of his family had been killed when his his uh boat exploded with an ira bomb in ireland and um so uh times of destruction times of creation times of memory and times of resolve going forward let's start our prayers and then we'll come to our reflection back with saint peter oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the true the only light banish all darkness from our hearts and minds blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made and as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep open our eyes to behold your presence in creation and strengthen our hands to do your will that the whole 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 oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm this morning on this lovely morning is psalm 24 the morning psalm for the fifth morning of the month the earth is the lord's and all that fills it the compass of the world and all who dwell therein for he has founded it upon the seas and set it firm upon the rivers of the deep who shall ascend the hill of the lord or who can rise up in his holy place those who have clean hands and a pure heart who have not lifted up their soul to an idol nor sworn an oath to a lie they shall receive a blessing from the lord a just reward from the god of their salvation such is the company of those who seek him of those who seek your face so god of jacob lift up your heads so gates be lifted up you everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in who is the king of glory the lord strong and mighty the lord who is mighty in battle lift up your heads o gates be lifted up you everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in who is this king of glory the lord of hosts he is the king of glory before we say go back to our lesson i'm just going to give the animals a bit more breakfast otherwise they will think why have i come here my words are not feeding them here we are so let's turn to the story of cornelius and peter peter has had this vision of the great sheet coming down from heaven and being filled with all kinds of creatures four footage creatures and two footed creatures like the birds here and the birds of the air and reptiles and all kinds of things which he would think both clean and unclean from the lists in the books of the law of the jewish faith and he hears a voice saying rise peter kill and eat and peter says no lord nothing unclean or common has ever entered my mouth and he says and that the voice says that which the lord has called clean it is not for you to call unclean and then you remember that the three visitors from cornelius come and peter is going downstairs to see them the last words we heard were the command from god rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation for i have sent them [Music] and peter went down to the men and said i am the one you are looking for what is the reason for your coming and they said cornelius a centurion an upright and god-fearing man who is well spoken of by the whole jewish nation was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say so peter invited them in to be his guests the next day he rose and went away with them and some of the brothers from joppa accompanied him and on the following day they entered caesarea cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends when peter entered cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him but peter lifted him up saying stand up i too am a man and as he talked with him he went in and found many persons gathered and he said to them you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation but god has shown me that i should not call any person common or unclean so when i was sent for i came without objection i asked then why you sent for me and cornelius said four days ago about this hour i was praying in my house at the ninth hour and behold a man stood before me in bright clothing and said cornelius your prayer has been heard and your arms have been remembered before god send therefore to joppa and ask for simon who is called peter he is lodging in the house of simon the tanner by the seaside so i sent for you at once and you have been kind enough to come now therefore we are all here in the presence of god to hear all that you have been commanded by the lord we have to remember how revolutionary a moment this is for the church and for peter himself we've called the road to damascus the conversion of saint paul i think we could easily call the story of cornelius the conversion of saint peter of course we've seen peter as the chief apostle being given his commission by jesus but here is peter opening into a new world of realizing that the good news and the gift of the holy spirit are for all nations not just for a development of his own nation's faith he has already traveled far physically as well because he's come from jerusalem and come into samaria come up to the sea coast to lidda and joppa which we saw with aeneas being healed healed and dorcas tabitha being raised from the dead and now at joppa a message comes from a centurion of the roman legions who is counted by the jewish people who know him to be a righteous man righteous dickios in the greek which is being given to zechariah by luke and elizabeth they were righteous people to simeon to joseph of arimathea this word is almost the highest compliment in faithfulness that can be given and here cornelius is being given that title by his jewish friends in caesarea but first peter has to welcome this group of foreigners into his house breaking the law he gives them hospitality and at the same time he agrees to set out on a journey and members of followers of the way from joppa all along the coast of the mediterranean see go with him on the plane of sharon there as they travel up northwards to caesarea where the roman centurion is waiting what must have been going through peter's heart and mind well things seem always to come to st peter in threes he had denied his lord three times before the cockroad and also he had received his commission three times do you love me feed my sheep three times and now for the expansion of the vision of what his messiahship the body of christ should be taking on that role which his lord had handed on to him as that role is handed on to his church as the body of christ the expansion of that to all nations he has received three times the vision being of the sheep being let down to heaven full of creatures birds and beasts unclean in the jewish uh calendar of of of creatures and reptiles here and that vision is with him all the way what does it mean what does it mean so the followers of the way travel with him in companionship we've seen quite a bit of that recently in the lord of the rings the companions going out to fulfill their mission together in the pilgrims progress part two of christiana christian's wife with the companions encouraging one another as they go along and coming up to new challenges different things which might completely faze them but they are up to that challenge in their companionship and peter travels to caesarea great city there now here we could play with dates a bit and we will later on in the acts of the apostles but certainly after the deaths of king herod agrippa rome took over caesarea and that area of samaria and judea and legions were there and it could be that this is happening after that but certainly the italian cohort was in historic legion and here is cornelius the door opens and cornelius has gathered his friends and family and kinsfolk and the marvellous thing is that peter is brave enough to go in taking his companions with him so now we have a mixture of jew and gentile and a gentile who's been called a righteous man who's been praying at the right hour of prayer at three in the afternoon all those things this is revolutionary and the story won't end here we shall go on tomorrow it's revolutionary in the fact that barriers are broken down and the gift of the holy spirit is clearly in peter's heart and mind being seen as a gift for all nations luke has made that absolutely clear in the nung dimitis which he gives us in his gospel in the mouth of of simeon he's made it abundantly clear all the way through with words repeated and and going on but now here we have shall we call it the conversion of peter to a worldwide ministry in companionship not only with those of his own faith but also with those who are gentiles who will now receive the gift we looked at times of breaking down we looked at times of building up peter is probably traveling because the spate of persecution and the ravaging of the church which happened in jerusalem temporarily at saul's instigation really after the the stoning of stephen and his travelling which set out in a a way of fear actually becomes the new step towards new development so let's embrace all of that in whatever position we're in this morning and give thanks that the good news that we hold is a gift for all nation and we're to call nothing in god's creation unclean for he shows his creative light in all things so let's say our prayers on this day and we will pray for those areas in our anglican communion that are in our calendar for today the diocese of orlu in nigeria and bennett okoro the bishop there and his people the diocese of cameroon in west africa and the bishop debo thomas babington elango and all his people and the diocese of kirin yaga in kenya and joseph quebecois the bishop there and here in this diocese as we pray for justin archbishop of canterbury giving thanks that his office was re-established in 1660 having been abolished in 1646 um we pray today also for rose bishop of dover and for tim bishop at lambeth and pray for in this diocese the church of sin cosmos and saint damian at bleen and the priest there stephen ladd in his ministry and all his people so here is the prayer for today bring your own intentions and all those that you would pray for to it almighty and everlasting god you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy for giving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of jesus christ your son our lord as we say the prayer our lord taught us in whichever language we are using we give thanks with peter's dream in mind and his actions afterwards for the diversity of nations the diversity of creatures the diversity of all creation on this lovely morning and we pray for one another bringing our concerns to this prayer in whatever language we would normally 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 forever and ever amen some silence now for you to say your own prayers but you're hearing the sound of piglets feeding so it's not terribly silent here and 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 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 [Music] you're right