good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the dinery garden on this saturday morning the 22nd of august it's the morning of fine rain and patchy blue sky but wherever you are in the world please feel welcome to bring your prayers with us as we say our morning prayers together 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 as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep 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 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 our son for this 22nd morning of the month is the great song of pilgrimage in different aspects and it's psalm 107 it's a long psalm so i'm going to use some verses from the beginning and then the great conclusion oh give thanks to the lord for he is gracious for his steadfast love endures forever let the redeemed of the lord say this those he redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south some went astray in desert wastes and found no path to a city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul was fainting within them so they cried to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he set their feet on the right way till they came to a city to dwell in let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good those who go down to the sea and ships and ply their trade in great waters these have seen the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep for at his word the stormy wind arose and lifted up the waves of the sea they were carried up to the heavens and down again to the deep their soul melted away in their pedal they reeled and straggled staggered like a drunkard and were at their wit's end then they cried to the lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were calmed then were they glad because they were at rest and he brought them to the haven they desired let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children let them exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the counsel of the elders the lord turns rivers into wilderness and water springs into thirsty ground a fruitful land he makes a salty waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell there he makes the wilderness a pool of water and water springs out of a thirsty land and there he settles the hungry and they build a city to dwell in they sow fields and plant vineyards and bring in a fruitful harvest he blesses them so that they multiply greatly he does not let their herds of cattle decrease he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes they are diminished and brought low through stress of misfortune and sorrow but he raises the poor from their misery and multiplies their families like flocks of sheep let them give thanks to the lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children so we turn to our reading from the acts of the apostles this morning and you will remember that we have been reading of the way in which the apostles have been preaching and teaching in solomon's portico and once again they've offended the high priest and the temple police and have been brought before this time the whole council of the jewish nation when they had brought them they set them before the council and the high priest questioned the apostles saying we strictly charge you not to teach in this name yet here you have filled jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us but peter and the apostles answered we must obey god rather than men the god of our fathers raised jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree god exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to israel and forgiveness of sins and we are witnesses to these things and so is the holy spirit whom god has given to those who obey him now when they heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them but a pharisee in the council named gamaliel a teacher of the law held in honour by all the people stood up and gave orders to put the apostles outside for a little while and then he said to the council men of israel take care what you are about to do with these men for before these days sudus rose up claiming to be somebody and a number of men about 400 joined him he was killed and all who followed him were dispersed it came to nothing after him judas the galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him he too perished and all who followed him were scattered so in the present case i tell you keep away from these men leave them alone for if this plan or this undertaking is of man it will fail but if it is of god you will not be able to overthrow them you might even be found opposing god so the members of the council took his advice and when they had called in the apostles they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of jesus and they let them go then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name and every day in the temple and from house to house they did not cease teaching and preaching that the christ is jesus we've come to a milestone in the acts of the apostles those first five chapters have given us luke's account from his research of the building up of the early church the followers of the way and we leave them now at the end of chapter five rejoicing not only in the fact that they are really being allowed to teach and preach in the name of jesus as the christ but also that they have been beaten as a warning that no disturbances no political disturbances are wanted and they rejoice that they are suffering as jesus suffered for that was part of the things which he had foretold would happen to them it's actually again a time to look back to luke's gospel and see that the same question that the apostles asked the members of the council was asked by jesus of them in that same temple courtyard in his ministry in luke chapter 20 and jesus uses the illustration of the ministry of john the baptist when they're asking him what authority do you have for saying and doing all these things and he says i in turn will ask you a question did the ministry of john the baptist come from god or was it of human origin and because they fear the people who saw john as a prophet they will not answer and now the apostles ask the same question should we obey god or those of human origin who make human decisions they are facing a divided council originally they were arrested by the high priestly family who were sadducees who believed in no kind of afterlife of resurrection but half the council was made up of pharisees who believed very much in an afterlife which god would prepare for those who followed him in righteousness and in the midst of the council the most respected member of the pharisees party gamaliel the teacher of saint paul as saint paul reminds us later on in the acts in chapter 22 he was his teacher and he gives wise counsel if this is from god there's no point in opposing it if it is of human origin then it will fail like so many had in the past and they beat them as a warning and also as uh shall we say a a sop to the sadduceean party but at the same time they let them go and they warn them not to preach and teach in this name that fact the name of jesus has become such a feature in these first five chapters the power of the name of jesus and they go out and are again in temple and at home their regular life undergirded by the prophecy and fulfillment of scriptures but at the same time one of the great scriptures that they are fulfilling is showing that the stone which the builders rejected has become the foundation stone jesus himself i've chosen to sit here this morning on this slightly rainy morning the blue sky is appearing because here is one of the buttresses of one of the ancient parts of the deanery but the deanery has been made of local flint quarried from the ground of kent that's our local stone and french stone from the quarries of kong and also local brick and the cathedral church itself is carved of stone that was brought across and still is brought across from those quarries in france but at the same time all around us are local flints and human-made brick and the ancillary buildings those which serve the cathedral church are made of a mixture to show that it's the cathedral church which gives god's great honor in the midst of all the other monastic buildings and we keep to that way of building local brick and flint from the ground and stone brought in because there are no great blocks of fine stone here in kent and so they've always been brought across the channel from france well here's a parable in its own right for as we've said we've got here the acts of the apostles and the gospel of saint luke and the scriptures all laid across one another fulfillment of scripture of the old worship which the galilean apostles were utterly used to and jesus himself regular in synagogue and in temple and they are keeping up their normal attendance at the temple but they are overlaying that with their understanding of all that jesus taught them and all that happened and the power of the holy spirit which was the father's gift which jesus had promised them quarrying deep into the ground the undergirding of scripture the local flint wherever they are in the world using the resources and then next that which is the the great stone which the builders rejected jesus himself and then building on that with the human-made brick their own way of understanding which is developing as they go through there's a a very important greek word here which is used only twice in the acts of the apostles and once in the epistle to the hebrews that's it it's the word archaegos which can be translated author or pioneer or leader but there is this sense of attempting something wonderful and following the pioneer and peter uses it just there he's used it before in a speech the author of life and now for the second time and the only time it's used again the it was translated in this um passage of the scripture that i was reading leader pioneer is a good word author is a good word and when it's used in the hebrews well it's a quotation we know well looking unto jesus the author or pioneer and perfecter the beginner and the finisher the beginning and the end the alpha and the omega of our faith all of that is contained in that word looking to jesus the pioneer why should we then take your human instruction to stop using that name for billy we believe he is the christ the messiah all that in this portion of the acts of the apostles as jesus is laid as the foundation stone on top of what they have already in the scriptures and in a foundation for what the spirit will help them to build worldwide though they're not thinking in those terms quite yet we give thanks for luke's cameo of all of that in the first five chapters of the acts of the apostles and the language he uses sometimes suggesting the ancient undergirding of scripture and sometimes new language and sometimes words like this which give us a clue to jesus our pioneer whom we look to to lead us on so we're going to say our prayers on this particular morning and we are asked today to pray in the anglican communion for the diocese of kentucky in the episcopal church of the united states and bishop terry white and his people there the diocese of keriko in kenya and ernest no the bishop there and his people and the diocese of khartoum in the sudan and the primate there ezekiel condo we give thanks for that church in the north of the sudan now and pray for its life in a particularly difficult area so we also pray this morning for justin archbishop of canterbury for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and today for our diocesan communications team and particularly the diocesan director of communications anna drew bring your own prayers as we say the prayer for this week and imagine those you would want to pray for in your hearts and minds let your merciful ears oh lord be open to the prayers of your humble servants and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please you through jesus christ our lord amen and as we give thanks for jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith and also for the undergirding of ancient scriptures which we we read constantly and reflect on and also for the story of both gospel and the early church told us by saint luke we use the words our savior taught us in whatever language you'd 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 forever and ever amen moment of silence now on this saturday morning 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