good afternoon and welcome to canterbury cathedral for evening prayer on this feast of st thomas friday the 3rd of july and here we are in the deanery garden and wherever you are in the world please feel welcome as we remember saint thomas the apostle and his witness to jesus please bring your own prayers to the service in heart and mind as we say evening prayer together o lord open thou our lips and our mouth shall show forth thy praise oh god make speed to save us o lord make peace to help us glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen praise he the lord the lord's name be praised the psalm this afternoon on this third evening of the month is psalm 18 it's a long psalm and i'm saying some verses beginning at verse 16. the lord shall send down from on high to fetch me and shall take me out of many waters he shall deliver me from my strongest enemy and from them which hate me for they are too mighty for me they prevented me in the day of my trouble but the lord was my upholder he brought me forth also into a place of liberty he brought me forth even because he had a favor unto me the lord shall reward me after my righteous dealing according to the cleanness of my hands shall he recompense me because i have kept the ways of the lord and have not forsaken my god as the wicked dust for i have an eye unto all his laws and will not cast out his commandments from me i was also uncorrupt before him and estewed my own wickedness therefore shall the lord reward me after my righteous dealing and according unto the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight with the holy thou shalt be holy and with a perfect man thou shalt be perfect with the clean thou shalt be clean and with the throat thou shalt learn throwedness for thou shalt save the people that are in adversity and shalt bring down the high looks of the proud thou also shalt light my candle the lord my god shall make my darkness to be light this morning we read the story of saint thomas when jesus told the disciples that they were to return to the dangers of judea and jerusalem and they responded with fear and it's thomas who says let us go also that we may die with him as an intention of support for jesus's dangerous path along the way of his messiahship a path they've been called to share now this afternoon i'm reading from sin john's gospel later on they are at the last supper and at the last supper jesus begins to teach them what the way will mean but also he gives them comfort he says to them let not your hearts be troubled believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and take you to myself so that where i am you may be also and you know the way to where i am going thomas said to him lord we do not know where you are going how can we know the way jesus said to him i am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me when christians first became a community in the early church in their earliest days they were known as followers of the way and in their hearts and minds the way didn't mean a path like this one it meant a human life in which they saw the complete brightness of the divine and glory of the divine and that human life was jesus who now had been resurrected and given new life and had given them the gift and graces of the holy spirit followers of the way it's thomas here in these what we call farewell discourses to the disciples around the supper table who is brave enough to admit their puzzlement lord we don't know where you're going so how can we know the way and it's jesus who speaking of himself says more or less to them just look at me follow me i am the way and the truth and the life one of the best films i know on pilgrimage is a film called simply the way it's the story of four unlikely companions who only become friends on their journey who for very different reasons and some not desperately worthy reasons are going along the path to santiago compastela and they're setting off at the pyrenees and walking along that journey and on the way they make friends they have awful arguments because they're very different people and their intentions for going on the pilgrimage change subtly as they go along because of the experiences they have i don't want to explain too much of the film because if you don't know it i hope you'll get to know it it's a wonderful story of a journey and when they arrive they find that compostela is not their last dimension they do what old pilgrims used to do and go on to the crashing waves of the atlantic at finistere and there you see them contemplating what has happened and also musing on new beginnings jesus says the same to us as we reflect on the scriptures receive him in bread and wine receive him in each other day by day still followers of the way but it's a way with a capital w because he has attached to that also to other words with capital letters at the beginning of them truth and life i am the way and the truth and the life it's an answer to thomas who's generally known as doubting thomas because of the story we heard in the gospel today he doubted the resurrection of jesus until he had evidence and then he answers my lord and my god and now here are christians following along the way and they too are seeking new things which move them forward those things we contemplate on this feast of saint thomas the apostle as we say are evening prayers but first say the song of mary's obedience the magnificat my soul doth magnify the lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in god my saviour for he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden for behold from henceforth all generation shall call me blessed for he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his name and his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations he has showed strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts he has put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he had sent empty away he remembering his mercy has opened his servant israel as he promised to our forefathers abraham and his seed forever glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen let us pray lord have mercy upon us christ have mercy upon us lord have mercy upon us our father which 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 here we pray the special prayer for sin thomas's day almighty and ever-loving god who for the more confirmation of the faith did suffer thy holy apostle thomas to be doubtful in thy son's resurrection grant us so perfectly and without all doubt to believe in thy son jesus christ that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved hear us o lord through the same jesus christ to whom with thee and the holy ghost be all honor and glory now and forever are men so god from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works to proceed give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of jesus christ our savior amen light in our darkness we beseech thee o lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only son our savior jesus christ amen so this evening hour we make our prayers for all those whom we know and love those whom our hearts and minds are thinking about because they need our prayers whether we have seen them in television or newspaper articles and would want to pray for them wherever else they are in the world or whether we know them personally pray for those whom we would thank god for because they help us in our daily lives at this time of pandemic we keep silence for a few moments almighty god who has given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and as promised it when two or three are gathered together in thy name that will grant their requests now o lord the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting amen 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 ghost be among you and remain with you tonight and always amen i