good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral for morning prayers wherever you are in the world feel welcome leo and i have come here to this special part of the garden as you'll see in our reflection but may i say that we're going to keep the remembrance theme through these next three days between yesterday remembrance sunday which was the 8th of november but is always the nearest sunday to the armistice day the 11th of november when another silence will be kept for two minutes throughout the nation at 11 o'clock in the morning when peace finally ended the great war in 1918 102 years ago so we're going to think of the effects of war and we will do that in our reflection later we've generally looked back at some dates and the 9th of november in other years in 1915 for example the first meeting that's right in the middle of the great war the first meeting of the women's institute took place in a pub in singleton west sussex not too far from here uh it was called the fox goes free not sure we all together agree with that sentence as we keep so many chickens and and things which foxes really crave for um in 1940 the first wartime prime minister neville chamberlain died and that was just in the first year of the war and in 1953 the welsh poet dylan thomas aged only 39 died on november the 9th in new york city but tragically in 1938 on this day the first physical act of anti-jewish violence great violence the kristallnacht began with the smashing of the windows of jewish shops in germany and austria under the nazi regime but then more hopefully in 1989 on this day the berlin wall was opened and many of us will remember the sense of freedom that that uh gave on that day well many more things but let's begin our prayers and then we'll come back to that as we have our reflection following our reading oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways known be known upon earth your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world 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 are men yesterday on remembrance sunday psalm 46 was used as a special psalm today on this ninth morning of the month it is one of the regular morning sounds but no sound could be more apt for the themes that we are taking we remember in the prophecies how so often one gets the sense of the reign of peace beginning and swords being beaten into plowshares and and the the the sense of um agricultural work in peace time beginning again so here is psalm 46 one of the morning psalms for the ninth morning of the month god is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth be moved and though the mountains tremble in the heart of the sea there the waters rage and swell and though the mountains quake at the towering seas there is a river whose streams make glad the city of god the holy place of the dwelling of the most high god is in the midst of her therefore shall she not be removed god shall help her at the break of day the nations are in uproar and the kingdoms are shaken but god utters his voice and the earth shall melt away the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our stronghold come and behold the works of the lord what destruction he has wrought upon the earth he makes wars to cease in all the world he shatters the bow and snaps the spear and burns the chariots in the fire still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in the earth the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our stronghold so we turn to our regular reading of the revelation to john and we are reading today from chapter 5 a door has been opened into heaven and in vision the writer is admitted to the worship of the divine courts the book full of pictures but pictures mostly taken from the old testament prophets and in this dreamlike state this vision john shares his picture as best he can as saint paul says about the way in which he was caught up into heaven in his prayers in the letters to the corinthians i saw things far too wonderful for words to express and here this writer is attempting to express them in human images then i saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals and i saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and i began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it and one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the lion of the tribe of judah the root of david has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders i saw alam standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes which are the seven spirits of god sent out into all the earth and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne and when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for god from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our god and they shall reign on the earth and then i looked and i heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering millions of myriads and thousands of thousands singing with a loud voice worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and i had every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever and the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshipped it is the most glorious image in words and in words which create a picture of the worship the eternal worship of heaven it tells us something very important but let's remember first that at that climax of chapter 5 handel finishes his mighty oratorio when he said he saw heaven opened and the music was coming to him just like john's words onto the page handel chooses to end his oratorio with all creation creatures of the sky and the earth and under the earth and the sea singing worthy is the lamb that was slain and then blessing and honor glory and power be unto the lamb and to our god forever and ever and the great amen sometimes people have said why is this book the revelation to john included in the scriptures it was a late comer and was only finally received into the new testament properly in the middle of the fourth century but folk knew it they knew many other books of images and apocalyptic writing this this kind of reflection of old testament prophecy in pictures some terrifying pictures and we shall meet them on the way through so terrifying that cranmer in his book of common prayer who is absolutely exact about setting the scriptures read all the way through leaves out certain chapters but when you read chapters like this or the chapters right at the end of the vision of john you realize why the book is there and why more than any other book it has inspired art and music in a huge way but we have to remember as austin farah keeps telling us in the rebirth of images you have to take the book as a whole picture it's no good taking bits and pieces you take the whole picture and we shall see how it enfolds desperate cruelty and violence we remember that by the time it was written jerusalem was in ruins its people scattered many had been slain many had been taken away to exile and slavery by the imperial roman power let's remember that that power had persecuted christians that peter and paul had met their death from that imperial power that that imperial power demanded almost godlike worship but at the same time we remember that the peace that it kept allowed the spreading of the gospel and yet there was a certain hostility about everything but then at the same time you get pictures of what can happen on earth through natural events and the fragility of human life and a picture of the the true home of all to which we are wending our way remember that in 79 a.d before this book was written the huge eruption of vesuvius took place remember also that we were talking on saturday about the way in which laodicea had been destroyed by earthquake all these things which our lord said would happen in the course of human history in his own teaching to the apostles but the most important thing to remember also is that the great lion of the house of judah the one who has conquered is portrayed like a lamb that was slain the offering entirely of himself the one on the throne by his own decree cannot open the seals without a human agency of willingness and no one is worthy to do that but at the same time the lamb has taken our human flesh in the person of jesus and is now declared worthy to open the seals he has become the one who conquers and the seals as we shall say see unwrap the vision of what is to happen hereafter well i said that we would be thinking today particularly at this time of the effects of war and today we think of those who were left at home the world war ii at the by the end of the the years of the second world war had become the single deadliest conflict in human history over 25 million soldiers had been killed over 55 million civilians had been killed 11 million of them in concentration camps millions and millions at the end of the war had left their homes and were displaced and the formation of europe and so many other parts of the world as it was recreated is still the formation of so much that we know today but let's think back just on that one incident and remembrance is about all conflict and all who have died in conflict and suffered in conflict not just about the second world war or even the great war before those are images that have shaped so much and we remember that the civilians left at home had themselves work to do work which they were unused to let's just think that's why we've come here this morning of how this nation had to provide its own resources for food and so many places that before had not been in any way uh agricultural places horticultural places producing food and and and also fruit and vegetables all of the things that had to come fresh season by season so we remember the formation for example of the land land girls army and that women's land army wla was a vital part of the nation's resources dorothy allen at the time wrote a she was a a member of the the wla wrote a comic song based on the nursery rhyme singer song of sixpence here it is sing a song of land girls up before its light with four and twenty jobs to do before the breakfast bite when the breakfast's over there's little to be done except to plow the furrow and to let the harrows run and shear the sheep and top the beet and feed the squealing swine and brush the hedge and satch the the rick and milk the gentle kind and spread the muck and sow the wheat and clean and dress the land and things like that which city folk can never understand and many of them would have been city folk suddenly found them finding themselves in a different place as did 1.5 million children sent away from the danger of the cities to be evacuees but they were ripped from their homes for safety reasons and put in different places and there is a touching poem it's too long to read this morning a touching poem about the evacuees called can i come home now it begins with the the the phrase can i come home now repeat it three times we'll perhaps put it on below this this uh this this live streaming this morning but here's some words from it this is the evacuee speaking to his mother they say i'm safer here than where i've left behind and the people looking after me are warm and good and kind but home is where the heart is and home is with you is it time for me to come back now and be back home with you and finally the poem ends with the wonderful phrase uh again repeated three times yes you can come home now son it reminded me of that lovely book which was published after the war by her family mrs milburn's diary which i have a copy of where when her son alan was captured and in a prisoner of war camp she determined he wouldn't miss a day of life at home and wrote a detailed diary of every day of the war until the sentence today alan came home and that ended it what the people did at home was as heroic as what the people suffered who were facing the war abroad we'll think about more of them tomorrow but i have one other image today it's a precious one yesterday on the 8th of november the um centenary of the first rupert bear cartoon which was uh drawn by mary tortell who lived in canterbury and there's a little rupert bear section of the museum here uh a centenary of that cartoon uh the life of rupert bear the person who we we most think of when rupert pictures are showing us is alfred bestow who wrote the rhymes and wrote the stories and painted the pictures from 1935 to 1965 and here is the 1942 rupert annual it's a wonderful book because it shows how bestell determined that the war would not be mentioned it would portray pictures of life in the little rural community of nutwood where rupert and his diversity of friends here could have all kinds of adventures and creatures like even sea serpents would appear and his friends were of a complete diversity some were animals like algae pug and bill badger and edward trunk and others were human like the lovely tiger lily the daughter of the chinese conjurer and also in it there was a black cat just like monkey i'll say that a bit away from leo here monkey who is jet black it was called dinky the cat and was a companion around an extraordinary concept to keep going for 30 years and the rhymes stay in the head i can remember um rhymes like uh the bears are off to rocky bay to spend their summer holiday and the picture comes to mind and also at the end of the time when in mid-winter everyone is sick with cold and dr lyon doesn't know what to do rupert goes off to find the place where sun can be bottled high on the mountain with the wild goat and he brings back bottled sunshine and the rhyme goes when dr lyon sees all that sun he'll thank the bear for what he's done what i was wanted to say was that vestal also determined that every scene should begin at home in the safety of home and whatever adventures the little bear has every every story would end at home in the safety of home that was what those people working so hard were striving to recreate the world faces a different kind of danger at the moment in this pandemic but that creation of home for everyone to feel safe in is a really important concept and if one thinks of the book of the revelation to john it's to that eternal home which no one can disturb and no one can damage that everything is tending one after the other so that in all kinds of ways um the the the kind of activity which goes on at home becomes the most important thing not only for the young but for all so let's say our prayers at this time and we remember that this little lad leo has come back to us um he disappeared for three weeks and we'd rather given up hope of him but then happily he was found our thought is that for a couple of weeks he was locked in somewhere and then found himself out and we didn't know where he was and because he'd never been outside the precincts but someone found him and happily having fed him for a little bit took him to the vet and nowadays by the wonders of uh computer technology the the chip in all the animals that we have can be put on the computer and uh they knew where leo's home was and so here he is back at home this morning none the worse for wear he returned on friday night with a voracious appetite and at enormous amounts because home is about the provision of food and of safety well let's say our prayers on this morning as we think of the various places in the anglican communion and the anglican communion has got lost somewhere in the middle of rupert bear here we are so we're thinking today of the free state in southern africa and the bishop there dinto and yani and yesterday when we we actually prayed for the church around the world but the specific prayer and i'll do that today was for the church in the province of the west indies and the primate there howard gregory who's also a bishop of jamaica and the cayman islands today we are praying for in the diocese for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover and also for tim bishop atlantis we're praying for the king's wood benefits that is the parishes of cholak chileam crondale godmotion and molash and we pray for catherine sigrist the parish priest there and the reader jerry willis and we pray for the life of that whole benefits this morning say we use the prayer for this week [Music] almighty father whose will is to restore all things in your beloved son the king of all govern the hearts and minds of those in authority and bring the families of the nations divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin to be subject to his just and gentle rule who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we use our own language to say the prayer our savior taught us and perhaps we continue to pray for the american people at the beginning of a new presidency 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 for our own prayers on this day [Music] 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 well back again you