good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of tuesday the 31st of august the last morning of this month which is normally full of warm summer weather and it's a chilly blowy morning but we've come up to the bastion garden this morning and we are remembering on this day saint ayden of lindisfarne the holy island and aiden the great apostle to northumbria he died on this day 31st of august in the year 651 and we shall be thinking about his particular ministry within the compass of our reflection but we can think about the beaches of northumbria and of lindisfarne because as i said one of our garden congregation catherine brought here last week she's with us morning by morning but when she walks on the beach she in northumbria she picks up shells and as a memento and a gift to us and also to all of you we have her shells her beautiful shells here as a sign of sin aidan's ministry in lindisfarne and the way in which he would walk and walk and walk amongst his people and sit with them and give them the good news of the gospel in the simplest possible way so thanks catherine for these lovely shells i think you're probably at home again by now but if not have a good journey back to northumbria and to the compass of the ministry of saint ayden from the holy island of lindisfarne let's begin our prayers as we continue to think of many areas of the world in really severe distress in grief and mourning and danger of natural disasters and also from war the people of afghanistan are still very much on our hearts but as are those like the people of louisiana clearing up and picking up the damage from hurricane ida and those still fighting fires and of course those deep in a place where the pandemic is still still has a firm hold so all those are very deeply in our prayers across the world bring your own intentions and pictures in your minds of those that you would want to pray for oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 amen our son on this last morning of the month is part of psalm 145. i will exalt you oh god my king and bless your name forever and ever every day will i bless you and praise your name forever and ever great is the lord and highly to be praised his greatness is beyond all searching out one generation shall praise your works to another and declare your mighty acts they shall speak of the majesty of your glory and i will tell of all your wonderful deeds they shall speak of the might of your marvelous acts and i will also tell of your greatness they shall pour forth the story of your abundant kindness and joyfully seeing of your righteousness the lord is gracious and merciful long-suffering and of great goodness the lord is loving to everyone and his mercy is over all his creatures all your works praise you o lord and your faithful servants bless you they tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your mighty power to make known to all peoples your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom your dominion endures throughout all ages the lord is sure in all his words and faithful in all his deeds the lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all those who are bowed down the eyes of all wait upon you o lord and you give them their food in due season you open wide your hand and fill all things living with plenty the lord is righteous in all his ways and loving in all his works the lord is near to those who call upon him to all who call upon him faithfully he fulfills the desire of those who fear him he hears their cry and saves them we're going back to the book of genesis and we're at chapter 27 and i'm intending to read the the whole story of chapter 27 so 40 verses it's a wonderful story and it holds together so i didn't want to split it so this becomes the major part of our prayers this morning genesis 27. when isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see he called esau his older son and said to him my son and esau answered here i am he said behold i am old i do not know the day of my death now then take your weapons your quiver and your bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me and prepare for me delicious food such as i love and bring it to me so that i may eat that my soul may bless you before i die now rebecca was listening when isaac spoke to his son esau so when esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it rebecca said to her son jacob i heard your father speak to your brother esau bring me game and prepare for me delicious food that i may eat it and bless you before the lord before i die now therefore my son obey my voice as i command you go to the flock and bring me two good young goats so that i may prepare for them delicious food for your father such as he loves and you shall bring it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies but jacob said to rebecca his mother i hope my brother esau is a hairy man and i am a smooth man perhaps my father will feel me and i shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing his mother rebecca said to him let your curse be on me my son only obey my voice and go bring them to me so jacob went and took them and brought them to his mother and his mother prepared delicious food such as his father loved then rebecca took the best garments of esau her older son which were with her in the house and put them on jacob her younger son and the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck and she put the delicious food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son jacob so jacob went into his father and said my father and isaac said here i am who are you my son jacob said to his father i am esau your firstborn i have done as you told me now sit up and eat of my game that your soul may bless me but isaac said to his son how is it that you found game so quickly my son and jacob answered because the lord your god granted me success then isaac said to jacob please come near that i may feel you my son to know whether you are really my son esau or not so jacob went near to isaac his father who felt him and said the voice is jacob's voice but the hands are the hands of esau and he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother esau's hands so he blessed him he said are you really my son esau he answered i am then isaac said bring it near to me that i may eat of my son's game and bless you so jacob brought it near to isaac and he ate and he brought him wine and he drank then his father isaac said to him come near and kiss me my son so jacob came near and kissed him and isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said see the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the lord has blessed may god give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine let people serve you and nations bow down to you be lord over your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you as soon as isaac could finish blessing jacob when jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of isaac his father esau his brother came in from his hunting he also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father and he said to his father let my father arise and eat of his son's game that you may bless me his father isaac said to him who are you esau answered i am your son your firstborn esau then isaac trembled very violently and said who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me and i at it all before you came and i have blessed him yes and he shall be blessed as soon as esau heard the words of his father he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father bless me even me also o my father but isaac said your brother came deceitfully and he has taken away your blessing esau said is he not rightly named jacob for he has cheated me these two times he took away my birthright and behold now he has taken away my blessing then he said have you not reserved a blessing for me isaac answered and said to esau behold i have made him lord over you and all his brothers i have given to him for servants and with grain and wine i have sustained him what then can i do for you my son esau said to his father have you but one blessing my father bless me even me also o my father and esau lifted up his voice and wept then isaac his father answered and said to him behold away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be and away from the dew of heaven on high by your sword you shall live and you shall serve your brother but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck now esau hated jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him and esau said to himself the days of mourning for my father are approaching and then i will kill my brother jacob it's a powerful and dramatic story it's the sequel of the story that we saw between the two brothers when esau discounted his birthright in that moment of appetite and exhaustion and set it aside he had probably forgotten that moment until then and now all this plays out and the activity of the two brothers now becomes a bitter dissension and that story will continue notice how when the twins came out of rebecca's womb jacob was holding on to the heel of esau and as esau's name as we've heard meant red because he was covered over with red hair so jacob's name means the one who holds on to the heel or in the greek it can also mean as it's translated in the latin from that verb the subplanter and we've taken that verb into english to supplant somebody in their place and here is jacob the supplanter as the story goes on it's interesting how this story plays out in terms of the definite nature the physical nature of a blessing transferred and it's a particular physical aspect here where isaac blesses his son after sharing food and bread and wine together this sense of sharing and the hospitality given that before the blessing is given then as we've seen with abraham giving food to the angels running to provide hospitality and then preparing things so to isaac says to esau his son to whom he intends to give the blessing because he is the elder isaac knows nothing of the discounting of the birthright in that earlier story and he intends to give the blessing but first he saw me must go out and hunt game and prepare the savory delicacies as some translations say that isaac loves to eat and he saw of course has always been the favorite of isaac jacob has always been the favorite of rebecca and now rebecca plays her part in this story too the supplanting and the transfer of the line which has the the royal line of david eventually at the end of that shoot which is growing up all of these things in terms of human activity and the way in which small moments can suddenly mean something vast later on isaac has a blessing for esau but the blessings are like prophecies and those prophecies are looking into the future from the old patriarch who is now blind and senses his son from his sense of feeling and from scent which can easily be tricked as rebecca well knew that great story lies at the heart of what happens next as we go on now not with the story of isaac but the story of jacob and esau in the days to come i said that today is the feast day of sin aiden of lindisfarne and lindisfarne is known as the holy island a place of pilgrimage a world heritage site a place of great beauty and it was made a holy island by the coming of aiden who had come across at the invitation of the king of north umbria oswald who was a christian king in a land which had become progressively pagan following the end of the roman occupation when it had known christianity there now it was the king's intention that the land should again be christian and he sent to iona on the eastern uh sorry on the western coast of the united kingdom and from iona came aiden and brought the christian gospel and settled on the island of lindisfarne but the causeway which some of you may have walked a pilgrim causeway which is only there in low tide over to lindisfarne was a place where he would retreat to and his monastic community were there but aiden became bishop of lindisfarne in the year 635 and died in 651 and his ministry was mostly done on foot they had before been a an unsuccessful bishop for a very short time who had come over from iona and really had made no impression at all with his instructions and commands and and he went back to he went back to iona and aiden was sent instead and as aidan came life became very different because aidan's way of communicating was to walk about amongst the people and very often if he came to those who were christians already he could bless them and share his meal with them and talk about the gospel from the very beginning but with those who were not christian and who had been brought up as pagans from the incursions of those coming into northumbria from across the sea and had settled there and were not christians aiden would simply sit down on the bench by them as they were working and talk to them and at that point uh talking to them he would talk about ordinary things about their work and their life he would tell stories and only gradually as they got to know him he would begin to talk um about the stories of the gospel themselves in total simplicity it was the way he won hearts it was a pastoral christian ministry walking around and getting to know the people first as themselves and then sharing the good news which on which he based his life and they would see him stopping to say his offices to say his prayers to read the psalms and when he got to know them well enough he would read them to them too in bits and pieces that they could easily understand and he'd not only do that but he'd explain them to them with humor and with simplicity and that ministry from 635 a.d to 651 august the 31st the day he died was a compelling and compulsive ministry which planted the faith again in northumbria so we give great thanks for that ministry in that example and we also give thanks and pray for the holy island of lindisfarne to which pilgrims still go there's also there of course lindisfarne castle which uh the great architect luchans restored and the gardner who was his great friend gertrude jekyll planted so they're are beautiful things on dinner's farm to see but it retains not only because of this lin of aiden but later on cuthbert that sense of being a holy island and we give thanks for holy places as we have been doing one or two occasions in the last few days this also in 1422 saw august the 31st saw the death of king henry the v now henry v was an immensely successful soldier king and became very beloved of the people of this land but his military his military campaigns in such battles as agincourt um caused him to be away a great deal at the time across the channel and he was only king for nine years he died very suddenly of uh dysentery at the the siege of mo and i think we know moe most of all now that's m-e-a-u-x uh for the mustard made there but it was a complete tragedy and unexpected happening yet nevertheless henry v reign had made his father's reign henry iv for henry iv was a supplanter if you like of richard ii and uh the supplanting of that king was a difficult thing for henry to establish himself but henry v in his nine-year reign secured that royal line of the lancastrians and that line went on for a while um but we remember how suddenly a line can change one can supplant another and in power that's happening all the time sometimes it happens because of the sudden death of someone well that brings me to another august the 31st date 24 years ago today the nation and the world woke up to hear of the tragic and sudden death of diana princess of wales in paris in the car accident there and she and deodial fire both killed and the nation woke up and was completely stricken by this not knowing how to mourn it was an event so colossal and i'm i'm not exaggerating that that that morning it was a sunday morning and everyone went about quietly not knowing really how to react in their grief i was on holiday i was dean of hereford but i was in salisbury at the time and worshipped in salisbury cathedral that morning and remember the preacher recalling a visit of diana princess of wales to salisbury cathedral earlier and how she spoke to the people and spoke to the children and won hearts by all of that there was nothing more that people could do but tell stories it's a moment i think in time rather like the i would name something like the assassination of president kennedy uh that we all remember where we were and fletcher remembers that he was flying to turkey that day but we don't forget because it struck so hard and in the days to follow i watched as people brought flowers in piles and little toys and teddy bears to salisbury cathedral and a few days later i found myself in york minster and the same thing was happening because people had no idea how to express themselves as a nation in their grief and on i think september the 6th when the funeral took place it became a worldwide event we remember all of that and the way in which everything in atmosphere in human terms can turn on a tragedy or an event which is so sudden that the atmosphere changes overnight this happens in our human condition and we remember the 31st of august 1997 as an occasion just like that you will have so many events in your own lives that you think i shall never forget where i was when that happened it happened so suddenly and then of course we become reflective about whatever reaction we're going to make well as we bring all those thoughts together here in this quiet bastion sheltered from the really chilly wind on this august morning the 31st we bring our own intentions and our prayers for a human world where so many tragedies can happen but also so many wonderful events to give thanks for as well and morning by morning in our prayers we find that i'm going first of all to say the prayer of saint ayden and as we do so we say prayers this morning in the anglican communion for the diocese of ekiti okay in the church of nigeria in the ondo province in the diocese we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and for tim bishop at lambeth and we pray also on this day for the kent emergency chaplain scheme chaplains who respond to emergencies within the diocese and have to face situations very quickly when they get there everlasting god you sent the gentle bishop aidan to proclaim the gospel in this land grant us to live as he taught in simplicity humility and love for the poor through jesus christ our lord amen and the special prayer for this week almighty god who called your church to bear witness that you were in christ reconciling the world to yourself help us to proclaim the good news of your love that all who hear it may be drawn to you through him who was lifted up on the cross and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we say the prayer that our savior taught us in whatever language you 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 are men moment of silence for your own prayers [Music] gods give you grace to follow his saints in humility and simplicity and love 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 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 well no leo you're sitting by the northumbrian shells like aidan on the beach beautiful shells shall we go inside out of this chilly wind you