good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral we are in the general garden in the little back courtyard behind the deanery this morning on this beautiful sunny morning of july the 20th monday july the 20th wherever you are in the world feel welcome bring your own concerns and your own prayers as we say morning prayer together o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night 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 it be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind and 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 the twentieth day of the month gives us beautiful psalms one of my favorite is the afternoon psalm 104 which speaks right through of god's glory in creation but this morning 103 which is the psalm we're using is equally fine and wonderful as we read it together bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with faithful love and compassion who satisfies you with good things so that your youth is renewed like an eagles the lord executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed he made his ways known to moses and his works to the children of israel the lord is full of compassion and mercy slow to anger and of great kindness he will not always accuse us neither will he keep his anger forever he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor rewarded us according to our wickedness for as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy upon those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far has he set our sins from us as a father has compassion on his children so is the lord merciful towards those who fear him for he knows of what we are made he remembers that we are but dust our days are but as grass we flourish as a flower of the field or as soon as the wind goes over it it is gone and its place shall know it no more but the merciful goodness of the lord is from of old and endures forever on those who fear him and his righteousness on children's children on those who keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them the lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom has dominion over all bless the lord you angels of his you mighty ones who do his bidding and hearken to the voice of his word bless the lord all you his hosts you ministers of his who do his will bless the lord all you works of his in all places of his dominion bless the lord o my soul so on this monday morning we begin again our reading of the gospel of sin luke which our lectionary gives us on these days and we have arrived at the 41st verse of chapter 20. jesus still in the courtyard of the temple surrounded by people his disciples and also by those who are critical of his ministry jesus said to them how can they say that the christ is david's son for david himself says in the book of psalms the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until i make your enemies your footstool david thus calls him lord so how his how is he his son then in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogue and the places of honour at feasts who devour widows houses and for a pretence make long prayers they will receive the greater condemnation and jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins and he said truly i tell you this poor widow has put in more than all of them for they all contributed out of their abundance but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on these verses end a whole section not so much of teaching in the temple courtyard but of questions and answers jesus surrounded by those who hang on his words waiting for the teaching the people but at the same time confronted by different groups as we've seen day by day last week pharisees herodians sadducees and they ask questions questions formed to trap him to trick him and in the mind of these officials there are violent thoughts about how they will destroy him if we look all the way back to when we started the gospel of saint luke and think of the end of chapter 2 there's a little story told only in st luke's gospel about jesus at the age of 12 being brought to jerusalem to the temple by his father and mother joseph and mary they are clearly a devout and faithful couple in their worship in galilee and we know from st luke's gospel later that jesus went to the synagogue in nazareth as he regularly did it was part of the regularity of his devotion but here according to custom they travel up to jerusalem with their boy at the age of 12 and you remember they lose him and they searched for him for three days having thought he was with their friends and neighbors as they began to travel back so back they go to jerusalem to the temple and eventually they find him in the courtyard of the temple eagerly questioning the doctors of the law and hearing their answers and were told that the doctors of the law were amazed by the little boy's perception but mary says my son why have you treated us thus your father and i have sought you sorrowing and he said but did you not know i must be in my father's house and here again he is if to believe luke's time scale at the age of 33 in the temple courtyard surrounded by the doctors of the law as well as the chief priests and pharisees and sadducees who find his ministry challenging to their authority they ask trick questions but i think today jesus asks them back a question which ends this dialogue but a question that maybe puzzles him and he is asking for an answer from these who have set themselves up particularly the scribes who are not priests at all they are experts in the law every jot and tittle of the law is their business he asks them if david calls the messiah lord how can the messiah be his son the son of david no answer is given it was something that teased even those who were experts in the law and notice jesus so often quotes the psalms when on the night of his arrest the disciples and he about to go out into the garden of gethsemane and he goes to face the absolute climax of his messiah ship knowing what it will mean first of all they sing a psalm probably psalm 114 but on this occasion jesus quotes psalm 110 which is a puzzling psalm about what messiah might be particularly because he knows things will not be glorious and kingly in that way the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand till i make your enemies your footstool it's not going to feel like that in the next few days so he asks them respecting first of all their knowledge but no answer comes and then he talks about the scribes who have made a profession of interpreting little bits of the law for people and shows how often that can be misused and how it can keep people away from what he wants god and his temple to be in the life of the people his devotion to the holy place is still there but it is filled with sadness because of the violence he finds there and also the way in which people are by so many means kept away and then suddenly he sees a whole total perfect offering of someone coming into the temple in their poverty this poor widow who putting in two small copper coins the old used to say the old translations used to say the two coins made up a farthing i'm old enough to remember farthings with the the robin on them but the farthing was a quarter of an old penny and this was half a farthing that she was talking about two of those mites that were dropped in but it's not that it's going in it this that's going in the totality of the widow's offering and jesus must have shocked the disciples provincial disciples still wondering as we shall see tomorrow at the marvels around them and owed and cowed by the officialdom of chief priests and learned pharisees and secular scribes experts in the law and rich people putting enormous amounts of sums into the still unfinished temple and then jesus commends the poor widow because she heart mind soul body offered herself at that moment and that was the offering that jesus himself was about to make it was if you like messianic a sign of where he was going our journey will take us on now out of the temple courtyards but the image of what is a perfect offering includes the whole of us body mind and soul the spirit within us being offered to god on each morning as the sun rises and we wake refreshed ask forgiveness for what has been and step out into this new day whatever it may bring for what lies ahead of jesus is not a happy time but it is for us the time that makes that friday of his passion a good friday when so much good was done so we say our prayers on this lovely monday morning wherever you are in the world bring your concerns now as we offer those whom we love and those whom we would pray for in our morning prayers today here in the anglican communion we pray for the diocese of northern uganda and johnson gacumba the bishop there and his people the diocese of bauchi in nigeria and musa tula the bishop there and all his people and the diocese of kansas in the episcopal church of the united states and kathleen bascom the bishop and her people in that diocese pray for justin our archbishop for tim bishop at lambeth this diocese for rose bishop of dover and today for the villages and communities around the town of dover and all those who act as chaplains in organizations formally and informally in those communities we shall be praying through the week for the individual parishes of the area deanery around dover so we use the prayer the collect for this day merciful god you have prepared for those who love you such good things as pass our understanding pour into our hearts such love toward you that we loving you in all things and above all things may obtain your promises which exceed all that we can desire through jesus christ our lord amen creator god send your holy spirit to renew this living world that the whole creation in its groaning and striving may know your loving purpose and come to reflect your glory in jesus christ our lord our men so as we say the our father in whichever language and in whatever way we like to say it let's offer our whole lives to god for this day 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 our own prayers the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and if 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 foreign