welcome to the garden of the deanery in canterbury cathedral as we come to say even song on this feast of sin philippines james may the first wherever you are in the world we will say our prayers together o lord open thou our lips and our mouth structure forth thy praise oh god make speed to save us o lord make haste 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 one of the psalms for the evening of the first day of the month is psalm 8 [Music] o lord our governor how excellent is thy name in all the world thou that has set thy glory above the heavens out of the mouths of very babes and sucklings has thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou might is still the enemy and the avenger for i will consider thy heavens even the works of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visited him thou madest him lower than the angels to crown him with glory and worship thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands and thou has put all things in subjection under his feet all sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field the fowls of the air and the fishes of the sea and whatsoever walk is through the paths of the sea oh lord our governor how excellent is thy name in all the world 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 our first lesson is written in the book of genesis the 28th chapter beginning at the 10th verse jacob left beersheba and went towards haran and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set taking one of the stones of the place he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep and he dreamed and behold there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of god were ascending and descending on it and behold the lord stood above it and said i am the lord the god of abraham your father and the god of isaac the land on which you lie i will give to you and to your offspring your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed behold i am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for i will not leave you until i have done what i promised you then jacob awoke from sleep and said surely the lord is in this place and i did not know it and he was afraid and said how awesome is this place this is none other than the house of god this is the gate of heaven [Applause] here ends our first lesson my soul doth magnify the lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in god my savior for he hath 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 shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts he had put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble and meek he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away he remembering his mercy hath 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 the second lesson on this feast of sin philip and sin james is written in the first chapter of the gospel of saint john beginning at the 43rd verse the next day jesus decided to go to galilee he found philip and said to him follow me now philip was from their side of the city of andrew and peter phillip found nathaniel and said to him we have found him of whom moses in the law and also the prophets wrote jesus of nazareth the son of joseph nathanael said to him can anything good come out of nazareth philip said to him come and see jesus saw nathanael coming towards him and said of him behold an israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit nathaniel said to him how do you know me jesus answered him before philip called you when you were under the fig tree i saw you nathaniel answered him rabbi you are the son of god you are the king of israel jesus answered him because i said to you i saw you under the fig tree do you believe you will see greater things than these and he said to him truly truly i say to you you will see heaven opened and the angels of god ascending and descending upon the son of man the feast day of saint philip and st james and tonight's lesson concentrates on philip one of the earliest of the apostles to be called we think of simon and andrew and james and john being called from their nets and of the same company around the lakeside here is disciple number five philip in all the lists in all the gospels and in the acts of the apostles philip is always number five and he's the one who's not frightened to ask questions nor is he frightened to find out a peop about people and bring them to jesus in the temple courtyard when the greek tourists want to see jesus it's philip they approach and say sir we would see jesus philip tells andrew andrew tells jesus but also when jesus is asking where will they find food to feed five thousand it's philip who's already got to know the fact that one of the lads there has brought his breakfast of loaves and fishes and says to jesus with one of those startling questions that philip is so good at but what are those among so many so also at the last supper it's philip who asks jesus but how can we know the way and jesus answers i am the way and the truth and the life from the beginning of the ministry of the disciples right through to the end there is disciple number five asking questions for us and showing us jesus being the one who can say when we say we would like to see jesus here he is we give thanks for philip who calls jesus to declare himself to be the way and we give thanks for james not the brother of john but the other disciple called james as we give thanks for the apostolic ministry handed on in good news to us today lord now let is thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen my salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of thy people israel 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 lord have mercy upon us christ have mercy upon us lord have mercy upon us 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 amen o lord share thy mercy upon us and grant us thy salvation o lord save the queen and mercifully hear us when we call upon thee and do thy ministers with righteousness and make thy chosen people joyful o lord save thy people and bless thine inheritance give peace in our time o lord because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou o god o god make clean our hearts within us and take not thy holy spirit from us so we say the collect the special prayer for this day the almighty god whom truly to know is everlasting life grant us perfectly to know thy son jesus christ to be the way the truth and the life that following the steps of thy holy apostles in philippians and james we may steadfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life through the same my son jesus christ our lord amen oh 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 lighten 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 today is the anniversary of the birth of one of our great hymn writers joseph addison who was born on this day may the first in the year 1672 one of his hymns looks around him and looks up into the heavens as jacob did and sees the glory of god passing from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven in the created order i shall read it as a a poem tonight as part of our worship and as we give thanks for the poetry and faith of joseph addison the spacious firmament on high with all the blue ethereal sky and spangled heavens a shining frame their great original proclaim the unwearied son from day to day does his creator's power display and publishes to every land the works of an almighty hand soon as the evening shades prevail the moon takes up the wondrous tale and nightly to the listening earth repeats the story of her birth whilst all the stars that round her burn and all the planets in their turn confirm the tidings as they roll and spread the truth from pole to pole watch though in solemn silence all move round the dark terrestrial ball what though nor real voice nor sound amid their radiant orbs be found in reasons here they all rejoice and utter forth a glorious voice forever singing as they shine the hand that made us is divine truly he is saying with jacob how awesome is this place this is none other than the house of god this is the gate of heaven may we often feel that signs given to us on earth are simply that the gate and ladder to heaven so we keep silence for a moment and say our evening prayers for all those whom we know to need them those whom we love and those whom we know to be in any kind of trouble those in sickness those in the sorrow of grieving and we remember those who have died and name them in our hearts [Applause] almighty god who has given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and thus promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy name thou wilt grant their requests fulfill 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 god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy ghost be amongst you and remain with you this night and always amen