[Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this sunday the 19th of july wherever you are in the world welcome to the dinery garden i've come out early in the morning here to the chicken run and on this warm morning they're enjoying the summer weather under the mulberry tree there and below me is our little cat lily who quite enjoys coming out here in the morning and looking at the chickens so bring your prayers where ever you are from and bring your concerns and have them in your hearts and minds as we say morning prayer together oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise visit us with your salvation and sustain us with your gracious spirit blessed are you sovereign god creator of all to you be glory and praise forever you founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands in the fullness of time you made us in your image and in these last days you have spoken to us in your son jesus christ the word made flesh as we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us let the light of your love always shine in our hearts your spirit ever renew our lives and your praises ever be on our lips 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 the psalm that we're using on this 19th morning of the month is psalm 96. sing to the lord a new song sing to the lord all the earth sing to the lord and bless his name tell out his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all peoples for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he is more to be feared than all gods for all the gods of the nations are but idols it is the lord who made the heavens honor and majesty are before him power and splendor are in his sanctuary ascribe to the lord you families of the peoples ascribe to the lord honor and strength ascribe to the lord the honor due to his name bring offerings and come into his courts o worship the lord in the beauty of holiness let the whole earth tremble before him tell it out among the nations that the lord is king he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved he will judge the peoples with equity let the heavens rejoice and let earth be glad let the sea thunder and all that is in it let the fields be joyful and all that is in them let all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the lord for he comes he comes to judge the earth with righteousness he will judge the world and the peoples with his truth sunday morning brings us a different lesson than our sequence in st luke's gospel and the lesson we are given to read at morning prayer is from the first letter of saint peter the third chapter beginning at the eighth verse finally all of you have unity of mind sympathy love a tender heart and a human mind do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary bless for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing for whoever desires to love life and see good days let them keep their tongue from evil and their lips from speaking deceit and let them turn away from evil and do good let them seek peace and pursue it for the eyes of the lord are on the righteous and their ears are open to their prayer but the face of the lord is against those who do evil now who is that to harm you if you are zealous for what is good but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you will be blessed have no fear of them nor be troubled but in your hearts honor christ the lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience so that when you are slandered those who revile your good behavior in christ may be put to shame for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be god's will than for doing evil it's a wonderful line do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary bless for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing since peter is speaking of a mutuality when we bless someone we in turn receive a blessing the blessing that we have given returns to us the word blessed in english is a strange word it can be said in two ways blessed or blessed and the two ways have a different meaning blessed is an adjective which describes something a place an event a person as in some way holy sacred a holy place is blessed and the mother of jesus is always called following the way in which elizabeth greeted her the blessed virgin mary it's a very special use of the word on the other hand blessed is part of the verb to bless which means that in some way god or someone else has blessed you and you receive that benefit we are called to bless one another what does that mean well if we look at the way in which christ at the last supper took bread we see that there's little difference in the gospels in the way that they talk of his giving thanks for blessing it before he broke it in sin mark he blesses the bread and breaks it and gives it to the disciples and saint matthew he blesses the bread and breaks it and gives it to the disciples when he takes the cup he simply gives thanks but it is counted as blessed in the same way and having been blessed it becomes blessed holy in itself as we receive it and receive the blessing it gives instant luke both bread and cup are simply given thanks for so that there is an integral connection between giving thanks for something and blessing and that's exactly what saint peter is telling us to do whatever reason we receive in situations which sometimes we may find it most unhelpful to receive it or it causes us distress to receive it or suffering to receive it for that's what that chapter is about it's that very chapter that we always read at the martyrdom of saint thomas beckett on the 29th of december we receive something like that but we're asked to consecrate it by blessing in return or giving thanks for that situation it's a hard thing and we can only do it by grace but it's a wonderful thing because there is in it a mutual benefit we ourselves are blessed in return and having done that we share also in shall we say the adjective blessed which is used there's a wonderful chapter in the book deuteronomy chapter 28 where having in chapter 27 looked at all the things which cause curses in life chapter 28 begins and if you faithfully obey the voice of the lord your god being careful to do all his commandments that i command you today the lord your god will set you on high above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the lord your god blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle and the increase of your herds and the young of your flocks blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl blessed shall be you when you come in and blessed shall be you when you go out because of the obedience to the lord's command and the sense of thanksgiving for all that he has given us everything that we do is touched with blessing and becomes blessed in the most simple way a holy activity the ordinary work of the day the creatures and the things of creation which surround us the fruitfulness of the trees and the loveliness of everything that god has given us but also the situations that we find ourselves in all become blessed if we receive them by grace with thanksgiving and are prompted in return to bless to bless those around us will their good but at the same time to bless god himself for all his goodness for that is how jesus would have it as he give thanks for bread and wine and makes them holy for us to feed his people and to continue on our pilgrim journey we ourselves enjoy that blessing so that like the wonderful canticle of zechariah when he holds the infant john the baptist blessed be the lord god of israel for he has visited and redeemed his people we can bless god in that way for we recognize that his gifts received with thanksgiving make us holy and that's a wonderful thing on this sunday morning let's say our prayers let's think first and foremost of our friends at our sister cathedral of saint peter and sin paul of nantes in france after their very very serious fire yesterday pray for all those who are dealing with that and give thanks for those who have saved so much and for those in the fire services who have acted so promptly pray for any work of restoration and also for those who worship regularly at naught we pray in our anglican communion today for the episcopal church in the philippines and pray for the primate there joel pachau the prime bishop of the philippines and all his people for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth for the life of this diocese of canterbury and especially today for the area deanery of dover that's the communities and villages surrounding the town of dover we're asked by that deanery to pray for all the clergy who help them in their ministry in the villages and towns and communities of that place too many to mention but we ask the blessing of god upon their ministry there so we say our prayers as we give thanks for the gift of this day and for the fact that it is the day when we commemorate the lord's resurrection a special day for today merciful god you have prepared for those who love you such good things as pass our understanding pour into our hearts that 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 and the connect at the end of the psalm we read lord god you draw us by your beauty and transform us by your holiness let our worship echo all creations praise and declare your glory to the nations through jesus christ our lord amen moment of silence now as we give thanks for this day and in our hearts bless each other particularly those whom we love and those who care for us so we say the prayer our savior taught 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 for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen [Music] unto god's most gracious mercy and protection we commit you the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you his peace and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and would pray for this sunday morning and always amen