good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this sunday morning the 27th of june the fourth sunday after trinity welcome wherever you are in the world we have certain things to remember today and perhaps chief amongst them as we remember our friends in grace church cathedral in charleston south carolina they're keeping william alexander guerry day uh bishop william guerry was the bishop of south carolina who was shot in his office at st phillips church in charleston in june 1928 by one of his priests who had attacked his position on advancing racial equality and the priest then turned the gun on himself but uh the bishop lived for four more days and was in hospital and lived to to say words of forgiveness to that priest and understanding and also he is now commemorated at the church of grace church cathedral in charleston and they're keeping that day today and we keep that day with them because so many of them are very dear friends of ours so are are reaching out this morning to dean michael right there and to uh archdeacon uh cali and all the others there at grace church cathedral on this day for william alexander guerry and at the same time we are here remembering events around the world we continue to pray for those in miami we even think of the fragility of human life with the the falling of the hot air balloon in the killing of five people in albuquerque these things are a passage of our human life and we stand beside people's prayers throughout the world so today we remember that it's a sunday morning and so our our reflections will be on a special lesson because we'll return to the acts of the apostles today but for the moment let's begin our prayers together on this sunday morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your light springs up for the righteous and all the peoples have seen your glory blessed are you sovereign god king of the nations to you be praise and glory forever from the rising of the sun to its setting your name is proclaimed in all the world as the sun of righteousness dawns in our hearts anoint our lips with the seal of your spirit that we may witness to your gospel and sing your praise in all the earth 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 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 our psalm is on this morning of the month psalm 121 i lift up my eyes to the hills from where is my help to come my help comes from the lord the maker of heaven and earth he will not suffer your foot to stumble he who watches over you will not sleep behold he who keeps watch over israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the lord himself watches over you the lord is your shade at your right hand so that the sun shall not strike you by day neither the moon by night the lord shall keep you from all evil it is he who shall keep your soul the lord shall keep watch over your going out and you're coming in from this time force forevermore we've come to a watery scene and our lesson will make it quite clear wide if you remember a week ago on sunday morning we were reading from the acts of the apostles paul sailing from rome and we followed the progress of the ship with paul guarded by the centurion who is respectful of him and with whom he seems to have made friends but this journey even as we left it in acts 27 at verse 12 last week um became uh difficult we left it sorry at verse 20 last week when the sun and the stars had not appeared for many days and the storm was growing more and more and today we're picking up from that chapter 27 of the acts of the apostles and verse 21 since they had been without food for a long time paul stood up among them and said you should have listened to me and not have set sail from crete and incurred this injury and loss yet now i urge you to take heart for there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship for this very night there stood before me an angel of the god to whom i belong and whom i worship and he said do not be afraid paul you must stand before caesar and behold god has granted you all those who sail with you so take heart for i have faith in god that it will be exactly as i have been told but we must run aground on some island when the fourteenth night had come as we were being driven across the adriatic sea about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land so they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms a little farther on they took a sounding again and found 15 fathoms and fearing that we might run on the rocks they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come and as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretence of laying out anchors from the bow paul said to the centurion and the soldiers unless these men stay in the ship you cannot be saved so the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go as day was about to dawn paul urged them all to take some food saying today is the 14th day that you have continued in suspense and without food having taken nothing therefore i urge you to take some food for it will give you strength for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you and when paul had said these things he took bread and giving thanks to god in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat then they all were encouraged and at some food themselves we were in all 276 persons in the ship and when they had eaten enough they lightened the ship throwing out the wheat into the sea now when it was day they did not recognize the land but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore so they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders then hoisting the for sale to the wind they made for the beach but striking a reef they ran the vessel aground the bow stuck and remained immovable and the stern was being broken up by the surf the soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners lest any should swim away and escape but the centurion wishing to save paul kept them from carrying out their plan he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard and make for the land and the rest on planks or on pieces of ship and so it was that all were brought safely to land they didn't know which land they didn't know which beach they were simply on the beach in a very watery scene and we leave them there for this week before going on next week but let's think about this lesson and think about first the the dangers of missionary journeys of any journeys at that time luke has been writing for us up to now and we had that sentence we were in all and giving the number of people on the ship and that second person plural gives the key but i wanted to turn to the second letter of sin paul to the corinthians because there in chapter 11 paul recounts the dangers of any journeys and also particularly of the journeys of the christian missionaries as they went about in the mediterranean lands here he is this is chapter 11 of the second letter of paul to the corinthian church i'm starting at verse 24. five times i received at the hands of the jews the forty lashes lest one three times i was beaten with rods once i was stoned three times i was shipwrecked for a night and a day i was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers danger from robbers danger from my own people danger from gentiles danger in the city danger in the wilderness danger at sea danger from false brothers in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure and apart from other things there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches who is weak and i am not weak who is made to fall and i am not indignant if i must boast i will boast of the things that show my weakness the dangers of travelling he's not just speaking for himself he's speaking for all those named by luke in the acts of the apostles all those named by paul in his letters some people we only know by their name some people like barnabas and apollos we know much more of but these were the dangers they faced and they were ordinary dangers of any traveler they were also particular dangers of those who gave the good news to those who were threatened by that good news and that just didn't happen in paul's own land but in many cities if one things of ephesus where people felt threatened by the uh supposed attack on artemis of the ephesians all of those things that we can think of from the epistles and they're given to us and now this morning what are we seeing we're seeing paul and all those survivors on the beach and the wreckage of the ship which was their sign of safety at sea there is nothing left of it it has broken up in the surf and on the rocks and it that their past lies around like broken spas all over this unknown beach they have no idea where they are or who it is that might welcome them or indeed if there's anyone who might welcome them and give them hospitality and shelter they simply have had faith and the extraordinary thing is now how much faith the centurion has in paul let's think of the beginning of that story what does paul do first after the soldiers have cut the ropes because paul has said that the sailors must not leave the ship we must all be saved together but and the centurion then orders his soldiers to cut away the ship's boat which might have been seen as their last chance but no they're going in this vessel which will be wrecked and they're going on to an uncertain future what does he do bit like the resurrection narrative jesus saying to them on the beach come and have breakfast but they're still on the ship which is their sign of safety at present we need something to eat and the resonance with the eucharist is absolute paul took bread and broke gave thanks broke it and began to eat and no doubt those of his company including the writer luke would be eating that with him for them it was a eucharist do this in remembrance of me for the others it was a sharing for the food real food was now offered and they took courage and began to eat the beginning of a new day the gift of this new day as we say and it begins with a strengthening breakfast which is both eucharistic in giving thanks to god and remembering jesus himself and his presence among them even in this danger but also something they share to give real physical strength to those around them as a witness to the generosity of the gospel which we've been speaking about through the week with our reflections in matthew and then the terrifying scene of the ship driving towards the unknown beach striking a reef beginning to break up and then the abandoning of the ship with everything on board and the coming to the beach in a measure of safety but with a goodbye to the past those wrecked spas on the beach signal a goodbye to the past and an embracing of an unknown future except paul's faith knows that he has to testify in rome and that holds them all up well we'll return to that beach next week but i wanted to think a little bit more about this this particular day and also of the way in which all this has been written down so that we in our watery scene can remember it how else would we know about this but for luke's writing the description and for paul's letter telling of the dangers that he faced every day as a journeyer way fairer but bringing good news bringing gifts like the bread given for strengthening but this for the mind and the heart in written words sometimes people write it down for him sometimes the epistles are written by others of his company and sometimes it's luke telling the story but for the moment all that equipment for writing and everything else must have been lost with the ship and so everything is up here in the mind of those who have experienced that of course there are many epistles of paul which have been written to the churches which guard them but for the moment the story of just what we've just read is in the mind of those who've experienced it and later maybe even when they get to rome luke will write it down and we hear of that and let's give thanks for our ability to do just that and let's give thanks and i'll explain uh three reasons in a moment why this day signals this let's give thanks for our ability to use the symbols of letters written down whether a latin alphabet or a greek alphabet written in those characters or fletcher at the moment is learning mandarin chinese and the the picture symbols of that that language completely different and yet all of those symbols are representing sounds sounds which i'm using now and by virtual means can use my sounds to come to you but if not we write it down in characters and we order the characters into words so that our minds can understand what the sounds would mean and remember and reflect and write down our own sounds let's give a great thanksgiving for that first of all because we use those letters daily in order to remember and we use them also daily to communicate this is a day on the 27th of june 1787 when the great historical writer of majestic sentences edward gibbon who wrote the the vast work in six volumes decline and fall of the roman empire finished his work and uh he was he was known for having written so many words that dr johnston used to tease him johnson working at his own dictionary of words he used to tease him and every time a volume came out he'd say another damn square thick book always scribble scribble scribble mr gibbon and tease him in that well gibbon had a vocation to write and it came from his amazement at standing in the city of rome as a young man but then he decided he would write the story of the decline and fall of the roman empire and on this day in 1787 that should we call it a life's work was finished in his summer house he describes this in his own journal in his summer house in the evening of this day he put on the last full stop he said this day or rather this night in my summer house i finished and completed my work and first he was filled with exhilaration and pride and then he began to feel that he had lost a daily friend and the rhythm of his life because this writing of the long long six volume work had been his daily life and that's rather like pilgrimage that one gets to the point of completion and first of all there's exhilaration and then there's a sense of disappointing of disappointment what what comes next and it may be that that's uncertain that's unsure when one looks back at the pieces that maybe sometimes for years have put together a part of our life's journey and all the memories and we'll have things written down maybe letters from friends letters that we've written to them or even daily journals which help us recall all of that but sometimes the future is a completely opaque part of life and uh gibbon felt that the people around saint paul must have felt that on the beach and maybe paul himself can't have been with total certainty for faith lives in a context of not total certainty for that's a physical and absolute aspect of our life faith lives in the context of spiritual faith and within the surrounding hope and and and love and we'll come to those three qualities next week when we go back to the island and identify it but for the moment let's think of another person giorgio vasari who was a great florentine painter he was the person who first coined the word the renaissance and when he used it that rebirth of of culture and activity and art all of that in imagination is something that we continue to use the renaissance we call that period that he died on this day 27th of june 1574 but he wasn't only a painter he also like gibbon wrote a long work called the lives of the artists and he told the story in words not in painting in words of those whom he most admired who were artists he was a person of florence that creative city and in fact he designed the tomb of michelangelo in santa croce in the church of santa cruz in in florence which we visited only only uh last year um but uh we before the pandemic began um now another there who had written down in characters things that we could remember and tried to order them the minute you begin to order things you put in your own interpretation and that becomes should we say an analysis of things in trying to put things down in ordered words but it is always open to question and we ourselves are trying to create some kind of reflection and analysis prayerfully day by day in our reflections as a garden congregation and finally and this is quite fun in 1971 on this day the 27th of june the first in england the first national scrabble championships were held and that was a competitive exercise and vasari himself had written in his words in not only renaissance but competition was one of his great words because it spurs people on rather like paul talking about the athlete in the race all one all all run but only one wins the prize and competition pushes one on in a good way and and the the the success of others becomes i hope a thing of thanksgiving of ourselves even though we may be the losers from time to time and the fascination of words and letters have done that for us in so many different ways and scrabble is one of them bringing people together it's it's a a modern invention since the second world war really that has taken off but so many people that we know enjoy in twos or fours playing scrabble together with a jumble of letters or you can do it by yourself with code word or even crosswords all of those using letters to exercise the mind and as you're doing it particularly in crosswords because those are literary clues and real clues and factual clues or cryptic clues your mind is digging up things from the past and all the time you're you're liable to wander off when you're doing those crosswords but you can carry those with you but all done by the characters of the letters so we give thanks to god for the fact that that the written word is the key so often to our spirits opening out to the eternal word and the gift of that gospel so that the wreckage of the past becomes a hope for the future because of that faith and we leave saint paul and his companions on the beach who knows what but for paul and his companions it's a time for prayer just as it was a time for breaking bread to welcome the gift of the new day which might bring anything at all so let's say our prayers on this particular day this fourth sunday after trinity and in the midst of this watery scene of both past and new beginnings wreckage of the past and bits and pieces we can use but new beginnings to go on with we pray on this day in our anglican communion for the church of pakistan the united church of pakistan and we pray for all the people within that part of our anglican communion pray for archbishop justin for bishop rose of dover for bishop tim at lambus and today in our diocese for the church of holy trinity ramsgate on the coast here for paul blanch in his ministry and all the people of that parish bring your own prayers and concerns as we say the colleague the new colleague for the week ahead the colic for the fourth sunday after trinity oh god the protector of all who trust in you without whom nothing is strong nothing is holy increase and multiply upon us your mercy that with you as our ruler and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not our hold on things eternal grant this heavenly father for our lord jesus christ's sake amen so each in our own language across the world we join in the prayer that 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 are men moment of silence now for our own reflections and prayers on this day 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