[Music] good evening and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this evening of the day of pentecost it's been a beautiful day here but wherever you are in the world and in whatever climate you're very welcome here to canterbury i hope you will enjoy something of the flowering of the roses around at this time of year oh lord open thou our lips and our mouth shall show 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 ye the lord the lord's name be praised on this 31st evening of the month we read two of the psalms as the sorter ends on this day and begins again tomorrow so we read psalm 148 and the final psalm 150 oh praise the lord of heaven praise him in the height praise him all the angels of his praise him all his hosts him sun and moon praise him all his stars and light praise him all ye heavens and ye waters that are above the heavens let them praise the name of the lord for he spake the word and they were made he commanded and they were created he hath made them fast forever and ever he has given them a law which shall not be broken praise the lord upon earth ye dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapors wind and storm fulfilling his word mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars beasts and all cattle worms and feathered fowls kings of the earth and all people princes and all judges of the world young men and maidens old men and children praise the name of the lord for his name only is excellent and his praise above heaven and earth he shall exalt the horn of his people all his saints shall praise him even the children of israel even the people that serve with him 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 o praise god in his holiness praise him in the firmament of his power praise him in his noble acts praise him according to his excellent greatness praise him in the sound of the trumpet praise him upon the loot and harp praise him in the symbols and dances praise him upon the strings and pipe praise him upon the well-tuned symbols praise him upon the loud symbols let everything that has breath praise the lord 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 the prophet joel the second chapter beginning at the 21st verse fionato land be glad and rejoice for the lord has done great things fear not you beasts of the field for the pastures of the wilderness are green the tree bears its fruit the fig tree and vine give their full yield be glad oh children of zion and rejoice in the lord your god for he has given the early reign for your vindication he has poured down for you abundant rain the early and the latter rain as before the threshing floors shall be full of grain the vats shall overflow with wine and oil you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the lord your god who has dealt wondrously with you and my people shall never again be put to shame you shall know that i am in the midst of israel and that i am the lord your god and there is none else my people shall never again be put to shame and it shall come to pass afterwards that i will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions even on the male and female servants in those days i will pour out my spirit says the lord say we say the song of mary the magnificat my soul has magnified the lord and my spirit has 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 shared strength with his arm he has scattered the pride in the imagination of their hearts he hath put down the mighty from their seat and have exalted the humble and meek he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich she has sent empty away he remembering his mercy hath opened his servant israel as he promised to our forefathers a speed 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 our new testament lesson is written in the second chapter of the acts of the apostles beginning at the 37th verse peter has just made his speech to the people on the day of pentecost after the apostles having received the spirit have gone out of the upper room and proclaimed their message to the world now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to peter and the rest of the apostles brothers what shall we do and peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to himself and with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying save yourself from this crooked generation so those who received his word were baptized and they were added that day about three thousand souls and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes they received their food with gladness and generous hearts praising god and having favor with all the people and the lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved lord now let us star thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has 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 i believe in god the father almighty maker of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the holy ghost born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of god the father almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead i believe in the holy ghost the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen let us pray 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 lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil amen our 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 endure thy ministers with righteousness and make thy chosen people joyful o lord save thy people and bless sun inheritance give peace in our time o lord because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou o god oh god make clean our hearts within us and take not thy holy spirit from us and collect for this day of pentecost which sunday god who as at this time did teach the hearts of thy faithful people by the sending to them the light of thy holy spirit grant us by the same spirit to have a right judgment in all things and ever more to rejoice in his holy comfort through the merits of christ jesus our savior who lives and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same spirit one god world without end amen so 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 our lesson this evening after reading the stories of the day of pentecost of all that happened to the apostles locked with others in the upper room and then suddenly the spirit's gifts the fulfillment of all that jesus had promised with the sound of a rushing mighty wind and the semblance of tongues of fire gave them energy and power to go outside and begin to spread the good news the life of the church took its first step and tonight our lesson might be called so what happened next and we're suddenly not only given a picture of the response and the baptism of 3000 on that day but much more than that the flowering of the gifts of the spirit the flowering of all those qualities which would mark the life of the early church the sense of the caring for one another the sense of things held in common but much more than that the regularity of them coming together and as they did so the simplicity of all that they did the complete rhythm of their life their attendance day by day in the temple praising god but more than that the breaking of bread the sharing of meals with enormous joy in one another's homes it was to be the hallmark of the life of the church not only there in jerusalem but as we shall see right across the world and the simplicity of that rhythm marks the beginnings of the church's life we give thanks for that flowering on this day of pentecost this day of being outside in the open air but also making holi our own homes by the sharing of food the breaking of bread one of the saddest things about this lockdown is that we cannot do that physically together but we can still through these means that we're using keep in touch and we can still in our own homes wherever we are give thanks as we break bread to use the old-fashioned terms and share food perhaps with our families or those we are with or else even in this way i pray that this will not go on too long now and maybe you can come together more and more with those safely at what they call a social distance but nevertheless the joy of being together but for tonight we have the joy of being together and contemplating the fruits and flowering of the gifts of the holy spirit as this day of pentecost draws to a close there is only really one hymn and by that i mean a metrical hymn in the old book of common prayer but tonight is a night to say it it's found within the ordering of priests but it's a hymn we know well come holy ghost our souls inspire enlighten with celestial fire thou the anointing spirit art who does thy seven-fold gifts in part thy blessed unction from above is comfort life and fire of love enable with perpetual light the dullness of our blinded sight anoint and cheer our soiled face with the abundance of thy grace keep far our foes give peace at home where thou art guide no ill can come teach us to know the father son and thee of both to be but one that through the ages all along this may be our endless song praise to thy eternal merit father son and holy spirit we keep silence for a moment as we give thanks for the gifts of the spirit poured out upon the young church on this first day of pentecost but as the hymn said through the ages all along allowing us to sing the same song of thanksgiving almighty god who has given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and has promised 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 grace of our lord jesus christ and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with us all evermore amen