good morning and welcome to the deanery garden in canterbury cathedral on this wednesday the 29th of september it's michaelmas day the 29th of september the feast of st michael and all angels also is what was called a quarter day still it's called a quarter day as transactions were done on these quarter days through the year one in september one in december one in march and one in june round about this time of the month but the dates are slightly different but michaelmas is quite confused because with the the uh loss of the 11 days changing the calendar from one calendar to another julian calendar to gregorian calendar in 1752 the season felt slightly different we said earlier in the week that at this time of year seasons tend to change as the summer gives place to autumn but october the 10th is still called old michaelmas day because those 11 days were lost yet this is september the 29th so lots of festive customs connected with the feast of michaelmas still take place in the first days of october and we'll follow that as we go through those days but let's think today as we sit in front of the great herbaceous border here of mikhamus being celebrated by the flowering of all the lovely michaelmas daisies behind me the herbaceous border has had rather a pounding in the night from a torrential storm with thunder and lightning and the storm has given way to a completely blue sky with sunshine giving us a lovely michaelmas day feast of michael and all angels today also a day when uh ordinations at this time of year to the sacred ministries uh um tend to occur but as we give thanks on this day we say our prayers from across the world bring your your own intentions and prayers to our morning prayers this morning on this feast day perhaps uh there was a great uh shall we call it a mikamos celebration last night to those of you who like james bond the premiere of the film no time to die the last time that we're told daniel craig will play james bond great royal premier a double royal premier because the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall and also prince william and kate the duke and duchess of cambridge were all present as fans of james bond and a great and and uh star-studded celebration took place in the royal albert hall at the same time we pray for the people of japan and for their new prime minister and i think i'd like to offer a prayer also for angela merkel who despite all the elections is finding it very difficult to let go of the chancellorship while negotiations take place for a coalition which will produce a new chancellor we're told that that might take a few weeks or even a bit longer and meanwhile she holds the position of chancellor and there's a sense of her having to keep the reins of office after so many years uh and and and still going on in a line of duty so let's say for her and uh the people of germany at the moment as those negotiations take place but let's begin now our prayers on this michaelmas day the feast of st michael and all angels oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands blessed are you sovereign god creator of heaven and earth to you be praise and glory forever as your living word eternal in heaven assume the frailty of our mortal flesh may the light of your love be born in us to fill our hearts with joy as we with the angels sing 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 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 leo is sitting here looking angelic we're hoping he would represent michael but i think he's more keen on representing lucifer with with that uh face that he has on in his his red collar today so here is psalm 139 lovely psalm for this 29th morning of the month we'll read most of it now oh lord you have searched me out and known me you know my sitting down and my rising up you discern my thoughts from afar you mark out my journeys and my resting place and are acquainted with all my ways for there is not a word on my tongue but you o lord know it all together you encompass me behind and before and lay your hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me so high that i cannot attain it where can i go then from your spirit or where can i flee from your presence if i climb up to heaven you are there if i go down to hell you are there also if i take the wings of the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea even there your hand shall lead me your right hand hold me fast if i say per adventure the darkness will cover me and the light around me turn to night even darkness is no darkness with you the night is as clear as the day darkness and light to you are both alike for you yourself created my inmost parts you knit me together in my mother's womb i thank you for i am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are your works my soul knows well my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth your eyes beheld my form as yet unfinished already in your book were all my members written as day by day they were fashioned when as yet there was none of them how deep are your counsels to me oh god how great is the sum of them if i count them they are more in number than the sand and at the end i am still in your presence search me out o god and know my heart try me and examine my thoughts see if there is any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting difficult to know always on michaelmas day because the angels thread their way all the way through the scriptures from genesis to revelation there's that lovely verse in the book of job chapter 38 when creation is finished and it says all the morning stars are are singing and the hosts of heaven shout for joy from creation to the cherubim guarding the gates of eden to visitations of angels on the way through the old testament for different purposes to the song of the angels in the psalms and the vision of the angels in the prophet isaiah and at the same time in the new testament times of glory with the holy angels and times of help and sucker for folk think of our our lord in the wilderness angels ministered to him and in the garden of gethsemane and then in the book of revelation well angels everywhere there and singing and and performing the the will of god for their total purpose is an emanation of god's own life and the leading of worship for the only one who can be worshipped we'll think a little bit about that but i went naturally i think to the simplest of lessons and one that always conjures up the most wonderful picture it's not really a lesson read on this score today it's the one read on the next quarter day but the angels play their full part sin luke chapter 2 and reading verses 1 up to uh let's let's see verse 16. in those days a decree went out from caesar augustus that all the world should be registered this was the first registration when quirinius was governor of syria and all went to be registered each to his own town and joseph also went up from galilee from the town of nazareth to judea to the city of david which is called bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of david to be registered with mary his espoused wife who was with child and while they were there the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn and in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the lord appeared to them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold i bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people for unto you is born this day in the city of david a savior who is christ the lord and this will be a sign for you you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased when the angels went away from them into heaven the shepherds said one to another let us go over to bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which the lord has made known to us and they came with haste and found mary and joseph and the baby lying in a manger just one of the many lessons i could have read from luke chapter one and two the angel appearing to the shepherds with heaven's announcement of good news and qualities of peace and good will for humanity which this good news will bring at this time the cost of that good news to the one who will be born to bear the good news is not mentioned there is simply joy in heaven and now with the shepherds upon earth as they go as the first witnesses to that simple human event there quietly in the stable with the babe born in the manger not named but a chorus of angels joins the angel who brings the news and there is music in heaven music is always associated with the angels and with the worship of the courts of heaven and music is what we respond to when in the prayer of the consecration over the bread and the wine the gifts of the one who was come to bring us good news and the sign that we share in that good news therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we sing that glorious news and oftentimes we then sing that holy holy holy which in the sixth chapter of the prophet isaiah is seen by the young prophet standing in the temple before the angel touches his lips with the burning coal cleansing him and the lord says whom shall we send who will go for us and he is empowered by that cleansing to join in the message of the courts of heaven and answer here i am send me we've had a lot of here am i in genesis and there was another here am i send me in uh the um book of isaiah we could have chosen there or we could have had the angel named in luke chapter one as he goes to zechariah now that's a quarter day two the john the baptist quarter day june the 24th and says when zechariah is slow to believe what the angel is saying i am gabriel and i was sent to bring you good news and because you have not believed this good news as a sign you will be mute until the child is born gabriel and then again the angel gabriel in the sixth month the angel gabriel was sent to a virgin aspires to a man whose name was joseph and the virgin's name was mary and the angel came in to her and said hail you who are highly favored the lord is with you well all of that is the way in which the gospel announces heaven's jews and earth news in a conjunction of that which is divine infinite too bright rather like the sun this morning for me too bright to look at directly and the angels bring the news of that brightness but they themselves stand as the lesson last night in evensong the first even song of michaelmas that lesson which came from saint matthew when jesus is is saying in answer to his disciples questions who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and he takes a child and putting the child among them says here's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and then gives a warning let no one ever be a stumbling block to one of these little ones for i tell you that angels in heaven often we call them guardian angels their angels in heaven always behold the face of my father who is in heaven that another dimension of the way in which the angelic presences right through the scriptures have different kinds of shall we say functions i remember sitting in york minster watching with wonder the york mysteries being performed in the most wonderful set in the nave with with music provided by my late friend richard shepard and and i was there sitting as his guest looking at this this wonderful panoply of creation and going through to redemption and what one was aware of was that at the beginning with creation and i remember the the beautiful angelic music and the fact that the the angels had this this wonderful um almost floating because it was made of some light material and they would they would play with it from one to another and it was the beautiful earth as we know it now from pictures from outer space with the glorious blue and the pattern of clouds upon it and it was an exaltation of god's wonderful creation and the angels were there and the music was of glory and a new beginning and god saw all that he had created and it was good and then from time to time as the story of creation unfolded in that passion mystery there were angelic presences rather like the guests who came to abraham whom we thought about when we were reading in genesis or the angelic ladders going up and down on the dream of joseph of jacob brother as he lay having put his head on a stone later anointing that stone as a holy place but at the same time we then came to the beginning of the story of redemption and as i've just read there's no dearth of angelic presence there it's as though heaven is wedded to us but when after the wilderness experience when jesus finds himself tempted by very human temptations when such a vocation is nursed inside him and developing then he is there with the creatures and also angels ministering to him but from that moment onwards and this became very plain in the york mysteries he walks often alone and carries the burden of his vocation as we ourselves have to with occasional much support and understanding but essentially as a human being there's something which we have to carry alone and make our own decisions in the end no one else can do certain things for us and i was very conscious of that as the the scene beca became less colorful and also without the angelic presence it began to be quite lonely and one saw jesus calling his disciples and then at the points where they don't understand him once again there was a music of loneliness there but when we then came to the crucifixion that lonely loneliness and the carrying of that cross became even more apparent there is in luke's gospel in the garden of gethsemane an angel whom elgar in his dream of jurantius and cardinal newman called the angel of agony giving comfort at the time that jesus is taking the cup as he called it to james and john and as he gave it to the disciples at the last supper but accepting that cup for himself thy will be done his words to the father and the angel standing beside him but on the cross my god my god why have you forsaken me there's no sense of angelic presence there he's taunted with the facts and that he himself had saved others now he can't save himself but on resurrection morning there once again to those with whom god is well pleased angels appear and they they then thread themselves through that occasion and the york mysteries made much of that as the angels of the resurrection became apparent but they thread themselves through the epistles the acts of the apostles with the story of saint peter being released by the angel um and then through into the book of revelation where they are everywhere and full of wonderful music that music of the heavens which we ourselves are always remembering and let me just think how in handel's messiah telling the story of that lonely journey starting with prophecy and then going on in the journey but when do the trumpets first appear in handles so clever in orchestration after the angel has sung the solo of the the soprano solo um there were shepherds abiding in the fields and then suddenly there is the the the sound of the violins with the angels wings fluttering and then the trumpets start for glory to god glory to god in the highest until in the end i always think as the angels recede and there's almost uh like a a feather disappearing at the end with that final trill on the violin as the angelic chorus goes but handle weights with trumpets and drums in full measure until he gets to the heavenly choruses singing hallelujah and at the end of the the whole thing worthy is the lamb straight from the book of revelation the uniting of the worship of earth and heaven and the in uniting of history and time and infinity all of those things are spoken of on these days as i've said each quarter day one after the other has an angelic presence today very much the culmination of all the battle between good and evil which is set out with the image of michael the angelic chief but then at the same time we have lovely stories like the story of raphael being sent to heal tobit and going as a companion of tobias with the dog on his journey the sense of angelic presence the presence of god and in the beginning of the revelation saint john on patmos in the lord's day sensing an angelic presence being his interpreter the book of daniel very much the same but on this occasion um john does what is natural and begins to worship the engine and the angel always you must not do that worship god because that is their whole purpose their absolute and whole purpose the worshipping and serving of god it's no wonder that poets musicians artists have loved to portray the angels today the 29th of september in 1571 the artist caravaggio was born and he loved to paint really realistic and beautiful pictures of biblical and classical scenes but there's one very beautiful one which he painted in 1591 which is called the rest on the flight to egypt and it's a painting of joseph taking mary and the newborn babe jesus down to egypt out of harm's way and they've come to a resting place where mary is sleeping with her baby and around them are lovely shrubs and under a scene of refreshment oasis if you like but at the same time there is a lovely touch for joseph is on watch but the angelic presence there which caravaggio imagines and it's really the the angelic presence was just coming to joseph's dream saying take the babe now and go to egypt for and later on we'll say now it's safe for them to come back all of those things which which uh the the dreams of joseph in the old testament who we've been looking at prefigured going down into egypt but here is joseph taking mary and the the newborn baby down into egypt and the angelic presence is represented in a charming way because joseph on watch absolutely awake but he's holding music and the angel the winged angel is standing with a vial playing a lullaby for mary it's such a a a a joining of a sense of the reality and also the the the fear in that flight into egypt but also of heaven's presence and the sense of angelic music and the way in which creativity of heaven and creativity of earth is united so often in the envisioning of our own gifts for which we take responsibility let me just go to one other sentence which we can't leave this morning without saying and that's in the epistle to the hebrews remember how there we are advised be not forgetful to entertain strangers for in so doing many have entertained angels unawares a beautiful sentence for our kit bag our grab bag our knapsack because that sentence tells us rather like the insofar as you do this for anyone this act of service you do this for me in the words of our lord it reminds us with an angelic sentence to give good hospitality for who knows when will we will be entertaining angels unawares there is the most beautiful michaelmas hymn which we tend to sing at christmas which i wanted to just remind you of it's a hymn written by the american poet from massachusetts in the 19th century edmund sears and if you think about it when i start reading it you'll think oh a christmas carol concentrate on the words they're all about the mission of the angels and um we sing it to us here in england usually to attuned by sir arthur sullivan i've sung it in the united states to a different tune which is equally attractive but here is here is the the verse you will know that the verse is well and think of each situation and mission of the angels it came upon the midnight clear that glorious song of old from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold peace on the earth good will to men from heaven's all-gracious king the world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfold and still their heavenly music floats or all the weary world above its sad and lonely planes they bend on hovering wing and ever or its babel sounds the blessed angels sing yet with the woes of sin and strife the world has suffered long beneath the angel strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong and man at war with man hears not the love song which they bring oh hush your noise ye men of strife and hear the angels sing and ye beneath life's crushing load whose forms are bending low who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow look now for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing a rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing for lo the days are hastening on by prophet bards foretold when with the ever circling years comes round the age of gold when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling and the whole world give back the song which now the angels sing lovely to sing at christmas but very very apt for mikkoma's day let's say our prayers then today together on this special feast day and we think of the diocese of fredericton in the anglican communion in the anglican church of canada canada province and then here in this diocese as we pray for archbishop justin for bishop rose of dover bishop tim at lambeth we pray today for all clergy with permission to officiate that means to be able to help out in all the worshiping congregations of the ashford deanery the parishes around the town of ashford the collect is the collect for sin michael and all angels so let's pray that prayer bring your own concerns on this day from across the world everlasting god you have ordained and constituted the ministries of angels and mortals in a wonderful order grant that as your holy angels always serve you in heaven so at your command they may help and defend us on earth through jesus christ our lord amen each in our own language we join together in 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 are men moment of silence now for your own prayers on this day oh so before we say our blessing i'm asked to pray for delphine herbert undergoing cancer surgery today and we're continuing to pray for gordon and the rest of the family at this time 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 are men traditionally on this day according to the customer queen elizabeth the first people would eat roast goose we're not intending to do that um but uh that kind of custom uh is more attached to old michaelmaster on october the 10th so over the next few days we'll be looking from time to time at customs which were carried on through because of the loss of those 11 days but meanwhile enjoy the feast of michael and all angels september 29th [Music] me [Music] is [Music] with jesus [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] you