good morning and welcome on this monday morning the 23rd of november welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral wherever you are in the world at the moment we are sitting amongst some of the few flowers that will continue to flower quite well for some weeks yet these blue flowers are salvias and we have red ones in other parts of the garden so while all the other leaves are falling and flowers are beginning to disappear though as you saw uh yesterday there are still some roses here and there but these salvias are quite strong and we enjoy their very vivid blue colors so here this morning in england it's a really lovely morning it's it's quite cold but no wind and a beautiful blue sky as we come together and you'll hear that the thrush is singing the thrush began singing this morning before it was even light just as the dawn was was showing in the east and long before the sun began to make the eastern sky bright with its light and so we give thanks for that companion who will sing to us through these winter months uh there's a lovely poem about a a thrush singing in the depths of winter by thomas hardy but we'll leave that till later on till we get into the depths of winter so this morning in our calendar this is the feast day of st clement clement the first who was the bishop of rome between the years 88 and 99 a.d so absolutely the the area of time in which the revelation to john which we've been looking at was being written clement is known as the first apostolic father of the church and his epistle was considered for many years ready to go into the canon of the new testament in fact it's not there but his name is mentioned in the new testament and let's think what else happened on this day this 23rd of november uh in 1924 edwin hubble discovered that the andromeda nebula was actually another island galaxy far outside our own milky way that gave a new dimension to astronomy now it's something we take for granted in 1585 dotting about a bit thomas tallis the composer died he was one of the gentlemen of the choir here in canterbury and the interesting thing with talis is the way in which his music at the reformation when it goes from latin into english in latin it is very florid and we still sing some of that music with lots of notes per syllable in english one note one syllable we'll come back to that in our reflection in 1990 roald dahl died and we give thanks for his children's book charlie and the chocolate chocolate factory and and james and the giant peach and all of those books and uh we think also of the death of columbanus and columbanus in 615 once again we'll come back to him in the reflection not to be mixed up with saint columba but an irish monk in that early period uh in 1964 the vatican on this day the vatican abolished latin as the official language of roman catholic liturgy and in 1999 we were thinking about uh people who were able to give enormous amounts of their own wealth for the welfare of others and in 1999 on this day bill gates announced a 750 million dollar donation over five years to improve the health of young children in underdeveloped nations and so as we think of that we think of the encouragement that it gives to others so bill and melinda um on this day we give thanks for and we remember in our prayers you will have lots of things to remember but we remember two fishermen who over the weekend have lost their lives off the sussex coast and the search for them has now been sadly given up let's begin our prayers on this morning lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 our psalm on this 23rd morning of the month is psalm 111 alleluia i will give thanks to the lord with my whole heart in the company of the faithful and in the congregation the works of the lord are great sought out by all who delight in them his work is full of majesty and honor and his righteousness endures forever he appointed a memorial for his marvelous deeds the lord is gracious and full of compassion he gave food to those who feared him he is ever mindful of his covenant he showed his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations the works of his hands are truth and justice all his commandments are sure they stand fast forever and ever they are done in truth and equity he sent redemption to his people he commanded his covenant forever holy and awesome is his name the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have those who live by it his praise endures forever so on this monday morning we return to our regular reading of john's book of visions and different kinds of pictures some glorious some encouraging some alarming some terrifying but in all kinds of ways something that we can pick images from at all times to help us in our worship and in our life so we're on chapter 14 this morning and beginning at verse 1. then i looked and behold on mount zion stood the lamb and with him a hundred and forty four thousand who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads and i heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of hunter thunder the voice i heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their heart and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth it is these who have not defiled themselves for they are chaste it is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes these have been redeemed from humanity as first fruits for god and the lamb and in their mouth no lie was found for they are blameless and then i saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth to every nation and tribe and language and people and he said with a loud voice fear god and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth the sea and the springs of water another angel a second followed saying fallen fallen is babylon the great she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality and another angel a third followed them saying with a loud voice if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand he also will drink the wine of god's roth poured full strength into the cup of his anger and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever they have no rest day or night these worshippers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name here is a call for the endurance of the saints those who keep the commandments of god and their faith in jesus and i heard a voice from heaven saying write this blessed are the dead who die in the lord from henceforth even so says the spirit for they rest from their labors for their deeds follow them how often if i use that sentence in my ministry because of course it's one of the sentences of the burial service and it shows our ability to pluck out of the scriptures this morning's old testament lesson which we read at matins in the cathedral earlier as well as this new testament lesson was from the beginning of the prophecy of isaiah and the moment it began one was in the middle of handel's messiah where at the very beginning of hannah's messiah comfort he comforted me my people seth your god and verses from that isaiah chapter 40 were plucked and used in different ways because that we can do they're like arrow prayers which stay in our head this morning john gives us images which can seem exclusive and and almost distasteful but let's put them into context let's see first of all this army following the lamb of the hundred and forty four thousand it's an image it's one of his visions and what is there also is the old uh denial of any kind of sexual activity when someone was on course for a military campaign you only have to i'm talking about the armies of david when you remember how david when he went in to get some bread the the priest um uh himalek says uh have the young men kept themselves from women and david says yes of course on campaign they are chased and in the same way you find when uri the hittite is called back from the army at the front in those days david says go down and sleep with your wife and of course david's purpose is nefarious because he wants uh the child that bathsheba is carrying not to be recognized as his but uriah's instead but uribe is on active service he's a soldier consecrated to war at that time and therefore he remains chaste and goes to sleep outside with the other soldiers in the palace guard a guard room and again david tries to make him go there and gives him drink and everything else and says go home to your wife and still he is utterly unwilling to do that this is an image which john uses from his own culture and the other image which is quite different also from his own culture is of the first fruits being presented as the beginning of the harvest not the total harvest just the beginning of the harvest so john is giving us images of times when we don't want any kind of interference with our concentration on a particular vocation as servants of christ in active service and in two ways he does this with these rather puzzling images but at the same time you get the sense of that warfare of evil and good in the heavenly places and on earth which this book gives us over and over again and they are strong images which sometimes we resist and think that i don't want that image for the moment but this image from henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the lord even so says the spirit for they rest from their labors there's a beautiful image in the middle of all this we take all and we read all but the spirit helps us interpret in particular ways and we have to remember what john himself and his people were going through at that time at the time of saint clement the bishop of roe rome who wrote that wonderful first century epistle to the corinthian church which had been founded by saint paul and we still have that letter but clement was sent off in exile to the black sea and tradition has it that at the end having worked in the stone quarry with prisoners he was taken out in a boat tied to an anchor and thrown overboard as a martyr in the black sea all these things happening at that time this is a call for the endurance of the saints says the writer john of patmos to us all these years later with different problems but still the sense that sometimes we must dedicate ourselves entirely body mind and spirit to a particular vocation sometimes for a short time sometimes for a long time and at the moment of course we've dedicated ourselves to eradicating this pandemic right across the world and we don't know how long that that campaign will last but we know that some people's lives are more in danger than others and remember that this morning well i said yesterday that we had no time because we were thinking of the day as the day when president kennedy was assassinated in all other kinds of things with the feast day of sin cecilia the patron saint of musicians yesterday but yesterday also in 1963 on the very same day november the 22nd that jordan kennedy was assassinated c.s lewis died so this morning i wanted to just pay tribute to him because so many of his images are drawn from this book and from the prophecies and he has been helpful to so many in their pilgrimage following the lamb or in his case usually aslan the lion which represents the christ who gives his own life and we remember in that book the lion the witch in the wardrobe how the altar splits as uh the sign of uh the the triumph over death of aslan the christ figure through those books chronicles of narnia we dwelt on them a little bit back when we were thinking of archbishop rowan williams lectures here which dwelt on various aspects of the chronicles of narnia but also people still read his screwtape letters from a senior demon to a junior demon on how to tempt people how to masquerade as an angel of light they take comfort still though it was written some long time ago now in his book mere christianity and they also take comfort in his book the problem of pain and surprised by joy and that's a a a coded message as well of course it means joy in the fullest context but it also means the wife he found late in life who sadly only lived four years and died in her forties and she was called joy so we remember all those things and give thanks for so much that cs lewis has given us we've had the privilege of looking at some of the original drawings at some of his books which are held in mark lanier's library in uh houston and uh we we think of them today and all all of that and uh the the linears as a couple of great friends of ours and so um we then uh think of lewis in his prayers and there's one particular sentence which those of you who know me will know what i'm going to say i think he wrote the prayer preceding all prayers is may it be the real i who speaks may it be the real thou that i speak to for so often we like to present a false picture of ourselves when we're praying the best picture that we can think of and also we like to shape god in our image and forget that it's satan who'll masquerades as an angel of light in different guises god is god whatever and it must be the real god that we pray to the real thou i'll use the old word because it's the singular form of the second person and that is a very singular and intimate relationship through our lord jesus christ so we give thanks for all those things on this autumn morning here in england and wherever you are bring your prayers and uh bring your intentions and then lay them the real you at the feet of god the real god who listens through jesus christ our lord we're thinking this morning in the anglican communion of the diocese of santiago in chile and hector zarvala the bishop there and his people and of santiago in the philippines and the bishop there frenzel paludin and his people yesterday in the middle of all that we were doing and in my rush to get to matins in the cathedral i forgot to mention the the intentions and we prayed yesterday so i'll mention them today for the diocese of bermuda under the care of the archbishop of canterbury provincially and nicholas still the bishop there and his people and yesterday in this diocese we were remembering the parish of christchurch parkwood and philip goody and his ministry there and this morning as we pray for archbishop justin and bishop rose of dover and also bishop tim at lambeth we're praying for the parish of saint michael and all angels in maidstone our county town and pray for neil bryson in his ministry there and the life of that whole parish and community so let's say the prayer first of all for sin clements day and we pray also for the parish church at sandwich which is dedicated to sin clement but here is the prayer for this day creator and father of eternity whose martyr clement bore witness with his blood to the love he proclaimed and the gospel that he preached give us thankful hearts as we celebrate your faithfulness revealed to us in the lives of your saints and strengthen us in our pilgrimage as we follow your son jesus christ our lord amen i said that today also is the day we remember saint columbanis who was an irish missionary and who wrote a rule very likes in benedict's rule and rather simpler with just 10 chapters his communities still flourish today and father robert our our most constant contact and friend in the vatican belongs to that community and we give thanks for all members of that community and remember robert also today who normally would be planning to come across here for all the becket ceremonies but this year it looks very unlikely that anyone can travel so also we say the prayer for this week which is a wonderful one and stays in the head well stir up oh lord we beseech you the wills of your faithful people that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works may by you be plenteously rewarded through jesus christ our lord amen so let's say together the prayer our lord taught us accompanied by the music of the thrush and we say it each in our own language 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 prayers [Music] 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 the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and upon those whom you would pray for today and always amen me [Music] [Music] you