good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the deanery kitchen garden on this first of november all saints day this morning and we give thanks for that day in all our worship and our prayers as we remember the saints of all times at this huge festival of all saints yesterday was a day of of all kinds of mixed messages and the most serious one of course is the fact that on thursday this nation will go back all this this english part of the nation will go back into lockdown for at least a month and that means we have to look at all our um services and things of that kind again and see how we can continue but we are going to be locked into our homes as we were back at the beginning of the year when we began this in the middle of march and so we think of that and also think of people facing that again but that joins us with so many throughout europe and throughout the world and wherever you are feel welcome to say your prayers with us this is going to be the week of the election for the american president and so we we remember the american people today and uh give thanks for their life as they go towards an election yesterday also was interesting in terms of other events and one sporting event just got through before lockdowns and everything else might have finished it and that was the end of the six nations rugby cup which in the end england won it was a funny thing about the winning that they weren't even present when they won they were in rome having won their match and everything depended on who won the last match and so uh we waited with baited breath and my partner here is massive fan of of the rugby and so it was an exciting time and today they will get the presentation of the award at the same time uh sir sean connery had died who was the quintessential representation of of um james bond ian fleming's character james bond and so the television was full of memories of him and the early james bond films well for all those things we give thanks and if one looks back to the 31st of of the sorry the first of november on this particular day in the past we come to collections of different things it was the day on which the black death reached london in 1348 and that plague and pandemic was catastrophic to the population here and really affected life for years and years afterwards and the remains of that uh are are known from the way in which even villages are placed well outside where the old parish church used to be as they moved away from the site the day in 1755 when the lisbon earthquake destroyed practically the city of lisbon killing 50 000 people and that shook europe in 1755 and there is the day when uh we think of many systems of government toppling in 1894 on this day nicholas ii became the tsar of russia to great rejoicing at that time but uh he was to be the last as we now know and on this day also in 1922 the sultan's position in the ottoman empire was abolished and mehmet vi had to leave the new republic of turkey on this day also the congress of vienna opened following all those years of napoleonic wars it was interrupted by napoleon's re-arrival having escaped from elba and the duke of wellington had to leave the congress and go and fight the battle of waterloo with armies and marshal blucher of prussia and then returned to the congress as the map of europe was completely redesigned in that congress all these things show how temporary any of our arrangements are and what completely different circumstances the saints and those that we remember today throughout the world since the earliest times of the taking of the gospel and the living of the gospel what different circumstances the saints had to deal with but we shall think of that of course in our reflection so let's begin our prayers on this day there's a fine misty rain falling but it needn't trouble us oh 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 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 are men the psalm on this day naturally enough the first day of the month is psalm 1 blessed are they who have not walked in the council of the wicked nor lingered in the way of sinners nor sat in the assembly of the scornful their delight is in the law of the lord and they meditate on his law day and night like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season with leaves that do not wither whatever they do it shall prosper as for the wicked it is not so with them they are like chaff which the wind blows away therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgment nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous for the lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked shall perish a special lesson for today before tomorrow we begin a new book and uh on this day we are reading from saint luke our old friend luke chapter 9 and we're beginning at verse 18. [Music] now it happened that as jesus was praying alone the disciples were with him and he asked them who do the crowds say that i am and they answered john the baptist but others say elijah and others that one of the prophets of old has risen then he said to them but you who do you say that i am and peter answered you are the christ of god and jesus strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one saying the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised and then he said to all if anyone would come after me let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me for whoever would save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for my sake will save it for what does it profit anyone if they gain the whole world and lose or forfeit themselves for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of them will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels but i tell you truly there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of god that passage to me contains the whole heart of the teaching of jesus and more than that it encompasses a great truth for humanity the poet a a houseman known best for his poetry in the shropshire land he was best known as one of the greatest latin scholars of his day and was professor of latin at cambridge but he in a lecture on poetry said that that sentence what does it profit someone if they gain the whole world and lose their life or forfeit themselves and the sentence before whoever would save their life will lose it but whoever would lose their life would save it was one of the profoundest pieces of philosophy known to humanity well it came from the lips of our lord but the sentence runs whoever would lose their life for my sake will save it it's talking about what profit means in worldly and heavenly terms and we're looking today at a whole procession if we think of that great hymn by uh vaughn williams with the tune and bishop wilson howe for all the saints who from their labors rest through thee by faith by faith they confessed the faith and in a great procession the is the the the hymn ending with with the procession going through gates of pearl into that heavenly dimension which their lives confessed but luke in his telling of this story adds one word which attracts me very much it's the word daily whoever would take up their cross daily day by day a new gift of a new day and on that day we in a sense lose our lives by giving it away in so many different ways for that self-giving for the sake of jesus and the good news of the gospel is part of how we ourselves gain the eternal dimension of heaven it's a strange paradox but on this day in our prayer book the gospel for the day is the reading of the beatitudes from matthew and that reading is a list of paradoxes and conundrums in worldly terms and as we read it we see a composite picture of jesus himself and of those who have suffered so much for him we all have our favorite saints and we could name them this morning we could name them and say at the moment i'm i'm much drawn to the teaching of or the life of this saint or that saint who has helped me so much that each is a reflection of jesus himself do you remember that that little story about the the little girl who helped her grandfather when he was cleaning the ancient medieval chapel and one day she said who are all those people up there and she was looking at the stained glass windows and the old man said well they are the saints and he went through them as he went down through the chapel and most of our churches of course are dedicated to one saint or another all the cathedrals in the sudan or the four cathedrals when i was there were all dedicated dedicated to all saints they'll remember them on this day but as as she looked he said those are the saints and she said but i only see them because the light shines through them and it's the best definition one knows a saint is someone whom the light shines through and we as christians as followers of the way would say the light of jesus shines through luke makes that quite clear but he makes it clear that it's not shining through just in happy times or times of joy it's shining through in times of patience and of suffering and of sorrow and of puzzlement and of needful endeavor which we feel on this day when we're just about to be sent back into lockdown all over again on those days the light shines through us when we take up our cross day by day as jesus says it's a powerful instruction and we give thanks for it on this day when we remember the saints this first of november for all the saints who from their labor's rest so let's think now of the saints themselves and also i wanted to mention one or two other dates before we say our prayers on this day in 1604 and on this day in 1611 two shakespeare plays were presented at whitehall palace ocelo in 1604 a dark tale of suffering for desdemona in her relationship with with othello and the tempest in 1611 which is a much more whimsical play but contains so many truths and also i wanted to name someone who was born on this day who's important to me in 1877 the composer roger quilter was born the piano in the drawing room in the deanery is never without some quilter music somewhere on the top of it because we love to sing his songs and so many of them are set to words by shakespeare and the musician and and writer peter warlock said that he could never play without being almost moved to tears quilter's setting of oh mistress mine so we think of his songs blow blow thou winter wind thou art not so unkind as man's in gratitude or it was a lover and his lass with a hay and a hoe and a hain only no shakespearean songs or tennyson songs now sleeps the crimson petal in the rose little cameos song writing was what he concentrated on and the beauty of all that was a creative gift as he gave himself again through dark times in his own lives into his own life and you felt that oh you feel that those times of loss of particular friends who were killed in war those times of loss caused him to write powerfully and communicate that to us and also his songs are a wonderful way of remembering shakespeare's words let's say our prayers on this all saints morning so in the diocese today we're asked to pray for the all churches dedicated to all saints and i've already begun that in the sudan with the cathedral perhaps i would mention most all saints juba in the city of juba right in the south sudan and also the city of the church of all saints here in this diocese and we pray for phil greg the priest in charge of all saints canterbury our very near neighbor i'm actually looking towards that parish here sitting in the garden and we pray of course for our archbishop justin for rose bishop of dover and for tim bishop at lambeth and today in the communion for the church of the province of west africa and for jonathan bonaparte hart the primate and metropolitan of the church of the province of west africa and archbishop of the internal province of west africa and bishop of liberia pray for him and all his people continue to pray for those affected so much by the earthquake in turkey affecting the islands in the aegean as well and those attempting to rescue and comfort people there and you will have many prayers of your own to add on this special day but let's send together say the prayer for all saints day with your own concerns added almighty god you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your son christ our lord grant us grace to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those inexpressible joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you through jesus christ our lord amen here together as the wind blows we say the prayer that our lord taught us in whatever language that you would like 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 on the front of our diocesan calendar of prayer here is a quotation from henry nauen whose spiritual writings i've always loved to read this quotation is my deepest vocation is to be a witness to the glimpses of god i have been allowed to catch reminds us of our lords our sentence there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of god so let's in our own prayers now keep silence for a moment and 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 those whom you would pray for today and always amen so