[Music] good morning and welcome to the general garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of friday the 18th of september as we come together to say our morning prayers here in the deanery garden wherever you are in the world please feel free to join us on this particular day and bring your own concerns we generally look back on september the 18th that's today in the past and note that it was on this day in the year 324 that the emperor constantine who later was to call together the council of nicaea to try and unite the christian church and he on this day won a battle which made him undoubtedly the emperor of the whole roman empire west and east we remember that because it's a significant time when somehow the the safety to travel that we've been enjoying with luke's acts of the apostles that the the roman establishment right across the mediterranean world gave what was called a pax romana a roman peace in which people could live and work and feel a certain amount of security there if we if we jump all the way forward earlier in the week we we remembered that the metropolitan opera house in new york was opened in 1966 well on this day in 1809 the royal opera house in london was open so another day for giving thanks for the performing arts and praying for all those engaged in that creative activity at this time of pandemic in 1812 that's uh a notable date because of tchaikovsky's overture there's a significant connection with that because this was the day when the russian general decided to burn moscow so that napoleon's troops would arrive and find nothing there and that was the turning point in the napoleonic wars from there on it was a retreat and that is the whole summon story really of that 1812 overture which is so well known these days well all of those things in more modern times in 1932 the kingdom of saudi arabia was formed out of other kingdoms by royal decree and in 1976 the funeral of mao zitung took place in beijing ugandan refugees from the military dictatorship had already begun to arrive from uganda fleeing that dictatorship in britain from 1972 onwards and the first ones arrived in 1972 on this day well enough of that but there is one date that i do want to concentrate on mostly in our reflection and that date is in 1709 for on the 18th of september 1709 samuel johnson was born whom we mostly know as dr johnson who is best known for having brought the english language together in the first reliable dictionary he took nine years to have this dictionary to create this dictionary and then in 1755 he created that dictionary and we remember him with enormous thanksgiving not only for his works and um he's been called arguably the most distinguished man of letters in english history but also for the life that was created of him by james boswell who was 31 years younger and only knew him from 16 1763 onwards but was a first class biographer and really followed dr johnson around rather like st luke followed saint paul having not known him for the earlier years but in the later years was actually a companion who began to know him personally well boswell did that with johnson johnson had a a very difficult beginning in a way he was born in litchfield but he he went to pembroke college at oxford and left without a degree mostly because of finances but in 1775 he was granted because of his dictionary and and many writings an honorary doctorate from the university of oxford and that's how we know him dr johnson who said language is the dress of thought well we'll think a bit more about him when we get to our reflection this morning let's begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise blessed are you sovereign god creator of all to you be glory and praise forever you founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands in the fullness of time you made us in your image and in these last days you have spoken to us in your son jesus christ the word made flesh as we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us let the light of your love always shine in our hearts your spirit ever renew our lives and your praises ever be on our lips 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 [Music] are some on this morning of the month is psalm 92 it is a good thing to give thanks to the lord and to sing praises to your name almost high to tell of your love early in the morning and of your faithfulness in the night time upon the ten-stringed instrument upon the harp and to the melody of the liar for you lord have made me glad by your acts and i sing aloud at the works of your hands oh lord how glorious are your works your thoughts are very deep the senseless do not know nor do fools understand that though the wicked sprout like grass and all the workers of iniquity flourish it is only to be destroyed forever but you o lord shall be exalted forevermore follow your enemies o lord know your enemies shall perish and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered but my horn you have exalted like the horns of wild oxen i am anointed with fresh oil my eyes will look down on my foes my ears shall hear the ruin of the evildoers who rise up against me the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree and shall spread abroad like a cedar of lebanon such as are planted in the house of the lord shall flourish in the courts of our god they shall still bear fruit in old age they shall be vigorous and in full leaf that they may show that the lord is true he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him so we turn we turn back to the acts of the apostles and today we are continuing in chapter 15 after the decision of james the just which he makes on behalf of the council in jerusalem we're in verse 22 then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them and send them to antioch with paul and barnabas they sent judas called barsabbas and silas leading men among the brothers with the following letter the brothers both the apostles and the elders to those who are of the gentiles in antioch and syria and silesia greetings since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words unsettling your minds although we gave them no instructions it has seemed good to us having come to one accord to choose men and send them to you with our beloved barnabas and paul men who have risked their lives for the name of our lord jesus christ we have therefore sent judas and silas who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth for it has seemed good to the holy spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality if you keep yourselves from these you will do well farewell so when they were sent off they went down to antioch and having gathered the congregation together they delivered the letter and when they had read it they rejoiced because of its encouragement and judas and silas who were themselves prophets encouraged and strengthened them with many words and after they had spent some time they were sent off in peace to those who had sent them but paul and barnabas remained in antioch teaching and preaching the word of the lord with many others also this is a wonderful time for notes that paul and barnabas together with judas and silas are going back through the very lands that peter had first gone through and where he went on to visit cornelius we remember his shall we say conversion to the point of view he expressed yesterday in his apostolic speech at the council of jerusalem and notice also how they not only send the letter to samaria and celestia and down to antioch they also choose two others to represent them so it's not just paul and barnabas who the church in antioch had sent to jerusalem but also official representatives of the council to authorize in words all that is being said by letter sent by the council and they choose interesting choices judas barsabbas very much of the jewish christian community and silas whom we shall come to know not only as silas but as sylvanus silas a roman citizen like paul clearly of the hellenistic group in jerusalem he will become very important to us in the acts of the apostles he will also feature in many of paul's letters by name and even the letter of saint peter so we wait to get to know silas but we know for the moment that they are the verbal confirmation and the prophetic confirmation because we're told that they are also prophets of the council's decision written down in the letter which luke lets us read so here we are it's an aeroplane flying over helicopter and uh as the as they go on the the uh apostles are left paul and barnabas there in antioch and judas and silas go back to report once again to the mother church in jerusalem so for the moment they they walk away from the story but as you'll see as far as silas is concerned not for long meanwhile there is enormous joy not only in antioch but the communities round about from the gentiles who have received the word that no burdens are being placed on them save those that you might call regular christian burdens but also um the shall we say courteous burden of making sure that food that they eat can be eaten by all when they gather together both groups and then there will be no division when they meet together to break bread and share christ not only in the eucharist but in meals in each other's homes all of that is very significant in the way that the church is seen to be making its decisions and we saw yesterday how they chose people after prayer and fasting and then the laying on of hands to commission them and then begin to choose people within the communities of new christians themselves well i said that we would return to dr johnson because uh i want to say some things about dr johnson and monkey's rejoined us he's actually rejoined us at the right time for if you go to dr johnson's house which has now become a museum in in in london in golf square it's number 17 gough square you will find outside the house a statue of dr johnson's cat hodge and he's a black cat and uh the the the thought of johnson with the cad which boswell describes is so important in the terms of johnson's ordinary life that outside hodge is representing dr johnson and there's four lines of poetry written by an 18th century poet about hodge and those four lines are who by his master when caressed warmly his gratitude expressed and never failed his thanks to purr where and whenever he stroked his sable fur well i only mention him because clearly johnson in what he was doing um was an interesting person but the most interesting thing is that johnson always went out to buy the oysters for his cat and they were cheap food in those days himself because he said his valet francis barney should not go i've gained leo as well this morning should not go because he might actually find that in um making the valet go out for hodge he was making hajj unpopular so the doctor always left his desk to go out and buy the oysters for hodge himself and at the bottom of the statue you will find oyster shells in the sculpture and people leave things there on special days and tie silk ribbons around hodges neck but really it's the doctor himself we're giving thanks for he was a devout anglican and also a member of the tory party who was an enormous champion of the abolition of slavery just as william pitch became and wilberforce from that party and we remember all kinds of things that johnson said and did um and on the the actual plinth for hodge in gough square is one of his famous sentences when a man is tired of london he is tired of life for there is in london all that life can offer well i don't know about that but that's how johnson felt and then underneath something we might well agree with the chief glory of every people arises from its authors he was a great commentator on shakespeare and milton and dryden but above all he savored language and wrote what became the foundation stone of all dictionary scholarly dictionaries it was 150 years before the oxford english dictionary was published after the 1755 dictionary which which uh johnson gave to assist the english language and the oxford in english dictionary played plentiful tribute to the fact that they were working on the foundation stone of samuel johnson's work dr johnson who said few things are impossible to diligence and skill great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance and it as a lexicographer that quote which i said at the beginning language is the dress of thought well let's remember also that we know so much about johnson because james boswell a young edinburgh lawyer who was 31 years younger than johnson actually decided that he would follow johnson as much as he could in every situation and begin to write a biography and that biography itself has been called so many times a model biography in in the terms of english literature we know what a vehicle language is and we also know how in carefully sifting and having times of reflection as we do together we begin to learn things and language i'm using it now becomes then the dress of thoughts that we have to share with each other i'm saying all this because of course luke did that for sin paul in the same way that boswell did that for johnson boswell only knew johnson following the death of johnson's wife in 1752 in fact boswell i think only only only met johnson in 1763 so he had 21 years of knowing johnson personally and before that he had to talk to johnson's long serving valley francis and also talk to others who'd known him but what he gives us is carefully worked out as carefully as johnson puts his dictionary together and if you if you look at the the preface to luke's gospel written to theophilus and also the preface to the acts of the apostles luke promises that as far as possible from his research he will set down in order the facts of the gospel which he did for us through the chapters of his gospel and the facts of the early years of the church and very soon now we shall find that luke is not only someone who is a recorder and a reporter from other witnesses but an eyewitness himself as we go on so let's give thanks for the ability of language to be exact in what it's saying no one more exact than samuel johnson but his dictionary is full of humor and we could spend ages just quoting him this morning and smiling at many of the things he says for he gives illustrations of how each word is used and there's a very good one of two very proper ladies who had him to tea and said we're very pleased dr johnson that there are no improper words in your dictionary to which he replied i'm glad ma'am but i see that you were looking for them and they became rather embarrassed and went on but we give thanks for his faith and for the way in which he he shaped our correct use of language because the dictionary was really exported to every place where the english language was spoken and became a foundation stone for all lexicographers we remember that day that this day and we remember his faith which carried him forward and to which he held and give thanks for his strong views on the abolition of slavery in that particular century well let's say our prayers today and uh i should say that hodge wasn't his only cat he had a cat called lily and of course we do we have a lovely little little cat black and white she's seen sometimes but uh doesn't always get up very early in the morning so she's not appeared very often on our morning prayers we're continuing to pray for the east bridge deanery and as i said yesterday to those who who were with us yesterday those um communities are especially beautiful they're worth rehearsing again on this lovely september morning because the valleys which aren't very far away from us here are worth a visit if you ever come to kent these are the villages stoddmarsh preston elmstone wickenbrue ickham littleborn wingham ash big spawn patricksborn gunston chillindon noddington women's world neckington bridge bishops born kingston barum and lower hearts and we give thanks for the life of those communities and today we're praying for clergy with permission to officiate who help out in those communities and uh a lot of that vocation is work in retirement so we give thanks for that as we continue to pray for those communities we pray for archbishop justin and for bishop rose of dover and for bishop tim at lambus and in the anglican communion today for the diocese of oyo in nigeria and bishop williams a la de and his community there and the diocese of central new york in the episcopal church and bishop d d duncan probe there and the community of that particular diocese we pray of course with you for all the concerns that you bring in your prayers on this 18th of september for your own nations and governments for those in your communities helping to fight the pandemic and look after and resource those in need so we use the prayer for this week almighty god whose only son has opened for us a new and living way into your presence give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship you in spirit and in truth through jesus christ our lord amen so let's give great thanks to god for all his creation but also for our ability in language and in correct language to attempt to express our thoughts for as johnson told us dr johnson said language is the dress of thoughts so let's use our own language to say 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 amen moment of silence now for your own prayers [Music] so i think the cats have walked off in the direction of breakfast so we shall be feeding a monkey and lily and leo and of course tiger who is convalescing well and losing a little bit of his shyness and so we give thanks for all of that but i can assure you they won't be getting oysters for breakfast 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 [Music]