good morning and welcome to the deanery garden canterbury cathedral on this sunday the 12th of september it's the most lovely peaceful morning and we've come out under a lovely blue sky on a september morning so please feel welcome to bring your own prayers and concerns wherever you are in the world as we say our morning prayers together yesterday was an immensely busy day here with so many different strands across the day strands of celebration stands of of thinking about um our role as a world heritage site with many people coming here to a meeting yesterday afternoon to see how we ensure that that is respected as we go through and that's not just the site it's the context all around and at the same time we paused in all the busy activity at 146 here the time in manhattan would have been 8 46 at that moment 20 years ago when the first plane hit the tower of the world trade center and the events of that day 20 years ago began to unroll and we paused to think of the effect and that became something which was busy because both the television channels radio channels came here to just pause with us at that time and report that later so that we wouldn't forget but i think i said yesterday it was quite a shock to realize that the senior pupils here and some of the young staff would have been too young to remember that day how quickly history passes but this morning here we are in a peaceful precinct and as we sit and say our prayers there is that sense of tranquility on this sunday morning before the day of worship begins yesterday afternoon we worshipped inquire the place of the choir for the first time since the 16th of march in 2020 and it was a wonderful thing to be back there on a day when we were admitting at coral even song as many of you will have seen all the new members of our choral foundation uh from the the boys themselves coming in to senior chorus gesture to choral scholars to lay clarks all the people that make up our choral foundation for this new choral year and a sense of great celebration as we met afterwards with the parents of the new choristers today we've come to the front of the deanery because we wanted you to have sight of the marvelous second flowering of all the roses here this year they had a strong first flowering but if anything the second flowering of the roses has become even more um beautiful and perhaps it's important to remember that the rose is the flower of the state of new york and behind us are mountain laurel and dogwood mountain laurel being the state flower of pennsylvania where of course the the plane crashed yesterday another site reminding us of that day and the dogwood the state flower of virginia where the pentagon is is is located so we have that that kind of area of recollection from yesterday with the flowers around us blooming in all their beauty let's begin our prayers we're here set with if i just do one or two news flashes with a sense of thanksgiving because at the us open final yesterday emma rajakanu the british tennis player aged only 18 won the u.s open it's the first time that we've had a british winner in the female open in any grand slam since virginia wade in 1977 so there's great great cause for triumph and also the way that she overcame her earlier uh withdrawing because of breathlessness from uh the wimbledon championship and here we are at the u.s open and she's come straight through and not lost a set all the way through she beat leyla fernandez age 19 so it was an all teens final and a wonderful event and she herself was able to to make mention of the fact the significance in the united states of the 11th of september as she received that award uh we think today of the people of morocco where the king has appointed a new government so as we we pray for them in their life their community life and their political life on this day so let's begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made does we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen our hands to do your will that the world may rejoice and give you praise 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 so our son this morning on this 12th morning of the month is psalm 62 on god alone my soul in stillness waits from him comes my salvation he alone is my rock and my salvation my stronghold so that i shall never be shaken how long will all of you assail me to destroy me as you would a tottering wall or a leaning fence they plot only to thrust me down from my place of honor lies are their chief delight they bless with their mouths but in their heart they curse wait on god alone in stillness o my soul for in him is my hope he alone is my rock and my salvation my stronghold so that i shall not be shaken in god is my strength and my glory god is my strong rock in him is my refuge put your trust in him always my people pour out your hearts before him for god is our refuge the people's arbiter breath the whole human race a deceit on the scales they are altogether lighter than air put no trust in oppression in robbery take no empty pride though wealth increase set not your heart upon it god spoke once and twice have i heard the same that power belongs to god steadfast love belongs to you o lord for you repay everyone according to their deeds our lesson this morning is a sunday lesson and i've chosen the old testament lesson for this occasion and we'll return tomorrow to our regular reading of the book of genesis and be back with the story of joseph but for today we're in the 44th chapter of the prophet isaiah and i'm beginning to read at verse 24 we'll go to through to verse 8 of chapter 45 thus says the lord your redeemer who formed you from the womb i am the lord who made all things who alone stretched out the heavens who spread out the earth by myself who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners who turns the wise back and makes their knowledge foolish who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers who says of jerusalem she shall be inhabited and the cities of judah they shall be rebuilt and i will raise up their ruins who says to the deeps be dry i will dry up your rivers who says of cyrus he is my shepherd and he shall fulfill all my purpose saying of jerusalem she shall be built and of the temple your foundation shall be laid thus says the lord to his anointed to cyrus whose right hand i have grasped to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings to open doors before him that gates may not be closed i will go before you and level the exalted places i will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron i will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes in secret places that you may know that it is i the lord the god of israel who call you by your name for the sake of my servant jacob and israel my chosen i call you by your name i name you though you do not know me i am the lord and there is no other besides me there is no god i equip you though you do not know me that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me i am the lord and there is no other i form light and create darkness i make well-being and create calamity i am the lord who does all these things drop down our heavens from above and let the clouds rain down righteousness let the earth open that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit let the earth cause them both to sprout for i the lord have created it it is in so many ways the most extraordinary lesson and it's wonderful to read it here today in front of all this flowering sprouting from the earth in great beauty as the prophet makes clear the voice of the creator in the present tense over and over again i am the lord i am the lord i make well-being and creates calamity i am the lord who does all these things the hand undergirded and the heavens overseeing say that we end with that wonderful sentence which is used as a sung antiphon throughout advent drop down o heavens from above and let the clouds rain down righteousness using natural images of fruitfulness and flowering to speak of life on earth of which humankind finds itself to be stewards caring for the planet but what is most extraordinary is the way in which as he says i call you by name and he's calling his people by name and where are they in this particular lesson when the prophet is speaking to them they are in exile in babylon for generally speaking the book of isaiah a very very long book is reckoned to have two or maybe three hands writing at different periods of history of the same tradition but here we are in a situation of exile the jewish temple has been destroyed jerusalem lies in ruins the vessels of the temple all the things dedicated to the worship of god in jerusalem have been taken away by nebuchadnezzar and the people been taken as exiles to the land of babylon and it must have seemed as though the exiles would be forever and they lament and some of our psalms give give us that that sound of lamentation by the waters of babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered you o zion they can't even sing with gladness the songs of their own land there's only lamentation as for our harps we hung them on the willows by the river and now we have this prophecy an extraordinary prophecy which is echoed by so many other prophecies in this part of isaiah echoed in a way preparing for the anointed one who will come and the anointed one who will come and show god in human form in our lord jesus christ all of all of that but that's for the future for the moment who is the anointed one well this is the extraordinary thing the anointed one and it's the only time in the scriptures that this is used of a non-jewish person as god's anointed instrument it's the emperor cyrus the persian emperor who has now conquered babylon and he's issued an edict that the jews can go home those who want to can go home [Music] and he will furnish them with resources to rebuild their city rebuild their temple and not only that he will take from the treasury the dark places the hordes of gold and silver that nebuchadnezzar has taken from the holy place in jerusalem and he will give them back to the people so that they will go home rejoicing that will take some time but in effect that prophecy is fulfilled and we see in other books of the old testament particularly nehemiah and ezra the rebuilding the reconsecration not only the rebuilding of the city of jerusalem but the reconsecration of the temple itself as the people gather and the vessels restored and the extraordinary thing is that god names cyrus i have called you by name in order to be my instrument but you do not know me i am the lord doing all these things but i choose this instrument who can affect this going home of the people to the city of zion and to their ruins that they can rebuild them they will be empowered and so many of the prophecies of messiahship speak of this event every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill made low because the journey home will seem so joyful that rough places will seem plain as they go home and they go home by the will of the one whom god has chosen an earthly power cyrus well we can thank god for that prophecy but also thank god that vessels unknowingly i mean vessels of humankind unknowingly are used to further the will of god and we can simply wonder of that just as we wonder at the glories and beauties of the way in which the creator causes things to fruit and grow wilderness is to blossom and at the same time uh rivers to dry up and turn into a wilderness i am the lord the old version said i create wheel and woe uh those situations which are are well and good for humankind but also situations of calamity caused so often by the actions of humankind in order to bring that about let's go to an historic situation for cyrus the great was the king of kings because he had conquered one empire after another and now in 559 he's taken all before him and is gradually adding one uh empire to another so his reign was 559 to 530 bc remember the years come downwards and at that time um he conquered babylon 539 where the jewish exiles were so 20 years after he became king of persia he captures babylon after capturing many other lands the greatest empire known at that time in terms of area and when he came to power in babylon he issued that edict you can go home if you would like to and we will provide the resources and the prophet sees that as god's instrument for the re-establishing of the holy city cyrus in historical terms was known for his policies on human rights on politics or military strategy but he felt that peoples would be better ruled if they were in their own places once again and their rights and ceremonies were respected and that enabled the passage and all those beautiful passages uh in in the the prophecies of isaiah would show the people going home and we remember that in so many different ways but we ought not to be surprised to find that the creator can use whichever people he wants to fulfill his will and notice he keeps saying you do not know me but the inference is i know you and i've called you by name for this particular task this is a day in uh the year 1852 when the later to be prime minister h h asquis was born or on the 12th of september 1852 he grew up having immense intellectual and political gifts and was a fervent parliamentarian but he had to wait until the election of 1905 swept the liberal party into power after years of mostly conservative government apart from one short spell and in 1905 he came in as the chancellor of the exchequer but by 1908 the prime minister campbell bannerman uh gave over and and asquith became prime minister and here he could exercise his gifts but he chose in a way a ministry of talents and made as his chancellor of the exchequer david lloyd george the fiery welshman who had an agenda all of his own and at the same time uh sir edward gray was created foreign secretary those two strong characters would stay in their positions all the way through till 1916 when there was a sea change and if you get the dating right of course 1916 was a very different time to the should we call it the golden edwardian age of 1908 when asquith became prime minister he was a a good peacetime prime minister though he had many troubles political troubles social troubles and all kinds of campaigns for women's suffrage for the the independence of ireland and all kinds of troubles around him even in peacetime and yet he was someone who wanted to bring in social welfare and reforms which in the end would keep give people old age pensions and and uh national insurance a measure of security when they didn't have the resources to help themselves and yet certain gifts are right for some occasions and not for others and when war broke out in 1914 which he had always striven to avoid but he found himself locked into a position where he had to go to war for the sake of the understandings given to france particularly and to belgium and so britain found itself at war in a terrible conflict for four years and here asquith was found to be wanting and so in the middle of the war he found himself in a way i will say stabbed in the back by um his chancellor of the exchequer david lloyd george who took over as prime minister and took over a coalition government and asquith became leader of the liberal opposition he was the last liberal prime minister uh in this country lloyd george was a coalition prime minister and then from then on we saw the the complete changing and uh demise of should we call it two-party politics of wigs and tories and liberals and conservatives and all of that but what i wanted to say was that asquith had those gifts which were necessary for that occasion and then afterwards he really found himself sidelined because a different kind of leader was needed in wartime and that's always been the case there are certain things that asquish is remembered for apart from from those uh social arrangements which help people on the way through but he's remembered for saying when someone said there was a massive conflict going on between the house of commons and the house of lords and someone said to him mr ascot what will you do if if the house of lords once again rejects your people's budget and she simply said wait and see and wait and see became one of the things attached to asquith it might have mean he hadn't declared himself what he would do it might have meant um it's not politic for me to say yet who can know in the minds of politics but there was one sentence which seemed to apply to yesterday which uh he uh afternoon a speech in the house of commons following the news before everything had become the news of the sudden sinking of titanic and the huge loss of life and he wrote and this tunes in with everything we were feeling yesterday he i'm sorry he spoke in the house of commons and said to the members that on that day i am afraid we must brace ourselves to confront one of those terrible events in the order of providence which baffle foresight which appall the imagination and make us realize the inadequacy of words to do justice to what we feel well we could say that about yesterday certainly 20 years ago and then lastly i wanted on this day to mark the fact that on this day on the 12th of september 1940 an 18 year old young man marcel ravida out for a walk with his dog robot lost the dog who went into uh a hole in the ground as it seemed at the time this was near montagnac in the dordogne now most of you will know the story the dog came out and and and and calling him um this young man saw that there was this was the entrance to a cave he went and got three of his friends and they went inside and discovered the caves of lascaux with the panoply of paintings on the wall 17 000 years old they're thought to be and those paintings showed creatures and human figures painted on the walls in colours of red and yellow and black in pristine condition for the whole thing had been sealed in darkness and there was a wonder in what those four young men were seeing they went and got others and gradually people came to to find and explore the wonders of the caves of vlasko of a civilization 17 000 years before painting the animals on the wall and there's no no real answer to why they were painted just for enjoyment or were they a sign of hunting trophies there are six thousand figures in those caves huge caves and for a while um from 1948 till 1963 the caves were open to the public and then light and heat and carbon dioxide human breath began to destroy the paintings on the wall and the caves were shut and that proved to be something that that really couldn't be changed every time groups of people go in there it's very difficult to protect what's there different kinds of fungus different kinds and kinds of of lichen and and things have grown within the caves and so they've had to be restored and clean but what they have done is created copies of those caves one after another so people can go and visit those but now the number of times a human visit is allowed into the caves for the protection of what is there are few and far between and we're talking about experts at what what needs to be done and observed in there and experts also at the deterioration of the atmosphere well one can see it almost as a sign of all created order everything needs its right atmosphere but in dark places sometimes treasures are hidden which can be observed but are so tender that they have to be cared for in a way that protects them for the future perhaps we were dealing with that in our world heritage uh conference yesterday afternoon for the life of this place and this city of canterbury and the surrounding countryside all of those things which are always under threat and balancing the needs of humanity and also the needs of handing on what we have to humanity in the future and the care of our planet we've ourselves looked at that danger many many times in our thinking and praying in the mornings well let's say our prayers for this particular day as we remember all these things but remember particularly the way in which the creator of all things chooses who will be the one who carries on and offers that vocation but as we see in terms of human choice it has to be taken up it's always a way and one goes always back on this occasion to the angel coming to mary and placing the vocation and there's a sort of moment when one waits for how to accept it and behold i am the servant of the lord a realization that this vocation is for me i name you says god to cyrus though you do not know me well let's say our prayers and we will pray today for the where are we the anglican church of tanzania very dear to my heart and pray for the life of that whole anglican province there in tanzania and at the same time our diocese is asking us to pray it's one of those listening and discerning on the way days so not a particular parish praying about climate change but all those things as we generally do in the morning so we pray for the whole life of christians throughout this diocese but particularly for justin our archbishop for uh rose bishop of dover and for tim bishop at lambeth on this sunday morning we have a new collect because it's a sunday morning the 15th sunday after trinity and here is the prayer that we use together bring your own concerns and intentions across the world from many situations of great danger but many situations where people are called on to offer themselves in particular situations often unknown and unsung about but giving themselves for the encouragement and life of others as the day goes on god who in generous mercy sent the holy spirit upon your church in the burning fire of your love grant that your people may be fervent in the fellowship of the gospel that always are binding in you they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service through jesus christ our lord amen so each in our own language 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 on this sunday morning for our prayers is oh foreign 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 so beautiful [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Music] lord of love [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] you