good morning and welcome to the dinery garden on this morning of friday the 25th of september when following the equinox a few days ago autumn really has come with a vengeance and so we're braving the rain by sitting under this bay tree near to the fern garden and continuing to be outside as long as we can so this is a day when all kinds of things are remembered but i wanted just to go back before we start to the lovely place which is called wildwood near to canterbury and on the way to hearn and that place is a place not only where all of us and especially the children can experience wild animals all around but especially those who used to be here but have now gone from english woodlands and we were reminded of that most of all by the uh tragic death of one of the red squirrels that we used to love watching play out with the fire in the woodland last week and one thinks of the fact that when children read squirrel nutkin and see beatrix potter's illustrations it's a red squirrel they're thinking of that was the english squirrel until the american grey squirrel came here and then because it drove the red squirrels out they're no longer here in the mainland of england you can find them in places far away and i think on the island of anglesey but essentially they're not here and wildwood is attempting with great success to breed them and perhaps to let them free in certain areas watervoles like the water rat is called in in in the wind in the willows no longer very common in english streams in woodland because of the predatory mink which are there now and also the beaver so important in c.s lewis's lion the witch and the wardrobe and that was a a creature easily seen in english rivers they are being reintroduced but they had vanished from the english rivers and woodlands all of that i remember my thrill in my deanery in hereford which went down to the river y on the stone steps one night because the river had got cleaner and cleaner suddenly seeing two otters playing for the first time and that kind of preservation of life across the world with different kinds of creatures is really important to our earth and its ecology today in 1906 shostakovich was born in 1818 on this day the first blood transfusion was given and in 1687 this apple falling time of year sir isaac newton published his series on gravitation that great mathematician he also as a hobby was interested in the chronology of the bible but this is a day when we remember bishop lancelot andrews of winchester who oversaw the translation over some years of the king james version of the bible and we'll think about that a bit when we're having our reflection later let's start 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 and as 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 amen our psalm this morning is part of psalm 119 and we use the section beginning at verse 33 teach me o lord the way of your statutes and i shall keep it to the end give me understanding and i shall keep your law i shall keep it with my whole heart lead me in the path of your commandments for therein is my delight incline my heart to your testimonies and not to unjust gain turn away my eyes lest they gaze on vanities oh give me life in your ways confirm to your servant your promise which stands for all who fear you turn away the reproach which i dread because your judgments are good behold i long for your commandments in your righteousness give me life so we turn to the acts of the apostles and after his experience in athens paul who was alone decides not to wait for silas and timothy but to go on to some other place where he might find a better ministry and here he's decided to go to corinth chapter 18 after this paul left athens and went to corinth and he found a jew named aquila a native of pontus recently come from italy with his wife priscilla because claudius had commanded all the jews to leave rome and he went to see them and because paul was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked for they were tent makers by trade and he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath and tried to persuade both jews and greeks when silas and timothy arrive from macedonia paul was occupied with the word testifying to the jews that the christ was jesus and when they opposed and reviled him he shook out his garments and said to them your blood be on your own heads i am innocent from now on i will go to the gentiles and he left there and went to the house of a man named titus justice a worshiper of god his house was next door to the synagogue christmas the ruler of the synagogue believed in the lord together with his entire household and many of the corinthians hearing paul believed and were baptized and the lord said to paul one night in a vision do not be afraid but go on speaking and do not be silent for i am with you no one will attack you to harm you for i have many in this city who are my people and paul stayed a year and six months teaching the word of god among them but when galio was pro-consul of acaia the jews made a united attack on paul and brought him before the tribunal saying this man is persuading people to worship god contrary to the law but when paul was about to open his mouth the proconsul galio said to the jews if it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime i would have reason to accept your complaint but sin it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law see to it yourselves i refuse to be a judge of these things and he drove them from the tribunal and they all seized sosthenes the ruler of the synagogue and beat him in front of the tribunal but the proconsul galio paid no attention to any of this after this paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the believers and set sail for syria and with him went priscilla and aquila at sinclair he had his hair shaved for he was under a vow and they came to ephesus and he left them there but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the jews and when they asked him to stay for a longer period he declined but on taking leave of them he said i will return to you if god wills and so paul set sail from ephesus well that's quite a journey and quite a length of time but interesting things are there set out for us i want first to remind you how paul felt on leaving athens for that had not been a success and we know how he felt because in the first letter he writes to the corinthian church sometime later he writes in chapter 2 and the first verses and i when i came to you brothers and sisters did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of god with lofty speech or wisdom for i decided to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him crucified and i was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and in power so that your faith might know not rest in human wisdom but in the power of god interesting to think of the apostle paul thinking that his words so powerful in his epistles had failed in athens by trying to use human wisdom and what does he say i came proclaiming christ crucified the simple galilean message which jesus himself had begun his ministry with in the gospel of luke i'm i've just celebrated communion in the cathedral and i'm i'm always moved by the time when in the middle of all the complications of liturgy when you're celebrating and also the consciousness that all those words have been much debated and fought over you come having consecrated the wine and the bread with the words jesus spoke to that simple acclamation it moves me every time great is the mystery of faith christ has died christ is risen christ will come again the three facts of the good news and christ comes again to us daily in word and sacrament and in each other and so many situations but it's as if paul has had a a rethink mental physical spiritual he's left athens he's gone to college now corinth was really the vanity fair of the ancient world a massive cosmopolitan city the chief city of the province of acaia and here you find a roman pro consul at high rank gallio attested as the pro consul in historic records and on monuments we can date this by two things two facts in what we've just read first the decree of claudius in 49 the year 49 and secondly the fact that galio was the pro-consul in the year 51 and so here is paul before the tribunal at that central pivotal point when we can date his ministry and galileo who was the brother of of the roman writer seneca is is not in the least bit interested in details of jewish law and religion he is there to uphold the fairness of the roman law fallen doesn't have to say that he is a roman citizen galileo would do the same for anyone he is there to uphold the law and keep the roman peace across the mediterranean the pax romana and at that point paul knows that he can continue his life now i want to just look at the two characters priscilla and aquila because they are very interesting they were obviously world to do jews who had become christian in rome and were exiled by claudius's decree and are now here in corinth paul finds friends it shows us that the gospel is spreading in other ways and we'll find that tomorrow but priscilla and aquila are tent makers well it was a word that was quite widely used for leather workers and paul was the same working away at that trade and earning his keep he himself stays for 18 months and when silas and timothy come there they are ministering in this huge cosmopolitan city you only have to read the two letters to the corinthians to find out the facts of that place and to get an illustration of that life large synagogue there but many many other cultures and fruitful ministry for paul it's a wonderful period but then he takes his leave and priscilla and aquila go with him i want to think about them they've always reminded me of a couple who helped me and we'll see that tomorrow they help someone else this couple i'm thinking of were called alan and jean oakley john allen had been a general practitioner in britain near southampton and had at the end of his career given up everything with gene to go and be a medical missionary in the south sudan and i found them there when i was working in 1979 in the city of juba which had been totally ruined by the civil war and known great violence and so much was in ruins around us but in ministering there i had come as a young man with confidence and oh so often alan and gene gently put me on the right track in a different culture and restored my necessary humility to minister the good news in a very different place and priscilla and aquila we find as you will see as we go on are in that role for not only saint paul but for others but they go to ephesus paul is not going to stay in ephesus and we know why in some way he's taken a vow it shows that the details of his original faith are very man the practices is very much still with him he's taken a vow and at the end of the period of the vow when he feels it's complete he will have vowed to drink no wine and not to cut his hair during the period of the vow on this day at seneca he cuts his hair to show the vow is over but the hair which he still has having cut it now has to be presented in the temple at jerusalem and that's where we will find him briefly going but for the moment ephesus has been promised that he will come again and we shall see that too and look forward to it but this is a day when we also give thanks for bishop lancelot andrews who not only oversaw the translation of the whole scriptures for 1611 king james version of the bible he was a man who knew how in his prayers and in his preaching to use language and his private prayers have become the foundation of so many christian prayers his episcopal ministry was in parallel to his life of prayer and also his literary life his language was so good that when t.s eliot the poet quoted him in poetry he just did it by some marks on each side and didn't have to change a word it slotted into his poetry because of the beautiful language which elliot loves a cold coming we had of it just at the worst time of the year for a journey and such a journey the ways deep the weather fowl the very dead of winter it's the beginning of elliot's journey of the magi but those words are from a sermon by lancelot andrews preached to king james the first and elliott uses them neat because he values the way in which the spirit moves lancelot andrews to pray and to preach as well as to be a pastoral carer of his people well let's remember all this day as the autumn draws in and the rain is falling around me as we say our own prayers this morning here in the fan garden at the deanery and the anglican communion area of the world we're thinking of today is central zambia in central africa and praying for the bishop there derek camo cuamba and all of his diocese here as we pray for archbishop justin and bishop rose of dover bishop tim at lambus we remember the parish of nonnington where the priest is also the chaplain of the diocesan center of healing and wholeness which is called the living well so we pray for lorraine apps huggins and her assistant chaplains hilary hills and ray horton let's then bring our own prayers to this moment of prayer as this day begins and we shall use this special prayer for this day when we remember lancelot andrews and it's made up of some of his words lord god who gave to lancelot andrews many gifts of your holy spirit making him a man of prayer and a pastor of your people perfect in us that which is lacking in your gifts of faith to increase it of hope to establish it of love to kindle it that we may live in the light of your grace and glory through jesus christ our lord amen so now each in our own language and in our own way as we pray for our particular parts of the world at this time of pandemic and pray for those whom we know and love we 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 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 you