[Music] i'm dreaming [Music] just like the ones i used to know where the treetops listen and children listen to his labels in the snow [Music] christmas [Music] every christmas card i write may your days be merry [Music] and may all your christmases be [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] good morning and a happy ninth day of christmas two tunes to the same carol sung by different churches in different parts of the world to the same words it came upon the midnight clear that glorious song of old if you really read all those verses the song is all about the angels and their ministry still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfilled and still their heavenly music floats to all the weary world we use it at michaelmas the feast of st michael and all angels as well as at christmas tied but it's very appropriate for today today isn't basil's day since basil the great and in the eastern orthodox church there's a great sense of what we feel about sid nicholas santa claus coming for since basil comes to greek homes to bless them on the 1st of january and we are thinking of him today because we keep him in our calendar on this day yesterday we kept the feast of the naming of jesus but we're rememberings in basil and saint gregory great friends and we will talk about them and their crucial ministry in the early years of the church just after persecution had ceased and when the council of nicaea and the creed that we say was still in its infancy but much more enjoyable to greet children since basil comes with gifts and sweets and the blessings on a home and always as sin basil's cake is prepared iced and with a coin inside for some lucky person a little bit as we do with the coming of the three kings with the bean inside the cake but here's our sin basil's cake as a memorial of that happy day in greek orthodox church in circles and we remember also that our orthodox friends are still preparing for the feast of christmas because they work on the julian calendar so christmas to the eastern orthodox church will come on the 7th of january and we remember their preparations for that feast on this feast of sint basil there are many other things we can think about but we can do that in our reflection let's begin our prayers on this ninth day of christmas and also saint basil anson gregory's day o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands blessed are you sovereign god creator of heaven and earth to you be praise and glory forever as your living word eternal in heaven assumed the frailty of our mortal flesh may the light of your love be born in us to fill our hearts with joy as we sing 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 our psalm on this second day of the month is psalm 9 i will give thanks to you lord with my whole heart i will tell of all your marvelous works i will be glad and rejoice in you i will make music to your name almost high when my enemies are driven back they stumble and perish at your presence for you have maintained my right and my cause you sat on your throne giving righteous judgment you have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked you have blotted out their name forever and ever the enemy was utterly laid waste you uprooted their cities their very memory has perished but the lord shall endure forever he has made fast his throne for judgment for he shall rule the world with righteousness and govern the peoples with equity then will the lord be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in time of trouble and those who know your name will put their trust in you for you lord have never failed those who seek you sing praises to the lord who dwells in zion declare among the peoples the things he has done the avenger of blood has remembered them he did not forget the cry of the oppressed have mercy upon me o lord consider the trouble i suffer from those who hate me you that lift me up from the gates of death that i may tell all your praises in the gates of the city of zion and rejoice in your salvation the nation shall sink into the pit of their making and in the snare which they see will that their own foot be taken the lord makes himself known by his acts of justice the wicked are snared in the works of their own hands they shall return to the land of darkness all the nations that forget god for the needy shall not always be forgotten and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever arise o lord and let not mortals have the upper hand let the nations be judged before your face put them in fear o lord that the nations may know themselves to be but mortal this morning our lesson is a continuation of that first chapter of the gospel of saint john and i'm reading this morning from verse 35 the next day again john was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at jesus as he walked by and said behold the lamb of god the two disciples heard him say this and they followed jesus jesus turned and saw them following and said to them what are you seeking and they said to him rabbi which means teacher where are you staying jesus said to them come and you will see so they came and saw where jesus was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour one of the two who heard john speak and followed jesus was andrew simon peter's brother he first found his own brother simon and said to him we have found the messiah which means christ and he brought him to jesus jesus looked at him and said you are simon the son of john you shall be called khiphas which means peter it's a wonderful little beginning of the community of the group who will be around jesus as told in the first chapter of the fourth gospel and it builds up from day to day some of them are already friends and they're there around the lakeside in different parts different communities of the lake but nevertheless the sea and these some of whom are fishermen are very much part of this story as they are in the other three gospels too with the calling of the disciples these 12 days of christmas in order to teach us lessons go backwards and forwards in chronology when we read our morning lessons here is jesus at the beginning of his ministry and he is the one whom as we saw john pointed out as the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world the word made flesh whom we adore and as he walks by the lakeside and john points out this to two of his own disciples one of whom we learn is andrew andrew and the other disciple follow jesus they are at that moment john's disciples but john is pointing to them pointing them to the one who will come after the one whom he saw the spirit descending like a dove at his baptism and jesus turns when he sees them following him and they say rabbi where are you staying and jesus says come and see and take some where he's staying to his home at that time in the sense that he is staying there and we've not only because it's in basil blessing homes but also because of this sense of companionship at home we've come inside today i think leo is welcoming the warmth of the fire on this very gray and cold day outside but the reason is that this is a day when we think of the holiness and the capacity for hospitality normally of our own homes and here is the little community of disciples building up as we read on we shall find it increases more but for the moment andrew goes to find his brother there are those whom we always want to tell good news to the minute we've got it something happy happens and at that point we reach for a telephone very often to tell someone what has happened or we write an email or a text or we actually go and find them if they're nearby that going to find someone has been sadly limited during this time of increasing pandemic but the sharing of good news accentuates the good news it makes it better it makes it more joyful because we've shared it and the mutuality of all that is seen very much in the early chapters of the gospel even at our lady's visitation to her cousin elizabeth the same kind of thing good news has to be shared and here is andrew going to find his brother simon we don't know what simon says we shall find out what somebody else thought as we go farther on in this chapter tomorrow and the day after or the day after because it's sunday tomorrow and we all we know is that andrew brought his brother to jesus but jesus is ahead of them and looks at peter who is then only called simon the nicknames come later and says you are simon son of john locating him in his family he could have said the same to andrew you are andrew son of john for their brothers and then he says to simon in a prophetic way you shall be called kiphas which means peter we're using the greek followed by the latin but they both give us the rock the rock we've no idea why jesus says that at this time and the sense of the foundation of his own church comes later in the gospels but for the moment there's something about the character of peter that prophetically jesus says the rock later on he'll nickname james and john the sons of thunder it talks of a friendly community and we learn of the disciples both men and those women who come with them on their journeys supporting them all of that going on in the build-up of community life let's come just in basil i've got here our companion to the daily prayer which rather explains the saints that we're keeping and when i saw that the paragraph about basil the great bishop of caesarea and gregory of nazianzus bishop of constantinople this morning as the feast day i thought this paragraph is a good one it says it better than i can say it so i'm going to read it to you gregory and basil were two friends bound together by their desire to promote and defend the divinity of christ as proclaimed in the nicene creed this was against the seemingly overwhelming pressure from both church and state for the establishment of arianism which denied christ's divinity and thus the whole christian doctrine of the trinity basil was renowned for being headstrong and forceful in comparison to his friend gregory who would rather spend his days in prayer and living the simple ascetic life gregory's brilliance in oratory and theological debate meant that a hidden life was virtually impossible and basil drew him into the forefront of the controversy their joint persuasive eloquence convinced the first council of constantinople meeting in 381 that their teaching was the truly orthodox one and the council ratified the text of the nicene creed in the form it is used in the east to this day basil died in 379 and gregory 10 years later well that shows their importance to the whole church but what we might think of is that since basil had thought that he might live a monastic solitary life and when he tried this it didn't suit him instead he wanted to be a monk but at the same time he wanted community he couldn't do without it and he's become the father of eastern community monasticism and we remember that today just like benedict he formed a community around him and in body and mind and spirit they lived out a community life with all its joys and sorrows and its tensions and at the same time the support that it can give we so need that we need it at this present time right across the world the pandemic has brought drawn a community of nations together in a way that would be unthinkable without this shared danger but at the same time we know that we need our families our friends the members of our own communities wherever we are and therefore we as members of those communities wherever we are have the responsibility of keeping in touch of being encouraging of hearing good news and sharing bad news too of grieving and rejoicing on this sin basil's day of the blessing of homes i was looking back this morning to the 2nd of january in my journal in 2011 10 years ago and the worship of the day is described and of course it was it was a sunday and and we had worship in the normal way with a visiting choir singing us glorious music and then all the things that happened but at lunchtime um we heard a 60th anniversary episode of the the radio story of the archers now that began on the 1st of january 1951 and i'm talking about the 2nd of january 2011 when the bbc decided to have a special episode it was a tragic episode for those of you who remember the the story of the the long-running soap of farming folk and the village of ambridge and all the people we get to know in it and on that day let me remind you of a sadness if you know this story that nigel parjita of lower loxty hall fell from the roof and the last we heard of him was the tragic sound of his falling before the well-known theme of the archers at the end began again a dramatic episode it took me back to 1955 when as a boy i saw my parents shock at the death of grace archer in the fire in the stable at that time community life and so many of the things that we draw we enjoy on television whatever our taste is are stories of communities whether it be eastenders or coronation street or or emmerdale or if it goes right across to australia to neighbours and home and away and all these things you all have things in your mind but they're better for being stories of communities because of course we take an interest in all that's going on and see the development over the years now it's the 70th anniversary of the archers and yesterday our special edition was was broadcast we haven't heard that yet we shall hear that today and the characters become our friends but virtual friends can never take the place of real friends and real communities and real joys and real sorrows that's the message of saint basil's day the sweet cake with its icing and its coin inside is an excitement for the children as the preparation for the orthodox christmas takes place just as we welcome saint nicholas into the precincts most years as a preparation for christmas so let's give thanks on this day for our homes for the blessing of the heavenly worship as recognized by the carol at the beginning came upon the midnight clear that glorious song of old when angels angels touched their bending to the earth touched their hearts of gold well all of that we remember on this day and there's a nice little children's song translated into english for sin basil and so we think of of the children enjoying the coming of saint basil with gifts and sweets and the cake and a preparation for christmas when it comes to our orthodox brothers and sisters in the east since basil comes and passes by and scorns us for no reason why he comes from caesarea town mistress bring us something down he carries pen and paper white and sugar candies sweet and bright he brings his pen and ink for writing you should see me in the fighting the pen it wrote and scribbled down he told our fortunes with a throne and then the paper spoke a trifle yes we swear by our gold rifle a new month's eve a new year's eve sweet rosemary i beg you leave joy be your lot the holy around may your house be holy ground the new year follows on christ's birth so holy christ who walks the earth may bless you every girl and boy and fill all good hearts with joy well a children's song in translation but those children's songs for exciting times are the same the world over but maybe the line may your house be holy ground be a true one as we continue to attempt to give hospitality despite the restrictions and that may be virtual hospitality with messages of encouragement and sharing of joys and sorrows right across the world today in our anglican communion as we pray for justin our archbishop we are praying for the diocese of abu nagur north in the church of nigeria and in our own diocese we remember rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and today we're praying for the len valley benefits and the priest said john huggins len valley a very beautiful area takes the villages of borden malheur harriet lenin and alchem so we are praying for them and all those who live in that particular area beautiful area of kent so let's say our prayers for not only this christmas time but also of sint basil here's the prayer for us in basil wherever you are in the world please bring your own prayers and your own intentions on this day and pray for your own homes and the homes of others that they may be blessed and give thanks for community life and our ability to form communities and support each other lord god whose servants basil and gregory proclaimed the mystery of your word made flesh to build up your church in wisdom and strength grant that we may rejoice in his presence among us and so be brought with them to know the power of your unending love through jesus christ our lord amen and the prayer for this ninth day of christmas almighty god who wonderfully created us in your own image and yet more wonderfully restored us through your son jesus christ grant that as he came to share in our humanity so we may share the life of his divinity who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we say the prayer our lord taught us in whatever language you would like to say it 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 power and the glory forever and ever amen moment of silence now as we bring our own prayers the christ who by his coming at christmas time gathered into one the things of earth and the things of heaven fill you with the spirit of peace and good will at this season 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 are men normally it's our custom to play music from our own community at the end of these morning prayers during the 12 days of christmas but this morning we found a a fascinating piece from barcelona the community of uh santa maria del mar and the musicians there who can't play and come together except virtually and are performing in a very exciting way some of you may have seen this but if you have it's still glorious to hear again and so we play that for you now [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] god [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you