good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this saturday morning the 12th of september beautiful morning here as we come together to say our morning prayers it's become a bit of a saturday tradition to be here but there's a special reason for being here with uh winston and clemmy this morning and their piglets because this is the date in 1908 of the marriage of winston and clementine churchill and of course we named the pigs because of churchill's fondness for pigs he wrote i am fond of pigs dogs look up to us cats look down on us pigs treat us as equals and i may have said before that my very favorite film of churchill and his wife is the bbc 2002 film the gathering storm where churchill played by albert finney and uh his wife clemmy by vanessa redgrave are in the time between the wars when churchill was out of office and very difficult to live with indeed but also suffered from depression and there's a lovely scene where he goes down to console himself by being with the pigs in the pigsty there and they had to find him it's a film worth looking at if you've not seen it with ronnie barker as the butler at chartwell and music by howard goodall that is a gem of a of a film um this also is the day when uh in 1940 cave paintings were discovered by accident by a walker's dog robot falling into a hole at lasko in montenegro and uh of course there the the uh cave paintings show in huge and colorful detail the animals of the area large creatures at that time and they are reckoned to be 20 000 years old so that we we see the creatures of that area as we're seeing these this morning from 20 000 years ago and for us it's a sister united uh um unesco um heritage site so we give thanks for all the preservation that is given to humanity's efforts and it's in terms of time it says nothing compared with the cave in south africa where you have uh in 2018 um again on this day um the oldest known human drawings of things 73 000 years or more old so it gives us a sense of perspective but also humanity's desire to create things and to hand on pictures in words and everything else that they can manage for the future so let's say our prayers on this day and there will be other things that we can think of as we go through oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day store 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 refresh 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 as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our morning psalm on this twelfth 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 honour lies are their chief delight they bless with their mouth but in their heart they curse wait on god alone in stillness so my soul for in him is my hope he alone is my rock and my salvation my strongholds say 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 peoples are but a 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 i have heard the same that power belongs to god steadfast love belongs to you oh lord for you repay everyone according to their deeds so we turn to our reading from the acts of the apostles and today we are beginning chapter 13. remember at the end of chapter 12 the death of herod in the year 44 was recounted by luke in a short paragraph and we saw how it crisscrossed with the history given to us by josephus today we shall find many more residences in history as the acts of the apostles cause paul as he will become today and barnabas to move across the mediterranean world and the interaction with dates of history and other historians becomes palpable remember that they have returned from jerusalem and they've brought with the mark and now they're setting off from antioch on a journey but first the preparation for that chapter 13 now there were in the church at antioch prophets and teachers barnabas simeon who was called niger lucius of cyrene manian a lifelong friend of head of the tetrarch and saul while they were worshiping the lord and fasting the holy spirit said set apart for me barnabas and saul for the work to which i have called them then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off so being sent out by the holy spirit they went down to seleucia and from there they sailed to cyprus when they arrived at salamis they proclaimed the word of god in the synagogues of the jews and they had john mark to assist them when they had gone through the whole island as far as paphos they came upon a certain magician a jewish false prophet named bar jesus he was with the pro-consul sergius paulus a man of intelligence who summoned barnabas and saul and sought to hear the word of god but elimas the magician for that is the meaning of his name opposed them seeking to turn the proconsul away from the face but saul who was also called paul filled with the holy spirit looked intently at him and said you son of the devil you enemy of all righteousness full of deceit and villainy will you not stop thinking crooked the straight paths of the lord and now behold the hand of the lord is upon you and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time and immediately mist and darkness fell upon the magician and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand then the pro-consul believed when he saw what had occurred for he was astonished at the teaching of the lord well there are very many things to think about in all of that this morning to start with the diversity of the ministry and the group of christians as they are now called in antioch this is full of beginnings and when we read the list of names you see a list coming from very different cultures from around the mediterranean world that is what one would expect at this the third largest city in the whole roman empire but the people who are being called to be christians are full of diversity and there are barnabas and saul amongst them we see something of the ordering of the church but here there are not just deacons and elders there are also prophets and teachers and during their prayer and their fasting notice how important fasting was as a time of preparation to the early church during their prayer and their fasting they sensed from the prophet that saul and barnabas must be set aside for ministry reaching out from antioch there is a journey to be had there's already a journey going on a journey of the growth of the church in so many different ways which is not without its opposition as we've seen but this is a real physical journey and they prepare for it and they take with them john mark as their assistant and mark as we usually know him uh is going to be one of the journey it's going to be quite a journey first they travel to seleucia and from there they take ship for salamis in cyprus now this is home territory for barnabas because we know he was a levite but a cypriot and so for him it's home territory but the island of cyprus is big and the journey that we are told physically that they make is an enormous one it goes right across the island from salamis all the way to paphos which means in some way crossing the trudus mountains an island of immense beauty with which this country has had a long long association but at that time part of the civilization of the roman empire but also of the culture of classical greece and the language that they are using is a derivation from that the common greek language which became the common language of that part of the mediterranean region let's remember that this day also in 490 bc is the date of the battle of marathon when a small athenian army defeated a huge army of darius the persian darius who appears in the old testament particularly in the book of daniel and daryl see the persian is attempting to quell the greeks to take over the greek part of of of the mediterranean so that it can be part of his empire on this day at the battle of marathon um he is defeated very surprisingly the spartans have refused help to the athenians and the athenians on this day by defeating the persian army gained confidence for something that looked too hard as a human experience and then suddenly they find they can do it and from then on the world is their oyster and this battle of marathon opens up the uh world to the classical greek culture and its development over the next 200 years from then on this is the the occasion when phydipides runs from the battlefield into athens to tell the story that we have won and we remember that as the first marathon to be run again a marathon is something where very often someone will think can i do this can i do this well i've done it so all things are possible physical mental spiritual journeys are going on here and let's go on for at paphos they find the roman proconsul here is part of the latin culture but the language is still very much greek the language in which we find our gospels and the acts of the apostles and all the new testament written and they come to the proconsul and they find that someone who feels very challenged by what they are preaching now we know what they're preaching because we've been given examples luke isn't going to do it again we've been given examples in the acts of the apostles of how the gospel was preached mostly by peter speaking earlier in the acts of the apostles and although that message is developing and the life of the church in what they do in coming together in prayer and in worship and in reading of the scriptures and in encouraging each other and breaking bread together in their own homes all of that is being taken by barnabas and saul and mark on their journey and then the message is being preached of the good news of freedom the gospel which is enshrined and in human form by jesus christ and they establish that jesus is the one who brings god's message in that way but the magician is furious because his influence over the pro-consul will be broken and we see something now for the first time of the power of saul his energy and the way he's able to speak and here's a new beginning saul who was also called paul just dropped in because of course we know him mostly as saint paul and from now on that's exactly what he will be paul that will be his name it began there in paphos and once the magician has been dispensed with by the power of the holy spirit in paul's language and energy standing there with barnabas and mark in the middle of this very taxing journey well of course the pro consul then is challenged and we hear that he believed what a journey what a beginning and in all sorts of ways let's go back to luke writing all of this the way in which humanity wants to hand things forward develop and sometimes change well this is a day when in the calendar of the episcopal church of the united states john henry hobart the third bishop of new york is remembered he died in 1830 but in his ministry a very powerful ministry of bishop of new york he had founded the general theological seminary there and made an enormous increase in the episcopal church's ministry in that time don't forget the episcopal church was sort of tainted with the british rule before 1776 and hobart had to establish this as very much part of the culture of the new united states and he did and he is buried there in trinity churchyard in new york but before he he died he came to england and to europe and people were very very moved by his ability to preach and teach and so when he was here in 1823 to 1825 he made a critique of the english church at that time and went back to the states and then he wrote out that critique it wasn't well received here there was much criticism of the low standard of discipline amongst the clergy in the church of england at that time this is before the oxford movement has gained strength in the 1830s and begun to say the same kinds of things for hobart was a high churchman and he believed very much in episcopacy and the traditions of the church as they were handed on as well as being a great biblical scholar and resting in that so that the tradition of scripture tradition and reason became one that hobart enshrined but he made a a really severe critique of the church of england low standard of discipline in the clergy low level of theological education and also too much interference from the political life of england and cabinet appointments of all that was going on all of that did not go down well and yet throughout these centuries helping one another within the communities of the church even though sometimes the message is a one that is is not wanting to be heard by the people there has been part of the way things go forward so many things to remember but i'm told that in the united states today this is a national day of encouragement well barnabas was known as the son of encouragement and the way luke writes about him in this greek world of cyprus today his own home territory gives us encouragement from all those years back to go forward and realize that humanity can hand on pictures in words and art and music of itself and many more things these days with the way in which we're able to communicate as i'm doing with you now and also to show how things change throughout that nothing stays the same but in the middle the one thing that is constant for us is the divine assurance of the gospel uniting the things of heaven and the things of earth as our journey spiritual mental and physical goes forward let's um say our prayers on this day and we remember today in our calendar of prayer the diocese of ottawa in canada in my list that bishopric is vacant but if the bishopric has been filled i apologize but we pray for that whole diocese at the moment and the diocese also of central buganda in uganda and michael luboa the bishop there served to the people of ottawa and the people of central buganda we send our greeting and say our prayers as a communion this morning and here in in the uh the diocese we pray for archbishop dustin who is here with us at the moment and bishop rose of dover and also bishop tim at lambeth and we pray today in the city of canterbury for the church of sin dunstan sint mildred and saint peter and for joe richards and kevin goodman in their ministry there here's the prayer for today bring your own prayers to it your own intentions and all those you're praying for we're still praying for those fighting the can pandemic and also the terrible dangers of wildfire in so many millions of acres in the in the united states almighty god who called your church to bear witness that you were in christ reconciling the world to yourself help us to proclaim the good news of your love that all who hear it may be drawn to you through him who was lifted up on the cross and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen as we come to say our prayers in whatever language that we use for the prayer our savior taught us let's give thanks for the diversity of the early church as we see it growing and for luke's ability to give us that picture in words of how christians as they are now called as we are still called um follow the gospel but journey out venture forth in new directions let's say together 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 for your prayers pray for yourselves whatever marathon your life might seem to contain at the moment and also pray for those whom you love and would want to remember today 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