good morning and welcome on this saturday morning the 3rd of october and on saturday mornings we normally come here into the animal yard and here we are and it couldn't be a better weekend for doing this not because of the weather i'm bound to say we've had inches of rain during the night but because it's our weekend of harvest thanksgiving tomorrow and also the festival of saint francis of assisi who died on the evening of october the 3rd and is commemorated tomorrow on october the 4th so we will spread the weekend with saint francis as we remember him with thanksgiving and his love of god's creation we several things to think of this morning and so bring your own concerns from across the world we send our prayers to the president of the united states and the first lady who are now suffering from the kovid 19 and we pray for those who are looking after them and for their health and welfare and we remember all those throughout the world who are striving to combat this pandemic those who are suffering from it and those looking after them and trying to restore them to good health so this is also national poetry day which is a nice thing and uh i searched out or researched out the the uh two little poems of christina rosetti the first one is about the wind which we've suffered from hugely in the past few days it's quite simple who has seen the wind neither i nor you but when the leaves hang trembling the wind is passing through who has seen the wind neither you nor i but when the trees bow down their heads the wind is passing by it's an illustration that reminds us of jesus with nicodemus and saying that no one knows where the wind comes from or where it goes and it's like the spirit and we know that in the classical languages it's the same word for spirit and wind we'll come back to christina rosetti later on but we're going to begin our prayers and also perhaps we should remember that in 1990 on this day east and west germany as they then were were reunited that seemed miraculous at the time when chancellor cole and mikhail gorbachev achieved that they united germany within nato by treaty between the two of them and a wonderful a wonderful thought seeming a long time ago now let's begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the true the only light banish all darkness from our hearts and minds 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 thus 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 third morning of the month is psalm 15 lord who may dwell in your tabernacle who may rest upon your holy hill whoever leads an uncorrupt life and does the thing that is right who speaks the truth from the heart and bears no deceit on the tongue who does no evil to a friend and pours no scorn on a neighbor in whose sight the wicked are not esteemed but who honors those who fear the lord whoever has sworn to a neighbor and never goes back on that word who does not lend money in hope of gain nor takes a bribe against the innocent whoever does these things shall never fall so we turn to our reading from the acts of the apostles and we remember that paul has now arrived with his companions and they are a mixture from the churches he has created across asia minor and greece and they are now in jerusalem and so many prophecies have warned him about what will happen to him when he gets there when we had come to jerusalem the believers received us gladly and on the following day paul went in with us to james and all the elders were present after greeting them paul related one by one the things that god had done among the gentiles through his ministry and when they heard it they glorified god and they said to him you see brother how many thousands there are among the jews of those who have believed they are all zealous for the law and they have been told about you that you teach all the jews who are among the gentiles to forsake moses telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs what then is to be done they will certainly hear that you have come do therefore what we tell you we have four men who are under a vow take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you but that you yourself also live in observance of the law but as for the gentiles who have believed we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality then paul took the men and the next day he purified himself along with them went into the temple giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them and when the seven days were almost completed the jews from asia seeing paul in the temple stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him crying out men of israel help this is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place moreover he even brought greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place for they had previously seen trophamus the ephesian with paul in the city and they supposed that paul had brought him into the temple then all the city was stirred up and the people ran together they seized paul and dragged him out of the temple and at once the gates were shut and as they were seeking to kill him word came to the tribune of the cohort that all jerusalem was in confusion he at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them and when they saw the tribune and the soldiers they stopped beating paul then the tribune came up and arrested paul and ordered him to be bound with two chains he inquired who he was and what he had done and some in the crowd were shouting one thing some another and as the tribune could not learn the facts because of the uproar he ordered paul to be brought into the barracks and when he came to the steps he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd for the mob of the people followed crying out away with him well those prophecies are being fulfilled and the division between the greek speaking christians not only the greek speaking christians but those who were from greece and had no previous knowledge of the jewish law at all but to become followers of the way christians and as all this began to happen the council in jerusalem led by james the just the brother of our lord suggested that paul make a a a gesture showing he did obey the law and that was what all the taking of the vow and going to the temple was about but it wasn't enough the crowds were against him and there was an almost a riot there so that the roman tribune has to come down himself and notice that this all ends with the words from the crowd which we've heard before in sin luke's gospel away with him and the greek imperative is the very word that is used about jesus when he is standing before pilate and pilate wants to release him away with this man paul's vocation is being fulfilled and his prophecy that he will go to rome has begun in jerusalem itself in a very different way from that which he expected it's part of the vocation of the church at that time to have great joy in the holy spirit but actually to suffer many things and that we shall see as we go further in acts francis himself had a journey which was not always a happy one he as a young man from a rich family in assisi had a vocation that he found when he was going to war in all his finery with the young men of assisi and you will know the story fairly well i expect but when he comes back to assisi and begins to search for that vocation and wanders through the fields around the cc saying lord what what shall i do he enters the ruin church of san damiano and on the wall there and i brought the hand-painted copy of the the cross it was on the wall there which was given to me by a franciscan friar of the basilica of saint francis and as he knelt before that cross he sensed it speaking to him saying francis build up my church which as you see is falling into ruins and he took that as a vocation which was literally and began to rebuild not only the church of san diego but also two other churches the church of san pietro and what became his favorite the church of santa maria daily angeli now surrounded by the great basilica down on the plain below assisi and he collected stones to build the church his father very respected merchant thought this was disgraceful that his son should go around like a beggar picking up stones and asking people to give him stones and the village uh youth the ccu threw stones at him shouting padzo panzo madman and the stones hit him and wounded him and he would pick them up and build them into the walls of the churches the three little churches that he was restoring until one day at his prayers he realized that the vocation he had chosen a physical vocation of building these three little churches was not what the lord intended his vocation was much much bigger than that to rebuild the church of god in both a physical and a mental and spiritual way through the 20 years of his vocation which were to stretch out before him and here was the beginning of the founding of the order of saint francis and later on the poor claires and we we really think of francis in this particular way tomorrow we shall think more about his love of creation his love of the creatures and the way in which he used those creatures to teach the message of incarnation at christmas time but this morning let's remember how the very suffering he was enduring became the stuff of his vocation his love of the gospel and his determination to follow the lord in the vocation he had been given much bigger than his imagination began with sometimes we start small and then go on in faithfulness and find that the task that the lord has in mind for us is much much bigger than that so on this morning of gray skies and of rain falling dripping on me from the apple trees we remember with thanksgiving the gifts of god in creation but remember also the vocation of so many saints but particularly this weekend of saint francis of assisi i said that we would look at another christina rizzetti poem have a versatile of that on this national poetry day it's about the rain this time every valley drinks every dell and hollow where the kind rain sinks and sinks green of spring will follow yet a lapse of weeks buds will burst their edges strip their wool coats glue coats streaks in the woods and hedges weave a bar of love for birds to meet each other weave a canopy above nest and egg and mother but for fattening rain we should have no flowers never a bud or leaf again but for soaking showers wonderful sense of um christina brazetti speaking to us in poetry look that one up it's a wonderful poem to read the whole matter i've read a few verses of it to you this morning so let's say our prayers on this particular morning as we remember both saint francis but also our world's condition pray for all those who are suffering in any kind of way that they may have the grace and spirit to be able to use their suffering in a way that so many have and give good news to others by the very encouragement that they give in their suffering so it's the 3rd of october and we're praying for the diocese of bashar in pakistan and the primate there humphrey peters and the diocese of chattanagpur in north india and the bishop there bibi baski and his people and the diocese of kerfuradua in west africa and felix and nancy and his people at this time here in this diocese we pray for justin archbishop of canterbury for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and today for the parish of hen bay christchurch and hampton st andrew and for their priest anthony everett and all the community that he looks after in that area of this part of kent so let's say the prayer special for saint francis day on this day when he died and we remember him with thanksgiving and all those who have joined the order both of the friars and of the poor claires and those who are supporting them throughout the world and living that vocation oh god you ever delight to reveal yourself to the childlike and lowly of heart grant that following the example of the blessed francis we may count the wisdom of this world as foolishness and know only jesus christ and him crucified who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we say each in our own language the prayer that our lord taught us to say when we meet 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 now for our own prayers [Applause] 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 are men