good morning and welcome on this monday the 1st of november all saints day welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on a lovely uh morning here the sun not up yet really over the walls but the sky blew above me and really not a breath of wind so wherever you are in the world please feel welcome this morning of course our minds are filled with the huge meeting of world leaders negotiators advisors and supporters and people who are wanting all the time to influence uh decisions made one or another which is happening in glasgow until november the 12th and that will be a major part of our reflection so that cop 26 meeting we shall think of as we go through part of our reflection meanwhile we're here monday morning we're in what was the flower meadow now winnie and clemie have done much of their work they've gone for an outing for these few days off to the uh dean's walk but for the moment we've got the chickens here just cleaning up the work uh like the armies of negotiators and putting things to right so i might just give them a bit more breakfast before we start and that will then keep us um occupied keep them occupied while we say our morning prayers here we are fix go on there we go how's that [Music] this is autumn ground very damp and moist now after all the rains but the rains for the moment have cleared and allowed us quietly to say our morning prayers on this really important feast day of the year all saints day the second of the three days we were talking about yesterday all hallows eve all hallows the ancient word for all saints and then tomorrow all souls day and we shall carry the theme forward into that tomorrow but we're going to concentrate on the major building block of this all hallows tide this day the feast of all saints let's begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 i should have said that on saturday night the uh clocks changed back from summer time to the um real time so we're now we put the clocks back an hour and that means that we've got an hour's light more in the morning so the sun's not yet up it is still much lighter than it would have been on saturday morning if we were here at this time and there's the great bell of dunstan ringing for the first communion of today there will be others through the day in the cathedral on this very very important day so let's read our psalm and rejoice in the gift of this new day as we've said with on the first day of the month psalm 1 blessed are they who have not walked in the council of the wicked nor lingered in the way of sinners nor sat in the assembly of the scornful their delight is in the law of the lord and they meditate on his law day and night like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season with leaves that do not wither whatever they do it shall prosper as for the wicked it is not so with them they are like chaff which the wind blows away therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgment nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous for the lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked shall perish the psalmist never seems to let us down and uh on this morning when we shall be thinking so much of the work of that conference of cop 26 which we'll talk about in our reflection we get that lovely verse 3 like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season with leaves that do not wither whatever they do it shall prosper likening the humanity sending its roots down into the word of god and the revelation of the creator in creation and for us particularly in the life of jesus christ as revealing the our god to us all of that is there in the image of a tree planted beside running water with roots going in so that what it takes from the water and refreshment it gives out in leaf and flower and fruit we see that all the time in the garden and have traced that through season by season as a garden congregation but today one of the great themes in terms of what humankind is doing to the planet is that life is withering through waters drying up or being poisoned in some way or another or the warmth of the planet creating so much storm and temp and and water that humanity and humankind are damaging their own communities as as floods and tempests sweep over the earth so the psalmist giving us just an image there in the first of the psalms psalm 1 verse 3 but now we're going to go on to our reading now this i found really difficult to choose and i'll explain how i came to the final conclusion um the image of the saints is one that is right through the scriptures the way in which we think of saints and holy people and holiness itself and so i could have read a lesson from the revelation the lectionary gives us all kinds of choices today uh uh there's a lesson from the revelation of the saints in glory singing the praises of god in the freedom of the blessed light where time is no more and eternity surrounds them in the company of of the angels and and saints there before the throne of god a lesson like that from revelation there are plenty of them at the same time i could have read a lesson like the um lesson in the book of the hebrews the epistle to the hebrews in chapter 11 seeing we are surrounded by so greater cloud of witnesses let us lay aside the sin which clings so closely and run with perseverance the race that is set before us looking to jesus surrounded by a cloud of witnesses and before that the epistle to the hebrews as you know charts out the holy people who have given their lives sometimes in great torture and torment as the scriptures proceed right from the beginning those glorious lessons there or we could have read something in the epistles of saint paul giving that or in the gospels themselves well it's the gospels i've chosen to go to and i've chosen actually to go back and here is uh here is a really ancient prayer book a 1662 prayer book and in it of course the the gospels are set out not only for each sunday and season but for each saints day major saints day and the lesson and gospel for all saints day and open it up now is [Applause] the last of the gospels of the liturgical year the church's year to come before a new year begins as far as festival days is concerned for the 1st of november is all saints day and then by the time you get to saint andrews day which is the first of the saints to be commemorated in the liturgical year then you have arrived at a new christian year saint andrew's day here later on and then we get a different gospel but here's the last gospel of the liturgical year for saints and it's really nothing like those lessons i was describing of saints in glory and of the brightness and glory of the courts of heaven of that to which we strive it's not even a lesson like the one in um revelation where the tree of life is on each side of the river bearing fruits in due season and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations all those things wonderful for today and to be contemplated and read through by us from time to time dipping our own roots into those lovely visions there's another in the book of estras which i enjoy reading where the writer talks to an angel and looking at the vision of those who are being crowned and giving given palms and he says who is that young man who's giving them the the palms and crowns and the angel says that is the son of god whom they served here on earth all of those things those images given to us this is a very different image and this is the gospel for all saints day i'm reading it from the old prayer book and that means i'm reading the scriptures from the 1611 bible of king james the first now i say that because we've another date in 1611 which will come up helpfully in our reflection too but for the moment the gospel for all saints day is taken from the first chapter of the gospel of saint matthew i'm sorry the fifth chapter of the gospel of saint matthew beginning at the first verse jesus seeing the multitudes went up into a mountain and when he was set his disciples came unto him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of god blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you much of that gospel many of you will know by heart verses from it by heart blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of god i chose it because it anchors that sanctity of the saints here among humankind on earth living their life on the gift of this planet and receiving like us the gift of this new day the concept of the saints is well known to us through the whole of the new testament where in all the translations the saints when an evangelist or an epistle writer refers to them the saints are those who are serving and responding to the good news in their own communities remember me to the saints in ephesus remember me to the saints in philippi remember me to the saints in rome all of those in corinth around they are then and their saints and when we say and remember this is this is part of our creed every time we say either creed i believe in the communion of saints that means that fellowship right across the world now with whatever people are striving with in their own life today but it opens up magnificently to all those visions which i was describing at first which we hold in our minds with single individuals or the whole company of saints together so much artwork so much music expressing all of that but really that concept of the communion of saints is one of the loveliest sentences of our whole creed it surrounds us with that cloud of witnesses even when we are alone and when troubles are absolutely overwhelming us it surrounds us with the living company of the church here on earth and the church in that which is entirely beyond and those whose faith was known to god alone who are rejoicing in on a a father's shore as we often say but are still so much part of all that surrounds us in company and companionship that's what that means it's a living sentence of our faith i believe in the communion of saints and as as i said when one looks into the new testament saints aren't only those who've been shall we say awarded that title by the authority of the church those maybe the ones that stand out in our calendars and let's say also that many of them are local in the various communities that we belong to their lives were if they've passed on to glory physical facts not a vision not unrooted in this planet where the roots need refreshment and as the psalmist said that refreshment comes from the words and promises of god meditated on thought about daily and held onto in situations of joy and of sorrow all of that that refreshment is given but at the same time one thinks of things locally so that i said that the major saints get a gospel of their own in the old prayer book and they do still but the the ones who are simply listed in the calendar different from place to place different from province to province of the anglican communion exactly the same in other communions of the faith and all of that is a time for great glory of particular people in local places that causes us even more inspiration when things of of people of that kind said this person lived out their life here or pilgrims go to find places which they particularly associate with saints i've brought uh this morning um a a glorious hello i i wasn't actually meaning you that i'd brought this morning but you're very welcome here you're one of the friendliest of our hens here and has always been so there's nothing up here to eat i'm afraid and but you can help me for a bit if you would like to all right um i brought this morning uh a gift which was sent from the vatican as a thank you to me for ecumenical work done the breaking down of barriers between the communions of the faith which we the unity of whom we pray for constantly now it's in great glory in this wonderful reliquary but inside is a tiny relic of sin gregory the great and i had also the certificate sent from the vatican to go with this gift attesting that this is a corporeal relic of sin gregory the great what does that mean it means it reminds me that sin gregory the great who had a huge vision for the good news of jesus christ being brought again to these shores after it had died away following the the end of the roman occupation early on and the invasion and the coming of many people who had not yet become christians so that gregory had a vision that the gospel should be sent again and sent augustine but we see gregory as the person who had that vision which he translated into fact with not only the sending of augustine but the encouragement of giving him that set of gospels which still exists and on which every archbishop swears there is faithfulness to this holy place when they come with all its lovely colorful pictures in it it's a reminder to me that like me gregory like you gregory was a human being of flesh and bone who lived out his life and died but is still a huge image to us we have this here together with our friend i'll put this back now and you can stay if you would like to and behind me we have also the mulberry tree great and glorious well now that and again we've said this so many times in this garden congregation morning my morning this is a sign of thomas beckett and his martyrdom for in the archdeaconry garden there is the scion of the mulberry tree to which the knights tethered their horses on the appalling day of his murder on the 29th of december 1170. image of a human being who had our fears and strove for a faith which gave him the qualities set out in that gospel which we read this morning i used to think of that gospel as groups of people different people here are the meek here are the pure in heart here are those who strive for hunger and test for righteousness here are the peacemakers i've long since given that up because i see it actually as a composite picture of jesus himself in his humanity and at the same time the complicated way in which we as human beings are put together so that at different stages of our life and different days and different experiences call forth different gifts which those refreshing waters of the word not only the written word or the spoken word but the flesh and blood eternal word of the person of jesus christ calls us to exercise to be peacemakers to be those who are pure in heart to be those who hunger and thirst after righteousness all of that to me is one of the great glories of this saints day yesterday of this all saints day yesterday in her sermon a wonderful sermon yesterday morning at the eucharist cannon emma asked who is your favorite saint and then said i wonder and it it challenged me to think and that of course there isn't an answer maybe there is for some of you i have a collection of favorite saints and i've made that abundantly clear i think day by day as we become enthusiastic for one or another of course people like saint francis high in my list of favorite saints only because of experience that i've had and the way in which his life and his death speak to me and his focus on so many almost child-like things but his focus too on the gift of the life of this planet and the gift of the new day each one has it it actually um actually dawns and then his desire to break down barriers not only barriers between the various factions of the churches he knew it at that time but also barriers between different faiths in their perception of the creator traveling there to the holy land and traveling to have a conversation with the sultan at that time all of those things speak to me in a very very clear way but then so many of the other saints do and i always links in francis with sinclair because of the assisi uh sense of helping me along the road at that particular time you will have all kinds of saints now still living and we've been through them and you will i hope every time i mention something allow different flowers to grow off that thought pick a different sprig as i keep saying we hallow this day by doing that now i said yesterday that this season of yesterday today and tomorrow is called all hallows tide and if you say well that's a really old-fashioned word then draw yourself up it's a word we use probably more than any anything other because we've got that lovely our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name no modern translation seems to change that word because there's not another word that can possibly come near it and the halloween the making of something holy or in this case our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name is actually the acceptance that this is the holiest thing that we know a piece of knowledge where our roots go down down down and tap into the wellsprings of creation as we acknowledge that god's name is hallowed and we hallow the saints by making them saints authoritatively or in our own minds in the respect that we have for them and let's go through those sentences again of the beatitudes the respect we have for them as peacemakers or people who are pure in heart or people who are meek but at the same time uh those that the meek uh folk will inherit the earth in in the beatitudes and here is jesus himself giving that peace picture of what it means to stand in all humility before the roman governor and talk about bearing witness to the truth all those things so much to think about on a day like this and i give glory for the fact that on this day the most popular hymn of all is that lovely him for all the saints who from their labor's rest who thee by face before the world confessed thy name o jesus be forever blessed alleluia and that hymn took life from vaughn williams writing that wonderful tune which we all sing to that that him now he wrote it for the english hymnal which he was the editor musical editor of and the english symbols always had a green cover and the green is something here which expresses the halloween of the planet the hallowing of life because it is god's gift to us so as we sing that hymn today and we sang it yesterday as we kept an all saints dimension to yesterday as well as we sing that him see how it goes through glory from glory to glory as it goes on but in the middle there is not just a clear run and when the strife is fierce the battle long steals on our ear the distant triumph song and hearts are brave again and arms are strong hallelujah it's how we cheer ourselves i believe in the communion of saints the hallowing of the gift of this new day let's go on and think of all those leaders meeting today at the first day of work of the united nations climate change conference of the parties the 26th iteration the 26th time the first of those cop uh conferences shall we call them cop one was in berlin in 1995 and they set themselves goals for the life and welfare of humankind within the context of this planet how that need has increased one only has to listen to the messages from his holiness the pope and from world leaders when the the prince of wales speaking prince charles he talked about it a dare to ago the last chance saloon to save the world from runaway climate change and our overwhelming responsibility to generations yet unborn pope francis if i give a translation of his message given to the bbc thought for the day every crisis calls for vision to rethink the future of the world radical decisions and a renewed sense of shared responsibility for our world the most important lesson we can take from these crises is our need to build together so that there will no longer be any borders barriers or polit political walls for us to hide behind blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of god and we know we're absolutely sure now that cop 26 these next 12 days must be that moment as the paris agreement of cop 21 made in 2015 and we ourselves were happen to be at the united nations that day when the news came through from paris and the joy of all the representatives of the the way in which that paris agreement was was reached and there was an accord was absolutely evident at that time uh it we had that meeting uh that afternoon a meeting with the secretary-general ban ki-moon talking about the life of holy places but the joy was there across the united nations for it was uh an in a very important time itself and the the eating together with all those representatives in the the restaurant they were coming up and and the joy on their faces of just that little bit achieved well that needs not only now to be ratified but also taken further as we well know and i heard someone this morning saying really the whole thing is about coal cars cash and trees well you could say that that's a that's a very very radical shorthand but what it does say is that everyone it's like the communion of saints everyone every single human being can make a difference and make a difference not only to the planet but to the lives of one another everyone and that message i know will be given again and again throughout these days and we shall come back to it the fourth of november is called energy day the fifth youth and public empowerment day the tenth transport day and then on the 12th the closing sessions i expect will form almost a hagamaga scrabble to get some kind of resolution which will give hope to our planet so to begin their work on all saints day seems to be a wonderful thing and we're not leaving that there but we shall come back to it tomorrow but our prayers will be for all those people gathered in glasgow and leaders throughout the world at this time the same time today in 1611 i said that there will be another um a date which which came together with the 1611 bible which i read from in the prabhupalia shakespeare's play the tempest was performed for the first time before the same king james the first and the tempest i mention because not only because it's a date today but because it begins with a huge storm and shipwreck becomes almost visionary for this time a huge storm and shipwreck and the shipwreck lands a group of people on prospero's island and prospero has unfinished business with uh with all the people on board and when they are safely as castaways on that island and this causes us also to think of the way in which islands are threatened by oceans and everything else at present then prospero separates them because they all have absolutely different aims and he in his wisdom do you remember and the characters that appear in that are amazing but we've no time to go into the tempest today and you'll know it well enough and if you read the shakespeare language it's very like the language of the 1611 king james bible but prospero has great care for miranda his daughter he has been cast away as an exile having lost power at home and now the very people who have opposed him are here in groups on the island but they don't agree even with one another and they all have different intentions and some are ridiculous comic intentions and others are really devious political intentions and they don't even have an honesty even one towards another but prospero wants to see the love of ferdinand and miranda blossom and this is what the the um plot gives us on that island amongst the trees and a different place protected by the oceans at that time and as that plot unfolds at the end you remember there is a play within a play a mask as it was called and there's music and in that come old representations the gods with a small g of roman times of fertility and the the qualities of life here on this planet the mask itself is almost a vision of the way in which prospero is going to break the staff of his magic and wisdom and go back to take up again his position in human life as a leader of of of folk but at the same time he has secured the union of miranda and her new prince and all of that comes together as a vision at the end as that the united factions are brought together so we could say blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of god and we give thanks for shakespeare's imagination the language he uses but also the vision he gives us on that island which began with a complete and catastrophic shipwreck and ends with a vision of tranquility of how people can come together and they leave leaving the island peaceful again in its own life well many many things to think of and now i can even see the sun shining in the windows of the deanery which is facing me at the moment and gleaming down at me it's not reached me yet because it's still rising and there's music striking up from next door where the choristers are practicing as well for the worship of all saints day let's say our prayers then on this all saints day morning and we are thinking today of the diocese of guagwalada in the abuja province of nigeria the church in nigeria and here in the diocese we pray for all churches dedicated to all saints well we might do that for all churches throughout the world i remember the cathedral church in juba in south sudan was the church of all saints the cathedral church of all saints so maybe i can pray for that there in juba down there in the south of sudan on the river nile in its earlier flowing star which will go up to khartoum and i think actually the church the cathedral church in khartoum in in ondemand is also all saints so you think of any churches you know of all saints and we'll think also of communities because cultures do that as well so that there are cities throughout the world called by st petersburg or uh saint albans where uh uh we shall be going to install a new archdeacon uh i mean an old archdeacon and a new uh a new dean on december the fourth um so that one has even railway stations like zimpancrus so they remind us of places in our mind let me not ramble on let's say the collect for all saints day remembering justin our archbishop and rose bishop of dover and emma bishop at lambeth here's the colic for all saints day almighty god you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your son christ our grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those inexpressible joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you through jesus christ our lord men say together the prayer our savior taught us and bind our languages in one use whatever language you normally would 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 are men moment of silence now for your own prayers wow [Applause] for me [Applause] oh [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] is oh [Music] r [Music] yes oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] so foreign [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] oh is [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] you've been looking at the view which i've had which has been developing during the time we've been together this morning as we've said our prayers the view of bel harry tower as the sun rises onto it a sign of this holy place for pilgrims coming here for miles around and uh also the place where so much worship and music will take place on this glorious feast today but now you're seeing the view that fletcher has had of the trees and the beautiful clear blue sky on this lovely first of november morning it reminds us of all that cop 26 are trying to do for the care of the planet and it takes us back once again to that verse of the psalmist the tree planted by the waterside whose leaves do not wither and which bears fruit in due season or the bearing of fruit spiritual fruit is very much what we look to the saints to encourage us in their own lives past and present or what we're doing today so an all saints day blessing god give you grace to follow his saints in faith and hope and love 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 you've come back again you're in the middle of your moat rather aren't you at the moment you'll look beautiful soon your feathers will all be renewed again friendliest of our hens she's one of three that have never forgotten that we brought them up um and used to handle them uh gently when they were inside and have always stayed friendly so many of the others are not in the same kind of way they all know us very well but these have never forgotten [Music] [Music] [Music] you okay you need a minute cool okay [Music] listen up people i know a thing or two about extinction and let me tell you and you'd kind of think this would be obvious going extinct is a bad thing and driving yourselves extinct in 70 million years that's the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard at least we had an asteroid what's your excuse you're headed for a climate disaster and yet every year governments spend hundreds of billions of public funds on fossil fuel subsidies imagine if we had spent hundreds of billions per year subsidizing giant meteors that's what you're doing right now think of all the other things you could do with that money around the world people are living in poverty don't you think helping them would make more sense than i don't know paying for the demise of your entire species let me be real for a second you've got a huge opportunity right now as you rebuild your economies and bounce back from this pandemic this is humanity's big chance so here's my wild idea don't choose extinction save your species before it's too late it's time for you humans to stop making excuses and start making changes thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] everyone loves a party but what if i told you there was an entire conference of the parties and people from every corner of the globe would be that cool right okay not that kind of party this is a little less wonderwall and a little more saving the planet so nature is now retaliating and fighting back it is crucial that the nations will come together to solve the crippling problems that the world now faces cop is the world's biggest summit on the world's biggest issue climate change the 26th cup will be held this november in glasgow and it's going to be the most important ever many believe this will be our last chance to get runaway climate change under control call 26 must be the moment global leaders listen to the scientists and tackle the climate crisis for almost three decades now the un has brought together almost every country on earth to fight climate change and we've made good progress at cop21 in 2015 something amazing happened countries actually signed a legally binding agreement to limit global warming to well below two preferably to 1.5 degrees celsius sounds specific i know but with every fraction of a degree the world gets warmer homes are destroyed biodiversity shrinks and people die so these countries set out plans to reduce their emissions and agreed to review in five years that's why cop26 is the big one big things need to happen to keep the 1.5 degrees dream alive countries need to commit to going even further we need to accelerate and we need to act right now to save millions of lives at 1.1 degrees warming the effects are already alarming four things need to happen and it boils down to coal cars cash and trees in order to have emissions in the next decade we'll have to sort out all four and more asap this is our best chance to make the changes now and it's not a chance we can miss that's a lot for over 100 world leaders and thousands of negotiators civil society representatives and businesses to get through in 12 days but it's not all on them we can all make a difference like this gal and this guy and well all of us [Music] it's the everyday actions of people like us that tell them to go further faster that's why cop26 has a dedicated platform just for that welcome to the green zone a platform for us to have our voices heard in the fight against climate change your window into cop26 a celebration of climate action all over the world it's a place to learn how we can tackle climate change together live events exhibitions workshops and discussions that promote dialogue awareness education and commitments the whole package this is your chance to get involved with the most important event on the planet for the planet and they'll be global access so connect remotely and participate virtually this is it the big problem the big solution it's absolutely vital that all nations collaborate at this time to protect our planet time for change if temperatures continue to rise we will step through a series of one-way doors for action we must accelerate the global transformation it's happening at cop26 there could not be a more important moment that we should have international agreements visit the cop26 website for more information on how to get involved with special thanks to our principal partners [Music]