good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral on this grey still november morning november the 27th the day after thanksgiving in the states is always known as black friday here i'd call it gray friday but black friday means lots and lots of shopping shops open early with lots of bargains because in many places this counts as a holiday too so people get up early for those bargains and uh we are sitting here in in a little spitting rain uh behind me is this interesting fatsia japonica which produces these uh flowers at this time of year not many flowers around above it is the the fig tree which has lost its leaves and still some figs hanging on it but the fancier is that is the thing that your is my back cloth this morning on this autumn day wherever you are in the world please feel welcome here as always i'll just look back on 27th of november in the past this is the day in 1582 when william shakespeare married anne hathaway they from that marriage in 1583 had a daughter and in 1585 twins a boy and a girl and so we remember that and remember the beautiful cottage of anne hathaway as well which is very much a a place that people go and visit in 8176 the roman emperor marcus aurelius made his son commodus the supreme commander of all the roman legions it's a political point we've much politics today because our revelation reflection will deal with a political scene in shall we say cartoon form almost and then uh in creative terms in 1896 richard strauss the composer had his also splat zarathustra first performed and in 1895 dumas the son of the alexander dumas who wrote the three musketeers he died his most famous novel is of course the lady of the camellias which verdi turned very quickly into his opera la traviata in 1853 which we saw in florence last year a beautiful performance in the anglican church in florence not last year this year much earlier on this year when we could still travel in 1895 on this day nobel prizes were established from the will of alfred noble and they have become an immense institution and in 1924 which um this was thanksgiving day 27th of november on that day we had the first macy's thanksgiving day parade which is now very much a new york institution with all its great balloons might say two we're still actually in the realms of justice and politics in 1835 james pratt a groom and john smith a servant were the last two men to be hanged for sodomy and that seems a very very long time ago but in 1978 harvey milk the first openly gay person to be elected to local government in california and george moscone the mayor of san francisco massively respected at that time were both assassinated by a former member of the san francisco board of supervisors and that story has been told in the film milk with screenplay by dustin lance black told in 2008 it's a tragic tale and so this morning let's begin our prayers we shall have uh psalms which encourage us a reflection which which plums the depths of political power at the time of john of patmos and we'll come to that at that time in the service 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 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 [Music] our psalm on this 27th morning of the month is psalm 121. i lift up my eyes to the hills from where is my help to come my help comes from the lord the maker of heaven and earth he will not suffer your foot to stumble he who watches over you will not sleep behold he who keeps watch over israel shall neither slumber nor sleep the lord himself watches over you the lord is your shade at your right hand so that the sun shall not strike you by day neither the moon by night the lord shall keep you from all evil it is he who shall keep your soul the lord shall keep watch over your going out and you're coming in from this time forth forevermore and psalm 122 also a psalm for this morning i was glad when they said to me let us go to the house of the lord and now our feet are standing within your gate so jerusalem jerusalem built as a city that is at unity in itself that other tribes go up the tribes of the lord as is decreed for israel to give thanks to the name of the lord for there are set the thrones of judgment the thrones of the house of david o pray for the peace of jerusalem may they prosper who love you peace be within your walls and tranquility within your palaces for my kindred and companions sake i will pray that peace be with you for the sake of the house of the lord our god i will seek to do you good beautiful psalms and five of them are set for the 27th morning of the month let's they return to our lesson we missed a little chunk of the revelation yesterday which contained more plagues and dreadful visions of monsters and we are going on today to chapter 17. now this is above all else a political chapter so think of your favorite cartoonist particularly your political cartoonists and how they portray in very often in animal forms and sometimes to ridicule and often to teach a lesson through a smile which is a very serious lesson well this is a much more serious piece of uh cartooning but it's exactly the same the pictures drawn are pictures of particular people particular emperors particular cities and it becomes very clear which city john is talking about the fact that the characterization is gender specific and it's a woman that we're looking at is because cities are generally spoken of in the feminine and uh the rulers the kings appear in the masculine it's habit i think but uh that's how this appears but we shall speak about it later so chapter 17 of revelation then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me come i will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and with the wine of who is fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk and he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness and i saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and it had seven heads and ten horns the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication and on her forehead was written a name of mystery babylon the great mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations and i saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints the blood of the martyrs of jesus and when i saw her i marveled greatly but the angel said to me why do you marvel i will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her the beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come this calls for a mind with wisdom the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated there are also seven kings five of whom have fallen one is the other has not yet come and when he does come he must remain only a little while as for the beast that was and is not an it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven and it goes to destruction and the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast these are of one mind and they hand over their power and authority to the beast they will make war on the lamb and the lamb will conquer them for he is lord of lords and king of kings and those with him are called and chosen and faithful and the angel said to me the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages and the ten horns that you saw they and the beast will hate the prostitute they will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire for god has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of god are fulfilled and the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth well no doubt about which city that is the seven hills give the clue but the city with imperial dominance over all the kings of the earth was the city of rome with its imperial power and john shows us that city as a parody of the glory of heaven a raid in all the finery and jewels and robes and diadems you can possibly imagine and yet only a parody of the might of god himself even though emperor after emperor claims divine power and demands christians to worship at his shrine now we could play with this image a long time for john shows just how much everything there is a parody and we can play also with the names of emperors if i remind myself how they go forward if you if you want the the list as it might be then those um horns that the the the beast has might be represented by augustus who began to reign in 31 bc up to 14 a.d tiberius 14 to 37 a.d that's at the time of our lord's ministry caligula claudius the appalling nero 80 54 to 68 and then with the the turmoil of no emperor at all really a lot trying to claim the name you get to the ten years of vespasian the one who came just for a short time is titus 79-81 and domitian is the one who is coming who will wage war on the saints 81-96 takes us to psalm 2 again the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed so if we look at that psalm it gives us clues and we go back to the um uh here we are why are the nations in tumult why do the peoples devise a blane plot the kings of the earth rise up and the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us he who dwells in heaven shall laugh them to scorn the lord shall have them in derision then shall he speak to them in his roth and terrify them in his fury yet have i set my king upon my holy hill of zion i will proclaim the decree of the lord he said to me you are my son this day have i begotten you ask of me and i will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel well that gives a clue to all that is going on there and also a clue as to what will happen tomorrow the number seven which is used over and over again is always a number of wholeness and it appears often in the revelation to john but one thinks of this day also is the day of shakespeare's marriage and it reminds us of humanity itself and perhaps no better way of describing that number seven in our own context than in jaquie's monologue from as you like it that pastoral comedy it's it's wonderful how we divide up the plays of shakespeare into comedy tragedy history and with most of our reflections could also be divided into those categories for human life as the centuries proceed john is at that time dealing with a particular political situation but here's j quiz monologue about all human life all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players they have their exits and entrances and one man in his time plays many parts his axe being seven ages at first the infant mulling and puking in the nurse's arms then then the whining schoolboy with his satchel and shining morning face creeping like a snail unwillingly to school and then the lover sighing like a furnace with a woeful ballad made to his mistress his eyebrow then a soldier full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard jealous in honor sudden and quick in quarrel seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon's mouth and then the justice in fair round belly with good cape online with eyes severe and beard of formal cut full of wise saws and modern instances and so he plays his part the six sage shifts into the lean and slippered pantaloon with spectacles on nose and pouch on side his youthful hose well saved a world too wide for his shrunk shank and his big manly voice turning again toward childish treble pipes and whistles in his sound and last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history is second childishness and mere oblivion sans teeth sans eyes sun's taste sands everything shakespeare using one of his comedies to give us a profound monologue on humanity and all its intentions and most of all for an emperor claiming imperial and divine power the seven stages the seven stages all the same for humanity though each of us could be described differently and that's where we are with john his one encouragement to all those around him as they face martyrdom and death which he sees as the real gateway to the eternal city to which we are going with him very soon now the one encouragement is to hold fast a call for the endurance of the saints not to bend the knee to the worship of a human being who has seized god's power but instead to stand upright in heart and mind and body as well and look to the almighty who is the only true authority on this earth which is our home let's say our prayer this morning and let's look first to see whom we are praying for in our anglican communion as we pray for the diocese today of saskatoon in canada and christopher harper in his ministry and the diocese of the eastern himalayas in north india that's it present listed is vacant here but we pray for that diocese and all the people there and then in this diocese we pray for archbishop justin and bishop rose of dover and bishop tim at lambeth and as we continue to pray for the the deanery of the villages and communities of the north downs in kent today we pray for on their encouragement for a cluster of new institutions on a site near the m-20 junction where captain graham bibi who's a church army officer has a a a mission there as the the downs team missioner and visits the four wards of the signet mental health unit in a chaplaincy role as well so we we pray for graham in that ministry and give thanks for the ministry of the church army let's say the prayer for today as i always say an easy one to remember stir up oh lord we beseech you the wills of your faithful people that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works may by you be plenteously rewarded through jesus christ our lord amen so each in our own language we join together in 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 as the rain begins to fall and we bring our own prayers and intentions to this time of reflection the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds the knowledge and love of god and if his son jesus christ our lord the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love those whom you would pray for today and always amen