welcome to canterbury cathedral as the sun begins to set and it's time for evening prayer and we join our prayers together from across the world to pray for all those in difficulty in sickness in exhaustion during this coronaviruses crisis for our world oh lord open thou our lips and our mouth shall show forth thy praise oh god make speed to save us o lord make haste to help us glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen praise ye the lord the lord's name be praised the third evening of the month gives us psalm 18 and i'm going to use a few verses from that as we say these short evening prayers the lord brought me forth also into a place of liberty he brought me forth even because he had a favor unto me the lord shall reward me after my righteous dealing according to the cleanness of my hands shall he recompense me because i have kept the ways of the lord and have not forsaken my god as the wicked dust for i have an eye unto all his laws and will not cast out his commandments from me i was also uncorrupt before him and destroyed my own wickedness therefore shall the lord reward me after my righteous dealing and according unto the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight with the holy thou shalt be holy and with a perfect man thou shalt be perfect with the clean thou shalt be clean and with the throat thou shalt learn frogness for thou shalt save the people that are in adversity and shalt bring down the high looks of the proud thou also shalt light my candle the lord my god shall make my darkness to be light the lighting of a candle is a a wonderful image and at this time when the cathedral is locked we light candles in the windows of our own houses to give hope and light to one another remembering that jesus said i am the light of the world we use as our lesson on this night part of the chapter in st john's gospel where jesus is teaching in the temple and some foreigners some greeks come and are nervous about seeing him and so they approach one of the disciples on the outskirts who has a greek name his name is philip now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some greeks so these came to philip who was from bethsaida in galilee and said to him sir we wish to see jesus philip went and told andrew andrew went with philip and they told jesus and jesus answered them the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified truly truly i say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone but if it dies it bears much fruit he who loves his life loses it and whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life if anyone serves me they must follow me and where i am there shall my servant be also if anyone serves me the father will honor him now is my soul troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour no for this purpose i have come to this hour father glorify thy name then a voice came from heaven i have glorified it and i will glorify it again the crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered others said an angel has spoken to him jesus answered this voice has come for your sake not for mine now is the judgment of this world now shall the ruler of this world be cast out and i when i am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself jesus said this to show by what death he was to die we say the evening canticle magnificat the song of mary my soul doth magnify the lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in god my savior for he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden for behold from henceforth all generation shall call me blessed for he that is mighty has magnified me and holy is his name and his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations he has shared strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts he hath put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble and meek he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away he remembering his mercy has opened his servant israel as he promised to our forefathers abraham and his seed forever glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen the lesson we heard from saint john's gospel comes at the climax of the gospel before jesus bows himself to the painfulness of his own vocation as our messiah and his human strength is used to the uttermost during those days the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified so often in sin john's gospel we hear him say my hour has not yet come and now at the instigation of people who've traveled from another land and are asking to see him he realizes that the hour has come there in the outer courtyard of the temple as he is teaching and from then on things move steadily towards his crucifixion sir we would like to see jesus say the foreigners to philip so many people come to holy places day after day and they want some sign of the presence of jesus or of god's activity in that place so this is a very special passage to us in canterbury for from which this cathedral takes its mission statement to show people jesus just four words taken from that particular story it might be the vocation and mission statement of every christian life in all that we do especially at this time when so much encouragement is needed in our world and so many are striving for the healing and care of others to show people jesus lord have mercy upon us christ have mercy upon us lord have mercy upon us we say the our father in whatever words we would normally use our father which 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 amen we use the collect the special prayer for this day from the book of common prayer we beseech thee almighty god mercifully to look upon thy people that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved ever more both in body and soul through jesus christ our lord amen o god from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works to proceed give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of jesus christ our savior amen lighten our darkness we beseech thee oh lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of my only son our savior jesus christ amen the prayer prayer for those suffering from kovid 19 and especially today for those anxious about infection oh lord our refuge our hope and our peace be with us this night as our protector and our salvation calm our anxieties ease our fears and soften our sadness that we may find in you our true rest and our perfect restoration through jesus christ our lord amen we keep silence for a moment to make our own evening prayers christ crucified draw you to himself to find in him a sure ground for faith a firm support for hope and the assurance of sins forgiven and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy ghost be amongst you and remain with you always amen