good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the dinery garden on this friday the 17th of july as we come to say our morning prayers together welcome wherever you are in the world and please as i always say bring your own concerns in your hearts and minds as we pray together 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 sovereign god creator of all to you be glory and praise forever you founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands in the fullness of time you made us in your image and in these last days you have spoken to us in your son jesus christ the word made flesh as we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us let the light of your love always shine in our hearts your spirit ever renew our lives and your praises ever be on our lips 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 does 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 are men our psalm on this 17th morning of the month is psalm 87 his foundation is on the holy mountains the lord loves the gates of zion more than all the dwellings of jacob glorious things are spoken of you zion city of our god i record egypt and babylon as those who know me behold philistia tower and ethiopia in zion were they born and of zion it shall be said each one was born in her and the most high himself has established her the lord will record as he writes up the peoples this one also was born there and as they dance they shall sing all my fresh springs are in you so we turn now to our reading from the gospel of saint luke and yesterday and the day before we saw jesus teaching in the temple courtyard to those who heard him gladly [Music] but at the same time there are those who are hostile to him i'm going to begin at the last verse of the reading we had yesterday so that we get a context for what is said in the short reading today so i'm beginning at verse 19 of the 20th chapter of st luke's gospel [Music] the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on jesus at that very hour for they perceived that he had told this parable against them but they feared the people so they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere so that they might catch him in something he said so to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor so they asked him teacher we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality but truly teach the way of god is it lawful for us to give tribute to caesar or not but jesus perceived their craftiness and said to them show me a denarius whose likeness and inscription does it have they said caesars jesus said to them then render to caesar the things that are caesar's and to god the things that are gods and they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said but marveling at his answer they became silent the way in which the time scale works for these last days of teaching in the temple courtyard is different in the three gospels of matthew mark and luke but nevertheless certain stories are the same and some bear a very very remarkable similarity and not only a resemblance but this is the same story almost word for word and today is a case in point as tomorrow will be this little bit of teaching and the words render unto caesar the things that are caesar's and unto god the things that are gods has become a a commonplace phrase that people tend to know but luke does treat it slightly differently to begin with it's not the pharisees and herodians themselves who come even though there are political groups ranging against jesus who want to destroy him we know that this is physical danger and the desire to have him killed this is different though in st luke's gospel for he says that they sent spies amongst the crowds people who looked like the crowds themselves how was jesus to know who was who saved by intuition and insight in luke's gospel they aren't chief priests and pharisees and herodians standing there there are spies sent to trap him in his words it's an uncomfortable position for anyone to be in to know there are people there whose only intention is to trap them in what they say but luke changes it again just slightly and he says that trap him so that they might report him to the governor that's the roman authority not to the chief priest but to the governor this would not be a charge of blasphemy it would be a charge of sedition against the roman state and that would automatically carry a death penalty it's a a serious picture who in the multitude of crowds faces hanging on his words were the ones who were pretending to hang on his words with devious intention but the answer given is so simple and yet so utterly deep that it plums the absolute depths of our humanity these questions which come up in the teaching today tomorrow and and uh the next day are questions which really must have been a nuisance to jesus because they're getting in the way of his teaching simply with questions becoming more and more complicated so that the trap might be set today it's about taxes to the government and he deals with it by looking at the coin and somebody produces a denarius they're carrying one the roman coin the denarius in in their pocket holds it up and jesus says who's whose image and subscription the superscription is this and and they say caesar's then well then give to caesar what belongs to caesar it's the corollary that is important the depths of what it means to give what belongs to god for of course everything belongs to god this is a day when we remember with enormous pleasure and joy the anniversary of the birth in 1674 of isaac watts who is known as the godfather of english hymnady it reminds me of how much we are missing singing hymns at the moment we're back in the cathedral we can hear him sung in pre-recording but we're not yet allowed to sing and we long to sing and isaac watts is one of the foremost hymn writers of excellent hymns he himself a congregationalist minister who was in a way outside the regular education system of england at that time banned from oxford and cambridge because he wasn't an anglican and at the same time his father a congregationalist minister had been imprisoned for some of the things that he had done so say against the state yet watts gave us a treasury of humanity if one only thinks of oh god our help in ages past our hope for years to come our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home how it stays in the mind it's a rhyming paraphrase of psalm 90 but if i asked anyone and tried myself to say psalm 90 through i would find it very difficult to do without the words in front of me not so with the hymn oh god i hope in ages past and for many of you if the music struck up we could have a good shot at singing that hymn without the words in front of us because rhymes and melody teach the faith in a wonderful way and watts was immaculately scriptural in the way he rooted his hymns in the faith so that psalm 90 became part of our being through singing that hymn in the same way that while shepherds watched our their flocks by night which is not by watts but it causes us to be able to remember luke chapter 2 in a way that the words can't tell us just by reading them and what's also was responsible i think for the most beautiful hymn about christ's passion when i survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died my richest gain i count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride he wrote 750 hymns and the quality of the majority of that body of hymnnity is of the same kind of standard but some have captured our hearts in a very special way and we would give thanks for that but at the same time he helps us in that him when i survey the wondrous cross to think what christ meant by that statement render to caesar the things that are caesar's and to god the things that are god's what are the things that are god's just think of the last verse of when i survey the wondrous cross where the whole realm of nature mine that were a present far too small love so amazing so divine demands my soul my life my all that is what giving to god what belongs to god means and here is the word of god standing in the temple giving good news to the crowds who hang up on his words and as in so many human situations there are those that who simply come along with bad intentions truly we saw how yesterday the word is given authority when it roots itself in the glad response and what happens to a human life after that this is no different today jesus holds up the coin and uses it to teach one of the deepest lessons of human faith give back to god the things which belong to god so let's say our prayers on this day and especially we pray during this time for our anglican communion and the diocese of the northern philippines for brent alawas the bishop there and his people and the diocese of bath and wells here in the county of somerset in the south west of england and for peter hancock the bishop of bath wells today and all his people within our own diocese as we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth the diocese has asked us to pray for all those whose hospital treatments have been delayed because of the pandemic we think of course of all those suffering from the pandemic but many suffering from serious things have had their treatments delayed so let's think of them this morning in our prayers you will have many things that you're bringing to our prayers this morning and so have them in your hearts and minds as we say the prayer for today and then the collect at the end of the psalm almighty and everlasting god by whose spirit the whole body of the church is governed and sanctified hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people that each in their vocation and ministry may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name through our lord and savior jesus christ amen and the psalm colleagues lord as you call us to your city founded on the rock of ages let the springs of living water rise within us to eternal life in jesus christ our lord amen so in whatever way we would like to say it and in whichever language we join our prayers together in the words 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 for our own prayers 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 the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those you would pray for today and always amen