good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral as on this friday the 13th of november we say our morning prayers together feel welcome wherever you are in the world on this autumn morning in england we've had fine rain up until now but now early in the morning we've just got a little interval to say our prayers in the garden and so bring your own intentions we generally look back on such days as these and the 13th of november in the past has seen events of of joy and events of tragedy and sorrow on this day in 1916 the battle of the somme finally came to an end the result had been the death of well over a million soldiers and no ground really had been gained on either side and in the november mud of the trenches all of that scene was surveyed in a war which still had two years to run and in 2015 on this day we remember the terrorist attack in paris and theaters and in other areas which killed 130 people at that time and wounded 350. and we remember with a degree of gladness the birth in 1850 of robert louise stevenson will come back to him later in our reflection and also we remember that on this day in 1868 the great opera composer rossini died he'd written 39 operas and again we shall return to him a little bit later on and and uh think of him he is buried uh in the church of santa croce in florence and has the most magnificent tomb there and we were looking at that back in the early months of this year the end of january and uh we've had some friends who've lived there and kirsten there wanted to send to her mother kate yesterday uh a suitable present for a special birthday and because she'd always given opera tickets in the past and that's no longer possible she actually found a musician an opera singer to go and stand on the doorstep at a good social distance as a nice surprise and sing to kate hills and we wish her also happy birthday from yesterday and hope she enjoyed the music there well all those things to think about desperate unhappy scenes of human tragedy but also scenes of creative joy and we remember that this is national hugger musician day well we will have to do that virtually at this time but we do pray for all musicians at this very difficult time when performances are so difficult to achieve let's begin our prayers o 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 and 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 are men so on this 13th day of the month the psalm is the longsun 68 and i'll read some verses from that now let god arise and let his enemies be scattered let those that hate him flee before him as the smoke vanishes so may they vanish away as wax melts at the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of god but let the righteous be glad and rejoice before god let them make merry with gladness sing to god sing praises for his name exalt him who rides on the clouds the lord is his name rejoice before him father of the fatherless defender of widows god in his holy habitation god gives the solitary a home and brings forth prisoners to songs of welcome but the rebellious inhabit a burning desert oh god when you went forth before your people when you marched through the wilderness the earth shook and the heavens dropped down rain at the presence of god the lord of sinai at the presence of god the god of israel you sent down a gracious rain oh god you refreshed your inheritance when it was weary your people came to dwell there in your goodness oh god you provide for the poor blessed be the lord who bears our burdens day by day for god is our salvation god is for us the god of our salvation god is the lord who can deliver from death sing to god you kingdoms of the earth make music in praise of the lord he rides on the ancient heaven of heavens and sends forth his voice a mighty voice ascribe power to god whose power is above the clouds blessed be god wonderful imagery from that psalm and we're returning now to the terrifying imagery of the revelation to john earlier this morning when it was still pretty dark in the cathedral we as clergy of the cathedral met to say matins morning prayer there and in its full form of course it contains two lessons one from the old testament lesson and one from the new testament lesson which we're about to read now and the old testament lessons through this month of november has been the book of daniel and now we're coming to the book of revelation to john many of the images from the revelation to john are taken from the book of daniel and this morning's lesson was not about daniel and the lion's den but the enormous of visions of creatures representing imperial powers and nations fighting against each other everything a representation but much suffering on earth as we've described in human warfare in remembering the battle of the psalm in 1916 already this morning so here is the new testament lesson using the same imagery but using also imagery from the book of exodus as we shall discover chapter 9 verse 1 and i'm reading up to verse 12 and the fifth angel blew his trumpet and i saw a star fallen from heaven to earth and the star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit you open the shaft of the bottomless pit and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft then from the smoke came locusts on the earth and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth they were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree but only those people who do not have the seal of god on their foreheads they were allowed to torment them for five months but not to kill them and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone and in those days people will seek death and will not find it they will long to die but death will flee from them in appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold their faces were like human faces their hair like women's hair and their teeth like lion's teeth they had breastplates like breastplates of iron and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle they have tails and stings like scorpions and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails they have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit his name in hebrew is abaddon and in greek he is called apollon the first woe has passed behold two woes are still to come terrifying pictures and yet we see here now reflection that as we read before easter in the preparation to the season of fashion tide and resurrection as we read the story of the plagues in egypt which in the end worked for the release of people so here so much of this imagery is not only taken from the book of daniel where great creatures terrifying creatures represent imperial powers and particularly john's hated imperial power which is exiled him to the island of patmos rome which at that time was persecuting christians and the emperor at that time like to see himself as the greek greek god apollo which we think is where that name apollyon used only here in the scriptures the only time apollon is taken from and looking at this imperial power seizing what is rightfully god's john shows the anger of god who is across the whole of the world it's portrayed almost like a human desire for vengeance but god's power is not like that as far as this book is concerned there is an inexorable going towards the victory of good over evil in the heavenly places as well as eventually on earth and we pray in our lord's prayer that thy kingdom will come and the revelation is all about the coming of that kingdom but these plagues are like a a symbol of all that is going to release god's people and when we think of the capacity of humanity for good and for evil and so much of this evil john sees as the result of human temptation to evil and its accomplishment with enormous consequences worldwide particularly of those in power who see themselves as gods it takes us first of all of course to the writing of john bunyan whom we thought about yesterday being imprisoned in jail he began to write his pilgrimage progress and the great excuse me the great story of the battle between christian on his journey to the heavenly city the eternal city and apollyon who straddles the way let's write that way with a capital letter for that is the name given to christians followers of the way before they were ever called christians there's no way through except through the valley of humiliation and then the valley of the shadow of death in bunyan's book and napoleon's debate with christian is something that we should all read and know and one of christian's great sentences to napoleon as he straddles the way in front of him is oh you destroying napoleon to speak truth i like my lord's service his wages his servants his government his company his country better than yours and therefore leave off to persuade me further i am his servant and i will follow him brave words but the battle is a bloody one with wounds all over christian which when he puts a polly into flight with the sword of the spirit temporarily to flight he is then given um leaves from the tree of life for his wounds and bread and the the the drink which refreshes him almost as a sign of the christians church breaking of bread together stevenson was born on this day in 1850 i first got to know him because of treasure island which uh was a book uh i loved and still love i know fairly well and kidnapped and those sorts of novels no better storyteller but the book which went into english language in the sense of giving us an image of things is the shorter book dr jekyll and mr hyde and when stevenson wrote that in bournemouth of all places where he was trying to recover from about of the consumption which would kill him in the end um his his wife fanny read this and said it's it's it's too terrible it should be written as an allegory so he burned it and wrote it again all in a piece and that story has become the symbol of how there is in a human being capacity for much good dr jekyll and much evil mr hyde and the evil is unquantifiable once it takes hold and that battle with evil in the heavenly places and on earth is lived out in each one of us lead us not into temptation or in some some translations of that when we say the lord's prayer do not bring us to the time of trial well all those things we remember with thanksgiving with stevenson's wonderful books and verses we'll come back to another of those later but at the same time we remember that rossini died on this day now he is so well known these days mostly for his overtures to his operas and one remembers not only his lovely opera the barber of seville but also such overtures as the silken ladder the thieving magpie and above all others william tell and to me william tell instantly with his trumpet call sorry i'm having a bad morning takes me back as a child to saturday afternoons watching the lone ranger because the masked lone ranger setting out to do good with his friend tonto would have that as the great sound of his coming and the the words would say uh return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear the lone ranger rides again i didn't ever know there'd be a day when we were all wearing masks but there are still days where we are set to do good and to battle with evil wherever we see it and particularly within ourselves it doesn't need images of great beasts in the heavens to introduce us to the human capacity for evil the last work that rossini wrote was after 39 operas which amused people and still do and the last work he wrote was la petite a little mass and at the end he wrote a little letter and the letter was to god and it said in translation dear god here it is finished this poor little mass is it sacred music i have written or damned music i was born for opera buffa as you know well a little technique a little heart that's all but blessed then and grant me paradise a little prayer at the end and yet his operas have given us such enormous pleasure so let's say our prayers on this day and make our prayer to our savior when we pray it a prayer to resist evil in our own lives and then that goes a great way to helping the combat between evil and good in human life and in humanity this is a day when we remember charles simeon the priest and evangelical divine who died in 1836 and will remember his uh part in the founding of the church mission society uh here is the prayer for charles simeon's day followed by the prayer for the week but bring your own intentions to these prayers as we pray together eternal god who raised up charles simeon to preach the good news of jesus christ and inspire your people in service and mission grant that we with all your church may worship the savior turn in sorrow from our sins and walk in the way of holiness through jesus christ our lord amen and this week's prayer almighty father whose will is to restore all things in your beloved son the king of all govern the hearts and minds of those in authority and bring the families of the nations divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin to be subject to his just and gentle rule who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so together and in our different languages we say 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 are men just before we have our silence i wanted to read not a dr jekyll and mr hyde bit of stevenson but one of the verse from his child's garden of verses and it's called keepsake mill and it remembers that we as human beings can be reminded by some keepsake from the past of things that we had intended and it starts with two naughty boys breaking through the garden wall in an unforgivable sin to go on an adventure to the mill here we are keepsake mill over the borders a sin without pardon breaking the branches and crawling below out through the breach in the wall of the garden down by the banks of the river we go here is a mill with the humming of thunder here is the weir with the wonder of foam here is the sluice with the race running under marvelous places though handy to home sounds of the village grow stellar and stiller still are the note of the birds on the hill dusty and dim are the eyes of the miller deaf are his ears with the moil of the mill years may go by and the wheel in the river wheel as it wheels for us children today wheel and keep roaring and foaming forever long after all of the boys are away home for the indies and home from the ocean heroes and soldiers we all will come home still we shall find the old mill wheel in motion turning and churning that river to foam you with the bean that i gave when we quarreled i with your marble of saturday last honored and old and all gaily appareled here we shall meet and remember the past so let's keep silence on this morning with our memories but also with our hopes for the future for humanity and bring our own prayers to the silence [Music] 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 upon those whom you would pray for today and always are men [Music] you