good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this 29th day of june the feast day of saint peter and st paul it's a day traditionally associated with ordinations and many priests or deacons might be today celebrating anniversaries of their ordinations it's therefore a day when we think about vocations as well but also the 29th of june is the anniversary of the birth in 1900 of the writer antoine de santiago paris ever since i read the section in easter week of the little prince's meeting with the fox i've had requests to read more of the little prince and in fact we've now read the the whole book to put online and that will happen this afternoon but at the same time it will be prefaced with a conversation that i had with maricine lady northbourne who lives nearby who was the little girl all those years ago who asked santa exupery for a drawing of a fox and she has graciously allowed us to photograph the wonderful almost cartoon sketches that she did for her then before ever the book was written so that will be something to for us all to look forward to this afternoon will be on the website from then on we remember him this morning for his wonderful parable of the little prince a book which has been translated into 361 different languages and so 140 million copies and is one of the most favorite children's books internationally throughout the world so we begin our morning prayers o 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 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 amen our psalm on this 29th morning of the month is psalm 139 o lord you have searched me out and known me you know my sitting down and my rising up you discern my thoughts from afar you mark out my journeys and my resting place and are acquainted with all my ways for there is not a word on my tongue but you o lord know it all together you encompass me behind and before and lay your hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me so high that i cannot attain it where can i go then from your spirit or where can i flee from your presence if i climb up to heaven you are there if i go down into hell you are there also if i take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there your hand shall lead me your right hand hold me fast if i say surely the darkness will cover me and the light around me turn to night even darkness is no darkness to you the night is as clear as the day darkness and light to you are both alike for you yourself created my inmost parts you knit me together in my mother's womb i thank you for i am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are your works and my soul knows well my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth your eyes beheld my form as yet unfinished already in your book were all my members written as day by day they were fashioned when as yet there was none of them how deep are your counsels to me oh god how great is the sum of them if i count them they are more in number than the sand and at the end i am still in your presence [Applause] today is a special day so we break our reading of the gospel of saint luke but we are still with the writing of saint luke in the acts of the apostles the readings last night and throughout today are a mixture of readings about peter and paul and this morning's is very much about saint peter in my bible here the heading at the head at the beginning of this passage in chapter 11 of the acts of the apostles is peter reports to the church [Music] now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout judea heard that the gentiles also had received the word of god so when peter went up to jerusalem the circumcision party criticized him saying you went to the uncircumcised and at with them but peter began and explained it to them in order i was in the city of joppa praying and in a chance i saw a vision something like a great sheet descending being let down from heaven by its four corners and it came down to me looking at it closely i observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air and i heard a voice saying to me rise peter kill and eat but i said by no means lord for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth but the voice answered a second time from heaven what god has made clean do not call common this happened three times and all was drawn up again into heaven and behold at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were we were staying sent to me from caesarea and the spirit told me to go with them making no distinction these six brothers also accompanied me and we entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say send to joppa and bring simon who is called peter he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved you and all your household and as i began to speak the holy spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning and i remembered the word of the lord how he had said john baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy spirit if then god gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the lord jesus christ who was i that i could stand in god's way when they heard these things they fell silent and they glorified god saying then to the gentiles also god has granted repentance that leads to life [Music] it's a significant moment but the word criticized is already there it's a time when the church the early church is going to have to make some hard decisions and it's a time and remember it's still luke writing it's a time when there is a a sea change in the atmosphere of what is going on and also in the life of the community we've been going day by day in morning prayer and the ordinary days of the week through the gospel of saint luke and jesus although he has a vision a goal in mind and a plan which can change daily but for that day what will happen but always a reactive plan to the people he's meeting jesus has no formal meetings rights as far as we know no letters writes no books he's walking through the villages of rural galilee and then rural judea and coming towards the great capital city of jerusalem the center of the faith of his people where he had come first as a baby to the temple recounted by luke in the arms of his parents and then at the age of 12 as a boy full of questions again a story we find in luke's gospel and then to the city of jerusalem to fulfill his vocation as our messiah no meetings no books no formal agendas all that's about to change peter has come back with this news very soon after in the acts of the apostles paul and barnabas will come with the same news and we read in the epistle to the galatians how paul has come to jerusalem and been with the leaders of the church he tells the story himself and he names those leaders keep us that's peter the rock and john and james not james the brother of john he had been killed the first of the twelve to be cut down at the orders of king herod now this is james the brother of jesus whom we read about in the gospel of mark and matthew and in those days we read about the family of jesus thinking certainly it's in john's gospel that he's slightly disturbed in his mind because of all these things that he's saying but now here is james listed by paul elsewhere in his writings as one of those to whom jesus appeared who is the acknowledged leader in jerusalem who in a few chapters time in the acts of the apostles will call a council to decide to hear evidence about what is happening to the gentiles and what is happening amongst those jewish communities that paul and barnabas have been to see the evidence will come from peter and from paul and barnabas and in the end after discussion and criticism and hot debate it's james who sends an official letter well that we can think about on another day but for the moment we see how as a movement grows then different kinds of communications are necessary words begin to be written down in many many letters and we give thanks for that arguments occur and that seems to be the stuff of human activity and the community of the early churches is no different as they work out their plan well i talked about that the writer antoine de santiago we know him for the little prince and i'm not going to quote at all from that book because that will be the stuff of the the videos that we put online but there are other books of his when he was an airman and was before the years of the war flying over the mediterranean over different parts of africa in the desert which caused him to think and write in other works and there are a few sentences of his which i think speak to this situation the first i notice is a goal without a plan is just a wish well that we've seen as jesus's eyes are set towards the holy city day by day in saint luke there is a plan but it's a reactive plan changed by those he meets and by what happens day by day changed by his care of the twelve peter among them and then love does not consist of gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction and the direction that the twelve with their master are going in is jerusalem now here after the resurrection we see many many more than the twelve gathered under the chairmanship of james the just as he's known and all that is happening as they try to put together a plan for this movement which is burgeoning across the mediterranean region and then finally perhaps the most important one of all from saint xupery of course i'll hurt you of course you'll hurt me of course we will hurt each other but this is the very condition of existence to become spring means accepting the risk of winter to become presence means accepting the risk of absence they're wonderful sentences but at the same time also our hearts are with those in the early church at this time peter and paul and james and john as they make decisions for that infant community which have had ramifications even today and the sentences of saint exupery speak to the situation of any loving human community as it makes decisions to go forward let's say our prayers wherever we are in the world pray for those whom we know and love those who have to make hard decisions and will be criticized for them and we ask for grace to accept that there will be differences in what the plan will be for the goal that we all share today we're praying for the anglican communion dioceses of north dakota in the episcopal church of the united states and for michael smith the bishop there and his people the diocese of athabasca in canada and fraser lorton the bishop there in his people and the diocese of juba in south sudan and the primate there justin badi arama and all his people so we continue to pray for the wheeled deanery and i've read the villages and parishes contained in that deanery on the last two days i'll read them again as i've said they're lovely communities to think about staplehurst cranbrook hawkhurst goudhurst kilndown sutton valance chart sutton sandhurst east sutton hedgehorn frittenden sissinghurst and marden and today we're asked to pray for all in that area deanery who exercise chaplaincy ministry to any groups and societies we pray for the arya dean rodney dreyer and as always we pray for justin our archbishop and rose bishop of dover and tim bishop at lambeth in their episcopal ministry perhaps we think of the most important episcopal ministry of ordination today on this feast day of saint peter and saint paul so the colleague for this day almighty god whose blessed apostles peter and paul glorified you in their death as in their life grant that your church inspired by their teaching and example and made one by your spirit may ever stand firm upon the one foundation jesus christ your son our lord and the son collects at the end of psalm 139 creator god may every breath we take be for your glory may every footstep show you as our way that trusting in your presence in this world we may be on this life still be with you where you are alive and reign for ever and ever amen one last quote from santa exupery before we say the of other perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add but when there is nothing left to take away in whatever language you like to say it and in whichever way you usually say it 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 amen moment of silence for our own prayers on this feast day god give you grace to follow saint peter's and paul and all his saints in faith and hope and love and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be among you and among all those whom you would pray for and those whom you love today and always amen you