good evening and welcome to this service of complin our last service of the day on this sunday the 18th of october it's been the loveliest autumn day and it's luke's day it's the time of year when often we're treated to what used to be called a sin luke's summer just a little oasis of sunshine and summer warmth though in fact the sun is more golden in the morning and is shining on autumn leaves as they fall from the trees nevertheless it's a good period a few weeks ago i was reading to you at this time of the evening at compline from a book called the magic apple tree by the detective novelist susan hill she normally writes these days about simon sarela as her detective who lives in a cathedral city and some of you will know those books but she wrote the book the magic apple tree in tribute to the village community in which she lives and which she loves to live in and i've come to an autumn chapter tonight because it's a time of year when we're trying desperately to keep something of the beauty of summer in its flowers and in its fruits and that has always been done by drying and preserving with meats it was smoking and salting but drying and preserving and so this is her chapter about that just a little of that because the desire to keep and preserve is always deep in the nature of humanity if you hear the noise behind it's just uh the the little sound of the quite a big sound of the pigs winston and kemi who are hearing me speaking and thinking that that might mean food is near it actually doesn't quite yet so here's her passage about this time of year in the kitchen autumn is my favorite season because it is preserving time jams and jellies chutneys and pickles fruit butters and cheeses and the whole glorious session rounded off with the making of the mincemeat which will be stored until christmas it is a time for advanced preparations and for giving the family plenty of warning though they get it anyway when they see the baskets of blackberries damsons apples plums come into the kitchen this year i kept a record of my preserving week and she dance day by day monday to friday and so i won't read them all but friday is a good day here we are with friday if monkey will let me see friday is chutney day i begin very early indeed as soon as the family have gone outside it has turned grey and cold and drizzly i put on the lights and some good food for thought programs on the wireless and begin to slice and chop onions apples green tomatoes and to weigh out brown sugar and sultanas and raisins and to measure spoonfuls of ginger and salt cloves and cinnamon mustard and cayenne pepper chutney making gives the kitchen an entirely different smell today vinegary spicy pungent causing me to catch my breath and wipe watering eyes i made three kinds apple which was a success green tomato which was very dull and elderberry chutney we ate the first jar of that too soon and it was very odd and much too raw i then put it to the back of the cupboard and found it again recently that is almost a whole year later it was amazingly delicious but still slightly odd well so it goes on but that sense of um trying to preserve something of beauty and also having a sense of the seasons is really deep within us and no dave likes luke's day to remind us of that because autumn becomes because of its scents and the smells of the orchard and the damp leaves it becomes a season of wistful memories and no more than this year when we're so separated from each other and have to keep in touch by other means and so that we give thanks for the fact that we want to keep those memories and also that we can preserve something of the memory of the sunshine of summer as we look forward to winter here though is the service for the end of the day so our memories will go back to the hours of this day the lord almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end amen be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour whom resist steadfast in the face but thou o lord have mercy upon us thanks be to god our help is in the name of the lord who hath made heaven and earth so in a few moments of reflection we remember the hours of this day and possibly the days of this week in order to say sorry for anything of which we felt unworthy of god our neighbor or ourself in what we did or said we confess to god almighty the father the son and the holy ghost before the whole company of heaven that we have sinned exceedingly in thought word and deed through our fault our own fault our own grievous fault therefore we pray god to have mercy upon us almighty god have mercy upon us forgive us all our sins and bring us to everlasting life amen turn us o god our savior and let thine anger cease from us oh god make speed to save us oh lord make case 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 our sound tonight psalm 91 followed by the short psalm 134 whoso dwelleth under the defense of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty i will say unto the lord thou art my hope and my stronghold my god in him will i trust for he shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter and from the noisome pestilence he shall defend thee under his wings and thou shalt be safe under his feathers his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night nor for the arrow that flyeth by day for the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noonday a thousand shall fall beside thee and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nighty yea with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the ungodly for thou lord art my hope thou has set thine house of defense very high there shall no evil happen unto thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways they shall bear thee in their hands that thou hurt not thy foot against a stone thou shalt go upon the lion and adder the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet because he has set his love upon me therefore will i deliver him i will set him up because he has known my name he shall call upon me and i will hear him ye i am with him in trouble i will deliver him and bring him to honor with long life will i satisfy him and show him my salvation 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 in psalm 134 behold now praise the lord all ye servants of the lord ye that by night stand in the house of the lord even in the courts of the house of our god lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the lord the lord that made heaven and earth give the blessing out of zion 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 thou o lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not o lord our god thanks be to god into thy hands o lord i commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me o lord thou god of truth glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost into thy hands o lord i commend my spirit before the ending of the day creator of the world we pray that with thy wanted favor thou wouldst be our guard and keep her now from all ill dreams defend our eyes from nightly fears and fantasies tread underfoot our ghostly foe that no pollution we may know oh father that we ask be done through jesus christ thine only son who with the holy ghost and doth live and reign eternally amen keep me o lord as the apple of an eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings so at this time we light a candle with many memories and special memories of those who have died and gone before us into greater light and we by lighting the candle preserve that memory of thanksgiving and commend them into the hands of almighty god as into the hands of a loving heavenly father and faithful creator [Music] rest eternal grant unto them o lord and let light perpetual shine upon them may they rest in peace and rise in glory amen save us so lord while waking and guard us while sleeping that awake we may watch with christ and asleep we may rest in peace lord now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of thy people israel 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 save us so lord while waking and guard us while sleeping that awake we may watch with christ and asleep we may rest in peace lord have mercy upon us christ have mercy upon us lord have mercy upon 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 we will lay us down in peace and take our rest blessed art thou o lord god of our forbes and to be praised and glorified forever let us bless the father and the son and the holy ghost let us praise and exalt him above all forever blessed art thou o lord in the firmament of heaven and to be praised and glorified and exalted above all forever the almighty and merciful lord guard us and give us his blessing about safe o lord to keep us this night without sin o lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us o lord let thy mercy lighten upon us as our trust is in the lord hear our prayer and let our cry come unto thee let us pray visit we beseech the o lord our homes and drive far from them all the snares of the enemy let thy holy angels dwell herein to preserve us in peace and may thy blessing be upon us ever more through jesus christ our lord amen be present so merciful god and protect us through the silent hours of this night so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world may repose upon thy eternal changelessness through jesus christ our lord amen within a moment of silence we now make our own intentions for this night and give thanks for this day and it's ours two the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and live 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 those whom you would pray for tonight and always amen i think someone has decided to lay him down in peace and take his rest [Music] poem by thomas love peacock born in 1785 and a great friend of shelly it's called the sundial poem and laments the passing of time the ivy or the mouldering wall spreads like a tree the growth of years the wild wind through the dawless hall a melancholy music rears a solitary voice that sighs or man's forgotten pageantries above the central gate the clock through clustering ivy dimly scene seems like the ghost of time to mock the wrecks of power that once has been the hands are rusted on its face even where they ceased in years gone by to keep the flying moment's pace fixing in fancy's thoughtful eye a point of ages passed away a speck of time that owns no tie with alt that lives and breathes today but amid the rank and towering grass where breezes wave in mournful sport the weeds that choke the ruined court the careless hours that circling pass still trace upon the dialed brass the shade of their unvarying way and ever more with every ray that breaks the clouds and guilds the air times stealthy steps are imaged there even as the long revolving years in self-reflecting circles flow from the first bud of the hedgerow bears to wintry nature's robe of snow the changeful forms of mortal things decay and pass and art and power oppose in vain the doom that flings oblivion on their closing hour while still to every woodland veil new blooms new fruits the seasons bring for other eyes and lips to hail with looks and sounds of welcoming as were some stream light eddying roves by sunny meads and shadowy groves wave following wave departs forever but still flows on the eternal river so [Music] [Music] hmm two yes um