yes [Music] so [Music] uh [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this sunday morning the 23rd of august we have in mind of course our friends in california who are fighting terrible wildfires in the forests and people are leaving their home so we pray for them as we continue to pray for the people in beirut and the lebanon and all areas of dangers in our world this also is purple poppy day which is a day when we remember all animals who have died in war and we had members of the armed services on friday who came and laid a wreath at the great war horse here in canterbury cathedral but this is the actual day when we remember that and remember our responsibility for the creatures and life of our world as as well as for one another in dangerous situations so let's remember all that as we say our prayers this morning and i'm going to use as our opening canticle following the opening responses the benediceti this morning which is a song of god's creation 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 bless the lord all you works of the lord sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord sun and moon bless the lord all rain and dew bless the lord all winds that blow sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord light and darkness bless the lord frost and cold bless the lord ice and snow sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord lightnings and clouds bless the lord all that grows in the ground bless the lord you springs sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord you season rivers bless the lord you whales and all that swim in the waters bless the lord all birds of the air sing his praise and exalt him forever bless the lord you creatures and cattle bless the lord all people on earth o people of god bless the lord sing his praise and exalt him 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 oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm this morning is psalm 100 111 alleluia i will give thanks to the lord with my whole heart in the company of the faithful and in the congregation the works of the lord are great sought out by all who delight in them his work is full of majesty and honor and his righteousness endures forever he appointed a memorial for his marvelous deeds the lord is gracious and full of compassion he gave food to those who feared him he is ever mindful of his covenant he showed his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations the works of his hands are truth and justice all his commandments are sure they stand fast forever and ever they are done in truth and equity he sent redemption to his people he commanded his covenant forever holy and awesome is his name the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have those who live by it his praise endures forever as you will remember from last sunday morning perhaps we are on sunday mornings reading the book of jonah last week in chapter 1 we saw how having received the express instruction from the lord to go and preach to the people of nineveh repentance for their way of life jonah wriggled out of that and went down and got a ship and tried to escape god's task for him by traveling in the ship but storms caused the sailors to know that the person on board was causing trouble with the elements for storms and wind arose they tried to wrote a land but could not and in the end jonah asked them to throw him into the sea for he knew it was his fault that this was going on and you remember that's where we ended but the lord appointed a great fish to swallow up jonah and jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights then jonah prayed to the lord his god from the belly of the fish saying i called out to the lord out of my distress and he answered me out of the belly of sheol i cried and you heard my voice for you cast me into the deep into the heart of the seas and the flood surrounded me all your waves and your billows passed over me then i said i am driven away from your sight yet i shall again look upon your holy temple the waters closed in over me to take my life the deep surrounded me weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains i went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever yet you brought up my life from the pit o lord my god when my life was fainting away i remember the lord and my prayer came to you into your holy temple those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love but i with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you what i have vowed i will pay salvation belongs to the lord and the lord spoke to the fish and it vomited jonah out upon the dry land this is a parable about the way in which when god sets before someone a task and that person shacks it refuses it god doesn't insist he simply sets the task before them again and again and again in different places and satisfaction and contentment can only in a deep way come to that person when that particular vocation that sure we call it destiny is embraced i think it's why jesus himself uses the illustration of jonah and we found that in luke's gospel jonah in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights as i said to you last week in the cathedral there's the most marvelous window of the sailors putting jonah down into the sea and the fish's mouth opening to receive him it was a kind of illustration for what would come afterwards as we undergird everything with the prophecies of the old testament and the parables and stories of the old testament but today here we have almost a psalm certainly a canticle which is put into the mouth of jonah from the belly of the whale the darkness it reminded me of so many other stories of moses desperately trying to escape into the quietness of a different life and try to forget the pain of his people and the vocation which was really his to go and set them free and he went to the very back side as the old testament says the backside of the wilderness the farthest point and there in a burning bush once again god confronts him with his particular vocation i was thinking this morning of the way in which gerard manly hopkins in the wreck of the deutschland in verse two of that great poem of his only realized by everyone by bridges robert bridges the poet laureate having it printed following hopskin's death many years later in verse 2 you have that sentence i did say yes yes to that vocation which was his but which wouldn't always give him joy here is one of his sonnets it's called thou art indeed just lord and it was written at the very end of his life before he died too young thou art indeed just lord if i contend with thee but sir so what i plead is just why do sinners ways prosper and why must disappointment all i endeavor end were thou my enemy o thou my friend how would thou worse i wonder that thou dost defeat thwart me oh the thoughts and thrills of lust do in spare hours more thrive than i that spend sir my life upon thy cause see banks and brakes now leave it how thick lace said they are again with fretty chervil look and fresh windshakes birds build but not i build no but strain times eunuch and not breed one work that wakes mine o thy lord of life send my roots reign hopkins desperate as creation is full of life all around him creations life in creatures in the plants in god's world but he and his vocation goes through that dark time as jonah does in the belly of the whale and then is the time for shall we call them arrow prayers or the remembrance of sentences of psalms but if it's something that god has in store for us then throughout life in joy and in sorrow if we've resisted it he will present it again in different forms in different faces in different human situations in different creatures in different landscapes and this morning as we remember wars right across the world and remember not only the people that suffer in them but creatures which suffer too in the way in which humanity have used creatures then this purple poppy day becomes a very important day for us our responsibility for one another of course and our responsibility for god's creatures there is in park lane in london a wonderful memorial to animals who've been used in war as you drive up park lane you can see on the right hand side horses covered in weapons of armaments and then as you go past a great piece of stone through which the animals go on the other side there they are free of all that human burden of war and there's a sense of wonderful release let's remember that this morning on this particular day as we pray for god's creation and also remember those fire fighting in california to save life both human and natural life so let's say our prayers on this morning of the month the 23rd of august we're praying for the church of the province of southeast asia and the primate there melted tears whose arch archbishop of southeast asia and bishop of sabah in the anglican communion and here in canterbury we pray for archbishop justin for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and today for the communities of the area deanery of sandwich we pray for the arya dean chris spencer and the late chair don martin at this time so we remember all whom we would like to pray for today and use first the colic for the week and then the purple poppy collect for this day which has been provided let your merciful ears oh lord be open to the prayers of your humble servants that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please you through jesus christ our lord amen eternal god the comfort and peace of all your creatures hear our prayers for all animals that suffer in times of war especially for those that bear burdens those that serve as food those that detect mines those that search for the missing and the dead and for all creatures in the path of war's destruction may your divine assistance be with them according to their need and may our swords be beaten into ploughshares and our hearts be softened towards animals of every kind for they are yours father son and holy spirit now and forever are men so we say each in our own language and in our own way the prayer which our lord has 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 your own prayers on this morning 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 upon those whom you would pray for this day and always are men [Applause]