good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral we've come to the orchard this morning on this lovely summer morning so feel welcome wherever you are in the world the orchard still has a certain amount of flour in it we've sized the long grass now that the wildflowers have flowered and and um seeded but at the same time there are things flowering and you're looking at a lovely wild valerian which is coming to the end of its flowering period but certainly not of its scented period and i can smell the fragrance even from where i'm sitting at the moment on the stone seat for our prayers this morning and then also we have in a great cloud of bright glory and arrancas in full flower and that too is the most wonderful thing to behold especially in the morning sunshine as things begin to wake up so uh wherever you are bring your own prayers and intentions i'm sitting under the cherry trees most of the cherries that were there have certainly gone to black quests and thrushes but we certainly don't deny them those kinds of treats in the garden here because their singing gives us so much pleasure i'm surrounded in the moment by singing of another kind russell heralding the morning and ducky being absolutely thrilled to come out and find herself near to water so uh as we begin to say our prayers this morning we we have certain things to think about in really painful areas of our world and i would want to start first with the devastating floods in uh germany and luxembourg and belgium and the netherlands and parts of france or all the destruction the loss of life and also those who are still missing those helping them we hold them in our hearts and in our prayers from across the world today desperate situation which suddenly came upon them with with the startling amounts of rainfall and the flooding of great rivers and then secondly i wanted to say prayers on this day which is the anniversary in 1918 of the birth of nelson mandela who had a great vision for south africa i wanted to say prayers for the people of south africa because their turmoil and trouble continues and we simply hold that nation in our hearts and prayers on this mountain this morning of turmoil as we begin our own prayers now this is a time when the choir terms are beginning to end and we call this weekend and this day in fact sob sunday traditionally it's been called that because we're saying goodbye to choristers both boys now and girls who have served the music of this place so well now last night as some of you will know and some of you may he even have been there the concert was a sellout we had the summer concert of our girls choir and it was a happy and wonderful occasion with beautiful music of very different sorts but all is not lost if you didn't see it last night or weren't here because it's now online and you can enjoy all that music in a wonderful way and tune in to that and take the link but also perhaps if you uh didn't get the chance to buy a ticket and come having listened to it you might like to contribute to the work of the girls choir which is an ongoing work within the compass of our new director of music uh david newsham who was the founder of the girls choir and has conducted them for several years now um but he is outreaching with the cathedral music into the local area and beyond the way to do this is to simply tap the link but make sure that if when you're doing that with just giving you put a note saying girls choir and that will then designate that money for the development of the girls choir part of the of the cathedral music foundation and we receive no help with that in any other way then the way in which people give donations the cathedral is is self-funding in terms of church funds and government funds except for occasional government projects as with the um final restoration of the roof and west towers but for music which we prize so much no we have to fund that ourselves so all of these things at the time when we're saying thank you today for the singing of the cathedral choirs so let's begin our prayers now on this sunday morning 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 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 as we wake refresh 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 oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen so we turn to our sound this morning and the psalm for this 18th morning of the month is psalm 91 it's one that we use at complin when we say or sing complin but it's one which causes us to remember our need at all times not only in times of trouble of god's help and protection and it's one that is is quoted in the new testament too whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high and abides under the shadow of the almighty shall say to the lord my refuge and my stronghold my god in whom i put my trust for he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence he shall cover you with his wings and you shall be safe under his feathers his faithfulness shall be your shield and buckler you shall not be afraid of any terror by night nor of the arrow that flies by day of the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor of the sickness that destroys at noonday though a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand yet it shall not come near you your eyes have only to behold to see the reward of the wicked because you have made the lord your refuge and the most high your stronghold there shall no evil happen to you neither shall any plague come near your tent for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways they shall bear you in their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone you shall tread upon the lion and adder the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot because they have set their love upon me therefore will i deliver them i will lift them up because they know my name they will call upon me and i will answer them i am with them in trouble i will deliver them and bring them to honor with long life will i satisfy them and show them my salvation sunday morning so a special lesson and last week if you remember we finished our sequence of sunday morning lessons from the acts of the apostles with the conclusion of luke's second volume the acts this morning takes us to one peter and we've been given a passage in the lectionary from chapter 3 starting at verse 8. so the third chapter of the first letter of peter and verse 8. finally all of you have unity of mind sympathy brotherly love a tender heart and a humble mind do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary bless for to this you were called that you may obtain a blessing for whoever desires to love life and see good days let them keep their tongue from evil and their lips from speaking deceit let them turn away from evil and do good let them seek peace and pursue it for the eyes of the lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer but the face of the lord is against those who do evil now who is that to harm you if you are zealous for what is good but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake you will be blessed have no fear of them nor be troubled but in your hearts honor christ the lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience so that when you are slandered those who revile your good behavior in christ may be put to shame for it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be god's will than for doing evil for christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit this this letter is under the name of peter the two letters in the new testament and the authority of peter lies beneath it but there's good reason to think that some of this was put together in the way that matthew puts his his evangel his gospel together in order to give courage and comfort to a particular community which is clearly suffering and it feels as if they're suffering persecution so this is later on and the authority and words of peter are now being uh used by the writer who is putting this together to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion of all the jews in pontus galatia cappadocia asia by simia all of those areas in their troubles and persecutions and also in their community life are given advice as to how to conduct themselves and what to feel about hope in god and the gift of the gospel when persecution strikes them albeit unfairly because they are living as model citizens so much of this as in our lord's own teaching is based on prophecy and the law interpreted from the old testament and here we have a lovely section of psalm 34. we've had that quoted earlier in this very epistle when we're asked to taste and see how gracious the lord is a metaphor in savoring as i'm savouring the scent of the valerian but our senses using the graciousness of the lord and see the respect with which were asked to treat each other whatever the conditions around us but again that quite long passage from psalm 34 whoever desires to love life and see good days let them keep their tongue from evil and their lips from speaking deceit let them turn away from evil and do good let them seek peace and pursue it for the eyes of the lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer lovely section of psalm 34 which our lord would have known by heart from childhood because those psalms which we recite daily psalm 34 happens to be an evening song but we recite the morning psalms and then in the evening the evening psalms in the cathedral mostly now sung and we give thanks that our lord's courage into his own shall we say knapsack finding the verses just as he was able to respond when satan in the in the in the uh wilderness tempted him with verses from psalm 91 don't be afraid he will give his angels charges throw yourself off the temple and and that will happen and everyone will believe in you but the resistance to anything that was shall we say superhuman because of the intention of the anointed one to share in our human condition in every way and take our suffering to the cross and die for our sins all of this is in this passage from one peter and given to christians to give them hope in all situations and then the response is always always of gentleness and respect not just for the christian community themselves but to all those around them for that is witnessing to the ministry of the one who took our humanity upon him and was lifted up and opened his arms wide for the whole world and that whole world is beginning to be mentioned in the list of places that this epistle is being written for so we give thanks for that insight in the third chapter of one peter that one peter also speaks of all kinds of details of the society as the writer and the the the person basing themselves on the authentic teaching and words of pisha has around the um place where the writer actually is and we've got uh some good dates to think about today as we always think about our dates and we'll do that surrounded by the morning noises of of russell and and ducky and also the three turkeys darcy and lizzie and jane i say their names because they'll come into prominence in a moment this is the day uh in 1817 when jane austen died and she is loved by so many for her six major novels four of which were published in her lifetime first sense and sensibility second pride and prejudice third mansfield park fourth emma but published anonymously so that she took no great financial benefit from it but i hope she took pleasure from the original popularity not in great numbers that came later and now her books are treasured including the two published after her death northanger abbey and persuasion and what she did was simply look around at society as she knew it and she herself a daughter of the of the vicarage looking round at society but she had a good chance because also one of her brothers was given to the knight family edward because they had no children and he was brought up by the knight family who had an estate very near here at gomesham just just a few miles along the road and they were a wealthy family and all their their goods and and resources were left to edward and so he was able to give jane comfort and also his libraries on his estates were courage by her in in the the writing that she gave us but mostly it was people she was noticing and her delicious irony about people and the sense of humor about them with the words she uses became just wonderful there's a story of her coming here from gomesham and finding the uh member of parliament for mr washington uh for canterbury mr washington rather charming and all of this is is set out so that we treasure images like that in the society of that time in an odd way jane austen society because she is so humorous and ironic and and and human in the way she does things is something that that is timeless and so many filmmakers and television makers uh have uh series makers have have courage her novels i've got here pride and prejudice in my hand and of course that first sentence of pride and prejudice it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife however little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of someone or other of their daughters well there's your plot set out but pride and prejudice doesn't begin with the heroine it begins with her parents and jane austen is just as ironic about them i can't read much of this this morning there's no time um but at the the same time she describes the parents of of uh elizabeth and jane mr bennett was so odd a mixture of quick parts sarcastic humor reserve and caprice that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character her mind was less difficult to develop she was a woman of mean understanding little information and uncertain temper when she was discontented she fancied herself nervous the business of her life was to get her daughters married and its solace was visiting and news well what a wonderful description uh that book then begins with the parents and the little character studies not in painting but in in words are there for us trying to be interpreted by those who have set the series but always people go back to the books and they never tire you one of the books though and i think it's probably fletcher's favorite begins with the picture of the heroine herself and that's emma and here's the beginning and he could say it by heart actually because he knows it by heart but i'll read it to you emma woodhouse handsome clever and rich with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence and had lived nearly 21 years in the world with very little to distress or vex her well there's a canvas which is going to be drawn on by jane austen in this wonderful novel so the ability to portray one another and the society in which we live can be done in words uh and it can also be done not by setting out to do it because this is a day also in 1720 when gilbert white was born now i've got his book here also it's the natural history of selbourne and it is one of the classics of the english language and i think gilbert white would have been most surprised himself it was published by him for the interest of others in 1789 a year known for political upheaval with the french revolution beginning but gilbert white had been born and died in selburn in hampshire and he was himself ordained as a priest in the anglican church in the church of england but he could never take over the living of selbourne but he lived in the biggest house there and his family did too and he often helped out as a curet there and and was working as a priest as well he couldn't take it over because it was giving it was in the giving in those days of modeling college and he had been at oriole college oxford and was therefore not able to take that living nevertheless selbourne was his place and every morning and this is an illustrated copy of that beautiful book and it's full of the creatures he described and he did it in letters to various people and day by day and year by year we see unfolding the natural history of the surround in his own gardens and the surround of what is happening when things are born and when things flower and the way in which things feel and it might be earthworms or it might be something really beautiful in plant life or nothing is beneath his notice in a way he has a claim to be the first ecologist in this way or the father of ecology in this way in in the english language but it is the most wonderful book and it does what we have done now since what march the 25th 2020 day by day looked at a particular piece of land and in our case been able to see it and i've been able to describe the atmosphere of it in snow and frost and springtime and autumn when the leaves are falling around me and make you know what this feels like as we watch it unfold well gilbert white did that very very much for selbourne that gave us the most perfect picture of all that was happening in that patch of land in hampshire at that time simply by gathering together the letters he wrote to others and then publishing them for interest sake i'll leave you to discover more of that perfect book i want to finish with the uh um the uh painter and and artist in in in drawing rex whistler no relation as i said yesterday no relation to james mcneil whistler that we were thinking of yesterday the american painter who painted mostly in england rex whistler died in action on this day in 1944 in outside anko in normandy he was part of the the forces there but he was already very well known and the times musical said they had more letters of sorrow about the the uh death of rex whistler than any other person throughout the conflict so it's an enormous tribute to him but he was so well known because not only did he do great murals and i'll speak about some of those in a moment he also did wonderful drawings things like the the cover of the radio times and uh so that the people knew what this was he also designed pottery for the designs on wedgwood pottery but mostly he was someone who who loved drawing what he saw and decorating it but he also dreamed dreams and in his dreaming he painted those in great murals someone can still see them if you go to place newest on anglesey home of the marquis of anglesey it's a national trust place and you can go and visit there and there there is a wonderful mural there and you can discover the story of all that both in his own life and also in the things that are being painted he'd intended to come up and come back and paint some finishing touches after the war but of course never lived to do that and at the same time near to us at port lim and port lim is better known as what we might call a safari park all along the coast it's part of the aspinal foundation at howlitz as well and the astronauts at the moment are are beginning to release all their elephants uh in back into the wild which is a huge task and also uh we learned this morning joshi the silverback gorilla has gone back to congo where he will find his native home because uh damien aspinall is thinking that this is right and proper now and um it gives us the thought that we who've now successfully bred a growing colony of harvest mice have sized the grass so that we can actually release them here and hope in the protection of this place to to allow them a life outside as well these delightful creatures well let's go back to rex whistler because he painted a tent room which you can see in the mansion house there the manor house at port lim but i wanted to think about his drawings because he also drew the illustrations for this book which is a treasured book for us it's the first of the trilogy by beverly nichols about his little uh house that he bought called always and the book is called down the garden path it's a hilarious book but it's also a real encouragement for gardeners and it's telling the story in three volumes of how that garden it always was set up and the volumes were published in 1932 1933 1934 but the illustrations and here's this beautiful map of the garden in pictures uh on the the front cover and also the front is piece inside you see the the the gardens of always drawn by rex whistler who also inside draws lovely plates of autumn summer spring and little little cameos and on the pages he does that for three volumes of beverly nichols as beverly nichols charts his garden like gilbert white or us morning by morning and we caused a map of the deanery garden to be drawn in that kind of way it needs a bit of updating now because it's changed a little bit but it's a perfect way to do it because it's not only a map it also has little drawings of the creatures and the house and all the trees and plants that are there so we give thanks for rex whistler and all his imagination in both mural and also tiny drawings which gives such pleasure as ones reading the books let's uh stop there or i shall go on too far and it's a sunday morning and we've worshiped to do in the cathedral as well so let's say our prayers at this time in a spirit of thankfulness again for fruitfulness and the way that creation gives and gives and gives if we receive but also for the way in which the writer of one peter shows the christian community exactly how their own fruitfulness can make the society around them a better place and how the evangel the gospel the good news of jesus christ is lived out in those societies not only in joy but in sorrow in pain in suffering even in death and that we give thanks for too on this day when we have considered areas which no pain this morning particularly in northern europe and in south africa so we are praying on this particular day for those who live in the anglican diocese of french-speaking diocese of rwanda the province there and at the same time as we pray for archbishop dustin for bishop rose at dover and bishop tim at lambeth for the chaplains who work for the communities in the maidstone deanery parishes we've been thinking of the area around the town of maidstone and this week we shall go on to the names of the parishes themselves but for the moment we think of the whole area there are many communities there many communities are performing arts uh which have not been able to sing but thanks be to god it looks as though from tomorrow onwards here we will be able to sing hymns again and next sunday will look very different from this sunday in the cathedral church if we hold to that course which is good news but we must never stop looking after one another at this time when the pandemic is still a danger and the the welfare of each other still something we really must keep hold of at this time so we've a new collect on this day and uh i'll read that now so please uh bring your own prayers and intentions as we say our prayers on this particular morning lord of all power and might the author and giver of all good things graft in our hearts the love of your name increasing us true religion nourish us with all goodness and of your great mercy and keep us in the same excuse me through jesus christ our lord amen let's say the prayer our savior taught us in whatever language you like to say it and with the the beautiful cloud bus the bright clouds of our ankus uh behind me 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 lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen a little bit of silence now as we say our own prayers on this day [Music] so so 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 whom you would pray for today and always are men so don't forget to uh tune in to the music of the girls choir you won't regret it i assure you