good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral to the deanery garden on this last day of august monday the 31st of august this in england is august bank holiday which is a holiday for the nation the last monday in august it's a quite chilly one but it's a beautiful one there's no wind there's no rain and everything sounds silent outside because it's not a working day for anyone so it's a rest and for all of these it's a bit of a play time and we've come out to have a bank holiday breakfast here together in the freedom of the the the yard here with the chickens and with the pigs and i've got some more breakfast here for them if you want to go for them here winston clemmy here we go and uh you will see that our little piglets have grown up rather and are enjoying the time with their parents it's a lovely thing this sense of of freedom and uh winston took it to his advantage last night when he pushed through the iron gate which had been left unlocked in feeding the chickens and we found him uh coming through the french windows and entering the kitchen which was fun uh but uh the sound of of his own food soon brings him back again so it's lovely to see them and lovely to see clemmy looking so fit and the piglets growing up this is a day when the church remembers all kinds of people in different calendars across the world saint ayden of lindisfarne the apostle in northumbria and sent on the the catholic calendar uh saint joseph of aramacia and nicodemus whom we've looked at uh when we were dealing with sin luke's gospel and joseph of course a very important figure indeed in that it's also the anniversary in 1886 of the huge charleston earthquake and i say that because our friends in grace cathedral in charleston almost lost their church on that occasion it was so damaged that some of the architects condemned it but another said no this will restore and thank god it has been restored and we pray for dean michael narchyk and cali and all those of our friends in charleston in south carolina today it's also the 150th anniversary of the birth of maria montessori who has had an enormous influence in the education of children particularly young children her great belief was that children explored with their sensations and their imagination and their particular gifts and their creativity in the open air in places where they could sense the wonders of creation and then they were taught to reason and put things together in their mind so many schools have been influenced in that particular way and my companion here remembers that kind of atmosphere at the school of northbourne park which is near here we met lady northbourne when when i was reading the little prince and she uh was interviewed about her own experiences of santa experience her husband christopher was really formative in that kind of education not only for those at northbourne park school but for those who were disadvantaged in city areas of london whom he constantly would bring down to the countryside and give them that sense of freedom and creativity all around in the lovely countryside there but this also is the best at the the day on which john bunyan died on august the 31st in 1688 and i said last night at conflin that we would be concentrating on bunyan and particularly on his enormously popular allegory the pilgrimage progress from this world to that which is to come as he titled it in full and it was never out of print in his lifetime from then on it's been translated into so many so many different languages but we'll come to that in our reflection for the moment let's begin our prayers on this day and wherever you are in the world please feel free to join in the freedom of our bank holiday here in england 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 sovereign god creator of all to you be glory and praise forever you founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands in the fullness of time you made us in your image and in these last days you have spoken to us in your son jesus christ the word made flesh as we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us let the light of your love always shine in our hearts your spirit ever renew our lives and your praises ever be on our lips 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 last day of the month for this morning is psalm 145 and i shall read some verses of that now i will exalt you o god my king and bless your name forever and ever every day will i bless you and praise your name forever and ever great is the lord and highly to be praised his greatness is beyond all searching out one generation shall praise your works to another and declare your mighty they shall speak of the majesty of your glory and i will tell of your wonderful deeds they shall speak of the might of your marvelous acts and i will also tell of your greatness they shall pour forth the story of your abundant kindness and joyfully sing of your righteousness the lord is gracious and merciful long-suffering and of great goodness the lord is loving to everyone and his mercy is over all his creatures all your works praise you o lord and your faithful servants bless you they tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your mighty power the eyes of all wait upon you o lord and you give them their food in due season you open wide your hand and fill all things living with plenty so we turn then to our reading from the acts of the apostles and we are in chapter 8 and we have arrived at the 26th verse now the angel of the lord said to philip rise and go towards the south to the road that goes down from jerusalem to gaza this is a desert place and he rose and went and there was an ethiopian a eunuch a court official of the kandaki queen of the ethiopians who was in charge of all her treasure he had come to jerusalem to worship and was returning seated on his chariot and he was reading the prophet isaiah and the spirit said to philip go over and join this chariot so philip ran to him and heard him reading isaiah the prophet and asked do you understand what you are reading and he said how can i unless someone guides me and he invited philip to come and sit with him in the chariot now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this like a sheep he was led to the slaughter like a lamb before its shearers is silent so he opens not his mouth in his humiliation justice was denied him who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth and the eunuch said to philip about whom i ask does the prophet say this about himself or about someone else then philip opened his mouth and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news about jesus and as they were going along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said see here is water what is to prevent me from being baptized and he commanded his chariot to stop and philip and the eunuch went down into the water and philip baptized him and when they came up out of the water the spirit of the lord carried philip away and the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing but philip found himself at azotus and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to caesarea it's a wonderful story we're talking about philip the evangelist one of the seven not philip the apostle and we see his journey going along the road and here is the ethiopian reading from the prophet isaiah and it's one of the servant songs which our lord himself references and the church certainly as we've seen in all the writings of luke associates with the ministry of the christ that suffering which he himself shares in his humanity so when philip hears the ethiopian reading aloud the spirit says to philip go up to him and ask him if he understands and philip does just that and the ethiopian says how can i understand without a guide without someone to explain to me without an interpreter someone who already by experience knows what this means come and sit in the chariot with me this is a man of means and it was clearly a large chariot because there's a driver too and uh sitting side by side and clearly the journey continues so much of what we read in the gospels and in the acts of the apostles happens on the road in a journey and this is no exception but it's the ethiopian who asks the question when he sees water which we were thinking about so much yesterday what is there to prevent me from being baptized and the answer from philip is nothing whatsoever they've been talking the ethiopian has been preparing himself by such things as the reading of the prophet isaiah here is a new step and the holy spirit is much involved one of the readings or one of the the versions of this from ancient times is slightly different and it's good to hold it side by side we read at the end when they came up out of the water the spirit of the lord carried philip away and the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing but the other translation or the other version says when they came up out of the water the spirit of the lord came over the ethiopian and he went on his way rejoicing and the angel of the lord took philip to azotus which used to be called ashdod in philistine times and as he passed through he preached the gospel until he came to caesarea we shall find philip and his four daughters in acts chapter 21 when paul is his guest in caesarea later on but for the moment let's turn to bunyan because here is his book the pilgrims progress it's my copy which i was given as i said last night as a sunday school prize coincidentally on the 31st of august in 1958 it's been with me ever since and the picture on the front of help pulling christian out of the slow of death bond is absolutely a mental picture that i've always had so today i'm not concentrating on part one of the pilgrims progress we did that last night part one is a fairly lonely time as christian goes along with his burden and then released from his burden and turning this way and that and being helped back on the path being accompanied firstly by faithful and secondly even to the dungeons of giant despair by hopeful but as one goes along there is that sense of christian bearing this burden and needing help part two is quite different this is the journey of christiana christian's wife and her four sons matthew and samuel and joseph and james and their next-door neighbor young mercy she goes along with them too it's a journey which is much more full of shall we say cheerfulness as they go along because they help each other and just as philip was able to explain to the ethiopian what all this meant so they find folk along the way and banyan is wonderful with names remember the names of those who were trying to stop cristiano from setting off in following her husband mrs inconsiderate mrs light mind misses know nothing and mrs light mind you remember when christiana is saying serious things just turns the conversation about gossiping about how she was at madame wanton's the other night and not knowing anything at all well bunyan picks types along the way people like in the first one ignorance or in other places you will find people just not understanding but on this journey christiana finds herself surrounded by friends who do understand whom they meet on the way and some of those are the best characters in bunion chiefly the person that the interpreter at the wicked gate sends with christiana to show her the way and his name is great heart and mr great heart is one of the great characters of part two for part two is about the christian journey together it's about community it's about the extended family it's about helping one another and if you think of christian in the first part being accompanied by faith faithful and hope hopeful then christiana is surrounded by the third quality love faith hope and charity it used to be faith hope and love the same word and they come to various places where they're given wonderful hospitality from gaius the innkeeper whom they stay with for a long time several years this is a journey which takes a long time and on the way all four boys get married and they're ready then for the to stay on they don't go through the the river of death at the end and this becomes rather important so when they try to pay their bill the innkeeper says no this has all been paid for by the good samaritan all the time bunyan anchoring it in the gospel but let's remember also that they pick up people and help people along the way who was fallen by the wayside mr feeblemind mr ready to halt mr despondency and they find two great supporters in mr valiant for truth and mr standfast it's mr valiant for truth that i'm turning to now and he at the end of the journey is described as being called for over the river of death as i say cristiano will have her own call and also the boys with their new wives and families beginning will stay on this side as a sign of the community of the church but here is the famous passage about mr valiant for truth school after this it was noised abroad that mr valiant for truth was taken with a summons by the same post as mr honest who had gone before him and had this for a token that the summons was true that his picture was broken at the fountain when he understood it he called for his friends and told them of it then said he i am going to my father's and though with great difficulty i have got hither yet now i do not repent me of all the troubles i have been at to arrive where i am my sword i give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage and my courage and skill to him who can get it my marks and scars i carry with me to be a witness for me that i have fought his battles who will now be my rewarder and when the day came that he must go hence many accompanied him to the riverside into which as he went he said death where is thy sting and as he went down deeper he said grave where is thy victory so he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side probably the most famous words that mr valiant for truth spoke are in the form of three verses of poetry they are gender specific because this is mr valiant for truth song but we know it i think because of a tune written from an english folk song and arranged by vaughn williams which he called monk's gate and we sing now as a hymn with every verse ending to be a pilgrim but this is mr valiant for truth song here in the pilgrim's progress who would true valor see let him come hither one here will constantly be come wind come weather there's no discouragement shall make him once relent his first avowed intent to be a pilgrim whosoever set him round with dismal stories do but themselves confound his strength the more is no lion can him fright heal with a giant fight but he will have a right to be a pilgrim hobgoblin nor falfines can daunt his spirit he knows he at the end shall life inherit then fancies fly away he'll fear not what men say he'll labor night and day to be a pilgrim that song could have been sung by christiana by mercy by any of the women and men in that group not a blood family although christian christiana and christians four boys were there with their wives and also those that they had picked up along the way the ones who felt themselves too weak or too lacking in understanding to go on to lacking in courage with great heart leading them they got to the riverbank and saw each other other over one by one or turned back to be the body of the church here in this pilgrimage let's give thanks for all of that these pictures on bank holiday morning and for philip the evangelist's great journey which is the first step in the church's journey into the whole wide world so on this bank holiday morning let us remember throughout the world the diocese of kimberly and kuruman in south africa oswald schwartz the bishop there the diocese of kindu in the congo and the bishop there zachary katanda who is also the primate and then we also pray for the diocese of kinky easy in uganda and dan zureka the bishop in his community there here as we continue to pray for the area deanery of sandwich we remember the town of sandwich itself this morning and also the village of worth and pray for mark roberts the parish priest and the current robin bendall we remember justin our archbishop and pray for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and i ask you to pray for all your faith leaders as you join your prayers with ours and remember to those who have helped you in your journey people whom you might consider part of your extended family in the faith as we celebrate a day of freedom from work here in england insofar as it is necessary and also pray for those whose very necessary work in health and resources continues not only here but right across the world here first is the prayer in our prayer book for john bunyan god of peace who called your servant john bunyan to be valiant for truth grant that as strangers and pilgrims we may at the last rejoice with all christian people in your heavenly city through jesus christ our lord amen and the prayer for this week almighty and everlasting god you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy for giving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of jesus christ your son our lord amen so wherever we are in the world and in whichever language we normally use let's pray 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 some silence now for you to make your own prayers and 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 today and always amen [Applause] so [Applause] sorry