good morning and welcome to the garden of canterbury cathedral the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of sunday the 13th of february as we meet to say our morning prayers um i wanted first as you join us from across the world and please feel welcome wherever you are and bring your own concerns but we've heard news yesterday evening and this morning of a tragedy in london which happened in the happiest of places it happened in an area of london at hackney wick and that if one looks across the little river which runs down into the thames there is looking across at the olympic park in that area of london and it's an area of of uh growing development and places where where creative young people in all kinds of different work are beginning to live but at the same time it was uh called fish island because it was the place where uh traditionally all the canning the tinning of fish which was brought in was done and that is still represented in one way by the family firm of foreman which is a fish company of great quality and that still exists and next door to it was the restaurant is the restaurant and bar two more years and that too is from the traditional life of that very busy part of london on fish island but yesterday afternoon when the the restaurant was full of young people having a happy saturday afternoon rest from all the work they do and enjoying one another's company the mezzanine of that uh restaurant collapsed taking down with it the people on it and going down into the people underneath and suddenly the happiest of scenes was turned into an emergency for human life no one thankfully was killed but many people have been very badly injured and the the scene of wreckage there shows how quickly a human situation can turn from happiness and encouragement and laughter into something where suddenly emergency resources are needed and there is great pain and and a sense of panic amongst the people there so we remember that area of london plessy used to work there with a property company and knows the area very very well indeed uh and so it was harrowing for him to see this uh two more years place um in that dire straits of emergency as the news came through so as we think of all that today our theme when we come to this special reading today of the acts of the apostles gives us that sudden turning from happiness and enjoyment and celebration into something which is a much more tragic scene so we're going to read acts chapter 6 later um but for the moment we say prayers for all those involved in that tragedy in london many more things of course of huge importance going on across the world but sometimes these human stories can catch you with the sense of our fragility within the compass of the creation and sometimes at the most enjoyable times so let's say our prayers this morning as we gather here and we are on a a sunday course this morning so we're leaving samuel and saul and david and jonathan until tomorrow morning and we are beginning our prayers for sunday 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 blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing the light and life of all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made and 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 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 on this 13th morning of the month is psalm 68 it's a very long sound so as is our custom we shall read a part of it parts of it let god arise and let his enemies be scattered let those that hate him flee before him as the smoke vanishes so may they vanish away as wax melts at the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of god but that the righteous be glad and rejoice before god let them make merry with gladness sing to god sing praises to his name exalt him who rides on the clouds the lord is his name rejoice before him father of the fatherless defender of widows god in his holy habitation god gives the solitary a home and brings forth prisoners to songs of welcome but the rebellious inhabit a burning desert oh god when you went forth before your people when you marched through the wilderness the earth shook and the heavens dropped down rain at the presence of god the lord of sinai at the presence of god the god of israel you sent down a gracious reign o god you refreshed your inheritance when it was weary your people came to dwell there in your goodness so god you provide for the poor blessed be the lord who bears our burdens day by day for god is our salvation god is for us the god of our salvation god is the lord who can deliver from death sing to god you kingdoms of the earth make music in praise of the lord he rides on the ancient heaven of heavens and sends forth his voice a mighty voice ascribe power to god whose splendor is over israel whose power is above the clouds how terrible is god in his holy sanctuary the god of israel who gives power and strength to his people blessed be god as i said we come to a special reading for sunday morning leaving one samuel till tomorrow and reading the set lesson for today at matins at morning prayer which is acts chapter six quite a short chapter are you come back uh quite a short chapter but one which has an atmosphere which turns about in the middle of it now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number a complaint by the hellenists arose against the hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution and the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of god to wait at tables therefore brothers and sisters pick out from among you seven men of good repute full of the spirit and of wisdom whom we will appoint to this duty but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word and what they said pleased the whole gathering and they chose stephen a man full of faith and of the holy spirit and philip and prochorus and nyqueno and tyman and parminas and nicholas a proselyte of antioch these they set before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them and the word of god continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith and stephen full of grace and power was doing great and wonderful signs amongst the people but some of those who belong to the synagogue of the freedmen as it was called and of the sirenians and of the alexandrians and of those from silesia and asia rose up and disputed with stephen but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking then they secretly instigated men who said we have heard him speak blasphemous words against moses and god and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council they set up false witnesses who said this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law for we have heard him say that this jesus of nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that moses delivered to us and gazing at stephen all who sat in the council saw that stephen's face was like the face of an angel a lesson which takes us from the wonderful enthusiasm and growth and joy and celebration of the early church so much is happening and as you know they make provision for one another and especially for those who are in special need and things have grown to such a pitch and there is a division between those who probably would be mostly greek speaking and if you look at the names of the seven they have uh predominantly greek names they could well have been jews of a a greek extraction we're not yet talking i don't think about uh greeks themselves which come later in sin john's gospel of course asking for jesus but who is to say this is luke himself of the hellenist area and and uh not we think a jew this is luke writing and at the same time that the hellenists and the hebrews or the traditional part of the judaism those who are following the lord and among them of course the twelve are challenged because that the widows of the hellenists are not receiving the right amount there's a discrimination going on shall we say and it's been discovered and so the apostles saying well it's not right for us to wait at tables we should devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word and so they set apart the seven and they're named and they lay hands on them normally these are seen as the first deacons the word isn't used in this chapter but often they are called by that name and certainly their service is the service of a deacon and they lay hands on them and they become diaconoy and we've looked at that word before because of course in greek the word diaconos can mean exactly one who is waiting at tables and that is absolutely shown in the story of the wedding at cana of galilee which we've been into before because those who are serving and who eventually find themselves serving the wine which has been created by our lord from the pure water so that the complexity of wine is given and it says the steward of the feast didn't know but the waiters at table did and those were diakonoi a diaconos it's not right for us to wait at tables says peter it's it's actually something we should give to another almost order and so they lay hands on a special order of those who would do that while they themselves concentrate on prayer and the ministry of the word now here is in some way um a confusion i mean in the apostles thinking for if they think that the service of waiting at tables and giving out the resources and saying why they're doing it can be separated from the ministry of the word while all that's going on and the good news of the gospel is being given in the waiting at tables and the serving of people's needs then they're wrong and that becomes apparent almost immediately for we're told that stephen was powerful in not only proclaiming the gospel but in serving the people and that would probably have gone for the other six as well for so often it's when you approach someone in service and help them in their need that the word is more effectively preached not only in words but also by those who are active in what they're doing and setting before people the fruits of their own creativity and that could be in in art or in music or in in words written down um or it could be in service it could be in in in setting before people yesterday we were of course looking at uh zephorelli the film director so it could be in the camera in terms of the scene you're seeing which has been set to demonstrate the gospel those who wait that word we've looked at recently too in the story of david saul and samuel and jonathan david at present is having to wait those three days but these are to wait at table says saint peter and that waiting it's a bell for an earlier morning service going on in the cathedral um that waiting at table is something which needs intuition as well for waiting does need intuition to spot visually and intuitively people's needs not just at table but wherever they are and milton's great poem they also serve who only stand and wait the waiting is not passive it's actually spotting a need before the people themselves have had a chance to express it all this is going on within this passage and then suddenly all that joy and celebration at this ministry is changed by the bitterness it stirs up by the divisions it stirs up and they are suddenly surrounded first by contention and then when stephen is able it seems quite easily to put down their arguments false witnesses are then brought and the false witnesses make accusations which are serious enough to be brought before the council and stephen from a position of joy is dragged before the council and we ourselves of course because we know the story of the stoning of stephen we we know what a tragic de numer this president is that this scene of happiness is suddenly turned into a scene of tragedy bitterness spite and hate and it's within that context that the new testament saul not the old testament king saul but the new testament saul is standing with those who stone stephen the coats at his feet but we're not on that part of the story yet for the moment this chapter has turned on a hinge from joyful celebration to a pressage of tragedy and certainly stephen is now surrounded not by friends nor by though he's serving but by the hostile but perhaps i could just correct what i've just said not by those he's serving for the last sentence of this chapter of acts 6 is an extraordinary one and luke has just written that in as the members of the council looked on stephen as he was about to make his defense his face was like the face of an angel the akonos is not just a deacon in liturgical terms it's actually the ordinary name for someone waiting on others like the waiters at the wedding at cana of galilee [Music] the greek word angelos angel doesn't just mean the angels and archangels of the eternal kingdom it simply means a messenger one who is sent to bring news very often good news and here are the council senior representatives looking into the face of an angel someone who's been sent to bring them good news the most ordinary human word but with resonances of heaven justice de akonos has the ordinary human context of those waiting at table and there must have been many of those yesterday at two years more in that tragic scene it could mean just that human form or it could mean the divine ministry of service of being a deacon in the church of christ those ways in which words are giving extra meaning and at this time it also shows us how quickly a situation can change from support to hostility from happiness to tragedy from the need of a very different kind of service from those who rushed to help the people yesterday in that agonizing situation of tragedy and much human injury and we pray for all those so this morning we have two dates which fit well with with what we're saying the first is that on the 13th of february 1881 elena fargen was born she was born in a house in the strand in london one of the major roads of london and she lived there with her family and she died much later on still in london but her life hadn't always been in london in hampstead at the age of 84 in 1965 but elena fargen was when she was born and growing up a very uh imaginative and literary little girl whose health was not good and whose eyesight was poor and so her father who himself was jewish had her to be educated at home and she was surrounded by her brothers whom she loved dearly so her three brothers joseph and herbert were writers and harry became a composer and elena began at once almost to write herself with great encouragement from the family she became a very devout roman catholic but she wrote of her own experiences and very early on her stories became stories for children which adults could read with huge pleasure she took inspiration from family holidays in france and one of her most famous children's stories martin pippen in the apple orchard and also nursery rhymes of london town came from those experiences and also her experiences in the countryside in sussex later on she wrote libretti for her composer brother harry and she also collaborated with her literary brothers in writing things too but she became as she grew up and her writing began to be recognized in years before the first world war and during the first world war she became a friend of dh lawrence of walter de la mer of the the american poet robert frost and of the english poet edward thomas and his wife helen and that uh company of writers were a company of great pleasure and joy and so she enjoyed all of that but elena fargen herself had to go through that first world war where edward thomas was killed and she looked after his wife helen and later when she was writing semi-auto autobiographical pieces the story of the friendship with the thomas is explored it's none of that that i want to concentrate on i want to concentrate on the fact that when after the first world war percy diemer was thinking of writing a companion type of hymn book for the english hymnal and he wanted to call it songs of praise and and uh that was going to be a hymn book which gloried in humanity post the tragedy of the first world war he asked for hymns and elena fargen wrote two hymns and it's probably fair to say that she's best known now for those hymns one of them is a hymn which we tend to sing it advent but i don't see it as an advent hymn i see it very much as an invitation to the creator who is waiting to come to us in the words made flesh not just at christmas but all the time every day and the the the uh matter is is linked almost to the sunrise and it's that the hymn people look east and i think it's one of the most beautiful pieces of poetry and i i sort of reckon that the last line of the i don't know this because i i hadn't thought it before but i i sort of think now that the last line of the first verse was what inspired me to write the him love the wedding guest and that of course bases itself on the story of of canaan in galilee and we've used that uh and together as a garden congregation right across the world but this is elena fargens him people look east i'm going to read it all because it's very beautiful people look east the time is near of the crowning of the year make your house fair as you are able trim the hearth and set the table people look east and sing today love the guest is on the way furrows be glad though earth is bare one more seed is planted there give up your strength the seed to nourish that in course the flower may flourish people look east and sing today love the rose is on the way birds though you long have ceased to build guard the nest that must be filled even the hour when wings are frozen god for fledging time has chosen people look east and sing today love the bird is on the way stars keep the watch when night is dim one more light the bowl shall brim shining beyond the frosty weather bright as sun and moon together people look east and sing today love the star is on the way angels announce with shouts of mirth christ who brings new life to earth set every peak and valley humming with the word the lord is coming people look east and sing today love the lord is on the way it's the most magnificent hymn for every day it's showing that god recreates in us that sense of the newness of the gift of each new day and people look east in the sense of sunrise is people look east as you rise to think of the christ the eternal word made flesh springing from the eternal word who created all that we see around us and we ourselves to be distinct angeloi angels bringers of good news having received the good news from the one who created new wine for the diaconoy the deacons to serve these are wonderful verses and it pained me the other day to have put in front of me a hymn which purported to be people look east and then had made complete changes really tragic changes i think to those poetic words of enough arjun these words are full of the grace of her poetry and they speak new messages to us all the time and if there are parts we can't understand in the context of creation then as someone said about her faith well we will or someone wrote about her her catholic faith she was a devout catholic who viewed her faith as a progression towards which her spiritual life moved rather than a conversion experience not immediate but day by day by day from a jewish father and her catholic faith she became a catholic in 1951 and we are actually using this as a garden congregation right across the world many dimensions it was fresh's vision when we first came out here with a camera that we should be positively christian but not in the least bit exclusive so all could hear the words the good news that in the the way faith develops in people and the realization of the creator all around us could be shared with many many different visions with others across the world well that's not probably her most famous hymn the other is just a little hymn of three verses you will know it well and it has the same message morning has broken like the first morning blackbird has spoken like the first bird praise for the singing praise for the morning praise for them springing fresh from the word sweet the rain's new fall sunlit from heaven like the first dewfall on the first grass praise for the sweetness of the wet garden sprung in completeness where his feet pass mine is the sunlight mine is the morning born of the one light eden soul play praise with elation praise every morning god's recreation of the new day wonderful poetry from and something that we can embrace every morning with that term which we say together at the beginning of our prayers the gift of this new day and where we're hearing in that poem of the sweetness of new beginnings we're conscious of what difficult things that they may bring but every day from the eternal word and with the eternal word walking beside us the one who took flesh in human form in the person of jesus in that gift of christ we face any kind of trial temptation tragedy or intuition of human need in others that we can serve day by day i want you just quickly and you will know why when i say whose name it is so remember that this is uh the day on which in 1952 13th of february the writer the of detective mistress josephine tay that's her pen name she was called elizabeth mcintosh when she was born in inverness in 1896 she died and she herself having explored all kinds of ways in which she could be creative as a physiotherapist as a physical training teacher at schools and what she desperately wanted to do as a dramatist a writer of plays in the end found and she was a very intensely private person in the end she found that by looking at people and and studying things and putting things together she could create detective stories not too many of them because everything had to be sifted everything so beautifully written and we know because we've looked before that five of her novels concentrate on inspector alan grant her detective and one of those takes place where the inspector is in hospital totally incapacitated and lying on his back after a really serious back injury called the daughter of time and you will know because we've mentioned it before and it was voted in 1990 the greatest crime novel of all time by the british crime writers association how surprised she would have been this quiet and solitary person really who just noticed things and noticed people and put two and two together and was intuitive and then gave the result of that through the the the names of her novels are well thought through truth is the daughter of time the daughter of time and then to love and be wise and finally found amongst her papers at the end the singing sounds it's a posthumous novel but all of those uh are part of something given to us from that literary writer's particular creativity which she hadn't wanted to concentrate on but then which might the seed in the furrows being given strength by all around it just came and blossomed love the rose is on the way so let's uh say our prayers on this morning of the month and we're saying our prayers on this sunday the 13th of february here is the colleagues today we're praying in the anglican communion for oh the the anglican church in japan nippon says gokai and that's a lovely thing because i know we have many japanese christians and others who are watching us as part of our garden congregation not watching taking part because we are together right across the world saying our prayers today and in the diocese we just get a general theme we're not praying for any particular parish we're listening and discerning and living with generosity but we do pray of course for justin our archbishop and rose bishop of dover and emma bishop at lambuth as we use the colic for the first time for the third sunday before lent in the old prayer book it was called septuagisma and it was a day dedicated to thanksgiving for god in creation so here is the colic for today bring your own intentions and prayers almighty god who alone can bring order to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity give your people grace so to love what you command and to desire what you promise that among the many changes of this world our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found through jesus christ our lord amen so we say each in our own language 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 for ever and ever are men so it's time for your moment of reflection now together [Music] r [Music] sweet is [Music] praise for the sweetness [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is a fairly grim and very cold and blowy morning and there's a heavy storm on the way this afternoon uh so fletcher has used footage from last year of the sun rising and breaking over canterbury and so you will perhaps recognize that from historic footage which we're using this morning and at the same time um we've been thinking that although stephen and the other six names are given the the honor of being the first deacons that diaconal ministry was give of service to another was given to many others before and one things of the household of mary and martha and lazarus serving the needs the human needs of jesus in encouragement and also martha's lovely cooking talking yesterday about his coffee so all of that so the diaconal ministry is something that anyone can do at any time for another and we give thanks for that right across the world today 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 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 today and always are men i think we've lost our friend it is really very cold and i think the wind has just sent him inside i think most of the day will be spent inside and i know someone who this afternoon will be in front of the television because england are playing italy at rugby two exciting matches yesterday which didn't include them but this afternoon they're in rome hope the weather's better there and uh so we wish them well and you'll maybe wishing italy well wherever you are and we give thanks for that kind of creative activity of enjoyment for people enjoy the day yourselves and i hope it's warmer where you are than where we are here you