good morning and welcome to the garden of canterbury cathedral on this saturday the 11th of july the feast day of saint benedict and that will be our main reflection this morning but we do remember that 80 years ago on this day as one looked up into the sky in this part of england the battle of britain began and some of our oldest citizens remember as children looking up into the blue skies of of the summer and seeing that crucial engagement begin which was so important for the destiny of europe and so we remember that and we remember those who serve the uh memorial museum at capel la fern on the coast looking out from the white cliffs of of dover over to france which seems so near and we remember all the activity there because everything has had to be postponed and is being done virtually as they remember that occasion so we begin our morning prayer on saint benedict's day o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 does 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 some verses from the morning psalm for the 11th of july psalm 57 my heart is ready oh god my heart is ready i will sing and give you praise awake my soul awake harp and liar that i may awaken the dawn i will give you thanks o lord among the peoples i will sing praise to you among the nations for your loving kindness is as high as the heavens and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds be exalted o god above the heavens and your glory over all the earth so we turn to saint luke and we've now arrived at the very verge of jesus's entry into jerusalem and he tells a parable a parable probably more familiar to us in matthew's gospel generally known as the parable of the ten talents luke uses the word minas which we're told was a value of money worth about three months wages to the servants as they heard these things jesus proceeded to tell a parable because he was near to jerusalem and because they supposed that the kingdom of god was to appear immediately he said therefore a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return calling ten of his servants he gave them ten minas and said to them engage in business until i come but his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying we do not want this man to reign over us when he returned having received the kingdom he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him that he might know what they had gained by doing business the first came before him saying lord your mina has made ten minutes more and he said to him well done good servant because you have been faithful in a very little you shall have authority over ten cities and the second came saying lord your meaner has made five meaners and he said to him and you are to be over five cities then another came saying lord here is your mina which i kept laid away in a handkerchief for i was afraid of you because you are a severe man you take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow he said to him i will condemn you with your own words you wicked servant you knew that i was a severe man taking what i did not deposit and reaping what i did not sow why then did you not put my money in the bank and at my coming i might have collected it with interest and he said to those who stood by take the meaner from him give it to the one who has the ten meaners and they said to him lord he has ten meaners i tell you that to everyone who has more will be given but from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away the story of the talents in matthew and our responsibility to use the unique gifts that we are given jesus speaking not only to the crowds but also to the 12 who are about to enter jerusalem with him well this is benedict's day and it's very important to us as a cathedral community and foundation for almost a thousand years this place was ruled according to the rule of saint benedict and the rhythms of his rule and life still stay with us for our mission statement the four short words to show people jesus is undergirded by all the teachings of saint benedict in his rule for communities perhaps two things which are important in that rule are the sense of encouragement for one another for it's a community rule and balance and that encouragement and balance is intensely important for a community as it lives its daily life but also the balance of humanity in body mind and spirit which was important to benedict so that the day was divided up into times of physical work out in the fields or with the skills which the monks had at that time and then again times of study when they would reflect on the scriptures and on other sacred writings just as jesus at the end of saint duke's gospel on the road to emmaus causes the disciples to reflect on moses and the psalms and the prophets and at the same time there were periods of worship the day was shall we say leavened mixed with the times of worship but sin benedict's rule meant that if in some way you neglected part of the personality and humanity that you were and did not exercise the body but exercised only the mind and the spirit or did not exercise the mind but only the spirit and the body and did not exercise the spirit but only the body and the mind then the whole of your humanity would suffer hence the bells that would ring out to take people to what was called the divine office we read in psalm 119 in verse 164 seven times a day will i praise you and again in psalm 119 in verse 62 at midnight i will rise to give thanks benedict said nothing is to pro be preferred more than the divine office and that that divine office of the little services which sometimes drew them together and sometimes they would say out in the fields the shorter offices in the middle of the day was the absolute bedrock of their life esther davao who lived in this house her husband was the dean of canterbury and her family are very important and and well-loved visitors here as are all the families of former deans who come here because once you've lived in this house it becomes yours forever in heart and mind esther davao was the first one who first wrote up a book saying this can be lived out not necessarily in community but in ordinary life i remember reading it in 1984 when i was the lecturer of a parish in wiltshire in tisbury and it's called seeking god the way of saint benedict and true it is that the regular rhythm of life with its balance and moderation and encouragement and also above all else it's sense of hospitality at all times which governs this place and i'm speaking as the the bell warning me that a service in the cathedral will happen at a time that i can probably get over there to be part of but here we are sharing the regular morning prayer together showing it can be done anywhere in daily life we give enormous thanks this morning for the rule of saint benedict and we remember our brothers and sisters in the community of beck in france with whom we have real real real affection and contact and we pray for them as we say our prayers on this feast day of saint benedict on this day we remember in the anglican communion the diocese of northern luzon in the philippines and pray for hillary passican the bishop and the community there the diocese of banks and torres in melanesia and bishop alfred warwick and the community there and that the diocese of kagira in tanzania and darlington bendenkaya the bishop there we remember the general synod of the church of england which is meeting virtually throughout today pray for archbishop dustin and for bishop rose of dover and bishop tim at lambus in their ministry and we continue to pray for the parishes of the ashford deanery all the communities around the town of ashford and today we're asked to pray for all clergy who helped them in the work there but our colleagues our special prayer is for saint benedict's day as our bell rings dividing up the day into times of prayer and work physical work and also study eternal god who made benedict a wise master in the school of your service and a guide to many called into community to follow the rule of christ grant that we may put your love before all else and seek with joy the way of your commandments through jesus christ our lord amen and the son collect from psalm 57 tender god gentle protector in time of trouble pierce the gloom of despair and give us with all your people the song of freedom and the shout of praise in jesus christ our lord amen so we say each in our own language and in our own style the prayer which jesus 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 as our bell rings on this lovely 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 and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and would pray for today and always are men so i must heed the sound of the bell and go and join the community for prayer in the cathedral [Music]