good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this third of june as we come to say our morning prayer early in the morning here this is a morning when our thoughts go across the pond to our friends there and we all take a breath as we're asked to take a breath for peace and pray for them and for us and for all our society watching the premier of canada mr trudeau this morning he was brave enough to when asked you know what what would he do in this or what would he say to america he was brave enough simply to pause and turn the question around onto himself and that's i think where we are with this as we watch and wait so we begin our morning prayers o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise visit us with your salvation and sustain us with your gracious spirit oh come let us sing to the lord let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving and be glad in him with sounds for the lord is a great god and a great king above all gods come let us worship and bow down and kneel before the lord our maker for he is our god we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand the night is past 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 so god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm this morning on the third morning of the month is psalm 17 hear my just cause oh lord consider my complaint listen to my prayer which comes not from lying lips let my vindication come forth from your presence let your eyes behold what is right weigh my heart examine me by night refine me and you will find no impurity in me my mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards i have heeded the words of your lips my footsteps hold fast in the way of your commandments my feet have not stumbled in your paths i call upon you oh god for you will answer me incline your ear to me and listen to my words show me your marvelous loving kindness o savior of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them keep me as the apple of your eye hide me under the shadow of your wings from the wicked who assault me from my enemies who surround me to take away my life they have closed their heart to pity and their mouth speaks proud things they press me hard they surround me on every side watching how they may cast me to the ground deliver me o lord by your hand from those whose portion in life is unending whose bellies you fill with your treasure who are well supplied with children and leave their wealth to their little ones but as for me i shall see your face in righteousness and when i awake and behold your likeness i shall be satisfied so we come to our reading from the gospel of saint luke which begins at verse 37 of chapter nine on the next day when jesus and peter and james and john had come down from the mountain a great crowd met him and behold a man from the crowd cried out teacher i beg you to look at my son for he is my only child and behold a spirit seizes him and he suddenly cries out it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth and shatters him and will hardly leave him and i begged your disciples to cast it out but they could not jesus answered oh faithless and twisted generation how long am i to be with you and bear with you bring your son here while he was coming the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him but jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father and all were astonished at the majesty of god but while they were all marveling at everything he was doing jesus said to his disciples let these words sink into your ears the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men but the disciples did not understand this saying and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it and they were afraid to ask him about this saying instead an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest but jesus knowing the reasoning of their hearts took a child and put the child by his side and said to them whoever receives this child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me for the one who is least among all of you is the one who is greatest john answered master we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us but jesus said to him do not stop him for whoever is not against you is for you so many lessons in those verses but let's go back to the beginning they've come down from our high mountain yesterday i said that mount hermon was three thousand feet high it's three thousand meters high and over nine thousand feet it would not be snow capped otherwise but in that mountain something wonderful had happened which they have had no time to process the disciples just the three of them peter james and john and they've come back down the mountain and if we add to saint luke details from sin mark's gospel where peter was the influence on the information they come immediately to the nine disciples who are in a panic because jesus is not with them and the crowds are expecting from them the things which they have heard about jesus remember they are right up in the north near to caesarea philippi about to begin the journey which jesus has resolved he must make now south to jerusalem but meanwhile here are the nine disciples and they are confounded by the crowds and they're in the middle of all the crowds milling about you can imagine the confusion and the anxiety of the disciples and the relief that here is jesus with peter and james and john back with them no time to think about mountain tops today for the subject of today is lying on the floor this is shall we say a pain which is earth bound and the distressed father comes to jesus and says lord help me and jesus is whispered shall we say quite natural irritation with the panic of the disciples and the milling around of the crowds when his journey is south to jerusalem to fulfill his vocation stops of course he stops and the father asks for help and jesus in saint mark's gospel says to the father all things are possible for those who believe and the father with tears answers him in the traditional heads lord i believe help thou mine unbelief that small mustard seed of faith in the father which has caused him to ask jesus for help is now to be undergirded by the human arms of jesus taking his son and giving the boy back to him it is a wonderful story full of lessons about our face and our need daily to ask for help but also see what happens next it's also very natural as they begin their journey south jesus first of all tells them what lies ahead he uses that term son of man which is the one he normally uses of himself it means in the original greek almost the offspring of humanity speaking of his perfect humanity and giving us something that we too can emulate but he says this is what is going to happen to the son of man himself in jerusalem and they didn't understand they begin arguing amongst themselves as to who is the greatest and all of this and jesus again almost in exasperation but in loving exasperation for these are his twelve causes a little child to stand there and says here is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven whoever is least amongst you whoever is the one who needs most help is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and you must see it as so and the journey proceeds and john says well we actually found somebody who was trying to do what we're doing but we stopped him because he doesn't follow with us and jesus becomes all-encompassing and says no never stop someone who is beginning a path of being on our side for whoever is not against you must be seen to be with you well we can look around the world this morning and see so many situations that we would want to comment on from a high mountain in great power but as we look at them that pause of mr trudeau this morning is hugely important every one of these scenes are lessons for us our own societies our own lives and that pause as the family of george floyd said take a breath for peace that pause is crucial to us i love psalm 17 mostly because of its last verse it used to read in the book of common prayer when i wake up after thy likeness i shall be satisfied and now this modern translation when i wake up and behold your likeness i shall be satisfied well to me it's the same thing when i like wake up after thy likeness means when i wake up and find myself being transformed if you like in human terms transfigured day by day into the likeness of jesus christ or when i wake and behold your likeness well for me that's the shaving mirror what am i looking at in myself which will step by step the steps of discipleship along the paths of my own vocation with my unique gifts which every human being has and which jesus treasures when someone is starting out on the journey of faith he says to john you must not stop them see them as part of our journey today we shall be confronted by many images wherever you are in the world and that verse becomes crucial but also the image of jesus leaving the mountaintop with lessons of heaven's glory and the way in which the kingdom of heaven can shine through our humanity and coming down to the flat land and the pain of the father crying out for help helped to undergird his faith in a situation which is challenging it all of that is crucial to our journey this day and so we pray for the grace and gifts of the spirit which christ promised us day by day as he continues to walk with us let's say our prayers on this day and as always we pray for the anglican communion pray on this day for all those throughout the world with pastoral care of those suffering with kovid 19. that's a general not a particular prayer so it actually refers to our diocese as well in all its parishes in all its communities anyone with pastoral care for those at this time of coronavirus and pandemic and we make that prayer from the bottom of our hearts so we say our prayers particularly for the diocese of nevada in the episcopal church of the united states of america and for dan edwards and his people and also the diocese of alabama and john mckee sloan the bishop there and his people and as i have said we're praying for those in this crisis in our own diocese so we remember justin our archbishop rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and the request for prayer for the bereaved in this diocese has been made by sarah lavender the occupational therapist at wisdom hospice in rochester in kent god who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your holy spirit grant us by the same spirit to have a right judgment in all things and evermore rejoice in his holy comfort through the merits of christ jesus our savior amen oh lord from whom all good things come grant to us your humble servants that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good and by your merciful guiding may perform the same through our lord jesus christ amen so we say the prayer our savior taught us in whatever way in whichever language you would like 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 we make our own prayers for this day [Applause] psalm 17 verse 16 as for me i shall see your face in righteousness and when i awaken behold your likeness i shall be satisfied the spirit of truth lead you into all truth give you grace to proclaim in your life your actions and your words the word and works of god and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and remain with you this day and always amen you