[Music] good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this morning of thursday the 23rd of july we've come together into the deanery garden in order to say our morning prayers and you're welcome from wherever you are in the world i'm sitting under the great fig tree here which will feature quite well in our reflection of st luke's gospel as we read it this morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise visit us with your salvation and sustain us with your gracious spirit 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 morning psalm on this 23rd day of the month is one of the pilgrim psalms and it's psalm 111. alleluia i will give thanks to the lord with my whole heart in the company of the faithful and in the congregation the works of the lord are great sought out by all who delight in them his work is full of majesty and honor and his righteousness endures forever he appointed a memorial for his marvelous deeds the lord is gracious and full of compassion he gave food to those who feared him he is ever mindful of his covenant he showed his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of the nations the works of his hands are truth and justice all his commandments are sure they stand fast forever and ever they are done in truth and equity he sent redemption to his people he commanded his covenant forever holy and awesome is his name the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding of those who live by it his praise endures forever so following the fifth day of mary magdalene when we went to a different part of sin luke's gospel yesterday we come back to our regular reading and we find ourselves in chapter 21 and we are beginning at verse 29. and jesus told them a parable look at the fig tree and all the trees as soon as they come out in leaf you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near so also when you see these things taking place you know that the kingdom of god is near truly i say to you this generation will not pass away until all has taken place heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away but watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth but stay awake at all times praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the son of man and every day jesus was teaching in the temple but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called olivet and early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him yesterday we missed out a section of that chapter because of our going back to see the role of mary magdalene and the women who supported jesus and his disciples as they came down to jerusalem with their resources but also this speaks of the household in bethany on the slopes of the mount of olives they're not named but every night jesus lodged on the mount of olives the hill called olivet and they've come almost to the end of the journey luke isn't as specific as mark about the days of leading up to the uh passion but he is now going to become specific for this day is the end of the teaching in the temple tomorrow we begin a completely different passage as the passion itself begins for now though here is jesus talking about signs in the sun the moon the stars that was in the little paragraph which prefaced this this paragraph we've read this morning when i went to bed last night the last thing i saw in the clear night sky just underneath that constellation which in england we generally called the plow and in the united states i think the big dipper i saw the comet which is very visible at the moment with its tail comet near wise as it's called it's at its nearest point it is brightest uh last night tonight around this time and easily visible to the naked eye comets were always a sign of of distress and bad things in ancient teaching but here i went to bed seeing it and woke up with the most glorious golden summer sunrise that you could possibly imagine signs of sleeping and also times of distress signs of rising and also the glory of god in creation they're all around us and jesus is pointing out to the crowds that the seasons are signs for us to take note of not just the human seasons or the seasons of creation but also seasons in our own live seasons in the history of the world all of those things are things which we need to observe and be watchful about and he uses his illustration of the fig tree now many of you over these months when we've been using the garden as our cathedral locked out of the cathedral itself have seen this fig tree develop from no leaves to full leaf and from where i'm sitting also many fruits which will begin to ripen and the fig tree is the tree that jesus points to it's it's one of the deciduous trees of the holy land there are many evergreen trees there which keep their leaves all year round but this one loses its leaves and the people would watch as the leaves began to sprout and no they wouldn't have to tell themselves that summer was on its way jesus says watch for the signs and never cease to be watchful now i'd gone to bed uh thinking not any of the comments but about how we would think of the fig tree as our sign this morning and also had in my mind our great vine which was being proved pruned of too much foliage a dare to ago and i woke up as i'm sure some of you do sometimes with some words floating in my head that i could not grasp it was the the vine and fig tree and something around that or the fig and vine i couldn't get it at first and i put it aside to think of other things and then it was the hymn tune itself that finally got what i was thinking about and it's a hymn some of you will know well i'll read it all at the end of our reflection but the verse that i'd been thinking of was though vine nor fig tree neither their wanted fruit shall their it's a hymn of william cooper the name is spelt as though it should be pronounced cowper but here in england very often names are pronounced in weird ways and and this is william cooper a great 18th century poet and him writer we know him for this hymn which begins sometimes the light surprises the christian while he sings but also we know him for um perhaps an even more famous line god moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform and we know that cooper had a desperately unhappy life to begin with he was the son of the wrecker of birkenstead but through his life all kinds of desperate depressions and even breakdowns caused him even on an occasion to be consigned to what was then in those days called an institution for the insane not a good place to be in those days full of darkness what saved him really was his friendship with john newton the slave ship captain who himself became a priest and became the parish priest of olney and his friendship with cooper and he recognized in cooper not only a wonderful poet but someone who could write spiritual things out of his depression and true enough were massively blessed by the hymns of cooper but newton himself of course the composer of amazing grace how sweet the sound and glorious things of the are spoken zion city of our god but he saw in cooper someone who could turn the veil of misery so that it became full of wells of water to refresh and cooper when he was writing that hymn knew that sometimes in dark places sometimes the light surprises the christian while he sings sometimes when we're in dark places and we all are in human life from time to time sometimes collectively as a community sometimes even feeling that as a world at the moment as we continue to face this pandemic but in the depths of that gleams of light come as one might say otherwise and sometimes the flood of glory like the golden sunrise this morning after the the almost uh weird view of the comet with its tail last night in the darkness the glory of the sunrise gave that sense of all it was waiting in this as we say gift of the new day and we quarry those things sometimes out of human situations of great sadness when we think we can hardly cope jesus tells us always to be watchful not to escape them with dissipation and drunkenness as the thing says and also not to be so weighed down by worldly cares that you miss the gleam on this occasion here is jesus saying to the crowds all of this will come to pass and certainly his messianic vocation on the hill just outside jerusalem will be fulfilled certainly in the sight of that generation and as we saw yesterday the destruction of jerusalem will also be fulfilled years later but well within the compass of that generation and human history will go on with the same sequences and seasons and we are called on to be watchful in our prayers and in our life watchful of ourselves watchful of each other and watchful of the signs that creation gives as jesus himself points to the trees but here's the hymn it's a great poem and here's cooper quarrying something beautiful out of his situation sometimes a light surprises the christian while he sings it is the lord who rises with healing in his wings when comforts are declining he grants the soul again a season of clear shining to cheer it after rain in holy contemplation we sweetly then pursue the theme of god's salvation and find it ever new set free from present sorrow we cheerfully can say in let the unknown morrow bring with it what it may it can bring with it nothing but he will bear us through who gives the lily's clothing will clothe his people too beneath the spreading heavens no creature but is fed and he who feeds the ravens will give his children bread though vine nor fig tree neither their wanted fruit shall bear though all the fields should wither nor flocks nor herds be there yet god the same abiding his praise shall tune my voice for while in him confiding i cannot but rejoice that last verse if you check your scriptures is reflecting the last few verses of the levite singing prophet habakkuk as we say it in england over the other side of the atlantic habakkuk the last verses of his prophecy in the old testament mirror exactly that and that is where cooper has quarried that last verse that i couldn't grasp early this morning from so it's wonderful to read it now in the beauty of this garden which has become our cathedral so we say our morning prayers and i'd ask you to bring any prayers that you have of your own and join them with ours wherever you are in the anglican communion today we're praying for the diocese of northwest texas in the episcopal church of the united states for scott mayer and his people the diocese of benin and nigeria and peter imasuen the bishop there and his people and the diocese of bermuda and nicholas dill and his people and here in canterbury we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and today for the busbora benefits in our diocese of canterbury now that is covering the villages of coldred whitfield aethorn shepherdswell and barfistan and we pray for the ministry of sean sheffield there a new ministry and the reader jenny grumbridge and all the people there so we say the prayer for this particular day and then we'll say the our father together here is the beautiful collect for this week merciful god you have prepared for those who love you such good things as pass our understanding pour into our hearts such love towards you that we loving you in all things and above all things may obtain your promises which exceed all that we can desire through jesus christ our lord amen so together we say the prayer our savior taught us in whatever language and in whichever way you like to say it 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 for our own prayers so under god's most gracious mercy and protection we commit you the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord lift up the light of your of his countenance upon you and give you his peace 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 this day and always amen oh