good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this wednesday the 24th of november as we meet to say our morning prayers welcome wherever you are in the world one or two things to think about before we even begin our reflections and prayers this morning yesterday was the funeral service of sir david amis in westminster cathedral and lines of his colleagues are shown in the newspapers at that very solemn service giving thanks for his life and the day before a service had taken place in his own constituency following his his brutal death at one of his surgeries as a member of parliament meeting his constituencies we don't have to tell the story again but uh yesterday where people were able to gather and give thanks in westminster cathedral for his life of faithfulness and service and then also uh a sad thing to report from the uh warshika uh thanksgiving day parade which was so again brutally interrupted by the car driving right into them at full pace and uh killing people and and giving really life-changing injuries to so many but but many are still in danger and we hear now that um eight-year-old little jackson sparks has died and his brother tucker is still in a serious condition we hold in our hearts the people of that township quite near milwaukee in wisconsin and then hold also the love of all their families for those who have been so desperately injured so many of them are siblings because they were out for a thanksgiving parade and just in the middle of the happiest time when this all happened and then uh again as we're thinking this morning we hear news of the fact that our government is about to pass what we should call harper's law this is based on the murder of a police constable andrew harper just two weeks after his wedding interrupting rural crime and those perpetrating that crime as he chased them he was dragged by their car and killed along country lanes and his wife of only two weeks or so is he has campaigned for a a really severe sentence to be given to those who kill someone who is responding to an emergency in whatever way and the ministry of justice has now said a law which will be known i'm sure is harper's law will be passed in order to make sure that the severity of the imprisonment matches the crime perpetrated against the life of one responding to help in whatever way from the emergency services so after those things let's think about where we are this morning i'm sitting here next to the horse chestnut tree which is not quite leafless and you'll see why this morning we're talk we're sitting by the horse chestnut tree when we come to a part of our reflection so for the moment let's just leave that as a slighter intriguing puzzle and we'll start our prayers oh 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 as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm this morning on this 24th morning of the month is psalm 116 i love the lord for he has heard the voice of my supplication because he inclined his ear to me on the day i called to him the snares of death encompassed me the pains of hell took hold of me by grief and sorrow was i held then i called upon the name of the lord o lord i beg you deliver my soul gracious is the lord and righteous our god is full of compassion the lord watches over the simple i was brought very low and he saved me turn again to your rest oh my soul for the lord has been gracious to you for you have delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears and my feet from falling i will walk before the lord in the land of the living i believe that i should perish for i was sorely troubled and i said in my alarm everyone is a liar how shall i repay the lord for all the benefits he has given to me i will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the lord i will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his faithful servants o lord i am your servant your servant the child of your handmaid you have freed me from my bonds i will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the lord i will fulfill my vows to the lord in the presence of all his people in the courts of the house of the lord in the midst of you o jerusalem alleluia it's a beautiful psalm and another of those pilgrim sounds as pilgrims made their way up from across what we now know as the holy land and jesus and his family would have done that with the extended family and people from their own area of galilee as they traveled to jerusalem and those hallels those alleluias sometimes at the beginning sometimes at the end of these psalms is a song of praise to god as they approach the holy place in those days a settled holy place at the temple in jerusalem but let's go back to a very unsettled time when the children of israel are wanderers in the wilderness going on towards the vision of a promised land but at the moment very far from achieving that vision and moses has come down as you know from the second time visit to mount sinai with two new tablets of stone and written on them are as was said with the reading yesterday the ten commandments and these commandments moses has inscribed physically on the stones our lord himself later on makes a compendium of those commandments as was the practice of his people giving us in two commandments the whole law and the prophets in loving god and loving one's neighbor taken from these books of the law from leviticus and later deuteronomy but for the moment the ten are set out on these tablets of stone and also we've heard about the way in which moses had established a tent of meeting a secret place we were calling it as people wanted to go and really be with their god outside the camp but now moses realizing that the people as physical beings need tangible things to remind them of that spiritual dimension and to prompt their own mind and spirit into a a place of um obeying the lord's commands he sets about making a traveling tabernacle and also a way in which the stones will be carried the two tablets will be carried so i'm starting for a while in verse 35 at verse 30 and then we'll go on to 37 chapter 37 are at the first verse so chapter 35 verse 30 then moses said to the people of israel see the lord has called by name bezalel the son of yuri son of her of the tribe of judah and he has filled him with the spirit of god with skill with intelligence with knowledge and with all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs to work in gold and silver and bronze in cutting stones for setting and in carving wood for work in every skilled craft and he has inspired him to teach both him and the son of sorry i can't say it [Music] of the tribe of dan he has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen or by a weaver by any sort of workman or skilled designer bezalel and o halayab and every craftsman in whom the lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the lord has commanded so first of all moses identifies two people who can be the teachers of others and call others to creative activity in creating a place which will be transportable on their wilderness journey moses at the moment doesn't know how long that's going to last it's going to be an awful lot longer than anyone was expecting and he calls these two and one of them traditionally is thought to be the grandson of moses brother-in-law her whom rabbinic tradition uh thinks of as having been killed in attempting to stop the people making the golden calf well his grandson of the tribe of judah for bes for her had if the tradition is right married miriam and miriam was of the tribe of levi but uh her very much of the tribe of judah and here is his grandson bezel-el who will be one of the workmen together with o'halayab of the tribe of dan and these two in their skills will be called forward and the people will be asked to give offerings of their own of value to be woven into or crafted into the making of the tabernacle a traveling tabernacle the psalmist is talking in the psalm we've just read of traveling to a settled tabernacle the great temple in jerusalem but this today is the beginning of a holy space which will be transportable with them so what is most important at the center of this is that the two tablets of the covenant should be put somewhere central and so an ark is to be constructed and in that ark with all the decorations around it and everything else around it too the two tablets of stone will be central as the creative word of god chapter 37 then bezalel made the ark of acacia wood two cubits and a half was its length a cubit and a half is breadth and a cubit and a half its height and he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside and made a molding of gold round it and he cast for it four rings of gold for its four feet two rings on its one side and two rings on his other side and he made poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold and put the pearls into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark and he made a mercy seat of pure gold two cubits and a half was its length and a cubit and a half its breaths and he made two cherubim of gold he made them of hammered work on the two ends of the mercy seat one chair upon one end and one cherub on the other end of one piece with the mercy seat he made the cherubim on its two ends the cherubim spread out their wings above overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings with their faces one to another towards the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim he also made the table of acacia wood two cubits was its length a cubit its breadth and a cubit and a half its height and he overlaid it with pure gold and made a molding of gold around it and he made a rim round it up hand's breath wide and made moldings of gold around the rim and cast for it four rings of gold fastened the rings to the four corners of its four legs close to the frame were the rings as holders for the poles to carry the table he made the pearls of acacia wood to carry the table and overlaid them with gold and he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table its plates and dishes for incense its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings well one could go on because now the detail becomes infinite the making of the seven branch lamp stand the making of the altar of incense the making of the altar of burnt offering the making of the bronze basin for cleansing and the making of the hangings for an outer court all this though completely transportable for these are a travelling people and they carry everything with them in one way or another they will carry everything with them so we see the beginnings of what is known as the ark of the covenant it's a powerful sentence in its own right and the sense of the decorations of the mercy seat and the cherubims with their wings almost touching sitting on top through the skill of the craftsperson working them and all around were others helping the two had been who had been chosen not only for their designing skills and every everything else that they they had in terms of creative skills but the most important was the teaching of others to do the same the calling out of creative gifts from the people in order to make if you like in our lord's words a secret place in which to go or if you want the old words the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle the traveling tabernacle and that traveling of the ark carried on the shoulders of the levitical priests as the people went forward becomes a sign of them going through the wilderness and a sign also of the old covenant calling for faithfulness to god our lord summing up the old covenant and saying i came to fulfill the law and the prophets and then giving that uh digest that that shortened version which the people could learn of the the law uh to the scribe at the time who agreed with him in mark 12 love the lord your god with your heart and with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength and the second is like it namely this love your neighbor as yourself there it is easy to remember but it's set out on the tablets in its tenfold form and placed inside the ark of the covenant there's a chapter in wind in the willows called wayfarers all well that word really wayfarers very much a word of the psalmist so often because here was a traveling people here was a pilgrim people here were people on a journey a physical journey to a promised land which has spiritual echoes right through the new covenant the new good news but something to be lived out here as wayfarers in our journey as humankind traveling and carrying the ark becomes something so important in the books which follow of the old covenant and hopefully by looking at the way all this began when those references crop up when for example the story of young samuel is told and the two sons of eli the priest hofney and finnehas who were unworthy to carry the ark and the seizing of the ark by the philistines all of that will begin to make sense and also what makes sense is the royal line of david in david himself knowing that he wants king david wants to establish a permanent place where people can find that sanctuary and his son solomon is given the task of creating that in jerusalem with the first great temple there but even that is transient destroyed by the babylonians and what became of the ark who knows um the epistle to the hebrews gives us gives us other clues in that in the new testament but we'll come to that in in advent itself for the moment we think of bezel and gathering people of wonderful craftsmanship and i can think of our own community here wonderful people of wonderful craftsmanship of different sorts in stained glass in in stone in wood in all kinds of artistic design even in the arrangement of flowers for the holy place but everything in a way in humankind transient because at the center of all this is our pilgrim task to focus on god himself and in the human life of jesus in the new covenant we focus on that human life being lived out and at the end offered up as a sacrifice if you like a sacrifice of thanksgiving but one which saw him on the cross with arms open wide to all nations so thanks be to god for these stories of the old covenant we'll go on with him a little bit tomorrow but i want to turn to a different kind of should we say secret place um there are some dates which give us a clue to this today i'll start with the earlier one but i'm not going to spend time on it on november the 24th 1849 francis hodgson burnett was born we've thought we thought about her very recently with a reflection on her book the secret garden where people in the story uh whether it be mary lennox or the invalid colin going into that secret garden find healing and strength and they are transformed by it i won't go into that it's it's there from when we did before very recently indeed but in 1877 and this we will go into on this date november the 24th a novel was published and it was a first novel to be published by the author who had been an invalid for most of her life and unable to use her legs properly and she was due sadly to die only a a few months after the publication of this novel but it became an instant bestseller her name anna sewell and her book black beauty it was the first book of that kind with a creature rather than a human being being the narrator this is black beauty's story the story told by a horse and with a specific intention by anna siewell it's the reason we've come to this horse chestnut today for the horse chestnut is so cold because when the leaves fall the mark left by their falling is in the shape of a horseshoe even with the nails and this is a low tree so one can see them quite easily the perfect pattern of course chestnuts are wonderful because of their sticky buds which are already forming for next year and also the the bright shining conquers of the autumn which made marvelous games but also have just for a moment when the outer covering comes off the most beautiful colouring and at the same time it reminds us of the horse let me think for a moment about ana sewell because she couldn't walk well in that century the only way that she could travel around was in a pony and trap and it causes us to think how people's lives in those days not too long ago as the centuries pass people's lives were surrounded and by and dependent on horses if you went into the street there were horse-drawn omnibuses there were horse-drawn uh handsome cabs taxis as they've now become and motor driven uh and at the same time if you um wanted to go anywhere very far you either had to ride a horse or be taken in a carriage if you had the wealth to have one but things came along with horses driving them and that meant the care of horses and places where they could be kept i'm sitting here and across the garden you can see what is now cannon dodd's house which was for years and years the stable of the deanery here and people would have to be looking after that so that horses could be provided for people to travel about would have been the same for anyone needing to travel about to do their work and either you would ride the horse or be driven by the horses and if you didn't have a horse well then the only thing to do was to walk you think back into the ancient times we've been thinking about and even one remembers the ox carts which brought jacob and all the family and all their equipment as well as driving the beast in front of them down to egypt and no doubt that was happening as they went up from egypt with so many possessions and belongings but in the 19th century horses were everywhere children were used to them and they lived with them and anna sewell i'm sure made friends with many horses it's a long time since i've spent much time on the back of a horse and fletcher's been on the back of a horse much much uh more recently than i have but we had a conversation this morning and if you name the horses you knew well at that time instantly pictures come up and you remember the particular relationship you had with that particular horse he was naming horses and instantly the character of that horse came up and at the moment uh his sister danny is is very much a skilled rider of horses and little arabella is learning to ride a horse in spain but at present my life is not connected much with horses but i remember a horse called misty that i used to ride through the fields who was a solid sort of goer really and um going through the fields you sort of thought um you were having a conversation with with mystery and you found yourself speaking to the horse because you were all by yourself and then another and these were in in the fields of oxfordshire later on when happily the wrecker of garsington who was a man called robert haney in the old directory in garsington gave me the use of his horse the badger and the badger was an intelligent horse and as any of you know who deal with horses a horse can pick up first of all how skilled you are but also your character and how you're going to be with him or her as they go along and the only sign you have of that is the way the ears move uh and uh you know that someone the the badger one hardly had to say um when you were walking so trot on and you hardly had to say now cantor and you certainly didn't have to say in the right place in the right field now gallup because for the badger it was an exuberant thing to gallop but mostly i remember just wandering through woodlands and because i had the same experience the woodlands of kent or wherever from a family that did new horses i have the memory of going through woodlands and if you're on the back of a horse wild creatures really aren't afraid because they relate to the sound of the horse going gently through it's the really the very best way to appreciate the creatures of woodland and so we remember this story which anna sewell told and if you've read it it's been made into film so many times a more recent film in 2020 has just been made but the book itself stays in the mind she had one reason for writing it and that is because she saw horses being treated cruelly and it utterly offended her and the book which soon sold a million copies soon after it had been published was given responsibility for transforming some of the way in which these creatures were cared for and she sadly didn't live to see it but if you remember the story there are different ways in which black beauty and the horse is telling the story and black beauty as the horse tells the story tells of kindness and of cruelty and of watching other horses facing the same i remember first reading the book and loving squire gordon of bertwick park and his wife and then john the groom do you remember who understood the horses and how mrs gordon developed tuberculosis and was in grave danger and in the middle of the night john had to ride the horse black beauty to find the doctor and uh riding faster than possibly was even safe to save mrs gordon's life and getting the doctor and giving black beauty to the doctor to ride back and having to walk back himself which is significant because black beauty was then put into the hands of a willing and and uh um kindly young boy who thought the best thing to do for this steaming horse was to give up a bucket of cold water which was the worst possible thing that could have happened no rubbing down no blankets to keep uh the horse warm nothing warm to to keep that that knife and poor joe did exactly the wrong thing so when john came back then the horse was in a a fairly poor condition but uh when john had walked all those miles he began to put things right and the next day square gordon comes to say to black beauty you saved your mistress his life but taking her away to a different place with the family and you remember the the little girl's horse merry legs is given to the vicar who promises he will never sell merry legs but beauty and ginger and all the others are sold and from then on the trouble begins until right at the end as you remember black beauty finds that the one looking after all the horses and whose care the horses now have is that same joe who at that time had been willing but untaught and had done the wrong thing now able to be kindly and good in the last chapter and uh i'll save the last sentence a little bit later on but what she wanted anna sewell was kindness for creatures and particularly horses because humankind and horses through many centuries have had a very special relationship and we learn many things from them and oftentimes when you're saying okay now go faster it's the horse who will say no not quite yet this is a dangerous bit and that relationship between the two is absolutely crucial they almost give themselves to service if you treat them well and many of you will be thinking of names of horses that you yourself have had in the past or have known and think yes the character of that one was this the character of that another and it's as though human beings are speaking to you and certainly i found myself speaking as i've said quite a lot in that secret place riding on a horse horse's back talking and not thinking this is an a creature that's not understanding but feeling yes understands very well what i'm feeling at the moment as i go through and we're back again with the sense of when you come before the creator go into your secret place and let him speak to you in secret and uh then you will be rewarded in so many different ways thanks be to god for ana siwell this morning one thinks of our own queen who until very recently would still ride through the woods of windsor great park i'm sure that was a time when she could herself ponder on all that crowded in to that life as a head of state and it's a way simply of pondering and realizing everything around you and seeing the little horseshoes marks on the horse chestnut tree reminds us of that this morning so thanks be to god for all horses and thanks be to god for those who know how to look after them well as with all created life according to what anatheol would have us know in terms of approaching the gifts of god's creation let us say our prayers for the anglican communion and on this day the 24th of november we're praying for the diocese of iba in the province of the episcopal church of south sudan the western ecuatoria province and we pray for all christian congregations there and other communities of faith there pray also in our own diocese for the parish of bethesda with high holden and wood church and for sue rose in her ministry there pray for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover and for emma bishop at lambeth and we shall use today the collect for the week which i hope by now you're beginning to learn bring your own prayers and intentions as we pray for the needs of the world and our own personal needs stir up o lord we beseech you the wills of your faithful people that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works may by you be plenteously rewarded through jesus christ our lord amen so the prayer our savior taught us to say in whatever language you like to use 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 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 now for your own prayers [Applause] so before the blessing that sentence i promised you from anna cyril's book and she's speaking to us in the voice of black beauty there is no religion without love and people may talk as much as they like about their religion but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast it is all a sham powerful voice speaking to us from her quaker and anglican background uh having lived her life as an invalid and been comforted by the horses around her which gave her movement 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 amen [Music] you