good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of thursday the 6th of august wherever you are in the world please feel welcome at our morning prayers the 6th of august is the feast of the transfiguration of our lord jesus christ and we shall keep that theme in our reflection while going on with the reflection from saint luke because the two are helpful to each other the 6th of august is also a date in our minds for the memory of the atomic bomb being dropped on the city of hiroshima in japan so a feast of eternal glory and a feast of human warning at the same time we remember on this morning the city of beirut in all its trouble and pray for those who live there in their danger it's also the anniversary of the birth in 1881 of alexander fleming who in 1928 discovered penicillin which was first used as an antibiotic in 1942 and transformed our ability to treat such deadly diseases as tuberculosis at the time consumption as it was called was a death sentence almost at that time and his work was transformative so it causes us to pray for all those at the moment seeking a vaccine for the present pandemic so we say our morning prayers o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your light springs up for the righteous and all the peoples have seen your glory blessed are you sovereign god king of the nations to you be praise and glory forever from the rising of the sun to its setting your name is proclaimed in all the world as the sun of righteousness dawns in our hearts anoint our lips with the seal of your spirit that we may witness to your gospel and sing your praise in all the earth 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 our psalm on this sixth morning of the month is psalm 30 i will exalt you o lord because you have raised me up and have not let my foes triumph over me o lord my god i cried out to you and you have healed me you brought me up o lord from the dead you restored me to life from among those that go down to the pit sing to the lord you servants of his give thanks to his holy name for his roth endures but the twinkling of an eye his favor for a lifetime heaviness may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning in my prosperity i said i shall never be moved you lord of your goodness have made my hill so strong then you hid your face from me and i was utterly dismayed to you o lord i cried to the lord i made my supplication what prophet is there in my blood if i go down to the pit will the dust arise to praise you or declare your faithfulness hear o lord and have mercy upon me o lord be my helper you have turned my mourning into dancing you have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing o lord my god i will give you thanks for ever on this day of transfiguration we remember in the gospel of saint luke when we were reading in chapter 9 the story of the transfiguration on the mountain when jesus humanity was transfigured to glory before three of the twelve peter and james and john this morning i'm reading luke's account not of that but in our ordinary course of the resurrection narrative where we had arrived with this reading yesterday of the women who were waiting to go to the tomb here we are in luke chapter 24 and beginning at verse 1. on the sabbath they rested according to the commandments but on the first day of the week at early dawn they went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb but when they went in they did not find the body of the lord jesus while they were perplexed about this behold two men stood by them in dazzling apparel and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground the men said to them why do you seek the living among the dead he is not here but has risen remember how he told you while he was still in galilee that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise and they remembered his words and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest now it was mary magdalene and joanna and mary the mother of james and the other women with them who had told these things to the apostles but these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them but peter rose and ran to the tomb stooping and looking in he saw the linen cloths by themselves and he went home marveling at what had happened the story as luke sets it down all those years later and there are certain things that we ought this morning to notice and first and foremost we noticed that although the women were rightfully prepared to be busy the only ones who have been waiting for activity on the first working day of the week then they come to the tomb and they find that the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty they did not find the body of the lord jesus they found it but there was no action that they could take for this scene is heaven's gift the action has already happened without any human hand lifting a finger to cause anything we receive this gift and as they are in the tomb perplexed they sense two men standing beside them they don't look at them they their faces go down to the ground because of their fear but the lucan words are prophetic and also powerful why do you seek the living among the dead he's not here he has risen remember he told you while he was still in galilee well that's how luke sets the words down for for luke as we shall see not only here but as we begin part two of his work next monday the acts of the apostles for luke the beginning was jerusalem and from jerusalem the news of resurrection and new life would be taken to the whole world for the moment though the two men are reminiscent in their white robes and shining glory of the two who stood beside jesus on the mountain of transfiguration they saw two men talking with him and they saw them as moses and elijah in the verses which follow luke will be intent on reminding us over and over again that all this is in fulfillment of prophecy the past is past the tomb is empty but the past is redolent with the lord's messages that all this had to happen and one looks forward again to another mountain where luke places two men beside the 11 as they then are after the ascension and gives them the encouragement to go forward from that mountain but there's still a sense of lockdown the women run back to where the 11 are and they tell their news and it's greeted with incredulity an idol tale says sin luke as the reaction of the eleventh to the story of mary magdalene and joanna and mary the mother of james and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles these are women who've been faithful the ones who've come from galilee and who have supported jesus by their own resources all the way through peter is now active he runs to the tomb he sees everything that they saw but not jesus nor does he hear the voice of the two men he goes home marveling at what had happened well tomorrow we shall see how luke carries that story on but the resonance is to the past with the prophetic message to the future with that wonderful sentence why seek the living among the dead he is not here he is risen the resurrection is very powerfully heaven's gift and we give thanks for that on this morning of transfiguration as we say our prayers so on this day we pray for the diocese of ogbomusa in nigeria at present vacant and say we pray for those choosing a new bishop but we pray for all the people there the diocese of botswana in central africa and we pray for rawlings belimi the bishop there and the diocese of brandon in canada and pray for william cliff the bishop there and all his people we pray for justin archbishop of canterbury and rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambus and today for the parish of folkestone st john the baptist for joe perl in the ministry of that vacant parish at the moment and those who are choosing a new priest for that so we pray for all those whom we know and love who need our prayers we give thanks for this feast of transfiguration and on this anniversary of hiroshima we pray for all who still suffer violence particularly the citizens of beirut this morning pray for all those suffering in sickness and pray for those seeking a vaccine for the kovids 19. so we prayed a special prayer for this day the transfiguration of our lord father in heaven whose son jesus christ was wonderfully transfigured before chosen witnesses upon the holy mountain and spoke of the exodus he would accomplish at jerusalem give us strength so to hear his voice and bear our cross that in the world to come we may see him as he is who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever are men so each in our own language we say the prayer that jesus taught her to say when we meet together in prayer in whatever way we 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 so in a moment of silence we make our own prayers on this morning of the feast of the transfiguration the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and if 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 you would pray for today and always amen