i'm sitting in the front garden of the deanery but you're seeing a silhouette of a young baby seagull walking backwards and forwards waiting for its parents to feed it but i think the parents feel that he's big enough now or she's big enough to to find its own food good morning and welcome to the deanery garden in canterbury cathedral on this morning of sunday the 29th of august welcome as you join us from across the world bring your own prayers and intentions as we say our prayers on this sunday morning our minds and hearts are filled with so many different images and so many of them of people fleeing from areas of danger they might be natural dangers like hurricane ida which is about to hit the state of louisiana and the other states in that area of the united states with great force today and we think of people there or it might be of those fleeing from afghanistan and those leaving with a a sense of disappointment and regret for all those they've left behind a sense of foreboding for the dangers that people face there and a sense of decision-making which has to carry us forward from this moment all of those images are very much in our minds and hearts as we say our prayers across the world on this particular day it's a day when we remember also the continuing paralympics in tokyo and we give thanks for the fact that uh zakia kudadi and hussein rasuli the afghan competitors in the paralympics have arrived in tokyo and will take part zakiyah in the women's taekwondo event and hussein in the men's 400 meters so that the flag of afghanistan which was raised at the beginning of the paralympics as a token not believing that the two athletes would get there is now actually being honored by two contestants and we give thanks for them as a sign of hope in that sign of hope for our whole world at the paralympics in tokyo all of those things we can bear in mind as we bring in our hearts and minds those whom we would want to pray for i'm wanting to pray for a friend of this cathedral roger o'shea who is is deeply deeply ill and coming we believe to the end of his life we remember his his wife claire and the whole family who've been such friends to this whole area in so many charitable ways and so many ordinary ways but i'm i'm thinking of him you will be thinking of many others i'm also wanting to congratulate roger and may roebuck on their golden wedding anniversary it fell on friday but this is the weekend of their great party so congratulations on that particular gold event there are signs of hope in our world and we shall come to the coronation on saturday it was yesterday of king ogyami at sohatsi iii in nigeria he is the olu of the awari people there and the 21st of of his line and the the pictures of his uh coronation surrounded by people who've traveled across the world to be there we've prayed for nigeria so often recently and he made the most wonderful speech of looking forward for our world we'll come to that in our reflection but signs of hope in the midst of so much distress we think of those involved in fire in earthquakes uh in flood and in pandemic so many different areas of our world too many to mention but each of us will carry strong ones in our hearts on this particular morning so let's begin our prayers and the image across our prayers because of the reading that we shall use for this sunday morning a special um reading today not in the book of genesis but the reading is from revelation and will contain that sentence behold i stand at the door and knock and that sense of doors being closed or doors being open and those with the power to open them is a strong thought in our reflections and prayers today and we ourselves are sometimes doorkeepers in more ways than we can imagine o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise let your ways be known upon earth your saving power among the nations blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief your only son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself may we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight declaring your love for all the world 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 o god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen i should have said that uh also today is uh hannah collins birthday hannah who for some time used to put the uh films that we're making on to the internet for us she no longer does that because fletcher's learned the technique but we wish her a happy birthday and hannah is still very much involved in our social media uh fletcher and i don't do social media so she's still very much involved in in that and so happy birthday hannah on this day and and thanks for all that you contribute to this uh it's psalm 139 this morning on the 29th morning of the month and that very much is a psalm about god knowing us through and through and are asking for the same understanding about ourselves so that the the door may be opened properly on our own perception of ourself in our prayers as we offer ourselves to god each morning psalm 139 oh lord you have searched me out and known me you know my sitting down and my rising up you discern my thoughts from afar you mark out my journeys and my resting place and are acquainted with all my ways for there is not a word on my tongue but you o lord know it all together you encompass me behind and before and lay your hand upon me such knowledge is too wonderful for me so high that i cannot attain it where can i go then from your spirit or where can i flee from your presence if i climb up to heaven you are there if i go down into hell you are there also if i take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there your hand shall lead me your right hand hold me fast if i say surely the darkness will cover me and the light around me turn to night even darkness is no darkness with you the night is as clear as the day darkness and light to you are both alike for you yourself created my inmost parts you knit me together in my mother's womb i thank you for i am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are your works my soul knows well my frame was not hidden from you when i was made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth [Music] your eyes beheld my form as yet unfinished already in your book were all my members written as day by day they were fashioned when as yet there was none of them how deep are your counsels to me oh god how great is the sum of them if i count them they are more in number than the sand and at the end i am still in your presence search me out o god and know my heart try me and examine my thoughts see if there is any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting we're continuing with our viewing of doors in our cathedral dinery garden uh and uh we've come to a different place you'll recognize part of it from yesterday and i'm going to read the lesson for this morning it's a sunday lesson not a lesson from the book of genesis we'll continue with that tomorrow it's revelation chapter 3 and verse 14. and to the angel of the church in laodicea write the words of the are men the faithful and true witness the beginning of god's creation i know your works you are neither cold nor hot wood that you were either cold or hot so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold i will spit you out of my mouth for you say i am rich i have prospered and i need nothing not realizing that you are wretched pitiable poor and blind and naked i counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and solve to anoint your eyes so that you may see those whom i love i reprove and discipline so be zealous and repent behold i stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door i will come into them and eat with them and they with me the one who conquers i will grant them to sit with me on my throne as i also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne whoever has an ear let them hear what the spirit is saying to the churches so i was sitting by this door and we've turned the shot now because this store is a really good representation of the one which herman hunt when he painted the light of the world that very famous painting based on the passage i've just read he was very clear that the door had to have no handles or way of access from the outside it has to be opened by the one within and the one within has the freedom to choose whether the one who is knocking on the door is given access behold i stand at the door and knock that becomes not only a message to the laodicean church but also to us as well from the lord who knows us so well and in the little passage that we've just read there are so many images and metaphors and truths both of this life and the life of eternity that it's become a really favorite passage and rightly so behold i stand at the door and knock if we think about the church in laodicea at that time we're talking about a church which is nowadays uh located and it's only the remains of that very important city of laodicea which is in western turkey as it now is but it shows just what a fantastic city in terms of its riches and prosperity and independence it was in roman times and we remember all of that remember the church that's there which we meet not only in the revelation but also in sin paul's letter to the colossians because he speaks of that and the various things which are going on in the houses there the pigs are having a whale of a time this morning it's two days running that we've they've had our company at the moment but i think that uh winnie here is thinking that the basket is a a fairly tasty morsel and the the church in laodicea at the time obviously was fairly self-satisfied but the lord's voice says you don't know yourselves you say i am rich i've prospered i need nothing and we're thinking at that moment or i am of the parable instant luke's gospel of the rich man's barns i shall say to my soul soul we have plenty and you know there's no no need at all and and the answer from god you fool tonight your sill will be required of you and here is the voice to the church in laodicea at the time you say i am rich i have prospered i need nothing and the eyes needing to be open to know themselves we're back with our psalmist in psalm 139 lord you have searched me out and known me you know my sitting down and my getting up you perceive my thoughts from afar all of those things and the attempt to escape the eye of god seeing us inside out as jesus so often is shown to do think again back to nathaniel under the fig tree how do you know me i saw you when you were under the fig tree lord you are the son of god the king of heaven the intuition that comes nathaniel opens the door from the inside but other metaphors there the the hot water and the cold it's thought perhaps that that's an image of those three places which are mentioned in the in colossians hierapolis and colossae and laodicea and all of those places hierapolis with its hot water collision with its pure springs of cold water and the aqueduct or or the the piping which brought the hot water to laodicea the water getting more and more lukewarm all the way that it got there and we think of hot water as something healthy of cold water as something healthy but as luke warm water not in the same way and the metaphor becomes a really strong one but here is a door which is covered in cobwebs because it's never opened i can't open it from this side we'd have to go around the other side and i don't know where the key of the lock and all that is because it's a door that is not necessary but it's a very good image for the door that we're thinking about in in the the image our lord gives as what herman hunt calls the light of the world we'll think more about his picture in a moment but for the the the while let's continue with this metaphor be zealous and repent i would say that as a daily instruction for forgiveness and salve and ointment to anoint the eyes and the gifts that come from that of pure gold and white clothing and everything which speaks of purity and good intention all of those things are there not in metaphor but in commands not just to the laodicean church but to us too on this sunday morning when we're surrounded by so many desperate things happening in our world and the signs of the fragility of our human kind and what we're doing to the planet let's move on before we get eaten by winnie and kenny here for watching more breakfast so we've come to a quieter place now to this door which gives access to the deanery we won't be so disturbed because winnie and clermy aren't here but actually leo is here hovering around here beside me and waiting for breakfast in the same way it's that time of the morning but this little door gives the best possible image which is conjured forest by the pre-raphaelite painter william hellman hunt and that painting which became so famous attached the sentence of jesus i am the light of the world to this do you want to come up um to this particular aspect of the story of not the story the message to the church in laodicea in the revelation to john so all of that becomes really important in our thinking home and hunt painted that painting of the light of the world in 1850 or it was shown in the royal academy in 1854 and that particular painting of his he he painted the painting at least three times that one is now hanging in a side chapel at cable college oxford he then painted it again and that painting is in the manchester city art gallery slight changes and then in a much larger way for the painting which now hangs in saint paul's cathedral and went on a world tour so that so many saw the painting across the world behold i stand at the door and knock the door is covered in plants and growth to show that it hasn't been opened for years and also as i said it has no handle or lock and key from the outside the one inside has to open it helman hunt described that that was what was in his mind as he was painting it but also what is inside is the hospitality of heaven whoever opens the door to me i will come and sit with them and eat with them that sense of eating which is so important in the gospels of jesus sharing food not just at the last supper but also come and have breakfast on the lakeside and this is a sense of coming in and being a guest but it's only an unknocking the invitation has to want has to come from the one opening the door and the invitation is always in the present tense and it comes with the injunctions to be zealous and repent and at the same time to believe in the fact that the solve the healing ointment of forgiveness can restore all things to the pristine white and the shining gold and the health which the salve recognizes and it's an aspect of life not just for this short life but for infinity and we're praying and undergirding with prayer so many desperate situations in our world at this particular time so we give thanks for the way in which that has been illustrated and the gifts which hellman hunt has given by that very famous painting the light of the world it speaks of thrones and crowns but notice in helmand hunt's painting the kind of crown that our lord is wearing it's woven with thorns and all of those things are significant signs not actually explained to us in the picture in revelation but resonances of all kinds of gospel stories which the evangelists give us are there and also the truth of the growing early church and all its difficulties on the way through i've said that we've been shown our fragility as humankind in this particular planet and this area of of god's universe our home here the earth which we need to take care of and that becomes more and more apparent but in doing all of that there are signs of hope i want to go back to the coronation yesterday of the 21st olu awari ogiyami atawatse iii the olu quite often translated in in our language as the king of that people the it's sakiri people of a wary kingdom in the very oil rich delta state of nigeria and uh oil accounts for 86 percent of the gdp of nigeria so when the young olu made his speech 37 years old it was a brave speech and it said wonderful things about the improvement of the environment and moving from dependence on fossil fuels for the sake of our planet and also the improvement of women's rights he said in his speech we will ensure that women both old and young are honored respected not only by word but actual cultural practice so i say to our women today you will no longer be invisible well there's a a message for all our nervousness about afghanistan and it also shows the agenda in the topics that the young ruler is setting out for his people and that agenda is one that the whole earth would say amen to so we've prayed for the church in nigeria i think probably on five different occasions and we should be doing so again tomorrow this morning we're praying for the south sudan another area which needs our prayers a great deal but we think of the people of nigeria and the people across the world who are suffering in so many different ways this morning as we say our sunday morning prayers together i'm going to use first of all the collect for 29th of august and the sunday sort of pushes it aside really is the day when we commemorate the beheading of sin john the baptist we remember his birth on the 24th of june and today the 29th of august we give thanks for the ministry of john the baptist and as we remember that we give thanks for the preparation that he made the invitation to look for the one who is coming almighty god who called your servant john the baptist to be the forerunner of your son in birth and death strengthen us by your grace that has he suffered for the truth so we may boldly resist corruption advice and receive with him the unfading crown of glory through jesus christ our lord amen and the collect for this 13th sunday after trinity almighty god who called your church to bear witness that you were in christ reconciling the world to yourself help us to proclaim the good news of your love that all who hear it may be drawn to you through him who was lifted up on the cross and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen before we say our prayer our father i wanted to just connect once more with this sense of the invitation into our lives which is being shown by the door and the knocking and the sense of needing to invite in the guest there's a lovely poem written by the young poet charles sorley who was killed by a sniper's bullet aged 20 in the great war and many others have spoken so highly of him as a poet those who knew him at the time john maysfield said his death was the largest poetic casualty of the great war and he's remembered of course in poet's corner in westminster abbey but the poem that i'm thinking of is a poem of expectation of inviting in the guest it's called expectans expectavi and those are the first words in latin of psalm 40 i waited patiently for the lord but the last few verses of that poem we know well from music written for it by charles wood in 1919 and it's become a favorite anson for all choirs expectans expectavi here is the um the the verse that that sorley wrote this sanctuary of my soul unwitting i keep white and whole unlatched and lit if thou should scare to enter or tarry them with parted lips and outstretched hands and listening ears thy servant stands called out early call thou late to thy great service dedicate my soul keep white and whole ready to give the invitation to the one who knocks the light of the world let's say the our father together 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 and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men moment of silence now for your own prayers as you ponder the invitation behold i stand at the door and knock um 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 are men many opportunities for opening of doors and closing of doors for ourselves and for others are necessary in our world as we think of all the situations that are in our hearts and minds with our prayers but may today be a time when you can open doors and make new beginnings and invite folk into hospitality but chiefly invites into that hospitality to be shared with the light of the world [Music] [Music] is [Music] is oh [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] you