good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this sunday the 23rd of may it's the feast of pentecost and we give great thanks for that it's a beautiful morning here in england in kent the sky completely blew the sunshine already strong the sun rose well in a golden uh dawning this morning and here it is shining on belharry tower and on to the cascading banksia rose named after not suggested banks but lady banks and it normally would have flowered long before this but this is a slow year because of the climate this year and so we give thanks for the fruitfulness of this day of pentecost which of course was the feast of the wheat harvest in the time of jesus the feast of weeks it was called but for christians it's a day of celebration of the gifts of the holy spirit this is the morning after the eurovision song contest which brings the nations of europe and the that includes a great deal of the northern hemisphere stretching from the far eastern part of russia touching the pacific right round and across greenland once again touching in in in that way and so it involves many many nations and uh the continent of europe spreading itself across the world in this part of the world at the same time at some stage australia came in as a guest and has remained as a welcome guest ever since but it is a coming together in song of so many different nations well last night was a disappointing night for uh the united kingdom and uh i didn't sit up to say see see the end fletcher did uh since then this morning i have watched the end and james newman the singer for the uk had a very disappointing result but the ovation which followed his humble acceptance graceful acceptance of that disappointment and his evident enjoyment in the occasion was something that was really heartwarming for it's a real occasion of pentecost when barriers come down between nations and each celebrates their own culture in song and then come together in a great festival so massive congratulations to the city of rotterdam in the netherlands who despite all the restrictions of pandemic which were completely adhered to in a nation which certainly isn't through lockdowns yet actually staged a live eurovision for over 3 000 people there and millions across the world and we give thanks for that festival on this day of pentecost a coming together of the nations and the breaking down of barriers as we say our prayers this morning oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise send your holy spirit upon us and clothe us with power from on high alleluia blessed are you creator god to be praise and glory forever as your spirit moved over the face of the waters bringing light and life to your creation pour out your spirit on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your presence 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 morning of the month the 23rd morning is 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 have those who live by it his praise endures forever so a special reading on this day of pentecost the story of pentecost itself told by saint luke the evangelist in his second part of everything he gives us the acts of the apostles and i'm reading the story of the first day of pentecost from chapter two of the acts beginning at verse one when the day of pentecost arrived they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them and they were all filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance now there were dwelling in jerusalem jews devout people from every nation under heaven and at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language and they were amazed and astonished saying are not all these who are speaking galileans and how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language parsians and medes and elamites residents of mesopotamia judea and cappadocia pontus and asia phrygia and pamphilia egypt and the parts of libya belonging to cyrene and visitors from rome both jews and proselytes cretans and arabians we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of god and all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another what does this mean but others mocking said they are filled with new wine but peter standing with the eleven lifted up his voice and addressed them people of judah and all who dwell in jerusalem let this be known to you and give ear to my words for these people are not drunk as you suppose since it is only the third hour of the day but this is what was uttered through the prophet joel in the last days it shall be god declares that i will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams even on my male and female servants in those days i will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy and i will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below blood and fire and vapor of smoke the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the lord comes the great and magnificent day and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the lord shall be saved a complete transformation from that locked down sense in the upper room which has been the hallmark of the days between the feast of the ascension when the work of giving the good news to the peoples of the world was handed over to that little band as they went back to jerusalem and locked themselves in like a seed pod completely sealed the doors were locked for fear of the jewish authorities and fear was one of the things which pervaded that and today all that is blown away by the gifts of the spirit which luke himself in his gospel his evangel right at the beginning in chapter three of the gospel not of the acts gives in the prophetic voice of john the baptist i'm not the one who is to come but another will come greater than i i have baptized you with water says john he will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire wind and breath as i said yesterday when jesus spoke to nicodemus it was the wind that he used as an image for the spirit the wind goes where it will you hear the sound of it but you don't know where it comes from or where it goes you could say and it's not so today because it's a really still and lovely day today but you could say you hear the sound of it you feel the effect of it but it's significant that breath and spirit are the same words and it takes us to that prophecy in the book of ezekiel of the valley of dry bones which gradually are put together and given sinews and flesh but nothing can happen until the breath of the spirit is in them and then they become once again effective and alive for breath means life but also in the elements of earth and air and fire and water the fire and the heat and the light that it brings here in the sunshine the light and the warmth is flooding the earth and with the moisture of the water and the good earth the as his fruiting and giving praise it's a day when fruitfulness is part of the praise but at the same time it's a day when barriers are broken down who were these people to whom the holy spirit was given because in chapter two it simply says they were all together in one place but luke in talking about that early community which had known fear and uncertainty now they had lost the human presence of jesus and the spirit that his human presence gave are about to receive the spirit of jesus the spirit of being able to give that good news and break down barriers and claim salvation to to whom to begin with it's just the third person plural they so we have to go back to the chapter before and find out who they are in particularity and we find that when they return from the mount of olives and they lock themselves into the upper room it's peter and john and james and andrew philip and thomas bartholomew and matthew james the son of alpheus and simon the zealot and judas the son of james all these with one accord together with the women and you have to go back a bit further to find luke telling you that the company of women who included mary magdalene and joanna who provided for jesus and the disciples out of their own resources and had come with them from galilee or joined them since were there as part of that group and also crucially mary the mother of jesus and jesus's brothers whom have been named uh not by luke but by mark earlier on as james and jose's and judas and simon all there to the family of jesus in narrow terms and the family of jesus in wider terms which will become the family of jesus the friends of jesus and the body of christ as a gift to the world and the spirit is about to be poured out on all of them and the sign what john the baptist said he will baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire so it's partly surprising that the spirit the breath the wind is evident and also the fire is evident the warmth which will engender fruitfulness and break down barriers and cause their number to increase and increase and not only that but will allow them to speak a language and i would say body mind and spirit and sing the praises of god in a way that all will understand and want to be part of even from that first day of pentecost no wonder it's known as the birthday of the church there's a long way to go of course there is because in the acts of the apostles this is just the first day but it's a day of exhilaration and it's a day of seeing prophecy fulfilled not only the prophecy of john the baptist but the prophecy which peter speaks of i will pour out my spirit on all peoples and all of that and the dreamings of dreams and the way in which people in the spirit just sort of prophesy and and have visions for each other all of those things which have been prophesied now become fulfilled this feast of weeks from the destruction of the temple has become a feast when in the jewish face a concentration on giving thanks for the books of the law the torah is is really celebrated and we have to remember that within all this is the constant message from jesus to his disciples think of it on the road to emmaus in luke's gospel think of it also right at the end at the time when the two men in white up spoken to them said the job is now yours but practically the last things that jesus has said to them is that all things in the law the prophets and the psalms have been fulfilled in me and now they will be fulfilled in them the them is collective but it's also particular just as the crowd on the day of pentecost is collective but it's also particular the list of nations like the eurovision song contest the list of nations coming together from that vicinity and being there for the feast and no doubt many tourists as well because it was a sight to see all gathered around the magnificence of the temple but here was something really special happening and it was a beginning a beginning for reconciliation the gifts of the spirit being poured out on the church and for that we give thanks but pray that we ourselves may be vehicles of that spirit one of my favorite hymns of pentecost is the him come down our love divine and that speaks as well of the way in which the love comes down in fire which can be painful burning away in purity those things which are getting in the way of us receiving the gifts of the spirit come down o love divine seek thou this soul of mine and visit it with thine own nada glowing oh comforter draw near within my heart appear and kindle it by holy flame bestowing set my heart on fire and remember we say that really daily because when we give thanks for the gifts of this new day we talk about being on fire with love for god and for each other and that actually means that as the the birds of the air and we remember also the spirit descending on jesus like a dove going circling round in the heavens above me and uh the peregrines i imagine are up there and and looking and swallows maybe coming with their their tails we've seen them recently i see them now just around me and the dove on the chimney behind me all of those things as signs of the giving of the gift of the spirit but fire and wind very much the fire to warm and engender life and the breath to enable us to hand on the gospel the good news oh let it freely burn till earthly passions turn to dust and ashes in its heat consuming and let thy glorious light shine ever on my sight and clothe me round the while pass illuming if we look as we generally do at things which have happened on this particular day may the 23rd in years gone by just one or two this morning that i'd name in 1951 china formally annexed tibet and from that moment onwards the dalai lama has been the focus of an independence movement for tibet but certainly an asserting of the particular quality of culture in tibet so it gives us a chance to think of the tibetan people at this time and their specific culture which has given so much to the world over the years we pray for them today and also in 1707 the swedish botanist and zoologist carl lineus was born he was the one who through his knowledge was able to formalize the binomial nomenclature the naming of plants and species and really he lies at the foundation of modern ecology russo said of lineas tell him i know no greater man on earth and goethe said with the exception of shakespeare and spinoza i know no one among them no longer living who has influenced me more strongly so in botany and in zoology the letter l indicates lineas authority for a species name particularity but also lineas skill in the complete community of the earth in plant life and living species we give thanks for that again generality and particularity both receiving life and breath and the capacity to be itself from the spirit of god which first breathed in on the face of the waters at the beginning of all our scriptures in the book of genesis and then lastly i just wanted to mention that in 1906 the norwegian playwright henrik ibsen died and ibsen's plays which are sometimes quite dark and and and cause us to feel quite quite depressed about the human state nevertheless analyze particularities and identify things which we can then embrace and come to terms with all those particularities and generalities about our our own cultures our own communities our own life are given that kind of highlight by god's breath and life given on this day of pentecost let holy charity mine outward vesture be and loneliness become mine inner clothing true loneliness of heart which takes the humble apart and all its own shortcomings weeps with loathing once again we go back to james newman's graceful and humble response to disappointment last night which got one of the loudest and biggest ovations of that great crowd so let's say our prayers on this particular day giving thanks for the day of pentecost and the life of their whole church and we pray today in the anglican communion for the anglican church of melanesia and we have the icon in our chapel of modern martyrs of the melanesian mission the brotherhood and we value that because it was a gift given by the melanesian brotherhood in memory of their own modern martyrs at the lambeth conference in 2008 and it hangs there in the chapel of modern martyrs we want to pray for all our friends at grace church cathedral in charleston because the banks i rose is the flower of the city of charleston so we ask god to pour down his blessings on dean michael wright and archdeacon cali and the whole community of grace church cathedral in the city of charleston this morning we pray for archbishop justin and for bishop rose of dover and also for bishop tim at lambeth and on this day for all the parishes of our diocese and communities of christians of different denominations throughout this part of england as the day of pentecost has fully come but we pray also for ourselves and i'll use the last verse of this lovely hymn of the holy spirit and then we'll say the prayer for this day of pentecost [Music] and so the yearning strong with which the soul will long shall far outpass the power of human telling for none can guess its grace till they become the place wherein the holy spirit makes his dwelling the indwelling of the holy spirit setting our hearts on fire with love for god for each other and hopefully for this beautiful home our planet which he has given us and give thanks for the gifts of the holy spirit and the fruitfulness it engenders so here is the collect for the day of pentecost bring your own prayers on this day and your own concerns wherever you are in the world 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 ever more to rejoice in his holy comfort through the merits of christ jesus our savior amen so we say each in our own language and one of the loveliest things that we do here when we've got groups from different parts of the world is to say allowed the our father in different languages and hear the languages of the world coming together and uniting in our men we won't hear them from one another this morning but will be conscious of them in their thousands across the world as we say it together in different languages 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 members of silence now as you say your own prayers on this feast of pentecost [Music] the spirit of truth lead you into all truth give you grace to confess that jesus christ is lord and strength to proclaim the word and works of god 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 happy pentecost [Music] is [Music] is oh [Music] is [Music] easy [Music] oh [Music] our [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] you