good morning and welcome to a monday morning monday the 9th of august so we're here in the meadow as normal on a monday morning full of flowers but it's uh a really really wet morning and you can hear the rain patterning down so that suits our purposes as we begin in genesis today the story of noah's flood and so here's the rain reminding you of the deluge we still talk about things as being anti-diluvian before the flood well here is the rain coming down to help us in our reflections later on and the reading that we shall do but it's a day when we want to remember all kinds of things but perhaps first and foremost the our ending of the olympic games which have been such an amazing triumph so many uh prophecies about doom and gloom about these games had been made but we want to congratulate the people of japan and the all the athletes and and those who took part in competitions of all kinds because they have given us an image of a world coming together but also so many stories of triumph and courage and preparation very moving stories and i think we've come away from the sense of having enjoyed virtually these games families separated from those who were competing but across the world a sense of i think gratitude for those games which have now ended with that a magnificent closing ceremony at the same time on this day we are remembering areas of our world in desperate trouble those consumed by fire in greece and in turkey in california people in enormous danger fighting those fires and we remember that in our prayers this morning and hold them in our hearts as we say our monday morning prayers and at the same time we remember people in danger from flooding in north korea and having to be rescued from floods in other areas of the world and finally in danger from war and we think of afghanistan at this time riven with war once again and then of course we have the danger of the pandemic itself which is a danger for the whole of humanity and are still uh the the need for us still to be careful of the welfare of one another and our gratitude to all those in front line health care so many things to pray about to offer to god on this monday morning as we begin a new section of our meditations in the ancient scriptures but for the moment let's begin our prayers to the sound of the rain on my umbrella and i'm being looked down on by a lovely sunflower which is reminding me that the sun is there above the clouds but for the moment i have a curtain of water all around me oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you creator of all to you be praise and glory forever as your dawn renews the face of the earth bringing light and life to all creation may we rejoice in this day you have made as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen our hands to do your will that the world may rejoice and give you praise 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 on this ninth morning of the month is psalm 46. [Applause] god is our refuge and strength a very present help in time of trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth be moved and though the mountains tremble in the heart of the sea though the waters rage and swell and though the mountains quake at the towering seas there is a river whose streams make glad the city of god the holy place of the dwelling of the most high god is in the midst of her therefore shall she not be removed god shall help her at the break of day the nations are in uproar and the kingdoms are shaken but god utters his voice and the earth shall melt away the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our stronghold come and behold the works of the lord what destruction he has wrought upon earth he makes wars to cease in all the world he shatters the bow and snaps the spear and burns the chariot in the fire be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in the earth the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our stronghold so we turn then to our reading from the book of genesis and it's a a a story which is of course very famous indeed a colorful story full of imagery and we shall take it phase by phase as we read through chapters six and seven and eight and hear the covenants which god makes with noah but today we shall simply set the scene and then we will think about what meaning this deluvian picture gives us when humankind began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them the sons of god saw that the daughters of humankind were attractive and they took as their wives any they chose then the lord said my spirit shall not abide in humankind forever for humankind is flesh their days shall be a hundred and twenty years [Applause] the nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterwards when the sons of god came into the daughters of humankind and they bought children to them these were the mighty men who were of old the heroes of renown the lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually and the lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth and it grieved him to his heart so the lord said i will blot out humankind whom i have created from the face of the land both humankind and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens for i am sorry that i have made them but noah found favor in the eyes of the lord these are the generations of noah noah was a righteous man blameless in his generation and noah walked with god and noah had three sons shem now the earth was corrupt in god's sight and the earth was filled with violence and god saw the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth and god said to noah i have determined to make an end of all flesh for the earth is filled with violence through them behold i will destroy them with the earth make yourself an ark of gopher wood make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch this is how you ought to make it the length of the ark 300 cubits its breaths 50 cubits its height 30 cubits make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above and set the door of the arc in its side make it with lower second and third decks for behold i will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven everything that is on the earth shall die but i will establish my covenant with you and you shall come into the ark you your sons your wife and your son's wives with you [Applause] let's pause there for this morning we've a week to do this and we've can finish on saturday with the story of the tower of babel which takes us through those first 11 chapters of genesis which are all often called primeval history rather than ancestral history but here is the very colorful and well-known story of noah it's caused all kinds of creative activity and we shall go on with the stories of the ark but for the moment let's think about first of all the way in which the creator's gifts have been corrupted and in the story all kinds of things are happening one can see that this is a gathering of stories by the hand of the person putting all of this together drawing on different sources but strange things are said in those first few few verses the sons of god normally in genesis mean the angels and here we have uh the the sons of god coming into the attractive uh women of humankind and and uh then what is born of them become heroes and giants and nephilim as we we we we see that this is a a strange collection of stories from way way back in time and then one comes to the thought that everything by the creator's intention will be wiped clean and the creative work will start again this is a day of intentional new beginnings by the lord and the lord now very much using that word rather than the lord god and combining the two words there's so much in the book of genesis in the early chapters which is given in signs of the way the words are placed but here we have the intention of god to wipe the slate clean it's a bit like the jeremiah and isaiah images of the potter with the lump of clay fashioning a pot and finding that the creative work is not pleasing in the end and so remodeling the clay and choosing to do so and those images are very much prophetic images later on but here we have the intention of the creator to wipe out with water do you remember that in the first chapter of genesis it's the separation of the waters which creates the possibility for life and now it's the return of the waters which will wash the earth clean and allow the possibility of a new beginning we will think about that in one or two ways a little bit later on in terms of new beginnings but that washing clean and that death of living things is used by an image in the first letter of saint peter as an image of baptism and that baptism of the waters being a sign of christ's death and resurrection and going back to this image of the waters closing over life and then rebirth coming from it these are strong images that we're hearing but it's then set into the context of one family being saved and the ark being prepared rather like a seed pod and if you look at the garden here there's always the threat of that which is very beautiful being overcome by all kinds of thorns and thistles and nettles and having to reduce that so that the beautiful things can grow but the sunflower looking down at me is full of little seed pods ready to begin again in the earth beneath and those pods very often um the monasteries were thought like of being like that in the dark ages of history of these islands waiting during those dark ages to open up again with everything that they would bring in gifts of the gospel and of the good news and of the sense of doing the creators will rhythmically in worship and also by works of their hands and physical works and the the mental works of study but kept almost in seed pods at certain times of protection and the ark is being built in this way so that the ark will be the seed pod for a new beginning we'll go on to the actual pictures of the ark tomorrow and see how creative artists have looked at that but let's look at one or two dates today as we think of this new beginning um i've got a plethora of dates i could i could mention today some days have huge amounts that one can deal with but i've decided rather like the story of noah to space them through the week because some are really quality things that we should be thinking about and developing in our minds and i'm just going to use two today in our calendar today to start with let's begin there the the name mary sumner appears we keep on august the ninth a commemoration of mary sumner now mary sumner was the wife of the rector of old oldsford and in 1876 she took the step of calling the mothers of the parish together in the rectory to form a society for the good and welfare of the parish she was so nervous about it that when everyone gathered and they were there in the drawing room of old oldsford rectory and i know that house very well because it became the winchester dialysis and retreat house and it was the place in which i was selected at a selection conference to be suitable for training for ordination that was way back now but at that time one was very conscious that this house had been the place where in 1876 the mothers union was founded now across the anglican communion i've worked with the mothers union in so many different places and seen the absolute courage and bravery in areas of the world where there was no national health system and no welfare system in prisons and mothers union teams would go out to be just that very often wearing their blue sashes and showing huge courage and and bravery in terms of helping people in their family life but helping also people who had no family life and were in particularly difficult situations hospitals were care might be given but no food was given and coming in to be the families of people of course it's a much much more widespread uh organization now and and all can be belong to that who who actually support the aims of the welfare of families and extended families across the world but it began from mary sumner's vision of a new beginning she surprisingly was nervous she and her husband george came from church families and uh the father of george sumner mary's husband was the bishop of winchester at the time nevertheless courage failed her on the first meeting and george had to speak for her and did his best but of course his wife's vision was her vision so at the second meeting she grew brave and from then on became quite a figure 1876 it was formed and by 1897 it was such a big organization not only here but other parts of the world that queen victoria herself became the patron of the mother's union and since then it's developed and developed and so our prayers are very much with members of the mothers union on this particular day as we remember mary sumner in our calendar a new beginning and then the other person i wanted to mention that it may seem excuse me it may seem a strange person to be mentioning but is p l travers and pl travis pamela lyndon travers as she called herself but her pen name pl travers was the creator of mary poppins now i find it really difficult so many images in my head when i think of pl travis and most of them have been created by filmmakers and storytellers and people who put on the the broadway version of mary poppins but that character whom pl travis created came from her own life experiences she was born in australia and uh her father at the time was a bank manager but those of you who know her story know that her father who was called travis gough um travis robert gough was someone who himself fell victim to alcoholism and no matter how he tried to hide it it became known to the bank and he was reduced first to a bank clerk and then really had to stop work altogether those are memories from her childhood she her father died in in 1906 and she at that time was only a child and was sent to her great aunt and then educated in sydney and became someone with great imagination but also an actress acting shakespearean parts and then decided she would have a completely new beginning and she crossed the world at the age of 24 and came to live in england but of course carrying all the stories of her childhood with her and when as her pen name she changed her name to pamela lyndon travers chavez was the name of her father whom she remembered and father and mother were deep inside her as she began to write and of course it was the story of the nanny coming to help the children and the family mary poppins which caught the imagination of all kinds of people but here is where my my images become confused because of course it was walt disney who then desperately because his daughters loved the story so much and i think there were eight mary poppins stories by then um who wanted the rights to film mary poppins and that story of the writing of i'm sorry the the quest of walt disney to get the rights to film mary poppins and his approach to pl travers in london and also bringing her across to uh hollywood to to see how it would be done all of that is set out in the film saving mr banks where emma thompson plays pl traverse marvelously and tom hanks phase walt disney and one begins to get to know the characters in that way so my mind is is clouded with images of that but also of of course the the walt disney film which was created and became a a film in a 1964 with julie andrews and dick van dyke and the animation of the cartoons and the music of the sherman brothers the songs which became famous and which were not at first to pl travis taste it wasn't how she wanted to do it and in that film it's a most marvelous film if you haven't seen it saving mr banks in that film one learns something about pl travers and of course the story becomes another new beginning so that every time this story has an overlay you could go to the overlay of the fact that after the film had been made others saw that it would make the most tremendous broadway and west end show on the stage and uh cameron mcintosh first spotted that and julian fellowes wrote a script for it and seeing that show on stage with no animation all of it becomes wonderful in terms of human activity it's one of the slickest and most wonderful shows i think that we've seen and in that the character of pl travers herself shines through all of this with her vision of mary poppins and the welfare of that family what i'm saying is that there are layers and layers and layers of new beginnings and that's how we're finding the early primeval stories of the book of genesis lairs and blairs of the way in which things are brought up but what sticks in mind of course always are the colorful images and the personalities we shall go on tomorrow having the intention of the creator to wash the earth clean but to save a seed pod to go forward we'll go on to see how that is affected and day by day this week we shall be dealing with the waters of the flood so i apologize if the rain is keeping my voice from you by patterning on the umbrella it will show no sign of letting up i think for hours yet and yet the gold of the flowers in front of me is actually reminding me of the sun above the clouds on this day of new beginnings for which we give thanks let's send say our prayers on this particular day and first and foremost we shall pray for all those whom we mentioned at the beginning in desperate situations throughout our world of fire and flood and plague and war and our minds go from one newest bulletin to another in all those situations of danger going right across the world at this time and then at the same time um the uh the sense of giving thanks for the life of the mother's union worldwide throughout the anglican communion and today in the anglican communion we're praying for the diocese of duke in the province of the episcopal church of south sudan and one of my strongest images of the mothers union and their teams going into prisons where often the prison guards themselves were were not behaving terribly well towards them but going in to look after the welfare of of both prisoners and also into hospitals which had so few resources and yet those white uniforms with the blue sash brought cheer and the good news of the gospel not only in words and prayers and smiles and encouragement but in real human things of food and as much medicine as could be actually created and at the same time digging in gardens to create those things which would feed those that they wanted to and and give the right kind of care to them so thanks be to god for the mother's union worldwide and then at the same time we pray for this diocese for justin our archbishop and for the for bishop rose of dover and tim bishop at lambeth and today as we pray for the lend valley benefits we're praying for the church of saint nicholas borton malhab for saint john the baptist harriet sham for saint mary's at lenum and all saints at ulcum and those churches we pray for under the care of john huggins the parish priest and the cure at charlotte kohl's on this particular day with the schools on holiday of course at the moment of alchem and harish and the two church of england primary schools there so let's say our prayers and first i'm going to use the prayer for this mary sumner's day and then the collect for this particular day faithful and loving god who called mary sumner to strive for the renewal of family life give us the gift of your holy spirit that through word prayer and deed your family may be strengthened and your people served through jesus christ our lord amen and so bring your own intentions and all your concerns uh and uh we shall save the collect today for the tenth sunday after trinity which is the collect for this week [Applause] let your merciful ears oh lord be open to the prayers of your humble servants and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please you through jesus christ our lord amen so we pray now the prayer our savior taught us and in that we use languages from across the world whatever we would 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 are men it's a moment of silence now for our own prayers on this particular morning [Applause] [Applause] up [Applause] the rain has bet up a little bit so i put the umbrella down um here uh we're remembering today the life of elizabeth wicks who was the wife of a long-term organist a deeply love organist of the cathedral alan wicks and when he retired he and his wife elizabeth went uh to live at y and she sadly has has now died and yet she worshipped here constantly after alan's death but such a great musician and a deeply loved couple in our own community and in the community of y so we're thinking of them just as you'll be thinking of so many that you want to remember today and i give thanks very much for the friendship of both alan and elizabeth wicks over a very long time long before i came here the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds and 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