good evening and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this evening of friday the 17th of july as we say our evening prayers welcome wherever you are in the world and bring your own concerns as this weekend begins oh lord open thou our lips and our mouths shall show forth thy praise oh god make speed to save us o lord make hate to help us glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen praise he the lord the lord's name be praised the psalm on this afternoon of the month the 17th evening is psalm 89 and i read the opening verses of that psalm my song shall be all way of the loving kindness of the lord with my mouth will i ever be showing thy truth from one generation to another for i have said mercy shall be set up forever thy truth shall thou establish in the heavens i have made a covenant with my chosen i have sworn unto david my servant thy siege will i establish forever and set up thy throne from one generation to another o lord the very heavens shall praise thy wondrous works and thy truths in the congregation of the saints for who is he among the clouds that shall be compared unto the lord and what is he among the gods that shall be like unto the lord god is very greatly to be feared in the council of the saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him o lord god of hosts who is like unto thee thy truth most mighty lord is on every side the heavens are thine the earth also is thine thou has laid the foundation of the round world and all that therein is thou hast a mighty arm strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy seat mercy and truth shall go before thy face blessed is the people o lord that can rejoice in thee they shall walk in the light of thy countenance their delight shall be daily in thy name and in thy righteousness shall they make their boast our first lesson is written in the eighth chapter of the book of the prophet ezekiel beginning at the first verse the ezekiel in exile is dreaming in visions of the city of jerusalem which lies in ruins in the sixth year in the six months on the fifth day of the month as i sat in my house with the elders of judah sitting before me the hand of the lord god fell upon me then i looked and behold a form that had the appearance of a man below what appeared to be his waist was fire and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness like gleaming metal he put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head and the spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of god to jerusalem to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north where was the seat of the image of jealousy which provokes to jealousy and behold the glory of the god of israel was there like the vision that i saw in the valley then he said to me son of man lift up your eyes now towards the north so i lifted up my eyes towards the north and the held north of the altar gate in the entrance was this image of jealousy and he said to me son of man do you see what they are doing the great abomination that the house of israel are committing here to drive me from my sanctuary but you will still see still greater abominations than this here ends the first reading so we say the song of mary the magnificat my soul doth magnify the lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in god my savior for he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed for he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his name and his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations he has shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts he has put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich she has sent empty away he remembering his mercy hath opened his servant israel as he promised to our forefathers abraham and his seed forever glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen [Music] the second lesson is written in the second letter of paul to the corinthians beginning at the first verse of the fourth chapter therefore having this ministry by the mercy of god we do not lose heart but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with god's word but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of god and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing in their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god for what we proclaim is not ourselves but jesus christ as lord with ourselves as your servants for jesus sake for god who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to god and not to us we are afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not driven to despair persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying in the body the death of jesus so that the life of jesus may also be manifested in our bodies for we who live are always being given over to death for jesus sake so that the life of jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh so death is at work in us but life in you since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written i believed and so i spoke we also believe and so we speak knowing that she who raised the lord jesus will raise us also with jesus and bring us with you into his presence for it is all for your sake said that his grace extends to more and more people it may increase in thanksgiving to the glory of god so we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but the things that are unseen or the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal here ends the second lesson lord now let us say thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared before the face of all people to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of thy people israel glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen let us pray lord have mercy upon us christ have mercy upon us lord have mercy upon us 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 the lord shall i mercy upon us and grant us thy salvation the lord save the queen and mercifully hear us when we call upon thee and do thy ministers with righteousness and make thy chosen people joyful the lord save thy people and bless thine inheritance give peace in our time o lord because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou o god o god make clean our hearts within us and take not thy holy spirit from us grant o lord we beseech thee that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance that thy church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness through jesus christ our lord amen o god from whom all holy desires all good counsels and all just works to proceed give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of jesus christ our savior amen lighten our darkness we beseech thee o lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only son our savior jesus christ amen our lessons may seem strange lessons the vision of an exile about the awful things that are happening to the holy place in his far-off land which has been destroyed and he taken with others into captivity and his visions show him that the holy place contains things which he thinks of as an abomination and will need restoration healing and cleansing and then the lovely letter of saint paul to the church in corinth which has that image of our ability as human beings to receive the grace of god like a unique treasure special and particular to each of us but outwardly it may seem that this beautiful treasure is carried in an unassuming clay jar jesus so often says that it's not what things look like from the outside which is important it is how they are seen to be inside in the depths of a person's heart and soul that's the true measure of the acceptance of the gifts of god remember how when in the time that king david is being chosen the last of the sons to be sent for a little shepherd boy from the hill coming down and samuel is looking to see who will be the next king of israel at that time and he looks at the strengths of the first and eldest sons that come forward and the lord says don't take any notice of outward appearance the jaw the lord judges on what is at the heart of a thing and here in ezekiel's vision the holy place may seem a sad place it contains abominations but it can be made well by the grace of those exiles returning which they do we've seen in our morning lessons how the holy place which jesus treasures so much the temple which he wants to be a house of prayer is filled for him with violence around him and now the reverse happens in the letter to the corinthians pointing to us each and saying we may look like on pre-possessing humanity which can affect little and yet the lord is looking on the heart to see what is there what has been received in terms of gift of grace how the gifts given are being used we saw this morning that this was the day on which isaac watts the great hymn writer was born in 1764 and looked at two of his hymns this morning when i survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died and oh god our help in ages past our hope for years to come our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home tonight let's just briefly look at another this one runs jesus shall reign wherever the sun does his successive journeys run his kingdom stretch from shore to shore till moons shall wax and wane no more people and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name blessings abound wherever he reigns the prisoner leaps to lose his chains the weary find eternal rest and all the sons of want are blessed to him shall endless prayer be made and praise is throne to crown his head his name like incense shall arise with every morning sacrifice let every creature rise and bring peculiar honors to our king angels descend with songs again and earth repeat the loud are men watts was a very fine hymn writer but that last verse always attracts me let every creature rise and bring peculiar honours to their king it was the word peculiar that used to make me wonder of course it means unique for every creature has a unique character and the whole of creation has a unique character but in that our belief is that creation gives glory to the god who made it and we play our part in that each of us with unique peculiar characteristics and in what's his vision he is seeing every creature in creation by being itself praising its creator and we playing our part in that and heaven responds with earth angels descend with songs again and earth repeat the loud our men a connection between heaven and earth and giving us that sense of whatever our mortal frames may look like however we are we are clay vessels which can contain god's treasure let's say our prayers this afternoon and think of those we would like to pray for let's give thanks for princess beatrice and her new husband eduardo who've been married today at windsor and also people will bring concerns for folk and and concerns for those who are grieving the loss of loved ones an uncle of ours in tasmania has died today john faithful and we think of his wife angela and all those who are remembering and grieving him at the moment and in our silence we bring our own prayers and name them in our hearts to 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 whom you would pray for today and always amen