good morning and welcome on this monday december the 7th to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral and wherever you are in the world bring your own intentions and prayers as we say our morning prayers early in the morning a new working week is beginning on a monday morning and we hear that the sounds of the the traffic in the in the distance as people go off to their work but it is a a misty moisty morning as they used to say it's chilly and there's a mist which doesn't look as though it'll lift for a bit but at this time of year the thrushes always begin to sing their hearts out and it's wonderful to come out of the deanery front door when light is only just coming as we go to say matins in the cathedral and find a thrush standing right at the top of the cut leaf alder which is leafless but the top twigs is the seat of the thrush enthroned and claiming his territory they go silent in july but their song on a december morning is something which gives enormous heart and on this day also if one wants a little encouragement i think a nation has the right to be proud of its rugby team following the the great victory yesterday afternoon it wasn't the best match we'd ever seen but it certainly was the most exciting nail-biting match right up to the last sudden death kick and uh it was a captain's kick from owen farrell which actually has sealed the match and the championship of the eight nations championship for england so we have a right to feel pleasure in our rugby team on this morning and pleasure also i mentioned yesterday the sponsored rowing for diversity house and we put the link for diversity house that wonderful charity on yesterday's morning prayer but the boys next door the borders of of the boys house lineker house spent all day rowing in order to gain funds for that wonderful charity and they more than achieve their goal in distance so congratulations to them as well on this morning there are those that we have to pray for in great need and distress not only of course with the pandemic but we do remember that on this day the vaccines will be beginning to be used in england for the first time and we pray for those who are administering them and then they're rolling out bit by bit across the nation particularly for those groups that are most at risk and those who are front line workers in the national health service all of those things you remember we remember right across on the other side of the world the fact that the fires have broken out again in force in fraser island that wonderful the largest island of sand in the world a a place a a world heritage site full of creatures and wildlife with an ecology all of its own it would be too much to describe it all this morning but what we do know is that those who actually live there have been asked now to leave their homes as firefighting continues different dangers in different places and different threats to our ecology and as we look back over this time if on december the seventh in years gone by we find oddly weather conditions of great extremes in 1703 the largest windstorm ever to be recorded in the south of england 120 miles per hour and two 9 000 people died in in that storm so wind storms are something which have punctuated history and also in canada in 1948 the lowest temperature ever recorded 87 degrees in fahrenheit terms below zero and we remember the fact that these kinds of weather conditions are not the property of any one generation all have had to to to um suffer them um today our our special tree is the hazel very much an indigenous tree and i'm sitting between two hazels which at the moment have kept their leaves here's a witty from that uh hazel and there's hazel behind me as well and a hazel is not only known for its hazelnuts but also it's hazel catkins and there's a male catkin growing on this little stem here and those catkins will really be the first signs of spring as they develop and develop and begin to shed their yellow pollen and the bees when they come out maybe on a warm uh day in the evening midwinter can find sustenance there and enjoy them but they are also of course wonderful trees for weaving baskets and fences and and they they are easy to coppice because like the willow you can just cut them down and they grow up again and and in all kinds of places one finds that fences and baskets and all sorts of things can be taken from this very versatile tree and of course uh in in earlier times that the red squirrels would love these red deer eat them all kinds of creatures feed from the hazel so we give thanks for the hazel and its part in our woodland ecology today we'll think more about that later other dates on december that the 7th 1732 the royal opera house opened for the first time in covent garden 1922 the parliament of northern ireland voted to stay as part of the united kingdom on this day in 1941 and this makes this pearl harbor day in the united states the united states pacific fleet was bombed no declaration of war had come and the president roosevelt called this a date that will live in infamy 2400 more than 2400 died in that attack and it brought the united states into the second world war and uh in 1960 all these things i'm dotting about the longest television soap opera began uh coronation street that was the first episode on december the 7th in 1960 in uh 1945 the microwave oven was patented and now we take it as a a natural part of life but percy lebaron spencer gave us that in on december the 7th that passenger in in 1945 and then again another disaster time in this december the 7th 1988 an earthquake devastated spitac in northern armenia and up to 55 000 people died times of sorrow times of sadness times of joy and times of celebration as always on any day and any date as we begin our prayers with your own concerns coming forward o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise reveal among us the light of your presence that we may behold your power and glory blessed are you sovereign god of all to be praise and glory forever in your tender compassion the dawn from on high is breaking upon us to dispel the lingering shadows of night as we look for your coming among us this day open our eyes to behold your presence 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 does we reject 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 seventh morning of the month is psalm 36 sin whispers to the wicked in the depths of their heart there is no fear of god before their eyes they flatter themselves in their own eyes that their abominable sin will not be found out the words of their mouth are unrighteous and full of deceit they have ceased to act wisely and to do good they think how to mischief upon their beds and have set themselves in no good way nor do they abhor that which is evil your love o lord reaches to the heavens and your faithfulness to the clouds your righteousness stands like the strong mountains your justice like the great deep you lord shall save both mortals and creatures how precious is your loving mercy o god all mortal flesh shall take refuge under the shadow of your wings they shall be satisfied with the abundance of your house they shall drink from the river of your delights for with you is the well of life and in your light shall we see light oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you and your righteousness to those who are true of heart let not the foot of pride come against me nor the hand of the ungodly thrust me away there are they fallen all who work wickedness they are cast down and shall not be able to stand so today we begin the first letter of paul to the thessalonians and we read chapter one paul silvanus and timothy to the church of the thessalonians in god the father and the lord jesus christ grace to you and peace we give thanks to god always for all of you constantly mentioning you in our prayers remembering before our god and father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our lord jesus christ for we know brothers and sisters loved by god that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word but also in power and in the holy spirit and with full conviction you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake and you became imitators of us and of the lord for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the holy spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in macedonia and in achaea for not only has the word of the lord sounded forth from you in macedonia and achaea but your faith in god has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything for they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to god from idols to serve the living and true god and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead jesus who delivers us from the roth to come just a short chapter at the beginning of that letter to the thessalonians which is found later on in the section of paul's epistles in the new testament they tend to be set out in diminishing lengths and this is quite a short epistle just takes us through a few chapters which will span this week and yet we've just read the most important beginning in the whole of the new testament and we ought to read those verses with a sense of or and wonder because they are the earliest verses written down that we have in our new testament it's an amazing thing that in the year 50 or the latest 51 so shall we say um only less than two decades after the crucifixion of jesus those words were written down in the city of corinth by paul and silvanus and timothy everything else in the new testament is written later no written gospel as we know them existed at that time most of the stories were being carried by memory but paul began to write things down and he wrote to communities which treasured and kept those letters and here's the first so beginnings are are wonderful things and we have a sense of precious ore as we read that first greeting as a sense of new beginnings paul sylvainus and timothy to the church of the thessalonians in god the father and the lord jesus christ grace to you and peace it's worthwhile reading the account which luke later on writes down in the acts of the apostles in chapter 17 of the visit to thessalonica it wasn't without incident but clearly there was a reception given to them there mostly by gentile chris by gentiles who would become christians but when they left and they were bundled out quite quickly because of the the violence of the opposition of the synagogue to them there when they left paul probably felt that their whole thing had been something of a failure he went on if you remember and from there went down to athens and then finally having not had much success in athens arrived in corinth rather disheartened and by himself all this we can glean from his other letters and then timothy and silas as we normally know him sylvanus in the latin came and they reported completely different things they reported success in thessalonica that the thessalonians had turned from their idols in good numbers and a vibrant community of christians had begun their with fond memories of the visit of paul and his companions and this is what this letter is all about it's the apostle being given new heart from failure and a sense of hallelujah this has sprung up to new life and paul's letter is redolent with all of that that little group paul sylvanus and timothy become an image of christian ministry though one could go back to the statement of our lord where two or three are gathered together there i am in the midst so their names come first and they write across to the church at thessalonica and that would have been originally a group of shall we as we used to call them pagans who who worshipped all kinds of things certainly they weren't a jewish congregation because they wouldn't have been worshipping idols that would have been absolutely forbidden to any jews so here are the ones who in the acts of the apostles we heard began to hear paul in great numbers before the riot took place and they had to be bundled out of the city a major city for for the roman empire and also on the great way which went across that part of the roman world and came down into greece and from their stay in corinth in the 18 months day this letter comes and gives us the first seed and shoot of the new testament how wonderful to read it here this morning a new beginning it's full of thanksgiving this first chapter but it's also full of words we shall grow used to notice the sentence here remembering before our god and father your work of faith your labor of love your steadfastness of hope in our lord jesus christ doesn't that remind you of 1 corinthians 13 now about bidets faith hope love these three but the greatest of these is love here's paul's early theology developing but certain strands will always be there and there are three strands faith hope and love also there his writing of god the father and of his son jesus christ our lord and the gift of the holy spirit later on all that will become formal in the teaching of the holy trinity and possibly it's a thing to remember that this is sin ambrose day the bishop of milan and he is always credited as having written the tedium which we don't sing so much these days that used to be that the bedrock of coral matins we praise the o god we acknowledge thee to be the lord all the earth does worship thee the father everlasting to thee all angels cry aloud well tdm was the great song of the church's thanksgiving but here's also a great song of thanksgiving to the holy trinity god the father god the son and god the holy spirit which we give in our blessings to one another and also in our prayers in the way that the almighty creator reveals the power of the one whom we worship to us but in human form and in an ever present gift of that spirit within us and in infusing everything in god's creation how wonderful the the verse in the psalm this morning you lord will save both mortals and creatures it's a wonderful gift and here we are with the thessalonians receiving all of that gift and resurrection writ large to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead jesus who delivers us from the roth to come well that that ross we've been seeing in the the book of revelation in all kinds of persecutions and devastations where endurance is called for we could go really on a long time uh about this this wonderful epistle but we've got all week to do it so we we've time in hand and i bid you look back at the acts of the apostles and and see how they came to thessalonica and what kind of reception they had and also in corinth it's all there and we just give thanks that the thessalonians treasured that letter so much that they preserved it and here it is being read by us as well in our reflections well in the midst of all the turmoil all the busyness all everything of a working week every preparation that we're making for whatever we can do at christmas time in the middle of all this lockdown and pandemic um i want you to remember one date which on december the 7th happened in 1889 gilbert and sullivan's last successful operetta was performed there were two more after that but they never really caught on but this one certainly did and it's called the gondoliers and it's it's full of exuberance and so this is a final hooray of that partnership at the savoy theater now i'm mentioning it because in it there is the most comic but also the most profound little quartet which is sung and it begins by saying this problem about their relationships is so great we just must stop and think and get rid of all jealouses and passions and everything else and just think and it begins steadily in a contemplative fashion in a tranquil frame of mind free from every kind of passion some solution let us find let us grasp the situation solve the complicated plot quiet calm deliberation disentangle every knot and then as that continues to be sung quite calm consideration disentangles every knot each one of them breaks into a passionate fast anger and behind it goes on this steady theme and that's how it ends and we're told that that our prime minister harold macmillan in days gone by had that verse written out on his desk in downing street quiet calm deliberation disentangles every knot well it might take a long time in doing it but any kind of spiritual reflection and consciousness of the gifts of the holy spirit given in so many different ways in the way in which god can make new beginnings out of endings and and wonderful endings developing from new beginnings all of that is part of what we contemplate but for the moment let's give enormous thanks for this gift of the letter to the thessalonians which is such a foundation stone of our new testament writings and we shall continue with that tomorrow let's say our prayers then for this particular day and we are on december the 7th and praying for in our anglican communion the diocese of shiera in rwanda and samuel mugisha the bishop there and his people and also for the diocese of edmonton in canada and my list gives that if the bishopric is vacant it if it's been filled then we pray for that bishop and uh but we certainly pray for that diocese as we pray for our own diocese through these advent days at the moment and a process of ongoing listening and discerning is asked for so uh the prayer that is asked for by our own archdeacon joe kelly moore and we remember the work of the three archdeacons in the diocese this morning pray for justin our archbishop who is if you watched coral even song yesterday online was with us yesterday and we give thanks for his ministry and pray for him pray for rose bishop of dover who preached for us yesterday at the eucharist and also pray for tim bishop at lambeth in his work there so we use on this day first the collect for sim ambrose day and give thanks for his tedium in the old pronunciation tadayam if we do it in the proper latin and uh we also then say the advent college i'm using the colic which over arches advent in the hope that we can learn it by heart here's the ambrose college god of hosts who called ambrose from the governor's throne to be a bishop in your church and an intrepid champion of your faithful people mercifully grant that as he did not fear to rebuke rulers so we with like courage may contend for the faith we have received through jesus christ our lord our men the advent's colleagues almighty god give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life in which your son jesus christ came to visit us in great humility that in the last day when he shall come again to judge the living and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit ever one god world without end amen together in our own languages the prayer our savior taught 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 moment of silence as we make our own prayers [Music] [Music] christ the son of righteousness shine upon you scatter the darkness from before your path and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory 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 well no sorry yesterday i knocked you off the chair didn't i and you got rather cross today you've been faithful again and it's time you came and had some warm breakfast i think [Music]