good morning and welcome on this 28th of november this saturday morning and uh saturday so we're here having breakfast with the animals and birds on a very misty november morning it's a beautiful morning looking out of the windows to the east earlier on the mist was thick and the trees were just just showing through bare trees farther down the garden the sun is coming up through the mist and it probably will be the most lovely day so welcome wherever you are i'm just going to feed our friends here already they're feasting on the treats following thanksgiving because they love nothing better than a pumpkin but if i put some food around here first of all for winston and the boys and the boys are back there but they'll come and here we are and then they can go back to their pumpkins and then for the girls who are still intent on pumpkins and the birds and we'll put that just a way down here so they get a bit of a spread and don't get in each other's way there we are so let's put some more around here come on boys that's the way it keeps a certain amount of quiet in this garden as we begin to say our prayers and on this particular day we have the chapter in revelation which is the most startling piece of prophecy over the great city and we shall read that in full when we come to that chapter this morning but at the the same time there are there are other dates on this november the 28th to remember as we go back through the years and two of them will be very important in our reflection in 1628 on this day john bunyan was born author best known for the pilgrims progress and also in 1757 on this day william blake was born and i suppose one would have to say that he's best known for his verses that we sing to paris tune of jerusalem of the vision of the heavenly city being created in this green and pleasant land by our efforts we'll come back to both of those in the reflection in 1660 the royal society for the promoting of excellence in science was founded by 12 men at gresham college amongst them christopher wren the architect and robert boyle the scientists and others and in 1919 a significant date for this country nancy astor lady astor became britain's first woman to sit as a member of the house of commons in parliament in 1968 the children's author enid blyton died on this day and we remember her for the famous five the secret seven and noddy uh most of us knew her children's books at that time there is on this day of a very uh startling picture in 1943 of stalin roosevelt and churchill meeting in tehran to discuss war strategy and that will come back again in our political thinkings in the chapter we read from john's revelation um some more things just of interest uh 1904 the english novelist nancy mitford one of the famous mitford sisters was born and in 1680 bernini the hugely important italian sculptor of the 17th century died on this day in the states uh in 1785 william whipple an american general politician and jurist and signatory of the declaration of independence died i mentioned him because one of uh his descendants alison is a friend of ours and she'll be proud of her ancestor on this day and on this day also we remember that in 1291 queen eleanor the wife of edward the first elena of castile she's generally known he loved her dearly she died in northampton and as her body came down to london he placed crosses which many of which are still there and sometimes the places are named after them of the places where the coffin lay as a permanent memorial for his love for her and all that she meant to this kingdom 1843 the um united kingdom and the french uh um republic at that time no the french kingdom at that time um we were still i think in the age of uh louis philippe at that time both nations recognize the independent kingdom of hawaii at that time and so we remember that for the people of hawaii today in 2018 this we will remember the australian state of queensland raised a fire warning of catastrophe it was the first time that that category had ever existed as the fires burned and we remember also that this day is the beginning of national tree week when we give thanks for the trees and pledge to take care of them and remember their vastly important role right across the world in the ecology of this planet so um perhaps i just as a as a little memory of my own announced that uh i'll see that the bbc have announced that bristol zoo bristol zoological gardens is to leave clifton after 185 years what times we had in that place as children and it was our first introduction to that old-fashioned way of of keeping animals because the zoo is moving out to much wider spaces beyond so um let's then uh think of one another on this day and also we've just had a birthday greeting to elspeth harley in adelaide in australia and uh we remember also her cat posey uh and uh send happy birthday to to el smith all those miles across the world and you will be having greetings and in your in your own mind let's start our prayers so we begin with the morning prayer introduction for the last time for this season before advent begins on sunday oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 morning of the month is psalm 132. lord remember for david all the hardships he endured how he swore an oath to the lord and vowed a vow to the mighty one of jacob i will not come within the shelter of my house nor climb up into my bed i will not allow my eyes to sleep nor let my eyelid slumber until i find a place for the lord a dwelling for the mighty one of jacob the lord has sworn an oath to david a promise from which he will not shrink of the fruit of your body shall i set up on your throne if your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that i shall teach them their children also shall sit upon your throne forevermore for the lord has chosen zion for himself he has desired her for his habitation this shall be my resting place forever here will i dwell for i have longed for her i will abundantly bless her provision her poor will i satisfy with bread i will clothe her priests with salvation and her faithful ones shall rejoice and sing there will i make a horn to spring up for david i will keep a lantern burning for my anointed as for his enemies i will close them with shame but on him shall his crown be bright so we come to this passage which is the whole chapter 18 in the book revelation this is a prophecy of john of patmos after this i saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority and the earth was made bright with his glory and he called out with a mighty voice fallen fallen is babylon the great she has become a dwelling place for demons a horned for every unclean spirit a horned for every unclean bird a horned for every unclean and detestable beast for all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living and then i heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people lest you take part in her sins lest you share in her plagues for her sins are heaped high as heaven and god has remembered her iniquities pay her back as she herself has paid back others and repay her double for her deeds mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed as she glorified herself and lived in luxury so give her a like measure of torment and mourning since in her heart she says i sit as a queen i am no widow and mourning which i shall never see for this reason her plagues will come in a single day death and mourning and famine and she will be burned up with fire for mighty is the lord god who has judged her and the kings of the earth who committed immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning they will stand far off in fear of her torment and say alas alas you great city you mighty city babylon for in one hour your judgment has come and the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for since no one buys their cargo anymore cargo of gold silver jewels pearls fine linen purple cloth silk scarlet cloth all kinds of scented wood all kinds of articles of ivory all kinds of articles of costly wood bronze iron and marble cinnamon spice incense myrrh frankincense wine oil fine flour wheat cattle and sheep horses and chariots and slaves that is human souls the fruit for which you're so longed has gone from you and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you never to be found again the merchants of these wires who gained wealth from her will stand far off in fear of her torment weeping and mourning aloud alas alas for the great city that was closed in fine linen in purple and scarlet adorned with gold with jewels and with pearls for in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste and all shipmasters and seafaring men sailors and all whose trade is on the sea stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning what city was like the great city and they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned crying out alas alas for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth for in one hour she has been laid waste rejoice over harrow heaven and you saints and apostles and prophets for god has given judgment for you against her then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea saying so will babylon the great city be thrown down with a violence and will be found no more and the sound of harpists and musicians of flute players and trumpeters will be heard in you no more and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more and the light of a lamp shall shine in you no more and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more for your merchants were the great ones of the earth and all nations were deceived by your sorcery for in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth that huge piece of poetry and prophecy from john of patmos is in my mind relating to one day for that particular city and of course we're speaking about the city of rome sitting on the seven hills which had ruled the whole world as far as they knew it and on august the 24th 410 a.d the whole city was sacked by alaric the goss it took not one hour but three days to effect that terrible devastation and sin jerome living in bethlehem at the time wrote the city which had taken the whole world was itself taken and augustine in north africa mused on the way in which huge empires rise and fall and all earthly cities are open to the same fate and he of course was writing his city of god which like blake's jerusalem speaks of the eternal city to which john is about to lead us in the following chapters so in this way we read the writing of john of patmos and he is gazing into the future but has already seen rome burning once in his lifetime in the awful time of the emperor nero and for that christians were blamed and were persecuted terribly by design of the emperor we've seen how precious to john is the blood of all the martyrs and we've seen words like encouragement and endurance but also we can look back through history ourselves and see the end of many empires the men the end of many cities we think of berlin burning in 1945 and the terrible situation in which its citizens found themselves as the awful conflict of world war ii drew to an end and we see it now raised again in a very different way as a european city taking its place in the world so these scenes of human devastation within the context of the earth unlike the trees which we think of as as blending into the earth these scenes of devastation are part of human history unfolding and in the midst we are asked to endure and above all be faithful well now the two whom i mentioned william blake and john bunyan a wonderful thing that they were born on the same day in different centuries of course but draws a city like that he calls it the city of vanity and you remember at vanity fair where all the things described in john's poem are being sold faithful and christian are pelted with mud and stones they're put in a cage and mocked and faithful in trying to defend himself is tried and burned at the stake and heavenly horses appear to take him straight to the eternal city no more journeying straight there the christian who is still in prison after his escape has a long journey still ahead of him there are different vocations for different people but john is taken up with the blood of the martyrs saints and prophets and william blake well we could spend all morning reading his poems but even more so looking at imaginative and visionary paintings which dwell so much on pictures from john's revelation very often when i was ordained my sister gave me a copy of songs of innocence and songs of experience she said i didn't know whether to give you this or not and i've i've i bought a a proper expensive present but i'll give you this anyway and i said oh yes please give me that so i still possess it i've one or two copies of this and this isn't the copy she gave me it's a copy which has on the front the vision of the tiger tiger burning bright in the forests of the night but i thought just a a a little poem from the divine image would be good at the end of all this fearful contemplation of what happens to those who align themselves as gods in the great empires of the world and imagine that their time will will never never come here we are the divine image to mercy pity peace and love all pray in their distress and to these virtues of delight return their thankfulness for mercy pity peace and love is god our father dear and mercy pity peace and love is man his child and care for mercy has a human heart pity a human face and love the human form divine and peace a human dress then every man of every climb that prays in his distress prays to the human form divine love mercy pity peace and all must love the human form in heathen turk or jew where mercy love and pity dwell their god is dwelling too that's only a tiny snippet of blake read some more this morning and songs of innocence and songs of experience speak of the human condition say our prayers on this particular day the last time we shall use the collect for this week but first let's just note that we are praying for the diocese of sebai in uganda and paul masaba the bishop there and his people diocese of eastern kowloon in hong kong and timothy kwok the bishop there and his people and the diocese of kurushu in japan and kenichi muto the bishop there and his people and here in this diocese as we pray for archbishop archbishop justin welby and also bishop rose of dover and tim bishop at lambeth we pray today for the parish of borton manchester saint peter's there and pray for philip goody in his ministry there so let's say together um in heart and mind and then together in words first the collect for this week bring your own intentions to this little prayer stir up oh lord we beseech you the wills of your faithful people that they plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works may by you be plenteously rewarded through jesus christ our lord amen so together in whatever language we like to use 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 are men moment for reflection and your own thoughts on this day 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 well you've been good boys and you like the pumpkins too don't you hey you like the pumpkins winston has pumpkin all over his nose huh