good morning and welcome to the deanery garden at canterbury cathedral we're here in the orchard on this lovely october morning friday october the 23rd it was the date which in all simplicity uh was the conclusion of archbishop usher in a much earlier century that on this day in the year 4004 in the bc as we used to call it creation began at this moment october the 23rd 4004 bc he said so that calculation i have no idea how he arrived at it but uh that is something that is an anomaly of history and also as we remember days in the past on this day the first battle of the english civil war was fought that war which was thought to be a quick war with an easy victory thought by both sides lasted for four years and was catastrophic in the way in which it cut through the population more more people of this population of the population of england at that time by percentage died than in any other conflict and so we remember that but i want to remember it also as the day on which jacob astley who was the commander of the royalist infantry before he got ready early in the morning he wrote a prayer an arrow prayer meaning it's easy to stay in the head and it's a prayer that has really been more important to me than that whole battle of edge hill the prayer goes lord thou knowest how busy i must be today if i forget thee do not thou forget me just that an arrow prayer a sentence which stays in the head for days like this or days when you need it and there are so many of them we'll come across another sentence like that in our reflection later on uh this is the day on which in 1491 ignatius of loyola was born and he of course was the writer of the spiritual exercises and founders of the society of jesus once again there's a dimension of our reflection which will touch on ignatius loyola if one is thinking of creative moments in 1946 on this day the united nations generally as general assembly assembled for the very first time in new york city with many hopes and on this day in 1450 juan de capistrano died he was a franciscan who was born in italy but ended his life in hungary and became known as the soldier saint we remember him but we remember him much more because father sarah who was the the uh founder of all those wonderful franciscan missions up on the camuna camino reali in in in california one of his most beautiful if not the most beautiful of the missions when one goes there now is dedicated to san juan capistrano and there is a a nice uh not only a legend but an activity connected with it because on this day october the 23rd all the cliff swallows the birds leave capistrano and fly south and they are reckoned to come back on st joseph's day on march the 19th those beautiful birds who is going is in the northern hemisphere a sign of the end of summer and the beginning of colder and darker days this is also national mold day here and that uh is something we remember we remember reading about the mo as a character in the wind of the willows a little bit back a few days ago really um but we remember a quirk in history which made him the toast of a certain political section of england for william of orange who uh came across and became king of england which the the supporters of james stewart james ii just didn't like william died because his horse stumbled in a mole hole underneath a molehill and he fell and the cavaliers at that time who were very much against william of orange and were waiting for queen anne to take over really waiting for james the second son to come back um used to toast the little gentleman in the velvet waistcoat by which they meant mr mole and so we remember that too i'm sitting in front of a nut tree here we never see the hazelnuts because the squirrels always take them long before we get to them and it's a good feeding place for squirrels yesterday was national nut day and uh when i i read that it said uh in brackets afterwards not your neighbor down the road but uh the things which grow on trees which you which you eat so remember all of those things today some with humor and uh some with interest it's the day in october uh 1963 when the great series which has gone on and on in british television doctor who was first released i remember that saturday afternoon i remember the first episode and seeing it and not knowing what a legend was going to come the daleks his enemies didn't come till december but uh this was that day so all those things we think of as we say our prayers bring your own intentions and russell is here to remind us that in the scriptures the beginning of the day is heralded not by a clock but by cockroach from crow to sunset and here is i'm sure he'll actually crow long before this is all over oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the true the only light banish all darkness from our hearts and minds 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 and as 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 really lovely 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 we come back to simple letter to the philippians and the letter to the philippians in chapter 3 has a particular dimension so i am beginning at verse 1 of chapter 3. finally my brothers rejoice in the lord to write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you look out for the dogs look out for the evildoers look out for those who mutilate the flesh for we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of god and glory in christ jesus and put no confidence in the flesh though i myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also if anyone else thinks they have reason for confidence in the flesh i have more circumcised on my eighth day of the people of israel of the tribe of benjamin a hebrew of hebrews as to the law a pharisee as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law blameless but whatever gain i had i counted as loss for the sake of christ indeed i count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing christ jesus my lord for his sake i have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that i may gain christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in christ the righteousness from god that depends on faith that i may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings becoming like him in his death that by any means possible i may attain the resurrection from the dead not that i have already obtained this or am already perfect but i press on to make it my own because christ jesus has made me his own brothers and sisters i do not consider that i have made it my own but one thing i do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead i press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus let those of us who are mature think this way and if in anything you think otherwise god will reveal that also to you only let us hold true to what we have attained brothers and sisters join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us for many of whom i have often told you and now tell you even with tears walkers enemies of the cross of christ their end is destruction their god is their belly and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things but our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior the lord jesus christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to submit all things to himself therefore my brothers and sisters whom i love and long for my joy and crown stand firm thus in the lord my beloved well the atmosphere has changed in this particular chapter and many scholars think that this chapter is part of another letter those verses that i have just read from verse one for verse one begins like a farewell as though paul is finishing the letter and takes up again seemingly where we shall begin tomorrow and the verses which begin just before verse two all the way through to verse 21 of this particular chapter are by some and i find it quite cogent reasoning because of the atmosphere changing and because of the way in which the farewell which paul is about to plan is interrupted and it's interrupted by something with a very different atmosphere talking about a very different threat to his philippian church these manuscripts went around by hand by many messengers and in the philippian documents then the pages of letters could get muddled and put together in different ways and we know that epiphanitis has carried messages backwards and forwards and so too would timothy but who can say it's a puzzle that will never be solved what we do know is that sin paul starts talking about a very different situation which we've been used to in the acts of the apostles and it fills him with an energy which is close to anger and that is that someone is coming in to his particular communion and church in philippi and causing them to think that only by the works of the law can they obtain salvation and not simply through christ and that has been his battle which he thought was one for the gentile christians he doesn't want his family upset by other doctrines and obviously someone is doing that no hint of that until this moment in the epistle so take it as you will maybe he has an afterthought and writes this long message it's it's a wonderful message as it it talks about the way in which he and it's fervent he wants to know christ well that's another thing he's had to wrestle with in jerusalem where so many their apostles had in the sense of physical knowing known jesus christ in a way that paul hadn't in his earthly life but the depths of knowing christ as his lord is something which paul in this little passage explores but he does so so often in his other epistles he talks about what that knowledge does in transformation in making all the things that he once valued seem like rubbish and at the same time he talks and this is a marvelous image of a citizenship which is in heaven prepared for us a loyalty which is given to the lord of heaven and earth in jesus christ and as he talks about it one senses this lovely image i said that short sentences remain in the head there's another way of remembering things which we'll come to in a moment but short sentences are good jacob asked his prayer lord thou knowest how busy i must be today if i forget thee do not now forget me but also this reminds me of thomas moore's statement on the scaffold his last words i die the king's good servant but god's first great sentence our citizenship is in heaven and that equates with an easily remembered sentence from jesus render unto caesar the things that are caesar's and unto god the things that are gods how good these sentences are when they're easily remembered because they become part of our spiritual equipment today is the anniversary of the birth in 1844 of robert bridges who became poet laureate in england and died in 1930 and he was not only a great poet laureate but he did us two things which are gifts to us and rather self-effacing the first is that he became a friend at oxford of gerald manny hopkins and realized that he was a much greater poet than he himself that hopkins was a greater parrot than bridges one of my most precious books is the letters that hopkins wrote to bridges and we remember right at the end of his life when he was in great thickness and and and feeling at a low ebb the last sonnet that hopkins wrote was written to rb robert bridges is the one that begins the fine delight that fathers thought and bridges collected hopkins poet poems as far as he could and in 1918 years later after hopkins had died years later he published them but for bridges we would have none of hopkins poems so a first great gift the other great gift was that bridges who was trained in medicine uh practiced as a physician but was also the organist and choir master of the parish church in yattenden in the 1890s and he found the hymns which the choirs were singing to be rather a a collection that he didn't really respect and so he wrote his own hymn book not all the hymns were his and they were very special indeed but some of the hymns were his he translated freely from other hymn books he translated the greek evening hymn first hillary on hail gladdening light john keebler trunted oh glad some light the bridges uh translation begins but perhaps his most famous hymn and i could probably say it all the way through and you could as well but i'll open the hymnbook in case i stumble his most famous hymn all my hope on god is founded he doth still my trust renew he through change and chance he guideth only good and only true god unknown he alone calls my heart to be his own me through change and chance he guideth and then another verse daily dost the almighty giver bountious gifts on us bestow his desire our soul delighteth pleasure leads us where we go love does stand at his hand joy doth wait on his command well that hymn goes to the most wonderful tune written by herbert howells and the uh music director of the school at at uh um horsham christ hospital sent the hymn off to his friend howls and howls said he received it at breakfast while he was eating bacon and sausage and had the tune written by the end of breakfast sometimes it comes like that in creativity but we give thanks to the way in which bridges yat and hymnbook and that's hymns of course are another way of remembering words that hymn book inspired also thorne williams with his publication of the english hymnal in 1906 how these things fit together and what gratitude we have to bridges not only for his own rhymes and poetry and hymns but also for his gift to us of gerald manny hopkins poems so let's say our prayers not arrow prayers this morning but a prayer that is the prayer for this week which is another probably that we could say by heart because we use it so often at the beginning of meetings when we have to make hard decisions bring your own prayers to this particular prayer for this week and our prayers for the anglican communion this morning are for the uh diocese of recife in brazil and for bishop jar canthiope soto and his people and the diocese of katak in north india and surendra kumarnanda the bishop there and his people here in this diocese as we remember archbishop justin and bishop rose of dover and bishop tim at lambeth we pray today for the parish of saint pillip phillips norstein park margate and stuart gay in his ministry there and all his people so here's the prayer for this week easily [Applause] easily remembered oh god for as much as without you we are not able to please you mercifully grant that your holy spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts through jesus christ our lord amen so we pray each in our own language the prayer that jesus 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 so a moment of silence in this holy place surrounded by god's good creation here and with memories on this october the 23rd of the swallows leaving that other beautiful holy place which we so much enjoyed and some of you may know it san juan de capistrano in california just south of los angeles [Music] 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 very brave monkey with russell standing by you like that very good boy all right hello hi come here foreign