good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this early morning of september the 30th wednesday september the 30th as we come to say our morning prayers wherever you are in the world feel welcome and bring your own concerns to our prayers on this morning there are several dates to remember which happened on this date september the 30th in the past and we'll do that but there's one specific and large uh celebration for our thoughts today first of all though i mentioned yesterday that next door the first l nelson brother of the admiral lord nelson who was killed at trafalgar was one of the cannons of the cathedral well today the anniversary september the 30th 1840 of the laying of the foundation stone for nelson's column in trafalgar square an enormous symbol of london and it causes us to pray for all those in great cities the world over who are needing either to shelter themselves or or take extra care because of the pandemic or find themselves in lockdown at this time in 653 on this date september the 30th honorius archbishop of canterbury died he's buried here at central augustine's just over the road and he was the last of the monks that gregory sent with augustine on the mission to the english and we give thanks for him the last to die and then on this day also in 1207 the great persian mystic poet who in his poetry explored the old testament scriptures as well as other scriptures of the of uh persia and his huge poem he was called rumi and his huge poem mas navi in six books is a mystic and spiritual exploration and reflection on so much of the scriptures a spiritual text on how to reach the goal of truly loving god on this day sir charles stanford was born we sing so much of his music in magnificats and and dimitases and anthems and communions and then there is a great film industry this is a great film industry day because in 1936 the pinewood film studios were open in competition to hollywood and in 1955 sadly the actor james dean was killed the film star and also in 1924 truman capote was born most famous for breakfast at tiffany's and that film has the the tune moon river running through it all of those things remind us of those in the performing arts we might add to that that mozart's magic flute was first performed on september the 30th in 1791 so people to think about at their work in big cities and also in things which styles of work performing arts which are difficult at this time and some are impossible so we think of them but the great date today is the fact that 1600 years ago in 420 on september the 30th since jerome died and he was the great translator of the scriptures so this is world translators day united nations designated day for all who translate again we'll think about that in our reflections so let's begin our prayers o 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 30th day of the month is psalm 146 alleluia praise the lord and my soul while i live will i praise the lord as long as i have any being i will sing praises to my god put not your trust in princes nor in any human power for there is no help in them when their breast goes forth they return to the earth on that day all their thoughts perish happy are those who have the god of jacob for their help whose hope is in the lord their god who made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them who keeps his promise forever who gives justice to those that suffer wrong and bread to those who hunger the lord looses those that are bound the lord opens the eyes of the blind the lord lifts up those who are bowed down the lord loves the righteous the lord watches over the stranger in the land he upholds the orphan and widow but the way of the wicked he turns upside down the lord shall reign forever your god o zion throughout all generations alleluia so we turn to the acts of the apostles and we remember that yesterday we had the description of the riot at ephesus around the temple of artemis of the ephesians and that was quietened by the town clerk the secretary to the people reminding the people that the consuls and the courts would not take kindly to uproar if a city became troublesome the roman imperial government could take away their status as a free city and this was at the back of the town clark's mind well paul then uh is is left with the the uproar over he didn't speak yesterday there was no chance to speak in all that noise but we find him after the uproar ceased and that's exactly how chapter 20 of the acts of the apostles begin we're going to read from verse 1 to verse 16 of chapter 20. after the uproar ceased paul sent for the disciples and after encouraging them he said farewell and departed from ephesus for macedonia when he had gone through that those regions and had given them much encouragement he came to greece there he spent three months but when a plot was made against him by the jews as he was about to set sail for syria he decided to return through macedonia sir peter the berean son of pirus accompanied him and of the thessalonians aristarchus and secundus and gaius of derby and timothy and the asians tychicus and trophymus these went on ahead and were waiting for us at troas but we sailed away from philippi after the days of unleavened bread and in five days we came to them at troas where we stayed for seven days on the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread paul talked with them intending to depart on the next day and he prolonged his speech until midnight there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered and a young man named eutychus sitting at the window sank into a deep sleep as paul talked on and on and being overcome by sleep eutychus fell down from the third story and was taken up for dead but paul went down and bent over him and taking him in his arms said do not be alarmed for his life is in him and when paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten he conversed with them a long while until daybreak and so departed and they took the youth away alive and were not a little comforted but going ahead to the ship we set sail for azos intending to take paul aboard there for so he had arranged intending himself to go by land and when he met us at asos we took him on board and went to mitilani and sailing from there we came the following day opposite kiosk the next day we touched it samos and the day after that we went to miletus for paul had decided to sail past ephesus so that he might not have to spend time in asia for he was hasting to be at jerusalem if possible on the day of pentecost there are several things to notice about that let me just say that the noise in the background at the moment is the uh recycling uh laurier which has come to take away all kinds of things to recycle it's early on a wednesday morning and that is the time that they come so don't worry about that we've come into the front garden of the deanery because this is the day on which in 1897 centuries of lizia and her symbol is the rose uh died we shall think about her tomorrow because her feast day is kept tomorrow because of the importance of saint jerome's day today but it's nice to have roses around us as we think of cinch to raise and meanwhile let's think about that portion of the acts of the apostles with paul leaving ephesus and going back to greece now at the beginning of that we're in shorthand again and luke simply says went to greece it seems fairly plain from sin paul's epistles that this was the time he went to corinth again and spent probably some months there three months luke says because he is arranging a collection of money for the church in jerusalem which is in saw need notice here the new churches are being asked to contribute to shall we call it the mother church in jerusalem and paul intends to take the collection of that back it looks as though he was preparing to sail from greece probably from corinth all the way back but then he hears of a plot against him and also decides that he's in more danger with these resources financial resources he's carrying so he'll go by land and sea and back through macedonia so he comes to philippi and what happens the account becomes once again in the first person plural and we have there the writer saying we then set sail and we came to so it looks as though luke has stayed in philippi all that time and now the geographical account and the detail becomes much much more intricate and we know exactly where they're going we know when they're going by sea when they're sailing around lesbos and coming to the various towns there and also when they even arrange to pick up paul who goes for a little bit by land but notice to the traveling companions and they're grouped by luke in pairs as they go along and they are companions from the various churches we have companions who have come along together and they're mentioned notice that he doesn't bother to say where timothy is from but he is actually paired with gaius who comes from derby and timothy from lystra connections trophomous and tychicus probably they're just from asia they're probably from ephesus but these companions are probably contributors and also carrying the donation from their churches as they set sail for jerusalem paul had wanted to stay until the feast of pentecost and then go on and we have this interesting story where paul is preaching and it's midnight remember that the first day of the week began its sunset on what was the sabbath and he's breaking bread and preaching on the first day of the week which the church had begun to do once a week on the first day of the week the day of resurrection and eutychus falls asleep and falls a long way to the ground and they think he's dead and it's all very much detailed and luke would have taken a great interest in that that he is picked up alive it's a warning to us all not to preach too long and then we see paul going on and going towards jerusalem determined to get there but in fact the last chapters of the acts of the apostles don't have jerusalem in mind there is a compelling vocation for paul in rome he said that but at the moment he doesn't know what will take him there he thinks it will be by his own efforts let's give thanks first for the growing of those early communities but i wanted on this day this september the 30th 2020 to remember with thanksgiving the death of jerome the great biblical scholar translator of the scriptures creator of that latin bible which was known as the vulgate and was the bible of the latin western church for hundreds of years jerome was a scholar and he went back to scholarship and went to the catechetical school in alexandria and he was conversant with greek and hebrew and latin and in the year 382 he gave up everything to go and live in bethlehem because he said he wanted to be studying and praying near to the place where christ was born so he found a cave in bethlehem and from 382 to 420 really he spent time translating and writing commentaries with a group of friends men and women around him and a company of monks nearby and there are all kinds of stories about that but first let's deal with the fact that jerome became dissatisfied with the translations he was finding and first corrected the translation into latin of the greek of the new testament and then after that turned to the hebrew of the old testament and translated that before it had been translated into latin bits and pieces from the greek version but now he goes back to the source and his years of work we still are immensely grateful for there's also though the charming story of when he was there with the monastery nearby of his taming of a north african lion by um tending its paw and pulling a thorn out and so many of the pictures of of jerome the portraits that have been painted and the icons made of him have the lion there as he is translating the lion was said to become tame and to guard the donkey who carried the wood backwards and forwards and when some merchants stole the donkey and the lion was blamed they made the lion carry the wood until the donkey when the merchants came back through until the lion recognized these merchants and by an enormous roar caused them to give the donkey back well these wonderful legends give colour to things but meanwhile we think of jerome on this international translator's day and give thanks for those who still translate the scriptures for those throughout the world so they can understand them let's say our prayers on this particular day and remember those in the anglican communion on our list whom we are praying for today first of all we pray for the diocese of pennsylvania in the episcopal church of the united states of america and daniel gutierrez the bishop there and his people and here in the church of england we pray for the diocese of chester and peter foster the bishop there and his people we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and also for tim bishop at lumbers and we remember as we have day by day the parishes of the reculva area of the diocese that's around whitstable and recover and hearn and pray for those acting as chaplains to clubs and organizations and societies at this particular time so bringing your own concerns your own prayers on this day and giving thanks for those who translate the scriptures we say the prayer which is special to sin jerome's day and then the prayer for this particular week oh lord we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers of your people who call upon you and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill them through jesus christ our lords are men so in our own particular language and giving thanks for all languages we say 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 quiet now for our own prayers 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 amen you