good morning and welcome to the dinery garden in canterbury cathedral on this saturday the 20th of november as we gather for our morning prayers welcome wherever you are in the world and as i always say bring your own prayers and intentions and concerns to our prayers as we worship we've got uh both tiger and leo here this morning which is a bit of a potent combination but we'll see what happens and at the same time i'm sitting next to this squattiness bush which is normally called the burning bush and that takes us back to the original vocation of moses but the gold leaves of practically everything around me at the moment gives us another dimension as we read our passage from the book of the exodus being joined by our friends the guinness behind actually behind me also is a trionamolankus which we planted in memory of robin lord kingstown when he died he was essential of the cathedral and formerly lord lieutenant of the county and we mentioned him recently and his wife rose as great friends so we're sitting here in a garden full of memories and looking back and also looking at the present situation in which moses finds himself today as we go to the exodus oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise hear our voice o lord according to your faithful love according to your judgment give us life blessed are you god of compassion and mercy to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of our sin your light breaks forth like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance and we rejoice as we rejoice in the gift of your saving help sustain us with your bountiful spirit and open our lips to sing your 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 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 son this morning is psalm 103 one of the two for the 20th of the month bless the lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with faithful love and compassion who satisfies you with good things so that your youth is renewed like an eagle's the lord executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed he made his ways known to moses and his works to the children of israel the lord is full of compassion and mercy slow to anger and of great kindness he will not always accuse us neither will he keep his anger forever he has not dealt with us according to our sins nor rewarded us according to our wickedness for as the heavens are high above the earth so great is his mercy upon those who fear him as far as the east is from the west so far has he set our sins from us as a father has compassion on his children so is the lord merciful towards those who fear him for he knows of what we are made he remembers that we are but dust our days are but as grass we flourish as a flower of the field for as soon as the wind goes over it it is gone and its place shall know it no more but the merciful goodness of the lord is from of old and endures forever on those who fear him and his righteousness on children's children on those who keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them the lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom has dominion over all bless the lord you angels of his you mighty ones who do his bidding and hearken to the voice of his word bless the lord all you his hosts you ministers of his who do his will bless the lord all you works of his in all places of his dominion bless the lord o my soul so we turn back to the exodus and take up from where we left off yesterday moses interceding for the people but yet to find out the extent of what's going on below as he comes down from the mountain and i'm beginning where we left off in chapter 32 of exodus and starting at verse 15 then moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand tablets that were written on both sides on the front and on the back they were written the tablets were the work of god and the writing of god engraved on the tablets when joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted he said to moses there is a noise of war in the camp but he said it is not the sound of shouting for victory or the sound of the cry of defeat but the sound of singing that i hear and as soon as he came near the camp and saw the golden calf and the dancing moses anger burned hot and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain he took the golden calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of israel drink it and moses said to aaron what did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them and aaron said let not the anger of my lord burn heart you know the people that they are set on evil for they said to me make us gods who shall go before us as for this moses the man who brought us up out of the land of egypt we do not know what has become of him so i said to them let any who have gold take it off so they gave it to me and i threw it into the fire and out came this calf and when moses saw that the people had broken loose for aaron had let them break loose to the derision of their enemies then moses stood in the gate of the camp and said who is on the lord's side come to me and all the sons of levi gathered round moses and he said to them thus says the lord god of israel put your sword on your side each of you and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp and each of you kill his brother his companion his neighbor and the sons of levi did according to the word of moses and that day about three thousand of the people fell and moses said today you have been ordained for the service of the lord each one at the cost of his son his brother so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day the next day moses said to the people you have sinned a great sin and now i will go up to the lord perhaps i can make atonement for your sin so moses returned to the lord and said alas this people has sinned a great sin they have made for themselves gods of gold but now if you will forgive their sin but if not please blot me out of your book that you have written but the lord said to moses whoever has sinned against me i will blot out of my book but now go lead the people to the place about which i have spoken to you behold my angel shall go before you nevertheless in the day when i visit i will visit their sin upon them then the lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf the one that aaron made a violent passage and in the center of it all the sense of idolatry the first of the sins which comes in those original ten commandments the tablets are smashed in the rage of moses this isn't thinking this is passion resulting in physical action on the mountain he's been reasonable with god hearing the noise he comes down and here is young joshua the leader of the armies clearly keeping watch over moses maybe halfway up the mountain and when moses reaches joshua his lieutenant joshua says i hear the noise in the camp an uproar in the camp but it doesn't sound like the noise of victory and both of them here singing and then moses goes down further and sees exactly what is happening and in the middle of all that by the light of torches and fire gleams and glows the golden calf symbol of all idolatry and the beginning of all temptation and sin it's a potent image a potent sign in the midst of everything and see how moses reacts and destroys the calf his anger as leader is enough to subdue the people though no doubt other things are going on there are many many people there and as the calf is destroyed and we're told that moses grinds it to powder scattered is on the water makes the people drink of this thing which they thought was their god to show just how weak and feeble and frail any idolatry is any idol created by human hands and then he turns to aaron and this is more how could you how could you do this and aaron we're back in the garden of eden almost says well the people made me and you know what the people are like and the amazing thing they brought me their gold and i threw it in the fire and out came this calf we read how aaron had graven and created the calf the people made me do it i couldn't help myself i was forced into it they brought their gold i threw the gold in the fire and out came this calf say the fire created it and aaron's hands patent well moses shows a limited forgiveness for his brother at the same time there's a long tradition this doesn't appear in the um scriptures it's a a piece of of rabbinic tradition that the man her uh who had been on the other side of moses with aaron do you remember at the battle of rephidim when they're fighting the amalekites and moses hands grew tired and her who is commonly thought to be moses brother-in-law the husband of miriam uh is holding moses arms up on one side so his staff can be a signal to the peoples to bring them to victory and the tradition is that her had tried to stop the making of the golden calf and had been killed in the process before moses ever got back and at the same time we will later on find a grandson of her helping in the work of fulfilling some of the law those are traditions the grandson appears in the scriptures themselves and we'll go on to that on another day but this is a bloodshed amongst the people and notice how it's moses own tribe all the sons of levi gather around moses and they are there to fight against the people and insist that this idolatry stops and it's a day of terrible bloodshed and moses says to the people i will now go and plead for you to the lord and the lord who as the psalmist says is full of compassion says go then and and lead them to the place which i have destined them to be i will send my angel before them and then that word which appears so often in the psalms and sometimes in the scriptures nevertheless which means there will be a consequence of this and the consequence of any human action is lived out on earth forgiveness is one thing but the consequence of an action can go on and on through generations and that word nevertheless stands over all our activity once we have begin to begun to act on those temptations nevertheless and on this day let's just think for a minute with all this gold around us of the potency of that symbol the golden calf so that when we hear the commandment you will not make any idol no graven image it's the golden calf flickering in the torchlight of celebration going on all around it it takes me instantly uh it puts it into the french level it takes me instantly to first of all a song sung by mephistopheles in faust gunes opera faust it said it was queen victoria's favorite opera but when it sung on stage with the people dancing and reveling around mephistopheles he becomes more demonic than ever and his song is one of the most sinister songs i i know it's set in the form of a dance and seeing it in a a great opera house uh like the the metropolitan opera house in new york uh set in a place of of eating and drinking and in in uh modern times setting it in the 19th century when it was written uh then the the waiters in their long uh aprons as in a parisian restaurant and the soldiers and the people reveling around and in the middle mephistopheles enjoying that the awful chaos he is creating and laughing and the chorus as it's repeated on the vodor the golden calf with satan leading the dance as mephisophilis sings becomes a symbol of all idolatry so many restaurants that we've known has been called lavodor or vitello doro there's a lovely restaurant in manhattan uh an ancient uh french restaurant uh laveau d'or run by our friend catherine until recently and her father before that for many many years and at the same time one remembers a a restaurant below uh in church house westerminster below where the general sydney sits and it was always ironic that after all the debates about church matters very often people would go down to eat and drink in the italian restaurant below which was called the telodoro the golden calf well we can smile about it but in fact the temptation to idolatry of any kind of human value in terms of money or riches or power you can draw the list yourself but the golden calf represents it all and the violence it ensues is a violence which we see again and again when the powerful or the rich are seeking for more or it's thought by any that the solution to all things is found in gold gold can be a straight an illustration of something wonderful the psalmist uses it as an image of something absolutely wonderful in creation and the the lasting quality of gold is put into rings and when the sun shines on them there is that sense of faithfulness but it can also be the most amazing sign of temptation in this world and the awful consequences that follow nevertheless a word of consequence three uh three people i want to remember this morning in dates they're very different from this golden calf and the song of mephistopheles with satan leading the dance it's the story of three people who kept faithfulness with those who actually uh listen to them or watch them or knew of their ministry in the first case the first is one in our calendar today priscilla lydia selen who on november the 20th 1876 and she is written in the calendar as a commemoration as a restorer of the religious life to the church of england she founded a woman's order and it based itself eventually at ascot priory but in the beginning it was just a fact that she answered a call of help a cry for help from bishop philpots of exeter and in 1848 he called out for help in devonport for the poor of devonport in devon and in his diocese of exeter he'd run out of resources to deal with this enormous problem in devonport and she went and she at first began to help and use her resources which she had from her father to found schools and orphanages and places where the starving could be helped and schools for teenage boys after their work in the evening schools for girls during the day and she was helped by other women who came to her and gradually that work grew and grew and they then united with another order in london itself and in the end they became the society of the most holy trinity and they were helped very much by edward pusey in their work as well but it's lydia selen as she's normally called who actually was the central figure in this religious life the founding of an order of nuns which went on through and ascot priory became their center and we give thanks for that that image of total faithfulness to the service of those who most needed it not only in resources in teaching but also the image of a holy life lived out quietly year after year which drew people to them when queen emma of hawaii that that really important monarch in the late 19th century asked for help then not only did help come but women from hawaii began to join the order as well and serve in hawaii itself it became something notable throughout the world and throughout those nations which now form the anglican communion lydia selan quietly doing her work from 1848 till 1876 as the centerpiece and the if you like the abbess of a new religious order we give thanks for the society of the most holy trinity and the inspiration given to many other religious orders which took their example and were formed the next person is a composer thomas tallis not only a composer but a lay clark here his name appears in the registers here in canterbury cathedral his birth date is lost in the midst of time and even his death date one register says the 20th of november another says the 23rd of november but we'll keep it today because talis is another symbol of faithfulness in composition and in music throughout four different reigns henry viii edward vi mary and elizabeth the first and in those reigns as most of you will know the official established religion of england was first of all with henry viii a reformed catholicism and with the the protestant uh our reformation reaching here in edward the sixth it became much more deeply protestant and then swung all the way around back again to catholicism when roman exorcism with with queen mary and thomas talis through his career never ceased to be an unreformed catholic but he wrote music for the royal court according to what was the tradition of the court at that time yet held inside firm to his own faithfulness and went on into the reign of elizabeth the first and was a valued musician to elizabeth the first at that time uh in partnership quite often with bird the other composer that we might think of today but the music of the renaissance in catholic times was obviously written to latin and full of many notes for syllable and and wonderful compositions which weave in and out whereas the music of the english reformation as set down by thomas cranmer was very much if you sang a syllable there would be one note for it and then another syllable would get another note and so on so that the words came to the fore in a different way well talis could do both with ease and he did quietly did both with ease and we still sing in our repertoire here uh remembering his connection with us as a lay clark we still sing music from his period under mary and uh before the protestant reformation really began to to take our energy at the end of the reign of of henry viii we sing his latin anthems his lashin mochets his latin masses but at the same time we sing his english music too and if one thinks of what is best known of talis well let's start with an english hymn which he wrote it's called talis cannon because the tune actually starts again in another line and acts in harmony with itself in canon form as they say and it's generally sung to the um either bishop ken's mourning hymn or evening hymn uh glory to thee my god this night for all the blessings of the light and very often sung to the doxology written at the end of that praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below praise him above the heavenly host praise father son and holy ghost and talis cannon as it was called one note one syllable and the tune begins again of our laser and fits all the way through it's clever it gives a harmony but is utterly faithful to the principles he was composing for same thing with his english litany as it sung one note one syllable words to the four if you listen to his lamentations which the lay clarks very often sing at passion tide then you've got a very different form of music but go back to his ansem if you love me keep my commandments and once again it's very simple and the words come to the fore here is a servant to the crown it's also a servant to his god and a servant to the inspiration he felt within him so for his quiet life of composition all the way through he is buried in the church of sin alfige at greenwich but even the brass plate on that tomb has been lost in the rebuilding at some stage in its history nevertheless he stays with us with his music and that we still glory in and and use as a symbol of his faithfulness his tiger back come on little boy come on there we are i have something else to to i think uh leo by his uh machinations uh led him away but here's tiger back and the last person which many of you will remember is alistair cook i don't mean the captain of english cricket sir alastair cook i mean another aleister cook who was knighted but never carried the knighthood because he although born in in uh great britain he was actually he actually became a citizen of the united states he was someone whose mellow voice and his enormous breadth of understanding of humanity first of all in london in the 1930s began to broadcast a letter from london to the united states and then at the end of the 1930s he transferred and went to live in the united states and from 1946 actually the 24th of march 1946 for the bbc but in the united states he began to broadcast for 15 minutes every week thoughts and impressions of life in america in the united states and gave an understanding to people here as the second world war came to its close of what life was like over there an understanding between two people speaking the same language but separated by a great ocean who'd been allies in the great conflict and now we're setting that settling down to life in peace time what was it like and for 15 minutes every week alastair cook's voice would in a really com compulsive and gentle way tell us what it felt like i say tell us because that broadcasting went on without a break for 58 years until the 20th of february 2004. it was part of my upbringing to hear letter from america by alistair cook it was like a letter but it was a conversation with someone for a long time i didn't know what his face was like at all but when you saw his face eventually i saw a picture of him and said ah that's what he looks like but his voice is part of the really the fiber of my being it was my introduction to the people of the united states alistair cook and as i say he was uh given a knighthood in england which then became the letters after his name as he was a different citizen uh citizen of a different country but i think he was proud to receive it because it was given as a thanksgiving for his way of uniting two peoples in understanding letter from america by alistair cook for 58 years and as i say he ended on the 20th of february 2004 and died actually the next month march the 30th age 94. i give great thanks for him because he helped me understand america long before i started to get to know it personally with so many people over there in many many different places three people of quiet faithfulness on this day when we began with a great loud dance which turned into violence around the idol of the golden calf and then i juxtaposed that with the quiet faithfulness of three people whose image give us a very different blend of humanity reaching out in creativity to with those gifts that the creator has given them to create understanding in spiritual or mental or even physical ways across the world in resources and help between peoples so let's say our prayers on this saturday morning and we are praying this morning in the anglican communion for the diocese of ibadan in the church of nigeria the ibadan province and in this diocese for the parishes of lim and saltwatch for barry knott in his ministry there and for the hospital chaplain there tricia hill pray for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover and emma bishop at lambeth and we are using for the last time the collect of the second sunday before advent tomorrow we go to the last sunday before advent and that will be the feast of christ the king so here's the second sunday before advent and bring your own prayers and intentions as we pray together heavenly father whose blessed son was revealed to destroy the work of the devil and to make us the children of god and heirs of eternal life grant that we having this hope may purify ourselves even as he is pure that when he should appear in power and great glory we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom where he is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen so we say the prayer our savior taught us in whatever language you like to use 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 of quiet now for your own reflection so oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] um [Music] so more [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] see [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] we've had tiger and leo here rather like aaron and moses sitting under the now golden leaves of the cottiness the burning bush so take what symbolism you like from that this morning 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 you've been very patient this morning haven't you going to have a nice day now all right i think india's gone off to tease someone else good point tango your head won't go that far down i didn't think would it he will [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so um you