good morning and welcome to the deanery garden on this particular day the 24th of september the thursday morning it's been the stormiest thursday morning very early and there's been enormous rain until just a few moments ago so we're snatching a window early in the morning to say our morning prayers outside i'm going to start with two moments of of uh activity which are happening today and their moments celebrating people to people who fought for justice for themselves and for others the first is to say that in washington dc today on the steps of the supreme court the casket of ruth bader ginsburg who was an associate justice of the supreme court from 1993 until 2020 and the champion an icon of justice for all is lying in state so to speak and is being honored there and at the same time in houston station in london a plaque is being unveiled to ask with xavier who was a guard on the trains of british railways and became that in 1966 but he had come as one of the windrush generation as a fully trained guard from dominica and coming from the west indies to here in answer to the call for people to help in the service industries he came to find that illegally at that time british railways was operating a whites only policy at houston station and he fought that until he became and gave everyone else the right to become what was legally the right course in england at that time a fully-fledged guard on the uh trains at that that time and we give thanks for ask with savier for fighting that battle as the plaque to him is unveiled in houston station he was when uh the the matter was investigated installed at the time he should have been and given full back pay but we remember him as a respected guard and a member of the staff of the railways here in england at that time two people who fought for justice there are many other dates that we could remember today um and one of them is the fact that also the the national health app has become available on our phones and that's crucial in the fight against the pandemic here in england but other dates we shall look at in our reflection let's begin our prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise visit us with your salvation and sustain us with your gracious spirit 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 and 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 24th morning of the month is part of psalm 118 i'm beginning at verse 14 the lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation joyful shouts of salvation sound from the tents of the righteous the right hand of the lord does mighty deeds the right hand of the lord raises up the right hand of the lord does mighty deeds i shall not die but live and declare the works of the lord the lord has punished me solely but he has not given me over to death open to me the gates of righteousness that i may enter and give thanks to the lord this is the gate of the lord the righteous shall enter through it i will give thanks to you for you have answered me and have become my salvation the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone this is the lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it so we turn to the acts of the apostles and remember that we're midway through chapter 17 paul has been left alone in the city of athens and he is waiting for silas and timothy to join him verse 16 of chapter 17 now while paul was waiting for timothy and silas at athens his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols so he reasoned in the synagogue with the jews and the devout persons but also in the marketplace every day with those who happen to be there some of the epicurean and stoic philosophers also conversed with him and some said what does this babbler wish to say others said he seems to be a preacher for foreign divinities because paul was preaching jesus and the resurrection and they took him and brought him to the areopagus saying may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting for you bring some strange things to our ears we wish to know therefore what these things mean now all the athenians and the foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new so paul standing in the midst of the areopagus said athenians i perceive that in every way you are very religious for as i passed along and observed the objects of your worship i found also an also with this inscription to the unknown god watch therefore you worship as unknown this i proclaimed to you the god who made the world and everything in it being lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by human hands nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all humanity life and breath and everything and he made from one human being every nation of humankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek god and perhaps feel their way towards him and find him yet he is actually not far from each one of us for in him we live and move and have our being as even some of your own poets have said for we are indeed his offspring being then god's offspring we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone an image formed by the art and imagination of human beings the times of ignorance god overlooked but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead some mocked but others said we will hear you again about this so paul went out from their midst but some joined him and believed among whom also were dionysius the areopagite and a woman named damaris and others with them paul finds himself in the cultural and intellectual capital of the world at that time athens was reckoned to be so even by rome itself and rome was respectful of the culture of what was called in the empire a free city the highest mark of respect for another culture and another seat of learning athenian scholars were used as tutors at the highest level across the empire and here was the capital of everything and in athens paul is all alone but he begins to speak in the synagogues and he knows how to begin there and he also begins to converse in the marketplace we've seen him do that at lystra appealing to creation and all life to show how god is not an image made with human hands but is the giver and sharer of life itself and then he wants to convey the good news of the gospel and of jesus how does he do that he starts talking about it in the marketplace while he waits for silas and timothy to join him but then people begin to listen and he even begins to debate with stoic and epicurean philosophers now any educated greek of course paid tribute to their historic religion and the temples it showed that divine strand a spiritual strand in life but they themselves would not be thinking that the god was there in the image they were already on the same page with saint paul about this the giving of life and breath from the one in whom we live and move and have our being and paul begins of course by using the things around them as gregory taught augustine to do when he came to england use what's there and help the people understand and he does that with the altar of the unknown god but he is alone and let's say he's out of his depths although he quotes snippets of greek philosophy to them he is finding it difficult to engage intellectually with them because his message he knows is going to come hard at them at the end and as that goes on the interesting thing is that they have called him because they've listened to him before he's been brought before them all at the uh areopagus as this goes on they say what's this babbler talking about now the word in the new testament used for babbler is an interesting one it's a word which is a conflation of two other words spermologus seed and word and it's a nickname for the sort of birds that go around picking at this and picking it that crows do it in our garden sparrows do it anything that's thrown down and this is what they think that paul is doing with their philosophy knowing little bits and scraps and pieces and as he talks on they listen and give him a respectful hearing as they do to all who are engaging with them in conversation but then the crunch point comes when he talks about a day of judgment for all nations and also the physical being as we call it the incarnation in human form of jesus himself and the fact that god has raised him from the dead at that we read some scoff they laughed aloud others being more respectful said let's hear you about this some other time and a few are very few just two are named come as the foundation of any group of christians is going to grow there but in paul's mind this has not been a success and we have to read the beginning of the first letter he ever writes to the corinthians corinth is where he'll go next to show how he felt at the end of this episode sometimes we know that the way we're doing things is really not the right one and this incident in athens becomes crucial to paul as a failure and it shows him the way he wants to do it in future but as you see at the beginning of the letter to the corinthians and we'll think more about that tomorrow he has been changed and chastened by this experience at the intellectual capital of the world at that time no matter if one has a failure one uses it as a lesson to go on and that's really important to us because this lesson is one that we hear paul successfully using later in his epistles to those churches that he has formed a group of christians in to the thessalonians to the philippians and in those letters and to the corinthians especially in those letters he'll use the lessons of athens use the lessons of failures use the lessons of being called a spermologos a bird who picks it this scrap and that because he knows his message is not in scraps it's a definite message of good news from the creator of all life and he wants to give that to all nations and that he will do but it will be a different message from the one that he preached in athens at the areopagus and we leave him there still alone waiting for silas and waiting for timothy so that they can go on and use the lessons but he's time for reflection now and that is an interesting lesson in itself always well let's say our prayers this morning but i wanted just before to mention a a writer who's not well known and she was born on this day in 1812 her name mary anne brown she wrote poems and musical verses and she was brought up in a a household of sisters rather like the the bronte sisters we remember today the death of branwell bronte who died of drugs and drink and became the model of henley earnshaw in wuthering heights but marianne brown forgotten really but she came to mind because there's a lesson here from the thessalonians in chapter 5 verse 19 saint paul writes quench not the spirit and she wrote this poem based on that and it's nice enough to share before we say our prayers and the suns come out so we're not in any danger of the rain falling again quench not the holy fire that from the altar of the heart would rise in full and pure desire unto its kindred glories in the skies oh sooner strive with some cold mist of earth to quench the lightning's flame that hath in heaven its birth stay not the spirit's flight in its proud soarings to a higher sphere where it may rest in light whose faint reflections only bathed it here oh sooner wish to bind the eagle's wing that towards the orb of day would on strong pinions spring strive not to stem the stream of blessed feeling flowing in the soul that lit with many a beam sent from the sun of righteousness doth roll o sooner strive to turn some stainless spring and bid it through the wilderness go wandering but cheer the spirit on with hopes with courage with undying faith tell it how saints have gone with song and triumph through the veil of death and let it never never rest until it sitteth on the top of zion's holy hill she only lived 33 years but she wrote so much and that was just based on saint paul's statement to his little church in thessalonica quench not the spirit so our prayers for today and uh we're praying in our anglican communion for the diocese of panyana in south sudan and bishop semi nego abinda and his people there the diocese of central solomons in melanesia in the pacific and bishop ben sika and his people there and the diocese of central tanganyika in tanzania and dixon chilongani the bishop there and all his people here in this diocese of canterbury we pray for justin our archbishop and for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and today for the group of parishes it is called the canary benefits but that is the villages of ash with westmarsh chilendon elmstone gunston nonington preston and star mouse and we pray for david moden in his ministry there and all his people on this day which is becoming better by the minute so let's say our prayer for this week and please bring your own prayers and concerns to a time of prayer now god who in generous mercy sent the holy spirit upon your church in the burning fire of your love grant that your people may be fervent in the fellowship of the gospel that always abiding in you they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service through jesus christ our lord amen we say the prayer our savior taught us in whichever language and in whatever way you like to say it 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 perhaps our time of silent prayer might look on lessons and failures that we've had in the past which have become our most useful teaching and giving us the chance of a way to go on and try again 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 and here comes the rain you