good morning and welcome to the dinery garden at canterbury cathedral on this friday the 2nd of october as we meet to say our morning prayers wherever you are in the world please feel welcome and bring your own concerns yesterday we managed to find a slot of dry weather in the middle of the rain no chance at all today and so we've come into the greenhouse outside you may hear the rain pouring onto the glass of the greenhouse and the wind is blowing strongly but we're sheltered in here and so we've come along to the warmth of the greenhouse and um here is achilles one of our little greek tortoises who lives in this greenhouse and athenee who is much bigger than he lives in the tomato house they get on better apart at this time of year otherwise you tend to have a certain amount of aggravation between the spaces there are several things which happen but let's let's think how actually apt it is for us to be under shelter today because the jewish feast of suckers the feast of tabernacles the feast of shelters begins on this day and lasts for seven days as set out in the book leviticus in the bible we remember artists dying and being born neville mariner who was the great conductor of the academy of saint martin in the fields died on this day the 2nd of october in 2016 aged 92 and max brooke whose violin concerto is has become so popular died in 1920 at the age of 82. on the other hand robert runcie who was archbishop of canterbury in the 1980s until 1991 was born on this day in 1921. he's very important to me because he was the principal of the college where i trained to be a priest and so many of his lessons are still really in my bloodstream as it will be with so many of the others who were trained at that time perhaps one of the most important lessons i always remember is of him leaving an important class when he was teaching us because a message came in from the village where he was the parish priest as well as principal of the college at constant and he left it once to go and minister to the person who was sick at home and that was always noticed by the community around him but to him it was second nature and i give thanks for that we remember his son james ranci who has given to us those lovely books about granchester where aspects of his father's life appear in the parish priests there and we think two of his daughter rebecca this morning this was the day in 1187 when saladin captured jerusalem after 88 years of its being under the governance of the crusaders and that began a whole sequence of events at the end of the 12th century in london the first red buses appeared in 1925 on this day the ones that were with covered roofs and also in 1909 the first rugby match was played at trickenham signs of the city and also let's remember the novelist graham greene who was born on this day in 1904 well that's enough of looking at the past let's say our our prayers for this morning and we've some more reflections as we come to the acts of the apostles oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise send your holy spirit upon us and clothe us with power from on high blessed are you creator god to you be praise and glory forever as your spirit moved over the face of the waters bringing light and life to your creation pour out your spirit on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your presence 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 oh god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our psalm on this second morning of the month is psalm 11 in the lord have i taken refuge how then can you say to me flee like a bird to the hills foresee how the wicked bend the bow and fit their arrows to the string to shoot from the shadows at the true of heart when the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do the lord is in his holy temple the lord's throne is in heaven his eyes behold his eyelids try every mortal being the lord tries the righteous as well as the wicked but those who delight in violence his soul abhors upon the wicked he shall reign curls of fire and burning sulfur scorching wind shall be their portion to drink for the lord is righteous he loves righteous deeds and those who are upright shall behold his face notice how like one of the beatitudes verse 8 is those who are upright shall behold his face blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god and it causes us to remember that these are the very verses that our lord knew by heart and would have heard sung and also read so often during his years of preparation and quotes them so often just giving an inference here and again those who are upright shall behold his face blessed are the pure of god pure in heart for they shall see god well let's turn to the acts of the apostles and read our passage for today we've reached chapter 21. and remember paul has just said a tearful goodbye and said prayers with the elders of ephesus the church there which is a growing and developing church and luke is continuing the account as an eyewitness a member of the party and when we had parted from the elders of ephesus and set sail we came by a straight course to cos and the next state of rhodes and from there to patara and having found a ship crossing to phoenicia we went aboard and set sail when we had come inside of cyprus leaving it on the left we sailed to syria and landed it tyre for their the ship was to unload its cargo and having sought out the disciples we stayed there for seven days and through the spirit they were telling paul not to go to jerusalem when our days there were ended we departed and went on our journey and they with their wives and children accompanying us until we were outside the city and kneeling down together on the beach we prayed and said farewell to one another and then we went on board and they returned home when we had finished the voyage from tyre we arrived at ptolemis and we greeted the believers and stayed with them for a day but on the next day we departed and came to caesarea and we entered the house of philip the evangelist who was one of the seven and stayed with him he had four unmarried daughters who prophesied and while we were staying for many days a prophet named agabus came down from judea and coming to us he took paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands with it and said thus says the holy spirit this is how the jews in jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the gentiles when we heard this we and the people there urged him not to go up to jerusalem but paul answered what are you doing weeping and breaking my heart for i am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in jerusalem for the name of the lord jesus and since he would not be persuaded we ceased and said the lord's will be done and after these days we got ready and went up to jerusalem some of the disciples from caesarea went with us bringing us to the house of nation of cyprus an early disciple with whom we should lodge so many things in that passage the detail because luke being an eyewitness is charting things accurately but the definite intention of paul to go to jerusalem despite all the prophecies of what is going to happen to him now and one is constantly reminded by the way luke writes this of jesus's own journey going up to jerusalem as set out in the gospel paul comes to caesarea and here we meet an old friend philip not the apostle phillip phillip one of the seven deacons and remember we've been at his house before in caesarea and here paul stays but again something happens to prophesy what will happen to him in jerusalem agabus the prophet comes down from judea binds paul's hands and feet or binds sorry binds his own hands and feet with paul's belt and says this is what's going to happen to the one who owns this belt and they start again as they have in every place he's been don't go don't go and one is reminded constantly of peter saying no lord it it mustn't be like this with you when jesus is about to set out from caesarea philippi all the way down to jerusalem on his own journey and paul responds in the same way and in the end all echo we said as luke says all echo the prayer of our lord in gethsemane thy will be done the lord's will be done and they go on to jerusalem leaving the the infant and in some cases you could say adolescent churches in the hands of other elders but paul knows he must go on these wonderful scenes of him kneeling on the beach with all of them saying farewell it's a journey description and also the dangers of the sea at that time which we shall come across again and again as the chapters of the acts of the apostle go on the paul has now arrived at jerusalem on the 2nd of october in 1836 a small ship of the royal navy called hms beagle docked at falmouth it was a sunday morning and the captain robert fitzroy after almost a five-year voyage charting the coasts in south america in dangerous circumstances and sailing by his own skill the captain brought his crew together and they joined in as they always had on sunday morning the book of common prayers service for those at sea with a short sermon by the captain the crew were used to this and they had learned the rhythms of the prayer book as we do day by day for the captain it was a guiding light when there was a very unsophisticated form of knowing where you went from place to place guided by the stars and guided by chronometers and everything else but for fitzroy sunday morning meant the crew coming for a reading of the scriptures and prayers psalm 107 was always read they that go down to the sea and ships and occupy their business in great waters these men see the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep and so they had for fitzroy had on board a young man who had just begun to know his own vocation charles darwin the book was the ship was full of specimens and he had sent specimens back from practically every port they visited they'd gone round through the the straits in the south america and got to the galapagos islands and of course it was there that darwin came across great galapagos tortoises like this one no no this is a small greek tortoise but the galapagos tortoises were part of the adventure of going on and on board he had the last set of of specimens fitzroy on the other hand was a hydrographer which means that he could chart the coast and know the oceans and was making maps but he was also a meteorologist and both men were sad to part they had shared for their meals the captain's cabin for their conversations all the way through when they weren't on land in in south america or other places in the galapagos and so it had been sometimes quite a stormy relationship in that little cabin but now they parted his friends darwin left the ship and took a postchase to his home in shrewsbury his specimens will be sent on fitzroy took the ship on and continued his career but his career would lead him to be the father of weather forecasting it was he who thought of the word forecast and darwin on the other hand would keep so much of his thinking quite still at that time and and gave himself time to think it was only when another man returned and i could have done that yesterday because he returned on set on october the 1st in 1852 with similar specimens from a different place but because of his learning and i'm talking about alfred russell wallace he and darwin had lots and lots of conversations and decided to publish their findings together so we think of voyages and places where we find shelter and also launching out into the sea where there is danger even though people say don't go don't go so many had tried to stop darwin going on this adventure at the beginning his family it seemed a crazy adventure he was going to have a very settled career but off he went and discovered the world and its geology its botany all its life forces and creatures that he would bring stories back from so that his voyage of the beagle has become a great classic and a wonderful story to tell just as the acts of the apostles show paul going forward and we remember as we are doing fitzroy's guiding light a passage of the scriptures and some of the prayer of the regular prayer book and much reflection mixed with the things of the world which we're doing this morning in our greenhouse surrounded by plants now we're going to begin our prayers and i'm going to look at the prayers for this particular day and pray for various areas of the world and happily um one of them is peru in south america which is full of the kind of research into plants and species and everything else that darwin and and wallis were about and they would then mix their thoughts just as darwin would mix his thoughts and argue with fitzroy in the cabin after dinner at night for almost those whole five years so the diocese of peru and the bishop there jorge luis aguiya and his people and the diocese of chichester in england a near neighbor of us and our friend the bishop there martin warner and his people here we continue to pray for archbishop justin and for bishop rose of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and the recover deanery recover area and whitstable area and hearn area we're asked by them to pray for their missional learning communities this morning so bring your own prayers and we will say the prayer for this day 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 lord amen each in our own way and in our own language we 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 amen moment of silence now as we say our own prayers the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and if his son jesus christ our lord 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