good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this morning of tuesday the 11th of august as we meet and gather for morning prayer wherever you are in the world bring your own concerns your own intentions for this day and feel welcome here it's a fairly sticky day after great heat in england and it looks as though the weather is about to break but certainly not before we've said our morning prayers thank you for your messages about tiger he has come through his operation and now has a time of healing and a time of learning to live in in a new way without that front left leg so we remember other anniversaries today we remember that in 1897 on this day the author enid blyton was born she's been translated into 90 different languages and 800 million of her books have been sold throughout the world and at the same time translated so that the adventures of the famous five have become part of the uh legend of of those who who read them in their childhood and after it's also the day on which we remember sinclair of assisi who founder of the poor class and that special place assisi is made more special by both claire and francis's tombs being there claire died in 1253 almost 30 years after francis who had first been her inspiration then her companion and then her guide in the setting up of the poor class and beyond that now we pray for the life of the poor claires and also that holy place today and all who minister that and also today we remember the feast day of john henry newman who was canonized last year we give thanks for his life and ministry and for him as a sign of ecumenical development he having served in the ministry of the church of england and then in the roman catholic church and now is an icon for us all to seek for the unity of christ's church we give thanks for his ministry also for his hymns hymns like praise to the holiest in the height and firmly i believe and truly god is three and god is one so probably the most famous throughout the ages has been lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom lead thou me on we remember all those things as we say our morning prayers o lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise your faithful servants bless you they make known the glory of your kingdom blessed are you sovereign god ruler and judge of all to you be praise and glory forever in the darkness of this age that is passing away may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on may we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more 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 does 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 on this day we use as our morning psalm psalm 57 be merciful to me o god be merciful to me for my soul takes refuge in you in the shadow of your wings will i take refuge until the storm of destruction has passed by i will call upon the most high god the god who fulfills his purpose for me he will send from heaven and save me and rebuke those that would trample upon me god will send forth his love and his faithfulness i lie in the midst of lions people whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword be exalted o god above the heavens and your glory over all the earth they have laid a net for my feet my soul is pressed down they have dug a pitch before me but will fall into it themselves my heart is ready o god my heart is ready i will sing and give you praise awake my soul awake harp and liar that i may awaken the dawn i will give you thanks o lord among the people i will sing praise to you among the nations for your loving kindness is as high as the heavens and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds be exalted oh god above the heavens and your glory over all the earth so we turn now still to the writings of luke but to the acts of the apostles and we are this morning reading from verse 15 of chapter one in those days peter stood up among the brothers and the company of persons was in all about 120 and he said brothers the scripture had to be fulfilled which the holy spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of david concerning judas who became a guide to those who arrested jesus for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out and it became known to all the inhabitants of jerusalem so that the field was called in their own language akhel dharma that is field of blood for it is written in the book of psalms may his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it and let another take his office so one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the lord jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of john until the day when he was taken out from us one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection and they put forward two joseph called bar sabbas who was also called justice and matthias and they prayed and said you lord who know the hearts of all show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which judas turned aside to go to his own place and they cast lots for them and the lot fell on messiahs and he was numbered with the twelve with the eleven apostles well it's a fierce lesson but i think it shows something of the intention of luke as a writer for it's very unluken in what it's saying and i stressed the masculinity of it all because of course amongst the number there were the women who have been faithful all the way through and yet it is in this lesson unthinkable that one of them should be numbered among the 12. what is luke trying to do in the acts of the apostles i believe that he as a a doctor a physician is looking at all of this we know that he's a person of great sympathy and compassion but he's trying to set out first of all the concept of the old testament prophecies being like a straight jacket almost on the church at that time the very very early time when peter is trying to really fathom how they go forward and luke writing much later i think sees the acts of the apostles in a particular way and his intention is to follow that particular way there was a a german theologian in the last century who thought of the acts as in hegelian synthesis uh one of these thesis antithesis synthesis well luke would have known nothing about that but i do believe that as a physician he is wanting to shall we call it balance the humors in the body of christ and he is now pointing out to one of the humors and he writes in a very old testament way so that it needn't surprise us that we've got prophecies from the psalms worked out with the field of blood and peter's words about how the 12 have to be made up may surprise us that there are 120 men that peter says has joined them as early as the baptism of john but what is important here is that at this time that the 12 were always jesus's center piece his foundation stone now they're making up their numbers but the essential quality of being a member of the twelve was that they had to be eyewitnesses and the word eyewitness comes right at the beginning of the gospel of saint luke eyewitnesses from peter says the baptism of john and onwards so through the whole of the ministry of jesus and eyewitnesses also to the resurrection we learn from the first epistle to the corinthians that jesus appeared to many more people at the resurrection than the gospel narrative show us and then also it means that those who were eyewitnesses were the only ones qualified to be an apostle i suppose you could say and we know from the verse before that mary the mother of jesus is there that she was the real eyewitness from the very beginning and luke is both sympathetic to that but has shown it in his gospel and then after that we get the ministry of saint paul and luke becomes part of that here is then the fischer open opening up because saint paul because of the eyewitness status can never be an apostle or at least never be one of the twelve and it rankles so that his physician luke has to try and balance those humors in the acts of the apostles all kinds of divisions are shown but the twelve are those who are eyewitnesses and they remain the twelve matthias plays no great part it's just the fact of being an eyewitness saint paul plays a massive part and he's going to be the one who opens up the ministry but the tension with the galilean fishermen between the galilean fishermen and the the converted pharisee of impeccable jerusalem education at the feet of gamaliel is present throughout the acts of the apostles and luke is indeed going to try and achieve a balance at the end one of luke's favorite words in the acts of the apostles is the greek word thomas sumadon which means with one accord all together it doesn't appear in the gospels anywhere but it does appear here in the acts of the apostles again and again and that word thomas umadon is what luke is trying to achieve a balance in the humors of the body of christ he's a good physician so that if you see the the the the bones of the body being the 12 and the blood and the breath of the body being that life of regular prayer both liturgical and also at home with the breaking of bread which has been set out in the verses there and we shall come again and again to with one accord they and that that unity pervades the beginning but also at the beginning the sense of prophecy having been fulfilled pervades the thing they are now ready they're no longer 11 they are the 12 but they also have the brothers of jesus with them and it's james the just who again is an eyewitness but not one of the twelve who will become the leader of the church in jerusalem peter and paul will have tensions all the way through the acts of the apostles but luke will bring paul safely home to haven where peter is in rome by the end of the gospel having in his way balanced all that's going on and opened up the ministry to all kinds of women and men as leaders as they go around the churches for his image is of total diversity of all nations being included but he starts here with this hard foundation stone and purposely writes us something that is very much an old testament passage so that they're ready for the coming of the holy spirit who will break the whole thing open change them all and first of all a sense of one accord then all the difficulties of what anything new presents and then beyond to a sense of hopeful going forward as we reach the end of the acts of the apostles tomorrow will be different because we come to the day of pentecost but for now let's think that for us this is also a time of preparation of making plans for how we go forward and we do so with a sense of well not really a lot of knowledge about what's going to happen at the end of this pandemic and how it will come to an end never mind i have no doubt that's how st peter felt on that day when he made the beginnings of a speech of leadership which was rooted in the old testament and used an old testament way of choosing who the other member of the twelve would be that method is never used again never it's now in a different world and tomorrow we shall see that but today thanks be to god for that beginning and for those who gathered on that day the 120 were told that in jewish local government at that time you had to be 120 people to have a council of your own so maybe that's where luke got his absolute exact number from today we are praying for justin our archbishop and the life of the communion and especially the diocese of ohio and for mark hollingsworth the bishop there in the episcopal church of the united states the diocese of bristol here in england and for vivian fall the bishop there and her ministry in bristol and all the people of bristol and the diocese of katanga in congo and bertin subi the bishop there and all his people here in this diocese we pray for bishop rose of dover we pray for bishop tim at lambeth and we pray for the parish of high st leonard the clergy there andrew sweeney and lucia and prue dally and we pray for all the people that they look after as i said we pray for the holy place of assisi and all who go there as pilgrims those who minister to them we continue to pray for the people of beirut at this tragic times and the whole of the lebanon and we give thanks for the ministry of men and women people like claire and people like john henry newman for the total diversity of women and men in humanity and in different nations and cultures who have made up the body of the cry of the christian church the body of christ which luke the beloved physician was so keen to heal and make of one accord in all ways let's say the prayer for sinclair's day god of peace who in the poverty of the blessed claire gave us a clear light to shine in the darkness of this world give us grace so to follow in her footsteps that we may at the last rejoice with her in your eternal glory through jesus christ our lord amen so we say each in our own language and in the way we like to say it the prayer our savior taught us with one accord 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 for our own prayers on this day 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 amen this