Category Archives: cathedral

something’s different!

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We are in Holy Week and the setting of the cathedral has changed a little.
Neil has had a new altar made which looks stunning in its setting at the centre of the nave.
The chairs have been moved so that we all sit closer to each other and looking at each other – which is pretty major for the cathedral which is used to sitting in rows facing the front which has the choirs and altar separating the congregation and clergy.

I much prefer the st up we have for this week because I think it says a lot about how we as church try to be. Sitting very close and seeing each other can be awkward and strange. Smiles can develop as people look at each other unexpectedly. The sense of closeness and awkwardness says a lot to me about community and family as well as giving just a taste of the awkwardness and confusion that the disciples must have felt in these last few days before Christ was crucified.

If you don’t normally come to the cathedral why not drop in and see what you think …. if you want to experience worship in this setting you can see this weeks services here ….. we could always go for a drink after!

(not) just another day at the cathedral …

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Sunday was a great, rather than ‘just another’, day at the cathedral.

The 10.30, All Age Eucharist, was great fun to be in and, as Bishop Stephen said afterwards ‘it had everything that is good about all age worship’ in the service. A number of my friends in other churches might say ‘big deal’ bit for a cathedral this was, and is, a big deal.

The relaxed tone was set by Bishop Stephen for the service. The choir sang amazingly – but I am biased and they were singing my favourite setting – Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass which they sang amazingly (as they always do!)

The service was then taken to another level by Neil who spoke amazingly from the floor and engaged everyone in what he was saying and doing with  great amount of serious content as well as humour. Neil was making a cake with different ingredients. To demonstrate that we are all together and equal when he lifted the mixing spoon everyone had to move and sit elsewhere. It was very funny to see the young boys make a dash for the presidents chair on the pulpitum platform. They clearly wanted to be in the limelight (we have an amazing picture but sadly I hesitate to put it on my blog as such things are seem to be unwise in this day and age) and rushed to what they saw to be the ‘important’ places.

Interestingly, a number of the choirs (as well as myself) chose to sit right at the back of the cathedral. I loved the opportunity to be at the back, not on show and able to see everyone else without being seen for a change. It was a light hearted approach to quite a serious topic.

The look fo joy and confusion on peoples faces was quite good to see – and I think the illustration and sermon brought home a good message. The place was certainly ‘buzzing’ with joy afterwards!

‘my bowels …’

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The morning tends to start for me in the cathedral at 8am with Morning Prayer from Common Worship. I have come to find the receptiveness and the rhythm to be a real support for me. My one complaint would be that there are a lot of words and loads of scripture, much of which can wash over me a lot of the time, but nevertheless the rhythm and the discipline is a powerful way for me to start off my day.

In the cathedral we have the privilege of being able to move around different parts of the cathedral to help us pray during different seasons. During Lent we pray in the starkness of the crypt – not the cosy Ithamar Chapel which many will know and where the gathering gets together … but in the larger body of the crypt. It tends to feel very wilderness-y and is sparse, bare, grey etc etc etc.

To mark the 400th anniversary of the King James version this Lent all the BIble readings during morning and evening prayer are from the KJV. It’s been a long time since I even looked at the KJV but I have to admit that there is something about the poetic language of the version which can give a whole different image or impression to think about.

This mornings reading brought a smile to our faces: Jeremiah 4: 19 – end. In our normal NRSV version the reading starts ‘my anguish, my anguish’. The King James starts …’my bowels, my bowels’  … which produced a snigger as well as getting us to engage with the reading in a fresh way … certainly expressive! Maybe there is something in this ‘older’ language after all ….

welcome +James

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The cathedral has been buzzing over the last two days and the building has been made ready for the service of inauguration and enthronement of Bishop James as the 107th Bishop of Rochester.

The service starts today at 11.30 in the cathedral and I have been watching from the sidelines as draft after draft has been put together. many would not believe the amount of massive hard work that people, particularly Neil, our precentor, and the vergers will have put into this to ensure that everything runs smoothly and to time.

in addition people like Darren have been working hard at installing large screens so people can see what is happening from different part of the cathedral. It really is a massive operation!

As a curate I am excited and intrigued as we welcome our new bishop. It will be exciting to see how the diocese changes and where Bishop James feels we should be heading as a diocese. On a personal note, I will be interested to hear his views on fresh expressions and pioneer ministry. But all that is for conversation over the next few months.

Today we celebrate with him and welcome him to Rochester ….

just another monday

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Today has been another varied and interesting day which started with Staff Forum. This happens a few times a year when all the departments from the cathedral update the rest of us on what is happening. It’s interesting to know what everyone is doing and how your part fits into the bigger pattern.

Soon after that I met up with Sharon in Deaf Cat to look at the Jesus Deck as I thought Sharon would be good at being involved with this over the Dickens Festival. WE looked at the cards and others in the coffee shop became interested in what we were talking about as well … which is a good sign that they could be useful during Dickens.

This afternoon I met up with Justine, vice principal of SEITE, who has kindly agreed to be the supervisor for my masters. I have been thinking and mulling things over for a few weeks and until recenty it has been hard to pin down a topic I have been interested in. This is not for lack of topics … the exact opposite actually. I have been thinking more about the
significance of my waiting, as well as how to support and ensure pioneers survive, as well as the role of imagination in pioneer ministry, as well as wondering on the whole idea of communities, rather than individuals, coming to Christ. All of those would be interesting to look into, but the one thing that has really grabbed me has been this whole thing to do with confession which I blogged about earlier.

So … for the next few days I am looking out for sources and research along the theme of confession and how it may be linked to mission. If you know of anything … give me a shout!

what do they see?

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I had another one of those mixed days today that makes me smile to myself as a pioneer!

My day started with the 8am BCP service of Eucharist. Ok, some people will say some of the language is beautiful … maybe it is! But … this service, for me, sums up a lot of what is wrong with church from the age of Christendom and which is why I presented myself for pioneer ministry.

There is no engagement between people. Today we had 15 people in the fairly large Quire area of the cathedral. Most of the 15 sat far away from each other. During the administration people gave no eye contact. The language is archaic and I struggle to understand some of the words – if I did not read it all beforehand to remind me I worry that I would be quite lost! Afterwards I spoke with 3 out of the 15 people. It seems to me that there is no sense of ‘community’ here. There does not seem to be any sense of travelling together to discover God. There seems a lack of expectation and a lack of excitement over what God is doing in the lives of these people and what God is challenging them to next which I see in quite a few people who worship at the 10.30 service. I am not saying there is no engagement … merely that I am not seeing it; it’s not obvious to me. Maybe, being mainly British, these people keep that to themselves in this service? maybe this is a result of these people growing up in a style of church which encouraged seriousness and frowned upon fun in a sacred space? There could be many reasons!

The 8am service provides for a need of these 15 people but I do wonder what is being achieved. I cannot second guess what God may be doing and I am not going to say this service is not valid, as these people genuinely come on a weekly basis and find ‘something’ of God. But I do question what is happening here, what are we doing, what image of Christianity does this portray to the casual visitor, one of whom popped in and out today! What did she see?

The 10.30 service is a very engaging service. As a pioneer today, as quite a lot of the time, I find that I discover more of God in the music than I ever felt possible. The singing of the sanctus today was amazing and the sound brought to mind a powerful image of Christ on the cross which nearly moved me to tears.

But … I have noticed over the last few weeks that people walk past and are intrigued. We now have glazed doors which means people can always see inside the cathedral from the street. Sometimes people move to walk in, see the service and pause. They are surprised to see the building being used for worship. They stop, look and disappear, deciding, I guess, to come back later. Others come in and take a service booklet, only to quietly leave 10 or so minutes later.

I have been wondering today what people see.
When I see them at the glass doors between 10.30 and 1145 part of me want’s to jump up, go outside and talk to them, asking them what they think, what they were expecting or what, if anything, they are looking for? My missional heart wants me to go and find out how we can help them on their journey. I guess a big question for me is finding out whether these people are interested in faith or whether they are interested in just visiting the building. It’s easy to assume the latter … but I do wonder!

Maybe I should take a Sunday to sit outside and ask these casual visitors … I might be surprised at the answers.

Dickens angels

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I have now started to think more about the ideas we have been having for the Dickens Festival. We see between 10000-15000 through the cathedral doors over this weekend. My task is to work with others to develop ‘stations’ or some way that people can encounter God as they pass through the building.

This can be a tricky task at normal times, but during ‘Dickens’, being near to Christmas, people always seem to be in such a rush unless something really grabs them. Last year we ran with the theme of ‘pause for thought’ and this year we are using the theme of angels. In my conversations with people I have noticed angels cropping up in conversation quite a bit. There seems to be, at least a local, interest and so it makes sense to me to take this as a theme and see what happens.

We are going to take a bit of a gamble this year and run with a similar set up to how we worked at the Sweeps Festival with a mind body spirit theme overarching what we do. We will be offering prayer for healing, a space for meditation, prayer beads and the ever popular and valuable foot and hand massage and you will again be able to experience a Jesus Deck reading. Our ‘giveaway’ will invite people to spend a week with the angels.

I’m looking forward to the weekend and hearing peoples stories – it’s one of the privileges of my role!

The team is looking good, but if you want to get involved please let me know)

remembrance

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As with many other places today the Cathedral hosted Remembrance Services. My role today was to speak – something that I have been a little worried about.

The experience, though, was special and quite an honour. I used the iconic image of the poppy in my talk moving from the deaths of Flanders (using that beautiful yet poignant final scene in Black Adder Goes Forth)  and hope I left those there with a sense of hope for the future.

The emotion today was raw and tangible. As expected there were family members and colleagues present who had lost loved ones within the last year. We owe those people a great deal, and we shall remember them.

and the winner is …

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Rochester Cathedral won one of the Medway Culture and Design Awards this week .. another reason why you should visit the cathedral, grab an audio guide, and discover how special and amazing a place the cathedral is.

Adrian writes:

“I thought you would like to know that last night at the Medway Culture and Design Awards, held at the St George’s Centre, our Ancient Stones Untold Stories project won the ‘Tourism’ category award. Given the competition it was up against (including the Dockyard’s stunning ‘No 1 The Smithery’ project), this was a remarkable achievement and is a wonderful acknowledgement of all the hard work put in by so many different people. It reflects well on the Cathedral as a really significant partner organisation in Medway, and it demonstrates the quality of work put in by members of staff here. I know how demanding this project has been on people’s time and energy, and I think that it represents in some measure the thanks of the wider community for everything that people have done to make this such a success.”

Congratulations to Deaf Cat also who won the best newcomer award … and well deserved as this is an excellent place, with lovely people serving wonderful coffee.

fireworks … bikers … taize

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If I don’t mention the football then the weekend was a pretty cool one. The free firework display put on by Medway Council on the Great LInes was excellent … although someone behind me quite rightlywondered which persons had lost their jobs in the cuts to protect the budget spent on gunpowder!

Sunday in the cathedral was quite amazing too. The 1030 Eucharist was a good service as it always is with our musicians always seeming to be able to aid our worship magnificently.

During the afternoon in the evensong slot we had a remembrance service for bikers. This was an incredibly moving service as people placed photos of loved ones around a bike on the pulpitum platform. It was also a great time having Loose Cannons, a rock band, play as we processed in as well as singing Sweet Town Alabama during the service. Again this was very moving.

In the evening I led the Taize service. I simply love this service. The simplicity, the repetitive chants, the candles and the music help people to connect with God in a meaningful way. I chose Romans 8:31-39 and Romero’s The Long View which were pondered during the 10 minute blocks of silence. It is the silence in particular that I love in this service.

So … that was the weekend…. pretty varied …. and pretty pioneering for a cathedral too!