enter the sanctuary

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Being in the cathedral over the Dickens weekend has been an amazing experience.

I have chatted with people. Prayed with people. Wept with people.

I have been amazed by how people needed to be invited to enter the sanctuary and approach the high altar. Even with an invite many felt they did not wish to, but instead stayed behind the invisible rail (the rail had been removed to allow access).

In the waiting installation I have left two books with no instructions other than a title of ‘I am waiting for …’. Some of the writings have been ‘gifts from santa’, ‘the end of term’ which are important. Others have been deep and moved me to tears.

This weekend I have wept with and been moved to tears by a number of situations, and ask you to join me in prayer for:
the Portugese woman who is feeling lonely, missing home and feels God has abandoned her
the retired lady who did not wish to go home, but stay with God where she felt ‘alive again’
the young boy who wrote ‘I am waiting for my daddy to come home because I miss him so much’
The retired gentlemen who cried because he felt he was not ‘good enough’ to go near the high altar
The new dad who was ‘gobsmacked by God’ just by walking into the sanctuary

The last two days have been exciting and a privilege. There is a lot for me to think about. How do we support people such as this – should we support them? How can we enable people to share what they need to share. The big question for me – why were people so reluctant to walk into the sanctuary, why did they need an invite?
The young woman who wrote ‘I am waiting for my cancer treatment to end’

Dickens Festival

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I am preparing myself for the Dickens Festival in Rochester.

Last year 10 000 people passed through the cathedral over the weekend; and so it is an amazing opportunity to share something of the amazingness of God.

For the past couple of days I have been drawing things together for an Advent installation to be placed around the High Altar. I have collected various photos of waiting, from pregnancy to bus queues to kettles to cakes rising. These photos will be on four display boards which will flank the high altar.

In front of the altar will be a variety of cushions and people will be invited to sit and wait. We shall also be giving away this postcard in which Ben has been kind enough to allow us to use his striking image for advent.

I don’t know what will happen, or whether people will sit and wait and allow themselves time to engage with God. They may and it may be quite powerful for them, and then there again the idea may be off-putting for people. I am definite, though, that unless we take the risk and have a try at something different then we will never know if something like this will help people engage with God.

My prayer for the people passing through the cathedral this weekend is that they may take time to allow themselves to be found by God.

disorientated joy

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It’s interesting, bit I feel a bit disorientated this week as I have done different things other than waiting in places. It has meant I have been ‘busy’ in a way that I have not been used to over the last 13 weeks and I am a little surprised I guess by how quickly I have seen my ‘waiting’ life as the norm. It’s also interesting to note that I miss waiting, especially as i was finding this uncomfortable only a few weeks back.

On Monday I was a guest at the college of canons meeting at the cathedral. This started with a lunch, a tour of the cathedral and what we are aiming to do through the interpretation project. After an AGM and looking at the annual report and accounts etc. we had a special evensong with the bishop present to install two new lay canons and three other people to the Rochester Society of St. Andrew.

It was good to share with these canons and listen to them as they chatted. It was a privilege as so many of them took time to chat with me about my role and offer both encouragement and advice. I’m not sure how you become a canon, but I assume it is because of experience and integrity – so to spend time with these priests and glean from their experience.

Tuesday I did the carol service as I have already mentioned, yesterday was training and although today is pretty much a normal day for me, today and tomorrow are going to be taken up with preparations for a ‘waiting installation’ that I am developing around the high altar for the Dickens festival this weekend. I have never been to a Dickens Festival (despite living here for 15 years!) but I am told that Rochester is packed and last year we had 10 000 people pass through the cathedral over the weekend. I’m quite looking forward to seeing what happens here.

After that on Monday I’m looking forward to attending the national pilgrimage at Coventry Cathedral – and at the moment I am feeling really glad that I booked a train ticket months ago so I will be able to relax a bit rather than queuing in traffic!

So … today I am feeling a little disorientated … but still quite excited and amazed at what is going on around me.

Mixed Economy

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Mixed Economy – the new journal of Fresh Expressions can be downloaded here. I haven’t had a chance to read it properly yet – but skimming through it looks good on first impression.

The City called Bible

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Today was KCME – the continuing training program for curates in the Rochester and Canterbury dioceses. I only do the mornings to release me to find space to reflect more on pioneering while others reflect on parish life. I’m quite pleased that those who direct this course have allowed me to do this. Some may see this as an easy option for me, but I can put up with that – but I really do feel I need space to consider what pioneering is all about, rather than spend time on reflecting on situations with others that, although useful, will not be as relevant for me as other stuff may be – just due to difference of role, not because I know more.

This morning we were looking at how to apply the Bible to incidents that occur which cause us to think. I found this really useful and was reminded of the analogy of the Bible being like a city which we need to walk through to learn and experience. The truth is, however, that in cities many of us hop on the tube and just ‘switch off’ as we are transported from A to B.

I remember from my days in London that it took me months to realise how close things were together. Actually this was forced on me during a good summer as the tube was so flipping hot it caused me to buy a street map and walk from places. I was amazed to find walking could often be quicker than catching the tube. It was also more interesting and resulted in me finding some great havens – real, decent, independent coffee shops.

The analogy holds – you only really get to know and understand the city by walking it and being in it. It cannot be done by hopping from one tube station to another and simply revisiting the stations we know. To really get to grips with the Bible, we need to walk it, live it, allow it to transform our thinking and be open to its possibilities.

Walking the Bible could result in finding those great smelling and tasting spiritual coffee shops!

Taize

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On Sunday night I am leading a Taize service at 8.00pm in the Crypt at the Cathedral.
I love Taize, the opportunity for quiet, for reflection, for simple repetition of simple words, allowing God to impact me in a fresh way.

If you fancy coming we start at 8.00pm and it would be great to see you – if you can play a keyboard I’d LOVE to see you as I don’t have a musician to play at the moment …

Medway school carols service

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Being at the cathedral is a privilege and today one of those privileges was to be the member of cathedral staff present at one of the Medway Primary Schools carol services (there are 4 in all with 9 or 10 schools at each).

My role today was to introduce each item, start with a bidding prayer and end the carol service with a blessing. The Mayor attended and so I also had to welcome and escort him and his wife to his chair.

As I sat amongst the children and saw their faces signing with delight I felt God reminded me how special this story of Christmas is. After hearing carols year after year, and the same readings, it is very easy to lose sight of what we are celebrating, what we are remembering, and what it is that we are hoping for.

The enthusiasm of the children today brought that wonder back to the Christmas story.

As a pioneer I may n ot have expected to be robing and being involved in such things – but as I was I could not help but remember what a sheer joy and privilege it was to be part of this wonderful event.

God in darkness

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It’s only December but I’ve already sung a fair few carols and started Advent with a bang.

On Sunday evening we had an outstanding Advent carol service by candlelight. The cathedral is amazing in darkness and that may sound strange but it is difficult to explain. I read from Exodus chapter 20 and noticed these words for the first time:

The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

God in the thick darkness was a bit of a revelation to me. God is light and particularly at Advent with the lighting of candles we talk of Christ as light of the world. Yet Moses met with God in the thick darkness.

As we turned the lights off in the cathedral on Sunday night I could not say the darkness was thick but it was clear that God was there in the darkness with us.

It’s easy to use darkness as negative and prefer the imagery of light because it may be easier to explain. But … God is also in the darkness, he was in the darkness with Moses and is in the darkness with us.

This links with today’s thought in Beginnings and Endings where we are reminded that the Christmas story started at the beginning of creation, not with the baby in a manger, or even with the angelic visit of to Mary.

In the beginning there was a formless void and darkness. The darkness was not absent of God, God was there, right in the middle of the darkness.

This Advent as I search for God and await the return of Christ, I must remember to seek him in the places of darkness as well as in the places of light. God in the darkness throws uop new images for me, and will inevitably bring fresh knowledge of what it means to find God in the darkness.

Paperless Advent

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Paperless Christmas is an interesting and thought provoking online Advent calendar.
Worth checking out the videos.

the right moment

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I started Beginnings and Endings today and found myself struck with a simple thought – Advent reminds us that God gives gifts at the right moment which we may not think is the right date. During Advent, and as we speed to Christmas, it is easy to be sucked into needing the right present for a set uniform time – and yet Advent is about the return of the saviour, getting ourselves ready – not for the right time, but for the right moment.