Trinity 21 - Sunday 16 October 2016
The Reverend Canon Stephen Bowen
In August, I stood outside the Porch surrounded by motor bikes; a party of Christian bikers were visiting our cathedral on a sponsored ride. They asked me to send them on their way with a prayer. But as I started praying, they started revving up their engines; so I prayed louder and they revved up even more, until in a great crescendo of noise, I cried ‘Amen’ and they set off, leaving me in clouds of fumes, thinking aren’t Cathedrals remarkable places to be part of?
No wonder some call cathedrals ‘Heritage theme parks’. I prefer the description of the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart; ‘A Cathedral is a creation imagined by the human spirit to affirm an inspiration and a faith.”
But if you look at cathedral websites, you wouldn’t always know a Cathedral is a living Church with a community of Christians; you read lots about the building but little about the people who worship at cathedrals, day by day and Sunday by Sunday.
Well, we want Gloucester to be different, which is why we’ve set up the Congregational Development Group. We’re looking at how we can grow; by the welcome we offer; by encouraging people to come to faith; by going deeper in our discipleship; by how we value every member of our congregations.
You’ll hear more about the work of the group after our service. I’m going to talk about 3 aspects of congregational life here at the Cathedral.
Welcome, Faith, and Spirituality and Discipleship
The first thing people encounter here is a Welcome
I wonder how you feel when you go somewhere for the first time, one that takes you out of your comfort zone? When I was a curate, a man near the end of his life asked me to do a kindness for him; to go and put £10 on the 3.15 race at Cheltenham. In those days all the windows of such shops were frosted over, so I hesitated on the threshold, wondering what on earth I’d do when I got inside?
People coming to worship here for the first time, can feel the same. It’s said that our impressions are coloured by what we experience in the first 60 seconds after we arrive; which is why we have a wonderful team of stewards to greet us. But a warm welcome to put us at our ease and make us feel at home is only the beginning.
Welcome is the whole journey people make from first trying out a cathedral to becoming a contributing, committed member serving God and his Kingdom. And that means, welcome is everyone’s job; all of us should talk to newcomers, invite them to stay for coffee and get to know them. It’s often said that some cathedral worshippers want to be anonymous but the vast majority of us want to feel we belong and be part of a friendly congregation.
The ‘Everybody Welcome’ course reminds us that Cathedrals, like churches, grow when people meet a welcoming God and a welcoming people. If newcomers meet a welcoming church and a living God, they’re likely to stay. If they make friends in the first few weeks, they’ll feel they belong; if they meet a living God they’ll become lifelong disciples. Introducing people to a wonderful God and a welcoming church is the responsibility not just of stewards or clergy but of us all. Everybody should be made welcome and everybody should be welcoming.
There’s huge power in welcome because Welcome is central to the Gospel and our Christian calling. It’s the very expression of reconciliation between God and humanity. And the ultimate symbol of welcome at our cathedral is the Eucharist; a celebration where barriers are broken down, the place where we all stand on level ground as recipients of divine grace, the place of acceptance whoever you are and wherever you come from.
The writer Ursula Le Guin created a world called Earthsea and she put at the centre a great house with a great hall, at the heart of which is a magical table that expands to accommodate all guests. So there is always space, welcome and food for an extra person. That’s a good picture of our vision for our cathedral; it’s seen in our Breakfast Club and Brunch and Bounce and as we welcome people into our cathedral family, we pray they will capture a glimpse of God’s love for them through the witness of its people.
Second, what picture of faith and of God do visitors to our worship get?
I once got told off by Bishop Michael. He asked me to preach at a conference and when it came to the big day I mentioned how the Wednesday before I was sitting here in my stall in the choir at Evensong. It faces directly opposite the south transept window and during the sermon it suddenly struck me. Gosh, I thought the east window at my home church was big but it would fit into that window 3 or 4 times. And then I looked past the preacher to the huge east window, and thought, wow, it would go into that window 10 times. The trouble was the preacher was Bishop Michael and he said, ‘You had that thought during my sermon, you weren’t listening!
Well many come to our cathedral for moments like I had; to experience the beauty and wonder of this awesome place. They find their spirits raised by being here. And many of us who worship here have as a result a transcendent image of God; a God beyond us, who dwells in unfathomable mystery. There’s a song that captures that sense perfectly.
‘You are beautiful beyond description, too marvellous for words, Too wonderful for comprehension, like nothing ever seen or heard, Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom
Who can fathom the depths of Your love
Holy God to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of You’.
Cathedrals and cathedral worship encourage in us a faith like that. But just have that and you can end up getting on with life as if God’ not there. What sets Christianity apart is that God is not a vague impersonal force. Jesus shows us what God is like. God is a person who calls us into a living relationship with himself, to become a personal presence in our daily lives. God is a God who wants to know us; he is someone to share our joys and sorrows with, to find hope and strength for living. Psalm 23 perfectly captures the big idea of the Christian faith, ‘The Lord’ is ‘My’ shepherd’. Isn’t that amazing, that the God who made the universe loves us and is passionately devoted to us.
A class of children were once asked where God is located; half pointed upwards and half pointed to their heart. We need both those rich Biblical pictures of God, God’s transcendence and his intimacy and friendship. So our vision is for people who come here to worship to know the God of all glory and the God who loves them.
Third, Spirituality and Discipleship
There was a time when the Church had a monopoly on God and people turned to the Church for spiritual life. Those days are gone. Many people who are seeking spiritually don’t associate their quest with the church. They say ‘I’m not into religion’, meaning us, ‘but I am into spirituality.’ And that challenges each one of us to ask ourselves. ‘Do we take our spirituality and discipleship seriously? Spirituality is how we nurture our relationship with God. Discipleship is the way of life of a Christian, following Christ, serving him in the world.
Its far more than we do here on a Sunday. How do we make space for God and stay close to Him in the midst of a busy week? Often the no 1 casualty of our lifestyles today is our intimacy with God. Many of us spend a lot of time on information technology, how much time do we invest in the habits of our hearts and prayer? Being spiritual doesn’t just happen, just like running a marathon doesn’t just happen. If you’re a musician, a sportsman or woman, you have to practice. Rubenstein the pianist said, “If I don’t practice for a day I notice; if I miss two days my wife notices; and if I miss three days the public notices.” It’s like that for us. If we don’t pray or worship or read the Scriptures, we lose touch with God.
That’s’ why we offer a home group, a contemplative prayer group, meditation, an Advent course. One of the great things about our Christian spiritual tradition is its astonishing vitality and inventiveness. We may think what could people who lived several hundred years ago possibly have to say to us who live in such a complex technological society? But so much Renewal in the church has come by delving deeper into our traditions and rediscovering their treasures.
One of the things Barbara Merrick will be talking about is a ‘Rule of life’ for us to think about adopting. It goes back to Benedict, the inspiration for when this was St Peter’s Abbey. Don’t get hung up on the word ‘rule.’ Benedict wrote a book of insights about Christin living with some practical suggestions. Although that was for monks, living in a monastery, where everything revolved around the hours of prayer, many Christians find it helpful to commit themselves with God’s grace, to find a balance in their lives between prayer and work, serving God and time for rest; a rhythm of life which supports us as we live out our Christian faith.
I can live with people who sometimes say to me church is boring or out of date, the one thing we should never hear is ‘its unspiritual’. You’ve seen those churches that have a big thermometer outside, charting progress towards a fundraising target for a building project. I’d have a big Passionmeter outside this cathedral measuring our passion for God as we enter and as we leave. Through a ‘Rule of Life’ God can fan the flames of our passion for God.
People come through our doors for all kinds of reasons; to seek the divine; gaze on beauty, hear glorious music, find acceptance and friendship. ‘Project Pilgrim’ is about making sure that the Cathedral continues to “Wow” as many people as possible for the f future. But the greatest ‘Wow’ is for people to come here and find their story interacting with God’s story and discovering a living faith in Christ, That’s our vision, to see growing congregations energised by faith with an outward-looking focus.
When in the summer, I sent those bikers on their way from the cathedral, I noticed something. Amid the noise and through the fumes, as they went through the gates I saw white crosses on the backs of their leather jackets. Through the many things this cathedral does, through all our imperfections, Christ crucified, Christ risen is the picture of God we hold up to the world. And we are sent out from here to show that love of God to the world.
I was standing on top of the Lady Chapel a few weeks ago, with Lorna, our Volunteering Manager. We were admiring all the beauty around us and she said when people write to say they’ve had a great experience visiting the cathedral, its often because they’ve had an encounter with someone here, had a warm welcome, a helping hand, words people have said to them made them feel special.
I mentioned our big East window and how many big east windows in our parish churches would fit into it several times over.
I was recently at Evensong and during the service a woman came into the choir with a baby. When the hymn began, she struggled to open the hymn book and hold her baby. Suddenly, a steward appeared and opened the hymn book and held it as they both sang.
I looked up above them at that great window and thought; that’s what we are here for; to help put people into the great story of God’s love.
Jesus told the parable in today’s Gospel for this reason; that we should keep on praying and never lose heart. So pray that our congregations will grow in number; in faith, hope and love, in passion for God and for his Kingdom. Pray that together we will help people join the great story of God’s love for the world.