A Message from the Dean
At Advent and Christmas, Cathedral life goes into top gear. We will be hosting every kind of carol service for schools, charities and public bodies. We will stage Christmas Illuminated again during the week before Christmas and welcome (I hope!) over twenty thousand people. It is a unique privilege and opportunity to be the place that helps people begin or continue their keeping of Christmas. We receive much appreciation from visitors and worshippers: they come to a place that is beautifully prepared, safe well-ordered, friendly and accommodating. (It’s said that the mark of genius is the capacity to take pains, adjust and always improve. On that criterion Cathedral staff and volunteers can take a big bow!) But what’s at the heart of it all?
The Church doesn’t hurtle into Christmas – instead we have a beautiful season of waiting and preparation: Advent. It’s when we remember all the people in the Bible who hoped with longing and expectation for a messiah, a deliverer. We reflect on the promise of Christ that at the end of everything our lives and world will find themselves enfolded and completed in His judgment and mercy. We prepare to commemorate His first coming as the child of Bethlehem at Christmas and how every day He seeks us and comes to us in prayer, service, and the sweet surprise of life.
Therefore, as the world goes into a pre-Christmas frenzy, the Church urges us to go deeper and contemplate the meaning of Jesus Christ, to wait and to long for what only He can do for us. That’s why we produce the day-by-day Advent Devotional Calendar which suggests a simple set of prayer, reflection and bible-reading. The calendar is available from the Cathedral and it’s also on the website.
As we move into Christmas, the tone of our worship becomes exultant. We hold two carol services, a Christmas Eve Crib Service, Midnight Mass and the delight of the Christmas morning choral Eucharist when we bring to the manger flowers and herbs as our inadequate offering of thanks to God for the gift of His Son, on whose love we feast and can live, always.
It would be wrong of me to highlight any one service – I’d like you to come to as much as you can. But if you have children and grandchildren, try the two services in the afternoon on the 9th and 16th. The Christmas Eve Crib Service is a must. If you’re short of time, drop into a Saturday afternoon Shoppers’ Carol Service on the 22nd. If you love singing with a brass band, come on the 13th for 8pm, but be sure to arrive early! Should you be at a loose end on Boxing Day and have a house full of family needing a change of scene, try ‘Cloth for the Cradle’ at 3pm. It will make you think, wonder, sing, and probably move you too, just as Christmas should.
My prayers and blessing,
The Very Reverend Adrian Dorber
Dean of Lichfield