A message from the Dean - 12 June 2020
Dear Friends,
We received surprise news last Saturday evening: the Government announced Cathedrals and Churches could open for private prayer from Monday 15th June. (This was later revised to say we could open from Saturday 13th. Another example of official ambiguity. Very annoying!) All Cathedrals had been preparing for the 4th July as our likeliest date for re-opening. Therefore, you can imagine the rush of ecclesiastical adrenalin coursing through every Cathedrals’ veins this last week in order to prepare for our careful, risk-assessed, hygienic, socially-distanced, deeply cleansed and gradual emergence from three-months of lockdown. It will be good to open our doors again and we hope to do so every day from 2.30pm-4.30pm. Numbers will, of course, have to be limited and I’m afraid we won’t be open for visitors who simply want to come and look round. Yet we hope this partial and restricted measure, despite its limitations, will be a clear signal that we’re here to gather and focus the prayer, lament, hope and experience of people living and working in our City, Region and Diocese during this COVID-19 pandemic, praying for health and strength, the grace of new beginnings and consolation in our loss.
We’re awaiting further guidance about when public worship can resume and on what basis. Similarly, we’re listening carefully to the debate about whether singing acts as a propellant of the virus, or conversely, if it is no more of a risk than breathing. If we “mute” our worship by banning congregational singing there may be other ways of keeping music performed and live during restrictions. We will be diligently exploring all possibilities. The crisis has helped us nonetheless to be creative and imaginative and we will have to be every bit as resilient and bold in the months and years ahead as we have been during the last three months. We will emerge into a changed landscape. Our task will be to move from coping with a crisis to responding to, and helping to shape, change. Chapter has been spending much time and though on this matter and we will be sharing our ideas later this month and over the course of the summer.
However, before lockdown began, we were delighted that the appointment of two residentiary Canons was settled. Many, tuned into Cathedral worship, will have already met Canon Jan McFarlane and appreciated her warmth, communication skills and pastoral intelligence. She was licensed by the Bishop of Lichfield in early April just in time for Holy Week and Easter. Jan was previously the Suffragan Bishop of Repton in the Derby Diocese and will also fulfil the role of Honorary Assistant Bishop here in Lichfield, taking on pastoral duties delegated by Bishop Michael. In the Cathedral she has the title of “Canon Custos”. “Custos” means “Guardian” and, like mid-field players in football, it is a role that can be filled in a variety of ways. On Jan’s watch we’ve asked her to take on the role of pastoral care and development. As Jan is officially retired (astonishing as it may seem!) and is working on what is known (inelegantly) as “house for duty” basis, her days at the Cathedral will be limited to Friday, Saturday and Sunday. As roving “mid-fielder” she will be covering holiday periods taken by her colleagues. It is a very great blessing and joy to have Jan and her husband Andrew with us. We’re looking forward to having a special service of welcome and installation just as soon as the Government blows the referee’s whistle for public worship to start again.
We were also able to announce in early March the appointment of Gregory Platten as Canon Chancellor. The role of Chancellor as applied to Cathedrals means the one with the care of the Library and, by extension, our Education and Outreach work. Gregory and his wife, Gillian, and their two sons, Max and Austin (good names for boys coming in the West Midlands; the spirit of British Leyland at Longbridge lives on!) will be arriving in Lichfield this weekend and living at 23 The Close. Gregory will be licensed by the Bishop via social media on 5th July and we hope Gregory and Jan McFarlane can be installed and welcomed in the Lichfield style whenever circumstances permit. Gregory’s last post was Vicar of All Saints, Friern Barnet, and Area Dean of Central and West Barnet Deaneries in the Diocese of London. (Geographically he was at the end of the Northern Line on the Tube). Before going to London, he was Chaplain of Lincoln College, Oxford. He has taken a Doctorate in Philosophical Theology and Russian Orthodoxy. He has been a very committed and socially engaged parish priest and, as an Area Dean, has helped parishes in his area work together and respond to new challenges. Reviewing the post before appointing a new Canon Chancellor we have set up a new co-ordinating group to bring together all our educational and learning activities. The Canon Chancellor will chair and co-ordinate that. All of us clergy will contribute to that work and we know it’s wise to have someone who makes sure we deliver this important responsibility in the midst of many competing pressures, and can help us broker and renew partnerships with Schools, Colleges, Universities, our Diocese and the national Church. At interview Gregory impressed us with his approachability, humanity and spirituality. We are delighted he has answered the call to come here. I know we’ll all do our best to make him, Gillian, Max and Austin welcome.
I’m sorry this letter has been so focussed on our internal life but I know many take a close interest in our doings and the way we operate isn’t a trivial concern. However, we don’t live to ourselves. The Cathedral is an instrument in God’s continuing mission to the world. I often like to say the “Cathedral gives itself away”. What do I mean? We maintain a beautiful building in a lovely setting, we offer beautiful worship with beautiful music, for the love, honour and praise of God. Beauty is the threshold of holiness. When the senses are delighted our spirits soar. Soaring spirits want to touch the hem of God’s presence. Think of the Cathedral as a beautiful lure, leading us to longing, desiring all that God wants to give us.
Primarily, we give ourselves away when we learn to follow Jesus Christ, who in St Paul’s words “who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, he emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And been found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). The Spirit of God, however he moves us or enthrals us, always leads us to Jesus, to an encounter with his story, to prayer that seeks an encounter and place in his heart. This life, given to us, given away for us, enables us to give our lives away in love and service to him and one another.
At a time of great flux when so many lives have been lost, when our economy and way of life is up for re-negotiation, when even Government seems flustered and overwhelmed by the challenges, and when old racial prejudices and terrible injustices to people of colour are newly exposed, it is time for us not to live for ourselves but to learn to give ourselves away. As a Cathedral that means re-imagining what we can do and who we are here for. It means not being touchy or possessive about what we’ve had. It means learning from our experience of lockdown and not wanting to get back to a “normal” world and way of life that had its threats and dark side just as much as it was familiar and usual. (The humiliating thing about sin is that it is so usual and expected). The crisis has been a big shake-up. It has disrupted and it has caused change. As we re-open the Cathedral, I hope we re-open the doors to everyone’s search for truth and integrity, love and healing, handling pain and expressing joy. “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”. (Genesis 28:17).
With my love, prayers and blessing.
Adrian