A message from the Dean - 23 October 2020
Dear Friends,
Apologies for the non-appearance of the weekly letter last Friday. I had to concentrate on something that was urgent and important in the time I normally devote to writing this letter, and having had three days taken up with Diocesan duties, I simply “ran out of runway”. Sorry! That’s the problem with time – it’s so inelastic when you need it to be.
I want to give some feedback on the two listening exercises the Cathedral has undertaken during the last seven months. The first was a telephone survey held in late Spring among a cross section of the worshipping community. It was the first we had undertaken, and it had some design flaws. Some respondents would have liked to have seen the questions before the conversation took place, and the questions were so nice, open-ended and searching, and the responses so considered, honest and detailed, that it was impossible to call everyone on the congregational list in the time available. We have learned lessons but thanks to everyone who responded.
Here’s a summary of what was found:
1. During lockdown 82% of the survey respondents were watching Cathedral services regularly online. 89% had watched at some point. The most popular service was the Sunday 10:30 Eucharist.
2. People were full of praise for our online offer and deeply grateful to Ben Lamb, the Director of Music, for his broadcast and production skills. (Take a bow, Ben!)
3. Many missed contact with others on Sundays and the weekly notice sheet and this had an impact on their mood, faith and sense of belonging.
4. Many were aware that the Cathedral’s online worship was being watched by a large online audience. People were appreciating calmer roads, greater wildlife activity and the spirit of mutual care and togetherness that characterised the first weeks of lockdown.
5. People appreciated the flexibility online worship gave them – they could watch at a time that suited them and press the pause button if refreshment or comfort breaks were needed.
6. 80% of respondents wanted to see some form of online worship continue.
7. Asked how we should reach out to our online worshippers, answers included – continue the Dean’s weekly message, encourage membership of the Friends, make direct invitations through announcements during online worship.
8. People trusted the Cathedral Chapter and Staff to make the Cathedral safe for use when it reopened for worship but the virus was a risk and concern, and everyone had to do their own risk assessment about attending.
The third section of the survey had these broader questions. The responses were very thoughtful.
What do you think has changed in Britain as a result of the pandemic? More sense of community, but more unemployment and threats to physical and mental health.
What do you think the Cathedral should do to respond? More accessible worship, addressing matters of social concern, but offering what it always offers despite financial pressures.
How do you think the pandemic will affect the life of the Cathedral and people’s involvement with it in the year ahead? Worsening finances, fewer worshippers and visitors, fewer people volunteering. Conversely, our online presence might encourage more involvement.
What could the Cathedral do to help people affected by the pandemic? People were alert to the need to offer bereavement support, proper acts of commemoration for all who died during Covid-19, support for the Foodbank and Traidcraft should continue and increase. Investigate and respond to needs that have emerged. Provide more opportunities to pray.
What do you think the region will need from its Cathedral after this is over? One phrase kept emerging – the Cathedral should be a “beacon of hope”. We should reach out to the Health Service and other institutions and agencies to offer support, understanding and special liturgies of affirmation and appreciation.
How would you like to play a part in all this? Volunteer roles will be more important than ever, and people were eager to get back to established patterns as well as undertaking new duties and responsibilities as these evolve.
This was a very positive and heartening set of findings, and although people responded at a time when we all thought that the worst of the pandemic was nearing its end, the kindness and Christian “pluck” evident in the survey can fill us with mutual confidence and renewed determination.
The second listening exercise concerned how we celebrate Advent and Christmas: what made this season so special and what you would like to see take place? People were invited to send me 50 words on a postcard or email. The response has been great! Thank you for your ideas, comments and recommendations. However, the Government has not yet made any ruling about congregational singing and exactly what kind of safety measures will have to apply to any kind of gathering outdoors. It is frustrating. Normally the Cathedral’s Christmas programme is finalised in the preceding Spring.
Let me try and summarise the response:
1. Many wanted the Cathedral to take to the streets, get outside and share the message and love of Christmas so we had suggestions for open air carol services in The Close, costumed tellings of the Nativity story, an Advent calendar popping open on windows in the Close, an on-line Advent calendar, and a children’s Nativity trail.
2. There were many votes for adapting our splendid Advent Liturgies, the Christmas Carol Services, the Crib Service, Midnight Mass and the sung Eucharist on Christmas Day as an online offering and maybe recording a scaled-down Carol Service for people to play at home with family/ “support bubble” and sing along loudly enough to rouse the neighbours/neighbourhood. (I like this – good Christian subversion. This gets my vote).
3. We’re living through a time of great distress and there is a huge amount of unresolved grief. The Cathedral should hold a special occasion/prayer opportunity/ritual for the dead, the grieving and all those with great feelings of loss and estrangement.
4. We must champion the poor, the homeless, the forgotten and the oppressed. Encourage generosity for selected charities, showcase the focus of those charities. Don’t forget the walled-in people of Bethlehem and the pleas of our Christian brothers and sisters who are running out of hope for their future.
5. There was much support for adapting as much of our usual Advent and Christmas programme for these difficult times even if that had to mean ticketing seats and perhaps repeating services to accommodate everyone. There was much encouragement for relaying services out into the Close with outside speakers. What about a sing-along in Dam Street? A choir flash mob of carols around the City Centre? Could we have a daily, short, Carol Service every day for the last week of Advent?
6. There were votes for another “Cathedral at night” and a “follow the star” campaign so that people could put a star in their window and light a candle to show that we are preparing for Jesus’s birth.
7. The Close should be lit up, not just for the Illuminations, but the Cathedral should encourage every Close household to decorate their doors and windows.
I am hugely grateful for this great flow of ideas, comments and suggestions. The Clergy and Staff are distilling your wisdom and we hope to devise a plan that covers many of the valuable insights that you have all expressed.
Today, as I write, there is news of further pandemic restrictions affecting places not so far away and our own County Authorities are warning us to take more care and follow Government guidelines. As we go into winter the news is not set to improve. However, Christian hope lies not in things that can be seen or simply wished for but in God’s promise that we shall not be forgotten.
As Dame Julian of Norwich, great mediaeval mystic, writing in the aftermath of the Black Death said:
“He said not: thou shall not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted; but he said: thou shalt not be overcome”.
Or, as St Paul said it: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer” (Romans 12:12 NRSV).
With my love, prayers and blessing.
Adrian