What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Prayers for Remembrance

    Ruined Church

    Last Sunday evening we had an extraordinary Choral Evensong. The idea was simple – to mark the start of the First World War by singing some of the music that the cathedral choir was singing 100 years ago. The idea came from Pam Barrowman, one of the members of the choir whose historical research includes work on what the choir here used to sing. In the event, Sunday evening’s service was one of the most powerful remembrance events that I’ve ever been part of.

    When that war was declared the congregation here responded on the next Sunday by singing four verses of the national anthem and the organist played the Elgar march which features Land of Hope and Glory. There clearly was a something of a gung-ho spirit around. That was in the August. By November, the news was arriving back in the cathedral and its daughter churches of lives already lost. There was, or course, no memorial to put their names on. There was just the news and the dawning realisation that it would not all be over by Christmas. The mood had changed by now and they were singing movements from Brahms’s Requiem (yes, German music, just as we used music by a German composer to end our two minutes silence yesterday morning) and the Russian Kontakion of the Departed.

    Somehow the shadows drew close. I’m not sure whether I wanted to reach back through time to comfort those who were listening to the same music one hundred years ago or whether I wanted them to do the same to us. Anyway, prayer came easily. And compassion. And love.

    Several people commented on my prayers. I don’t have a copy as I tend not to write them in advance and pray extemporaneously at Evensong. (Something I always teach people not to do when I’m doing workshops on how to do intercessions).

    However, here’s the gist of what I said:

    The stone walls of this church surrounded those who went off to war.
    Hear us, O Lord, as we remember those who gathered here in in this place to sing and to pray before going off to war.
    Help us to remember their sense of hope and adventure and the joy of human companionship.
    We remember those who showed courage in leaving for war and also those who showed their own courage in refusing to fight.
    Those who went to war went believing they were putting the world to rights.
    Help us to try to do the same.
    Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

    The stone walls of this church surrounded those who remained at home.
    Hear us, O Lord, as we remember those who remained home, so many women waiting for news of their men, so many children waiting for news of their fathers.
    As we remember them we remember those who went on waiting throughout all their lives.
    Help us to pray for those who today wait for news of those whom they love who have gone to war.
    Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

    The stone walls of this church have surrounded those who in this place have tried to bring peace.
    They have surrounded those who have left this place to go on demonstrations.
    They have surrounded those who have debated.
    They have surrounded conversations and discussions and hopes and dreams.
    Hear us as we pray for those who have decisions, important decisions to make which affect the lives of others.
    Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

    And now the stone walls of this church surround us.
    What will we make of the world that we have inherited? How will we live in the world of today?
    Help us O Lord to seek out peace and build a world of justice.
    Teach us what to do and how to live.
    Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

    And here in this place, surrounded by these same stone walls, I hold in my hand a bible.
    It was carried by a soldier in World War Taken from place to place and returning to this country when he returned at the close of the war.
    And inside its tattered cover is a prayer that we may each make our own prayer     this night.
    Almighty and Everlasting God,
    by whose Grace Thy servants
    are enabled to fight the good fight of faith
    and ever prove victorious:
    We humbly beseech Thee so to inspire us,
    that we may yield our hearts to thine obedience
    and, exercise our wills on Thy behalf.
    Help us to think wisely:
    to speak rightly:
    to resolve bravely:
    to act kindly:
    to live purely.
    Bless us in body and in soul,
    and make us a blessing to our comrades.
    Whether , at home or abroad
    may we ever seek the extension of Thy Kingdom.
    Let the assurance of Thy presence
    save us from sinning:
    support us in life,
    and comfort us in death.
    0 Lord our God accept this prayer
    for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

    [Picture Credit – Ruined church at Vie Chapelle, France Great War Primary Document Archive: Photos of the Great War – www.gwpda.org/photos]

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20 responses to “Becoming a Welcoming Cathedral”

  1. Meg Rosenfeld Avatar
    Meg Rosenfeld

    My husband and I became members of All Saints Parish, San Francisco not long after our first experience attending Sunday Mass in that charming little church in the notorious Haight-Ashbury district. At that time we’d been members for over 20 years of a parish in another diocese, but were beginning to stay in San Francisco on weekends. What inspired us to join All Saints as members was the receipt of a simple hand-written letter from the rector some two or three days later, saying it had been a pleasure to have us there and hoping we would come again. Neither of us had ever had such an experience in any church we’d attended. We were absolutely amazed (in a positive way!) and made up our minds then and there that we would, indeed, go back. Mind you, we were also welcomed by the official greeters, urged to come to coffee hour, and approached at coffee hour with friendly overtures from the regulars–which is not always the case in Episcopal churches, at least in California. I guess it was just the right balance between friendliness and respect for one’s privacy. In any event, we are still at All Saints, almost 20 years later, up to our ears in choir, committees, and activities. To me, it was the letter from the rector which did the trick. He (an introvert like myself) wasn’t too busy to acknowledge new people, and in a way which was totally unthreatening.

    Reply
    1. Kelvin Avatar
      Kelvin

      Thanks Meg – that’s a great story.

      Reply
  2. Andrew Connor Avatar
    Andrew Connor

    I go to a church which gets the coffee just right. But I don’t feel welcome.
    I go to a church which gets the welcome team just right. But I don’t feel welcome.
    I go to a church which denies that I was born gay and have chosen to love my same see partner whom I am not allowed to celebrate with. You see? I don’t feel welcome.
    The homilies never include such exclusion. Never did they mention my being part of the Us of the parish though.
    We have regular celebrations of love but not mine.
    Many speak of going home to love one another and others exhort us to reach out and love the stranger. But I am in the midst of you and m only loves if I deny my own self.
    There is indeed much still to do.
    Welcome in our Church? Discuss.

    Reply
    1. Kelvin Avatar
      Kelvin

      I know Andrew. I know it all too well. And I know that the ease with which these loves can be spoken of here in St Mary’s in pulpit and pew is tragically remarkable in its rarity.

      Reply
  3. Father Ron Smith Avatar
    Father Ron Smith

    Bravo, Kelvin. I always feel that we in the Church are standing in the place of Christ – who welcomes all. Agape, Fr. Ron, ACANZP

    Reply
  4. Dharma Nicodemus Cuthbert Avatar
    Dharma Nicodemus Cuthbert

    Strangely enough about 1 hour before you posted this, I had been in a meeting in which one of the subjects discussed was getting more people to come to the church. The comments were full of “what can we do” I know that unless someone is willing to do outreach work nothing changes. I feel that as the church, St James the great, in Dingwall, will be having an open day when the refurbishment is complete, an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of the church.
    I have taken on board the difficulties of being welcoming and at the same time not being separate, as you put it us and them. I have had experience of being both, part of a group and the new face

    Reply
  5. Janet Koch Avatar
    Janet Koch

    conscientize?

    Reply

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