April 2009
Dear Friends
Easter greetings! I write on a beautiful April morning, with the view of the Cathedral west tower before me, bathed in soft sunlight; with various song birds - including a mistle thrush - in the Close celebrating their territorial and nesting achievments! A morning when it's a pleasure to be alive, and when I think about my first visit here.
When I first walked into the Cathedral a few years ago now I was immediately stirred by its atmosphere - the candles alight, the warmth of the stone, the brilliant colour of the windows, the sense of history - all contributing to a sense of enduring prayer and worship offered to God through the centuries. As a building it spoke to me of the faithfulness of God's blessing, despite what I knew of the unhappiness of the recent past. In no small measure it is organisations like the Friends who have helped to sustain the Cathedral by prayer and loyalty of concern, and so in this my first newsletter as chair of the committee, thank you!
Thank you, also, to Thelma de Leeuw for her many years of service to the Friends; and to the committee members - including new ones - who continue. There's an exciting time ahead: new projects to plan and implement, like the redecoration of the Parish Room, the lectern steps, and the Lady Chapel; and events: the Friends lecture on June 27th when Peter Cormack will be speaking about the stained glass of the Cathedral; a pilgrimage trip planned to Chester Cathedral in July to name but two; and there's more details to be read in the pages of the Friends Spring 2009 newsletter.
We are also, as a committee, seeking to double the number of Friends over the next year - from 150 or so to 300 by the next AGM. That's a responsibility of each of us, so do ask your friends and relations to become a Friend. The latest new recruit is my own father who lives in north Essex! It's personal contacts that are best. We are currently producing a new brochure (and thanks to Sandra Howard for her excellent design work) which will certainly help in recruiting - so do make sure you get some copies to distribute.
There's an extract from a poem by T. S. Eliot that has been going round in my mind lately - from Little Gidding one of the Four Quartets. It speaks of the importance of places of prayer and pilgrimage:
If you came this way,
taking any route, starting from anywhere,
at any time or at any season,
it would always be the same: you would ahve to put off sense and notion.
You are not here to verify,
instruct yourself,
or inform curiosity or carry report.
You are here to kneel where prayer has been valid.
And prayer is more than an order of words,
the concious occupation of the praying mind,
or the sound of the voice praying.
And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
they can tell you being dead:
the communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
Here the intersection of the timeless moment is England and nowhere.
Never and always.
If you don't already, do make the effort to come to the Cathedral; to spend an afternoon here, soaking up the atmosphere, allowing the prayer of the centuries and the peacefulness of the place to sink in, 'where prayer has been valid'. Your Friendship of the building and your prayers for all the work and worship of those who contribute to its life ensures that prayer continues to be valid here. Without such ongoing support the Cathedral would be a diminished place.
With every blessing on you,
Canon Frances Ward |
