Portsmouth Cathedral News

Highlights

The choir year may have come to a close, but the Cathedral’s daily round of worship and praise of course continues over the coming summer months.

We are very blessed to be welcoming so many Visiting Choirs to Portsmouth in July and August. Like previous years they come from across the UK and beyond; next week we welcome Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church, Los Alamos, New Mexico. In subsequent weeks we shall host the Choir of All Saints’ Church, Botley; St Polycarp’s, Belfast, then an RSCM Residentiary Choir drawn from parishes all across the country; The Open University Chapel Choir; In Spiritu Chamber Choir and at the end of the summer, two large choirs of children and adults; the first St Francis, Welwyn Garden City on a return visit to Portsmouth Cathedral and finally St Alphege, Solihull. Do please keep an eye out on The List for when they are singing weekday evensongs.

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Highlights

One of the oft quoted lines in Romeo and Juliet is “parting is such sweet sorrow” – can you relate to that? I certainly can. Why am I being pretentious and quoting Shakespeare this morning? It is because it is this time of year for goodbyes. University terms have ended, school terms are about to end and today the choir year at the Cathedral comes to an end. I have found it particularly difficult to let go of my current year 13 students, but I don’t have a choice. They are about to fly off to universities near and far and that is how life should be. Time moves on, even if we struggle to keep pace.

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It stands over two meters tall, its’ structure dwarfing people as they pass by.

It is black and imposing, but a closer inspection reveals it is composed of hundreds of small pieces of wood, hand cut and carefully measured to fit into a very specific space.

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This week for Creative Spirituality our title is 'bounce'. We're thinking about resilience.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back, to recover from disappointment,  to be able to pick yourself up and try again. I've been thinking about this lately to myself... why does it matter?

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Highlights

Today Matt our Cathedral Curate will be presiding at the Eucharist for the first time at 10.30am. He has been with us – and with Harbour Church also – for a year now since he was ordained Deacon. To be ordained Priest, as he was yesterday afternoon, is a whole new stage for him, and for us, and for St George’s Church where Matt will become Assistant Curate (as well as still being here one Sunday a month). To bless God’s people, and to absolve and assure us of God’s forgiveness, is a huge privilege and responsibility and joy. And to preside at the Eucharist and celebrate Christ’s presence with us in broken bread and wine outpoured is for many priests the heart of their pastoral ministry. This is why some clergy celebrate the anniversary of their ordination as priest, as Canon Angela and Canon Nick did last week on their 20th and 25th anniversaries respectively.

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Highlights

I have been reflecting on next Saturdays ordinations in light of today’s feast of the birth of John the Baptist. I think that the role of clergy includes a prophetic ministry. This has traditionally been squeezed out of the role with the priority being placed on a pastoral model of care and politeness which has trumped any sense of being prophetic or radical. The danger is that we seek to conform to social norms and our message lacks anything that is uniquely of God, and so it becomes rather bland and irrelevant.

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Highlights

We are in a season of “festivities” for the next week or so!

The Portsmouth Festivities started on Friday and several events are taking place in the Cathedral – full details are in the leaflet available in the Cathedral, including the Trumpet tour of the Cathedral organ’s new En Chamade pipes on Monday 18th June. This and all the other events are great opportunities to invite friends and neighbours to come and experience Portsmouth Cathedral – both the space itself and the wide variety of activities we offer.

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Highlights

Earlier this week, on the 74th anniversary of D-Day, Cantate sang at the dedication of a new wall of remembrance at the recently reopened D-Day Museum. The Royal Marines Corps of Drums, many local dignitaries and a large crowd of people gathered as the Lord-Lieutenant unveiled, and I dedicated a plaque. For me the event symbolised the close relation between the City, the Cathedral and the Royal Navy. For over eight centuries the history of this building and those who worship here has been bound up with the wider life of the City in all its aspects.

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Highlights

You may have noticed a new art installation in the Welcome Area! It is a site specific installation as part of our annual theme of ‘Time’, funded by the Arts Council and created by Chris Jenkins who was also responsible for the Willow Dome on the Cathedral Green. The piece is formed of hundreds of smaller pieces, each of which have come from different places, where they had a different identity and purpose.

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Highlights

You may have heard me mention before that Trinity Sunday is one of my favourite Sundays of the year from a church calendar point of view. We celebrate God existing in the perfect relationship of three people: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Put that alongside the fact that Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God, neighbour and self and you have a powerful endorsement of relationships. Jesus is saying that the most important thing is to have a healthy relationship with God, with others and with ourselves.

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Highlights

Red is the liturgical colour used on the Feast of Pentecost as the colour of fire and flames, symbolising the Holy Spirit which descended on the first apostles in tongues of fire. The red frontal we use today depicts the Holy Spirit in the form of a hovering dove, recalling how the Spirit hovered over the face of the waters at the start of creation in the book of Genesis. The flames represent the flowering of the Holy Spirit. The liturgical set is one of a number made between 2007-2009 by Jane Lemon and the Sarum Group. Red is appropriate also for services which focus on the gift of the Holy Spirit, and is therefore suitable for Baptism, Confirmation and Ordination.

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Highlights

A few decades ago an acronym became so popular in certain circles that it was even printed on T-shirts: WWJD? (What would Jesus do?)

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The theme of the third Hampshire Festival of the Mind is connected to Portsmouth Cathedral’s theme of the year which is ‘Time’.

Portsmouth Cathedral, Monday 14 May 10.30am – 3.30pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/its-about-time-tickets-44928260637

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In the previous article ‘Time to Learn part 1’ we revisited the speakers who have visited since the start of 2018. The months ahead look to be as interesting and diverse as the first part of the year!

We have artworks and events scheduled for May, which will be covered in a separate article. In June, Sharon Court, our Annual Theme curator, will be offering a talk and workshop as part of the Portsmouth Festivities. Titled ‘Rest as Resistance’ it will invite the audience to reconsider how the busyness of their lives might be counter-productive to their wellbeing.

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Time sermons

So far this year we have had a sermon each month on the theme of Time.
Peter launched the theme in January; I offered some reflections on ‘Liturgical Time’ in February; Ruth Tuschling preached in March about ‘the Soul in Time’ and how we grow spiritually. The Dean’s Holy Week addresses concluded on Easter Day at Evensong, linking poetry and the WWI centenary with thoughts about time, hope and eternity.

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Dr David Price, Canon Peter Leonard, two of the Choral Scholars and some former members of the Cathedral Choir will be running the Tough Mudder on 19th May to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.  Here, Canon Peter Leonard explains why he decided to take on the challenge:

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Highlights

A number of choral scholars past, present and future together with David Price and myself are currently training for Tough Mudder. The Tough Mudder website describes it as a “10-12 mile mud and obstacle course designed to drag you out of your comfort zone by testing your physical strength, stamina, and mental grit. With no podiums, winners, or clocks to race against, it’s not about how fast you can cross the finish line. Rather, it’s a challenge that emphasizes teamwork, camaraderie, and accomplishing something almost as tough as you are.”

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​​​​​​​Time to Learn part 1

Somehow it seems that we have found ourselves at the end of April, with May just around the corner? How time has flown past already this year!

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Highlights

Unusually for my overactive imagination and very busy mind, I have been struggling with what to say for today's highlights. Normally, I have far too much to say, but once the pressure was turned up, I started to panic, so I decided to do something else. Walking around the house I saw a copy of this year's APCM report, and a word caught my eye...’parochial’.

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Highlights

As always there are many things which I could highlight from this notice sheet. It could be the clock tours, as part of Heritage Open Days in September, the new Living Faith course module which is about to start or the next Doctor Who evening focusing on Tom Baker and led by the Reverend Canon Will Hughes, Vicar of Petersfield.

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