Help!
The words of the famous Beatles songs come to mind:
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me, get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me
Help me, help me, ooh.
As it happens, I’m not feeling down, but I am feeling in great need of help in my role as Interim Dean at the Cathedral.
There is a lot to do and the resources for doing it seem ridiculously meagre – as in the story of the feeding of the 5000 where the disciples say to Jesus that they only have five loaves of bread and two fish to feed the hungry crowd. But then interesting things happen.
I was sent a petition from over 180 people asking that the Recommendations of the Bishop’s Review into the Cathedral’s leadership, management and culture should be published. That is not mine to allow, as I hope I made clear in replying. What I took from the petition, though, was a lot of concern for matters that the Cathedral Chapter also care deeply about. We are on the same side but coming at things from different angles.
It was good to hear from people who I remember as choristers and heartening to think that they still care for our choral tradition, and from my former bishop in Salisbury who I admire so much for his liturgical work. The tone of the letter, respectful and aware of the challenges of their request, left me hoping that constructive dialogue was possible and motivated me to press on with the reforms recommended in the Review.
We are all looking to ‘get our feet back on the ground’ and find in relationships a level of trust that enables us to be at ease together. If the Church has a vocation, it is to be a community where through being united in faith, hope and love, we can accommodate the whole breadth of humanity in one body. To be rooted and grounded in love is to be at peace with difference.
The Beatles song is profound. It confesses:
When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
(Now) But now these days are gone
I’m not so self-assured
(And now I’ve found) now I find I’ve changed my mind
I’ve opened up the doors.
The Cathedral community is wrestling with one of its values – openness. It is related to transparency but much more related to trust. It’s a trust that we do not have the full picture or very many resources as individuals, and that others will step in to help us achieve the things we all wish to achieve together.
The self-assured do not need to open up doors to others. Their world is complete and illusory. Let’s imagine and work, instead, towards a different sort of community where we are confident – confidence is in what we can do together and in what we can do in the grace and strength of God.
Here’s a part of a prayer we’re using daily in Lent, which combines help and thanksgiving:
As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help,
Sustain us with your bountiful Spirit
And open our lips to sing your praise.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.