John Samuel Bewley Monsell was a 19th C Irish clergyman, and a great Victorian Church builder
and restorer. Indeed he died in 1875 from an infected wound sustained while inspecting the
rebuilding of St. Nicolas’ Church in Guildford: a Church which at that time, of course, was in the
Diocese of Winchester. Monsell was ordained deacon in 1834, a year after John Keble preached
his famous Assize Sermon at the University Church in Oxford, a sermon that would have been of
particular interest to Monsell in that it dealt, at least ostensibly, with the reorganisation of the Irish
bishoprics by the Government, an act to which Keble took great exception. That sermon was
entitled ‘National Apostasy’ and its preaching is the moment generally taken to signal the start of
the Oxford Movement. It’s hardly surprising then that Monsell should have come under its
influence. And given the influence it exerted upon him, particularly given its interest in the
aesthetics of worship, it is no surprise that, amongst the eleven volumes of poetry and 300 hymns
Monsell wrote, one was entitled ‘O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’. It is of course still sung:
we sung it today, and it’s deservedly much loved for the tenderness of its spirituality, and the
beauty of its words.
But of course that phrase ‘O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’ is much older than the
19th C: Monsell took it straight from our psalm for today: Psalm 96, verse 9 – indeed the hymn’s
opening words are taken straight and without alteration from the Authorised Version of the Bible,
the only English version with which Monsell would have been familiar.
Today I want to reflect on the four key words in that phrase as we reflect both on this Cathedral
church’s foundation and its future, and see how they might guide and help us in that task.
So what then of the word ‘worship’? When we come to such a word I suggest, advisedly, that fools
rush in where angels fear to tread. We should not too readily presume to know what it means.
Of course it refers to sung worship. Psalm 96 starts with these words in the Authorised Version:
O sing unto the Lord a new song / sing unto the Lord, all the earth / Sing unto the Lord, bless his name.
So the word does indeed refer to sung worship. And sung worship is much valued – and rightly
valued – here in this great Cathedral. So it must be, and I have no doubt that it always will be. And
today, as his time here draws to a close, I want to give great credit to the way Andy Lumsden has
so enhanced the worship of this Cathedral over many years. Andy, thank you so much.
Worship without singing would be a poor thing. Christian have rightly been called ‘the people who
sing’. But there is more to it that that alone, and if we limit the word ‘worship’ simply to what is
sung in this Cathedral, we limit it far too much. It is a broader, deeper and richer word than that.
It is what it springs from that counts. St. Paul in Romans 12 writes this:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—
what is good and acceptable and perfect.
To worship is, quite literally, to give God his worth, to give him his due, and that is an exercise for
the whole person: not an exercise for the lips alone, or in Church alone, but a matter of heart,
soul, mind and strength: with gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness, kneel and adore him: the Lord
is his name runs Monsell’s hymn. And as St. Paul says, there is something truly converting about
that exercise: it leads to our transforming and renewing, to a growth in Christ-like character. If
indeed we are not being truly changed by our worship, then we should doubt whether we are
truly worshipping at all.
And that understanding of worship – the giving of God his worth – helps us to put to bed an old
and unhelpful distinction between worship and mission. There is no cleavage at all between the
two. If we are to give our God his due then we do that by proclaiming his worth to him, to one
another, and to the wider world too, that our worship might indeed have a converting power, not
just for us but for others too. And that is why our words in Psalm 96 O, Worship the Lord in the
beauty of holiness, tremble before him, all the earth! are followed straight away by these: Say among
the nations, ‘The Lord is king! Monsell has that as, ‘His glory proclaim’. Worship and mission are never
in opposition but belong hand in hand – even more, they are two sides of the same coin, and must
always remain so in the life of this Cathedral.
What then of The LORD whom we are to worship in the beauty of his holiness? Again, I suggest,
fools rush in where angels fear to tread. That word, ‘the LORD’, is generally rendered in capitals
in our English translations, and is so for a particular reason. It does not mean, ‘God’ in some
general, vague, unspecific sense. Not at all: kneel and adore him: the Lord is his name, runs Monsell’s
hymn. ‘The LORD’ refers quite specifically to Israel’s God, to Yahweh, to the creator God who
makes covenant with his people and is deeply committed to them; who has chosen them to belong
to himself, who has rescued and redeemed them, and is faithful to them with his unshakeable,
covenant love.
Christians believe, of course, that this creator, covenant-making, rescuing and redeeming God has
made himself known to us, fully and finally, in his Son, Jesus Christ. And the fact that we equate
our Lord, Jesus Christ, with the creator, covenant God, the LORD, of the Old Testament is clearly
reflected in that earliest and most basic of Christian creeds: ‘Jesus is Lord’. As indeed he is. And
that has profound implications for our worship.
Jesus Christ came amongst us as one of us; he sees us with the greatest tenderness and compassion,
so there must be room for intimacy in worship. Listen to Monsell again: low at his feet lay thy burden
of carefulness: high on his heart he will bear it for thee; comfort thy sorrows and answer thy prayerfulness,
guiding thy steps as may best for thee be: such beautiful and tender words. And yet Jesus is also the
risen and ascended Lord, the one before whom the apostle John fell at his feet as though dead, so
there must be room too for awe and reverence in our worship: Bow down before him, says Monsell.
Both intimacy and awe are essential in our worship if we are to be true to the character of the
creator, redeemer God who draws us into covenant with himself.
Christians believe that this creator, redeemer God has made himself known to us, fully and finally,
in his Son, Jesus Christ, and has drawn us into an unshakeable covenant with him in his death and
resurrection. It is that covenant which we celebrate, and in which we are affirmed, in the two great
acts at the heart of our worship, the two dominical sacraments of baptism and communion.
And how wonderful it is that today we can rededicate our Cathedral’s beautiful, historic font to
the service of God, for it is through baptism that we enter into the covenant of love with our Lord.
And how wonderful it is that today we have opportunity to feed on our Lord Jesus Christ, who
offers to us his very self in bread and wine, that we may we be sustained in that covenant of love.
So let us be clear: our worship must always be focussed on the Lord who has made himself known
in Jesus Christ; it must always be concerned with giving him his worth, his due, and if that is not
what it is about, if it not focussed upon him, then no matter how beautiful it may be, it is not
worship. It may in fact be an idol. Christian worship is always focussed on the Lord, our creator
and redeemer, or it isn’t worship at all. He, and he alone, is its object. This Cathedral church is
not a temple of high culture: it exists, and exists only, for the greater glory of our God, and may it
always seek his glory above all else.
And so to ‘beauty’ – and again (and you may begin to detect a pattern here) fools rush in where
angels fear to tread. Beauty matters, let there be no doubt about that. This place is stunningly
beautiful, as Cathedrals often are. My friend Simon Robinson, Dean of Truro, came across a young
man in Truro Cathedral a year or so ago, who was moved to tears simply by the building. He had
never been inside a Church before and he said, simply, ‘I have never been anywhere as beautiful as
this.’ And of course Simon’s prayer was that the beauty of the place should lead him to the one
for whose glory it was built; whose beauty it reflects.
And as for the building, so for its music: its beauty really matters. And I have no doubt it, too,
moves many to tears. I was close to tears as the choir sang Philip Stopford’s beautiful piece ‘Do
not be afraid’ over me at my service of welcome last January. How could I fail to be moved by its
beauty?
But again, for the Christian, beauty, like worship, does not exist simply in the abstract. There is no
unrooted, ungrounded, Christian aesthetic. In Psalm 27: 4, as it is in the Psalter of the Book of
Common Prayer, we read this: One thing have I desired of the LORD, which I will require: even that I
may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of the LORD, and to
visit his temple. The root and source of all beauty is our God.
And do note that the word ‘LORD’ in that Psalm I have just quoted is in capitals: so it refers to
Yahweh, the creator, redeemer God who makes himself know to his people and who makes
covenant with them. It is to his beauty that the psalm refers. There is no unrooted, ungrounded,
Christian aesthetic, no purely abstract idea of beauty. Its root and its source is in the creating,
redeeming, covenant-making God who has made himself known fully and finally in his Son, Jesus
Christ – and nowhere else. To stretch the point a little, ‘beautiful worship’ is not in the end either
beautiful, in a strict sense, and it is certainly not worship, if it does not have the Lord God both
for its source and its object.
And so, finally to holiness. And yes, without labouring the point, we should, again, be rather
cautious in assuming that we know just what it means.
There is certainly an Old Testament tradition that is very concerned with purity, with separation
from that which defiles. Many pages of the OT are devoted to helping people stay pure – and we
see that holiness tradition still at work in Jesus’ day in the practices and attitudes of the Pharisees.
But Jesus seems to take a very different approach to the subject. While the Pharisees saw holiness
as something that could all too easily be compromised, Jesus saw it as something which was actually
infectious. So – to make the point – while many would have been concerned at being defiled by
touching a woman with an issue of blood, or a leper, or a dead body, Jesus takes the opposite view.
His holiness is not something that can be compromised: it is far stronger than that. His holiness is
in fact infectious, so that through him the lepers are cleansed, the blind see, that woman is healed,
and the dead are raised. True holiness is truly infectious.
And this place, this Cathedral, needs to continue to be a place of infectious holiness. Not a place
that is closed and exclusive, but one that is open and inclusive, in every sense, that Jesus’ infectious
holiness may be known here by all who enter it. And to be very specific: any attempt to broaden
access to the excellence of this Cathedral’s musical tradition is not compromising of it – it’s far
too strong for that – but is truly expressive of Jesus’ infectious holiness.
But there is one reason above all why Jesus’ holiness is infectious: not something he keeps pure to
himself, but shares generously with others. And that is because it is an expression of his love, of
his kindness. He shares his holiness with us because he cares for us. And in that caring and kindness
we must follow suit. Let us be people of kindness above all else. Let this place be a place of kindness
above all else. Truth in its beauty and love in its tenderness: these are the offerings to lay on his shrine.
Let love reign here.
So Winchester Cathedral, as we look back to your foundation, and as we look forward to the
future with hope – this is my charge to you: worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness – do
that, with all that it implies, and all shall be well! And above all, commit yourself to the creator,
redeemer, covenant God, whose commitment to this place and its people, in his Son, Jesus Christ,
is unshakable. So do all that you do, in love, to the greater glory of his holy name, for he will never
leave you, nor forsake you. Amen