Falling in Love with God

By Reverend Frank Nelson, Priest of Holy Trinity Cathedral

Wise men say

Only fools, only fools rush in

Oh, but I, but I, I can't help falling in love with you

The opening words of a song made popular by Elvis Presley popped into my head as soon as I read Rowan William’s words: “The missional witness of the dedicated worshipping community exists because people fall in love with God, not because they are told that it is part of a strategy for evangelization.” Rowan Williams: The Way of St Benedict. Pg 52 (Bloomsbury Continuum, 2020).

What brought you here today?

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams wrote these words in a book exploring the immense and lasting contribution the English Benedictines made from the time Augustine first stepped ashore and set up his base at Canterbury back in 597 CE. According to Williams the Venerable Bede insists that those Saxons among whom the Benedictine’s first lived, far from being forced to convert to Christianity, were “drawn to Christian faith by the simplicity of the lives of Augustine’s monks.” (pg 44) Williams points out in the same essay that in the latter part of the 20th century, and continuing today, there has been a resurgence in numbers attending that quintessential Anglican service of Choral Evensong, particularly where sung by Cathedral and College choirs.

I want to pick up this idea of people being drawn to something – whether the simplicity of life-style or the beauty of choral music – as enabling people to fall in love with God. The idea seems to challenge much of the rhetoric I have encountered during my life-time about evangelism and the need for people to get out of the churches and go to where the ‘people’ are. At times it has felt as if church buildings are totally redundant – not altogether surprising given the ongoing monumental costs of maintenance and insurance facing the church in Aotearoa New Zealand today. But is there an element of truth, both in Presley’s song, and in the words of Bede, that there is something else – love – that draws people to God?

On at least two occasions I have known priests who came reluctantly to work in a cathedral.

· The first was a newly ordained, highly educated, young woman who came to me in her first curacy. After just a few months she said: “I never realised just how missional the Cathedral is.” She was referring to the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, situated on a rise slightly above New Zealand’s ‘Beehive’ – the House of Parliament. (She is now a bishop in England.)

· The second happened during a conversation with one of the Canons in Ely Cathedral on our visit there in 2010. As we talked he admitted that, as an Evangelical Anglican, he had come to the Cathedral with great reluctance and scepticism. Within months his attitude had turned around and he spoke positively and passionately about the ‘missional role’ of the Cathedral, and his excitement in being there.

What is it that a Cathedral has that causes someone to fall in love with God?

Is it the sheer size of the buildings, the ornate architecture, the soaring columns, the beautiful stained glass windows? Is it the liturgy – the commitment to excellence, to doing things so well that the individual players (the servers, vergers, choristers, clergy and so on) cease to be noticed as individuals? Is it the sheer beauty of well sung music? The likelihood of good, engaging, relevant preaching? Is it the commitment to stability – the regular dedicated worship offered day in day out whether or not there is a congregation? Is it the possibility of constant searching for new and different ways to authenticate the Gospel – to incarnate the words uttered, the songs sung – including in languages such as Nyoongar and Te Re Maori? Is it that a Cathedral, at its best, offers a sacred space, an ikon drawing us beyond the thing itself, to be able to fall in love with God?

What brought you here today? A question I often asked people new to the Cathedrals I served in. Among the responses I got were these:

· I heard the bells ringing out across the river, and had to come.

· It was Easter Day and I felt I needed to do something special. I’d often gone passed the Cathedral – this day I entered the doors.

· The doors were open when I needed a quiet, and safe, place to escape to. It became my happy place.

· I dreamt about this building last night. I had to come.

· I saw the concert, Christmas service, Remembrance Day service … advertised, and decided to come.

It’s one thing for people to come through the doors once, quite another for them to come again and begin to engage with the life of worship offered inside.

As a soon-to-become Dean in August 2004, I found myself wide awake at 2.00am while staying at Knox College, Dunedin during a period of study. Three words popped into my head and, immediately, I knew they would be the touchstones of my ministry as Dean:

· Worship

· Education

· Hospitality

All three have their roots in Benedictine Spirituality – in the principals that shape the monastery: the feeding of the soul through worship; the feeding of the mind through education; and the feeding of the body through manual work and, if I may stretch the point a little, the offering of hospitality to all who present themselves at the door. (And here I think particularly of the injunction in the Rule of Benedict that the door-keeper should greet all guests as if they were Christ. RB 53: The Reception of Guests)

The sacred space of a cathedral invites one into the awe of God who is both utterly transcendent and unexpectedly immanent. Jesus ‘escaped’ to the mountain top to spend time with his heavenly Father and then came down the mountain to heal the sick, challenge injustice and invite his disciples to follow him. Transcendence and Awe moving seamlessly to Immanence and the calloused hands that go with loving our neighbour.

A cathedral invites fools, and others, to take the hand and step into the river of love that is God’s. How can a cathedral, with its dedicated team of worshippers who have fallen in love with God, not be missional?

Kia tau ki a tātou katoa Te atawhai o tō tātou Ariki, a Ihu Karaiti Me te aroha o te Atua Me te whiwhingatahitanga Ki te wairua tapu Ake, ake, ake,

Amine

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever.

Amen

The Reverend Frank Nelson

Priest of Holy Trinity Cathedral