Weekly Reflection – The Time of the Year

‘Your busy time of year, vicar?’ This query is an occupational hazard for a priest in December! Actually, I say to people, the festive month isn’t the busiest. Yes, you do sometimes have to grit your teeth when you’re singing Away in a manger when it’s two weeks before Christmas and you’re on your twelfth carol service and struggling with yet another mince pie! But Christmas is one familiar thing that we mark in our churches, with the congregations and schools and community groups, lots of times. This week before Easter, Holy Week, is the most demanding one of the year because it’s all different: different readings, different music, different colours, different emphasis in the prayers, different ‘styles’ or ‘feels’ to the services. And the whole cathedral team – not just clergy but stewards and servers and musicians and wardens and office staff and flower-arrangers and bell-ringers and many more – will work hard this week to put on all these services.

The bustle and different themes of our Holy Week are an echo of the first Holy Week. In those few days there were memory and hope, betrayal and comfort, despair and triumph, and more besides. For us there will be fire and water, colour and drama, darkness and light. We will switch modes and moods, pray in different parts of the building, listen to four of our bishops and a special guest preacher, and welcome people affirming their Christian faith.

Come and share as much of the different services as you can this week. Details are in Catch-up, on the website, and our social media channels. You’ll find music that will make your heart leap for joy or move to you to tears. You’ll hear stories that are more than just old tales but raw and real accounts of God’s love for us, here and now. And whether you’re following this week for the first time or you’ve been coming for decades, whether you’re convinced it’s all true or aren’t quite sure, you’ll find a warm welcome in Wakefield Cathedral and share a story which will, if we hear it properly, change our hearts and our world.

With prayers and best wishes,
Philip