Press Releases02 Jun 04

Centenary celebration at Belfast Cathedral - Archbishop Eames' sermon

CENTENARY CELEBRATION OF BELFAST CATHEDRAL
(1904 ? 2004)

Sermon of Archbishop Robin Eames

Wednesday 2nd June, 2004

Hebrews 10 : v.22 ?Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith ??

There are a multitude of thoughts expressed in this historic service. Our thanksgiving draws together memories of the past. Our experience draws us to appreciate the life and witness of this Cathedral today. Our prayers commit the future of whatever the ministry of this Cathedral will offer to the mercy of Almighty God. But the over-riding emotion which unites all our reflections is that of genuine thanksgiving to God for this unique place of prayer and witness and thanksgiving for all who over the years have transformed this place of God into a living family of witnesses and have made Belfast Cathedral a unique and living place of God. It is God who has used those aspects of human experience to touch hearts and to influence many attitudes in this city and beyond. Over the years many have drawn near here with true hearts and full assurance of faith ? but equally many have drawn near here with confused hearts and doubting faith and have left this place with a new sense of the presence of a God who cares.

The changing face of Belfast has been reflected here ? but few doubt this Cathedral has brought to this city a precious dimension of holiness, influence and vision.

The ministry of a Cathedral is a special calling. A Cathedral is very much the shop window of the faith once delivered to all sorts and conditions, many of whom are on the parameters of a living faith in God. To them in the ever-changing attitudes of life a Cathedral can be a museum, a tourist attraction or a place of curiosity. It can be a symbol of pageantry for special community occasions. In meeting that need a Cathedral represents solemnity and order. But to those who worship here, those who find something of the mystery of God here, those who find space here for God, this place is their spiritual home. They are the living community of the baptised and believing. They are those who make this place live. It is for the ministry of Belfast Cathedral to the stranger as well as to those who regard it as home that we thank God for these living stones surrounding us at this moment which are the real reason for our thanksgiving tonight.

At times of significant community milestones this Cathedral has accommodated joy and sorrow in equal measure. We have come here to somehow find a way of expressing those contradictory feelings in the presence of God. At times it was simply because it seemed the right and proper thing to do. On other days we have felt drawn to acknowledge the centrality of the God who understands when we were confronted by the questions we could not answer. On other days we have brought the changing often tragic community picture to this place in our prayers. Here the music, the words and the atmosphere have helped us to confront those questions even if we did not like the answers. Day by day and night by night this city has been sustained and built up by the prayers of the on-going Ministry of Deans and people. Since 1899 successive Deans have led this Cathedral community with faithfulness and courage. In the lifetime of most here tonight we recall with thanksgiving to God, Cuthbert Peacocke, Samuel B Crooks and Jack Shearer. Today that leadership rests with Houston McKelvey whose acknowledgment of his inheritance and his personal vision are so obvious in this Order of Service.

It is impossible to quantify the dependence of an entire community on this praying community. But it has been there and it is here. Its strength has been held out and this Cathedral has reached out to the city in the name of the everlasting God. We have turned to this place to express our generosity, the generosity of ?no mean city? to those in need at Christmas and we have taken the Cathedral to our hearts. In its time it has opened its doors through the dignity of its services to those who have come to remember in war and peace. Many of those memories lie too deep for tears ? yet they have become sanctified by God in this place.

The call of the Apostle to the Hebrews ?to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith? embodies so much of the truth which lies at the heart of the Christian pilgrimage. The true heart which wants to believe, to make sense out of it all and the full certainty and confidence of that faith in all the ups and downs of life draws us to the real purpose of ministry. As we reflect on how Belfast Cathedral has responded to that vision let us also reflect on the task to which it is called now in our day: the call to all who seek like St Anne?s to place God at the centre.

First, I suggest that we are called to be a people who find space for God.

It is surely a sobering fact that the business of being faithful can often squeeze out real space for God. The sheer pace of believing can sometimes leave little room for merely finding the stillness of God. When we translate that factor into the ordinary lives of many who find it increasingly difficult to see current relevance to the things of God it becomes even more important for the believer to appreciate what space God provides. There is a phrase in our liturgy which I have often found very significant and emotive. It comes after we have received the bread and wine ? it refers to the ?Great Silence?.

Contemporary life has largely lost the ability to be still. Silence confronts us with an urgency to fill that moment with activity. Silence can make us feel awkward. Yet the ?inaction? of stillness, the silence of reflection can be the touchstone of the presence and the prompting of God. There is surely no greater task for Christianity than to prompt society to recognise that it must find space for the spiritual. There is no greater call to a Cathedral than to offer that space to those who enter it. We do not need to be reminded of the many who today see little relevance in institutionalised religion. But spirituality is greater than the confines of organised religion or even Church services. The spiritual dimension to life speaks of the breadth, the depth and the height of the pure heart which to us is simply God. This Cathedral provides that essential commodity to friend and stranger. It stands in the heart of this city for space to be still. It offers that dimension to modern humanity, it reaches out to the commercial centre of a capital city with that same message ? ?be still and know that I am God?.

Today the city this Cathedral serves has changed beyond recognition from the Belfast of 1904. Commerce and industry today depends on influences which fluctuate as Brussels exerts new demands and opportunities. The pattern of the work-place is as epitomised by the multi-national as it is by the silent cranes of the shipyard. The demands of the global economy for some are contrasted by the challenges for the corner shop. The housing estates of the suburbs are a constant questioning of social planning. The city centre is asking its own questions about a new commercial reality.

Undoubtedly the greatest revolution in the life of recent times in the city this Cathedral serves has been the years of violence and division. Belfast Cathedral became an oasis of calm ? a space for God ? in the darkness of those days. Few of us will ever forget the crowds who came here in our darkest hours to seek that space ? and to try to find reason out of it all. History has yet to record in full measure the true heart of this city which has endured so much which would have destroyed many another place of less worth.

Now as we struggle to find a new peace, as we struggle to build that peace with justice and equality, the task of finding space for God was never more vital.

Second, I find in the ministry of this Cathedral the privilege to speak of the things of God ? and to speak of them to the widest possible audience.

Today we are aghast at the demands contemporary life makes. At one end of the spectrum there are those in Northern Ireland who ?have never had it so good?. Their prosperity and personal stability is obvious. Their lifestyle speaks of privilege. At the other end there is desperate need, homelessness, poverty and fear. For the majority life falls somewhere between the two extremes. The faith epitomized by this Cathedral and practiced by successive Deans and congregations has sought to speak to all shades of this community. By word and sacrament, by social outreach, by providing means of expressing generosity and by means of teaching the faith Belfast Cathedral has been the means of speaking of a God who is alive ? and who cares. In a word - the spiritual encouragement of the great act of worship with its powerful message and the image of the Black Santa have both spoken of a God who cares.

The truth is that that ministry of a Cathedral which reminds us all of a God through the beauty of word, prayer and music is equally relevant in the cup of cold water to those who thirst on the street. For today many who feel unmoved by the formality of worship find God in the helping hand and the listening ear.

Third, the ministry of this Cathedral must surely be the word of genuine understanding.

Understanding of each other calls for seeing the world as others see it. The bonds which unite this Cathedral and St Peter?s is a welcome witness to the common Christian response to those traditional divisions which have dogged the past of Belfast.

The centre of our faith is to be found in the understanding of the human condition God revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. We can parcel up the Faith once delivered in many covers. We can send it in many directions for delivery. But in the end understanding lies at the core.

Confronted by a myriad of issues, tempted by a multitude of solutions, questioned by endless dilemma modern humanity searches for a real meaning to life. The politician, the economist, the healer, the sociologist ? all tell us of answers but rarely agree on the right questions to ask. The eternal question ?what is truth?? has many contemporary allies. Too often when society turns to the Church it finds its problems magnify either because we fail to show true understanding of what is asked or because of the language we use to convey the deepest things of God.

We need go no further than this city to see that situation. Secularism and sectarianism go hand in hand. Divisions because of the political or religious stances attributed by birth. Hatred because of identity. Social need because society has had other priorities. Aimless young people because we have failed to identify social alienation. They are all there outside the doors of this Cathedral. The Christ who was asked ?what do we have to do to be like you?? did not provide them with a spiritual insurance policy or a red carpet to paradise. He talked of taking up a Cross, denying ourselves and following. And when they did it took them up a winding road to the Cross and Calvary.

Sacrificial love is the heart of the Christian Gospel. It is that Gospel this Cathedral places at the heart of this city. It is that Gospel that all who have gone before us in the life of St Anne?s struggled to proclaim.

As we thank God for a century of life and witness it is surely that same Gospel we are compelled to proclaim now ? and in the days to come.

?O Christ the same, beyond our brief tomorrows, we bring our thanks to you for all that is to be.?