Last week was a busy week. Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Eve and Easter Day added up to a huge amount of work from musicians and flower arrangers, stewards, guides and servers, vergers, preachers, readers and pray-ers and many more ensuring that the rollercoaster of emotions and the spiritual journey was beautifully done and an inspiring, welcoming experience for those who came to join in. Thank you to all who did your bit.
At this end of the journey there is now a quiet and a stillness in significant contrast to the dark emotions of injustice, betrayal, pain and herd mentality. We wait for the soft, gentle unpredictable sense of the risen Jesus in our lives. But what has happened to all that dark stuff with which it was so easy for us to identify just a few days ago. It was very real which is why the suffering of Holy Week is so painful, intense and acute. Yet it is possible to be here, just like those first disciples, waiting for gentle hints that Jesus has been raised simply because all that dark stuff has been forgiven. That is the essence of the resurrection.
Archbishop Rowan Williams wrote: “There is no hope of understanding the Resurrection outside the process of renewing humanity in forgiveness. We are all agreed that the empty tomb proves nothing. We need to add that no amount of apparitions, however well authenticated, would mean anything either, apart from the testimony of forgiven lives communicating forgiveness.” The disciples had all abandoned Jesus, becoming complicit with his murderers, but the resurrection enveloped them in forgiveness.
Thus, the key aspect of being a disciple of Jesus, one who gets the resurrection, is knowing how wrong we are and so knowing how much we have been forgiven. In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus says, ‘Peace be with you’ to the disciples and to us. That peace is what comes from forgiveness. Whatever we have done, we are loved and offered life. And, because we struggle to believe that, he says it again, ‘Peace be with you!’
Over the last week I have come across so many occasions when people (a young person grieving on the anniversary of the death of their friend, two young gay men who thought they would not be welcome in a church, people fleeing cruel regimes in their home countries) have come into the cathedral and have been offered peace, love and life by ordinary folk in the cathedral – disciples who understand that resurrection forgiveness in their lives. Let’s continue to be those Easter people, beacons of love and forgiveness because we know we are forgiven and loved.
THE REVD CANON DAVID DADSWELL
Worship & Mission
Weekly service schedule
The service sheet for the coming fortnight can be viewed on the cathedral website (click link to visit)
Sacred Space
Sacred Space will be taking place at 7pm on the following Sundays in 2023:
21 May – Spirit and flame
16 July – The beauty of creation
10 September – New beginnings
19 November – The darkness of waiting
Sacred Space is a gentle, reflective service with time to wonder, the opportunity to use all your senses to explore faith and the chance to experience the unique and serene atmosphere of the Cathedral as the day draws to a close.
Stillpoint
This is a time of guided silent prayer to be still and aware of the presence of God. All are welcome to join us.
Please note the new time for Stillpoint. We meet in the Ringers Chapel from 8.45am – 9.15am on the following Mondays:
17th April
15th May
12th June
10th July
Ascension Day
Thursday 18 May
7am – Morning Eucharist for Ascension Day, followed by a simple breakfast
5.30pm – Solemn Evensong
7.30pm Sung Eucharist (Cathedral Consort)
Pentecost
Sunday 28 May
10am – Sung Eucharist for the Feast of Pentecost
Community
LCCA Pentecost Sunday
The Lincoln Cathedral Community Association invites you to celebrate Pentecost with Cake in the Cloisters after Evensong on Sunday 28th May. Further information and ticket details will be available in the near future.
Lincoln Cathedral Annual Report and Accounts for 2022
The Cathedral’s annual report and accounts for 2022 have now been published and you can find them on the Cathedral website at – https://lincolncathedral.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/FINAL-Annual-Report-and-Accounts-for-the-Year-Ended-31-March-2022.pdf
If you would like a paper copy, please contact chapteroffice@lincolncathedral.com.
Events
A night at the Opera – London Concertante
15 April, 7.30pm
London Concertante present a captivating evening at the opera with various works of the finest opera arias and overtures, including works by Puccini, Verdi, Rossini and Mozart.
Lunchtime Recital – Lincoln Cathedral Consort and the Stondon Singers
Saturday 22 April, 1.10pm
Join us in the chapter House for a lunchtime recital by Lincoln Cathedral Consort and the Stondon Singers.
The recital will include music by Gibbons, Howells and Byrd as we start the lead up to the Byrd 400 Festival this summer. The recital is included in the price of your Cathedral admission.
Medieval Graffiti with Matthew Champion
Friday 28 April, 7pm
Join us as Matthew explains what is meant by historical graffiti and share and examine examples of historical graffiti in public buildings, and in particular, places of worship.
Fleetwood Mac by Candlelight
16 June, 7.00pm
Featuring a cast of West End Singers and a live band, join us for a ‘landslide’ concert, jam packed with Fleetwood Mac hits as you have never heard them before.
Bowie by Candlelight
17 June, 7.00pm
An incredible night of Bowie anthems including ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘Starman’, ‘Life on Mars’, ‘Rebel Rebel’ and more, performed at the beautiful Lincoln Cathedral by Candlelight.
Byrd 400
30 June – 4 July
A five-day festival with daily choral services sung by the Cathedral Choir will focus on Byrd’s liturgical music
Lincoln Jazz Festival
14 July – 16 July
A weekend festival of Jazz and Gospel music featuring leading musicians from the UK and overseas.
For more details of forthcoming events and to book your tickets, go to our website at www.lincolncathedral.com/forthcoming-events
Bible Readings
Sunday 16 April
Second Sunday of Easter
Eucharist
Acts 2. 14a, 22-32
1 Peter 1. 3-9
John 20. 19-end
Evening Prayer
Daniel 6. 1-23
Mark 15. 46-16.8
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Sunday 23 April
Third Sunday of Easter
Eucharist
Acts 2. 14a, 36-41
1 Peter 1. 17-23
Luke 24. 13-35
Evening Prayer
Haggai 1. 13- 2.9
1 Corinthians 3. 10-17
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Sunday 30 April
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Eucharist
Acts 2. 42-end
1 Peter 2. 19-end
John 10. 1-10
Evening Prayer
Ezra 3.1-13
Ephesians 2. 11-end
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