This coming Thursday (30 May) is one of the great Festivals of the Church when we celebrate Ascension Day. Christ is taken from us into heaven so that God’s great purposes can be made known and revealed: his love for his creation is shown in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
The fact is that our Ascended Lord who sends his Spirit upon the Church is the same Jesus who met individuals in a unique and personal way appropriate to their own need and personality. Mary, Thomas, Zacchaeus, Matthew, Nicodemus and the Rich Young Man and indeed all those who were healed by Jesus, each had their own personal and distinctive encounter with Christ.
The Good News is that we do not all have to conform to one pattern or expression in order to experience the gift of the Holy Spirit. He comes to each one of us personally, uniquely and individually. He knows your particular needs; he knows where you are; he understands you better than you do yourself and above all he loves you.
The Holy Spirit descends on the disciples – depicted in the biblical story as wind and fire – giving them the enthusiasm and sheer “get up and go” to joyfully witness to Jesus Christ.
That same Spirit can blow in the life of the Church today, we have to make sure that we seek it, that we see it for what it is, and in recognising it encourage others to use the power of God made available to all who believe in Him.
The wind blows where it wills. It is part of the richness and glory of God that he gives his gift of that Spirit in many and diverse ways to different people. Let us all see that as a cause for celebration rather than division and let us each treasure our own experience of the living Lord as we encourage others in theirs.
JOHN PATRICK, SUBDEAN OF LINCOLN
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Worship & Mission
Stillpoint
Saturday 25 May, 9am-9.45am
You are invited to 45 minutes of guided silent prayer in the Ringers’ Chapel of Lincoln Cathedral. No experience of contemplative prayer needed. All are welcome.
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Community
‘Learning in Lincoln Cathedral’
Thursday 13 June, 10.30am, 27 Minster Yard.
A talk by Sally Bleasdale, Education Manager at Lincoln Cathedral. The event is hosted by the Lincoln Cathedral Retired Staff and Volunteers Group. A perfect opportunity to meet former colleagues and make new friends. Annual membership fee £5, guests very welcome £2.
LCCA Pentecost Tea Party
Sunday 9 June 2019, after Evensong
To be held in the Cloisters. Tickets are now available from committee members at £2.50 each. Tea and cakes will be provided.
Thank You
The Flower Team would like to thank all who gave so generously to Easter Lilies. They are all most grateful. Michaela Philp.
Road Closure
From Monday 3 June to Friday 14 June Eastgate will be closed between James Street and the Eastgate Hotel.
This is to allow new drainage to be installed for the Old Deanery Visitor Centre. The one way system in Minster Yard will be reversed to allow traffic to be diverted via the south side of the Cathedral. During the closure, diversion signs will be in operation – a map of the diversion route can be seen on the news section of the Cathedral website.
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Events
Wow day – Archaeology and Environment
Thursday 30 May, 10am-4pm
Lincoln Cathedral is hosting another family WOW day focussing on archaeology and the environment.
Families are invited to come along to the free event (with suggested donations) to discover some of the Cathedral’s fascinating objects and recent archaeological finds and also learn more about the role of the church in environmental issues. Visitors can take part in fun themed activities, including piecing together pots, making a clay chalice, or embossing a Saxon cruciform brooch.
There will also be two fifteen-minute themed services at 12.05pm and 3.05pm.
Staff from Allen Archaeology, will be on hand to lead some of the activities. Site supervisor Lili Serrano will give short talks on site at the scene of one of their most exciting discoveries near the West Front at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, while David Bostwick will lead a ‘walk and talk’ at 12pm through the Cloister, where visitors can learn all about the Cathedral’s medieval iconography.
Organ Concert Series 2019
Saturday 15 June, 7pm, Martin Baker
Saturday 20 July, 7pm, Hilary Punnett
Saturday 21 September, 7pm, Charles Harrison
Friday 4 October, 7pm, Organ Extravaganza
Sunday 22 December, 5.30pm, La Nativité du Seigneur
Be a Chorister for the Day!
Saturday 15 June, 1.30pm
Love singing? Take part in this fantastic opportunity. Explore the song school and experience what it is like to be a chorister. For more information contact 01522 504398 or music@lincolncathedral.com
Come and Sing
Saturday 22 June, 10am
Join other singers and learn Carl Orff’s famous choral work Carmina Burana from scratch. This all-day event is for enthusiastic singers of all ages and abilities. Led by Director of Music, Aric Prentice, you will learn one of the most recognised pieces of choral music from film and TV.
The event will begin at 10am, finishing with a performance for family and friends at 3pm. Registration is required. Please contact the Assistant Organist on 01522 504398 or assistantorganist@lincolncathedral.com.
Magna Carta Lecture
Thursday 27 June, 7pm
Rights and Freedom Today by Shami Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti is the Shadow Attorney General and a member of the House of Lords. A lawyer, she is Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Manchester, Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford and a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple. She was previously Chancellor of both Oxford Brookes University and then the University of Essex.
Baroness Chakrabarti was Director of Liberty, the National Council for Civil Liberties from 2003 to 2016. Shami’s first book, On Liberty, is published by Penguin. Her second, Of Women, was published on 26 October 2017.
Oliver! Tickets
There are still tickets available for the production of Oliver! If you are struggling to find enough seats for your group online at lincolncathedral.com, please call 01522 561658 and we can look for suitable spaces.
The show takes place in the Cathedral from Monday 5 to Friday 16 August 2019 (excluding Sunday 11 August).
Tickets
Tickets for all events are available on the Cathedral website – www.lincolncathedral.com
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Bible Readings
Sunday 26 May
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Sung Eucharist
Acts 16: 9-15
Revelation 21: 10, 22-22.5
John 14: 23-29
Mattins
Genesis 1: 26-28
Colossians 3: 1-11
Evensong
Zephaniah 3: 14-end
Matthew 28: 1-10, 16-end
Sunday 2 June
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Sung Eucharist
Acts 16: 16-34
Revelation 22: 12-14, 16, 17, 20-end
John 17: 20-end
Mattins
Deuteronomy 34
Luke 24: 44-end
Evensong
Isaiah 44: 1-8
Ephesians 4: 7-16
Sunday 9 June
Pentecost
Sung Eucharist
Genesis 11: 1-9
Acts 2: 1-21
John 14: 8-17
Mattins
Isaiah 40: 12-23
I Corinthians 2: 6-end
Evensong
Exodus 33: 7-20
2 Corinthians 3: 4-end
