Sermon: 64th Anniversary of Consecration and Community

Preacher:

Chris Hollingshurst

Date:

Sunday 18th May 2025

Venue:

Guildford Cathedral

Service:

Cathedral Eucharist

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Well, here we are, once again worshipping God on a spring day in the Easter season 😊 Today there are signs and metaphors of new life everywhere we look – and I, for one, am feeling thankful. This weekend we are also celebrating with gratitude the sixty-fourth anniversary of the Consecration of this Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. This building is itself a sign of new life, a then-new Cathedral for a then-new Diocese.

Much has changed since May 1961, here on Stag Hill, in our nation, and around the world. Nevertheless, even young Cathedrals represent security and continuity in times of change. The modern Gothic vision of our Cathedral’s architect, Edward Maufe, holds together ancient and modern, timelessness and change. Maufe’s stunning vision of ‘sumptuous simplicity’ is a lasting witness to the glory of God and, as I reflect on worshipping here week by week, again, I feel thankful – as I know so many of you do.

Famously this Cathedral – the People’s Cathedral - was built in part by public subscription, through the Buy a Brick campaign. Whilst the physical bricks of a church building are essential to the structure, what St Peter called the living stones are no less important – not least in ensuring the continuing life and work housed by the building.

This morning’s brief extract from the letter to the Ephesians elaborates succinctly on this:

 ^“So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God.”

In short, it isn’t just sacred buildings that are consecrated – set apart – for God. We need to consider what that means, and it is good that the Dean will shortly be leading us in discerning a shared vision and strategy for the next stage of Cathedral life. However, before that happens, this Consecration Day I want simply to suggest two practical opportunities to embrace our calling to be consecrated living stones today.

The first opportunity is to do with personal belonging. For many of us this will be expressed in attending public worship, but there is another way. The new Cathedrals Measure provides an opportunity – indeed it requires each English Cathedral – to construct a new Community Roll. The Roll is a record of all who belong to, participate in the life of each Cathedral, to identify with the inclusive work of the Holy Spirit after whom this Cathedral is named - whether you are regular worshippers, employed staff, volunteers, or choir parents.   

And so, what better time could there be than this Consecration Anniversary Day to invite you to sign up to being part of God’s people in this place? Alternatively, you might say, what is the point of a beautiful Cathedral without a beautiful Cathedral community?

Inclusion on the Community Roll will, I hope, enable you to feel that you belong, as well as enabling Cathedral staff and colleagues to keep in touch with you. Cathedral communities are often quite geographically diverse, and the new Community Roll offers a formal way of expressing and reinforcing our togetherness and our fellowship in Christ.

That’s why we would love those of you who have begun worshipping recently with us to complete a new Community Roll form, as well as those of you who have signed the previous but now legally defunct Community Roll. The new Roll will allow us to sign up together as the 2025 Cathedral community and beyond. You’ll find the necessary forms towards the back of the Nave, together with a box which will remain there for a few weeks for you to place your completed forms in. If you prefer, you can email your responses into the office email address included in the leaflet.

I am grateful that Jonathan Neil-Smith is here. He has drawn up the form and is aware of all the legislation and other details behind its construction – so do speak to Jonathan after the service if you would like to know more.

So that’s the first opportunity to embrace our calling to be consecrated living stones. The second opportunity is in the area of personal giving and stewardship. The Cathedral Chapter is enormously grateful for every personal contribution to the life of the Cathedral, whether it be to do with committed volunteering, the use of the gifts and talents God has given to so many of you, or financial support in a number of different ways. We are very grateful, too, to the Friends of Guildford Cathedral, the Music Development Fund, and other bodies which support our work. The fact that the Cathedral is able to operate at all is because of what has given during the last sixty-four years, and what is being pledged and being given still.

There is a certain amount of New Testament teaching on generosity and financial giving. Significantly, St Paul, writing to the Christians in Corinth, taught that personal resource is to be offered (in his words) ‘first to the Lord’ – as a response to the loving generosity of God and the gift of Christ for the salvation of the world.  It’s there particularly in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9, should you wish to read it for yourselves.

There isn’t time to say more about that today, except to say that two millennia later this has evolved into a body of mainstream teaching which suggests that costly giving (that’s giving which our pockets and our budgets really notice) is part of Christian discipleship.  Committed giving is rarely ad hoc, but it is proportional, planned, and regular.

This would all be true even the Cathedral had no financial concerns at present; but it remains the case, despite a number of difficult cost reductions, that (along with three-quarters of English Cathedrals) we are still spending more than our income every year.

Some will remember the comprehensive stewardship presentation here eighteen months ago. Since then, there has been a significant anonymous donation and some welcome legacy income, without which would be facing greater difficulties - but a structural annual deficit remains.

Applying stewardship principles here means recognising that, unlike in parishes, congregational giving will never fully cover the running costs of a Cathedral. that is not a reasonable expectation! However, our Development team seeks to raise money through grants and other means, and our Commercial Enterprise team has been tasked with raising significant extra funds this year by means of events in the building and on site.

And by the way, these events are not the sort of activities referred to in this morning’s Gospel reading from John chapter 2 which, famously, Jesus famously drove out of the Temple. These events are not about having stalls for moneylending and the selling of birds and animals for Temple sacrifices!  They do, however, help to keep the Cathedral open and to fund its life.

Nevertheless, we still regularly need to ask (indeed to remind) our different congregations here to keep personal giving under review, and, whenever possible, to increase it – not least to keep pace with inflationary pressures.

In addition to the Community Roll leaflet, we therefore also have a revised Congregational Giving leaflet and associated response form available today. It, too, is available towards the back of the Nave, and it has its own returns box which, again, will remain there for a few weeks for you to place your responses in.  This leaflet, too, provides for an electronic response route if preferred.

As the Dean has written in the revised leaflet, ‘At its heart, stewardship is about recognising that all that we have is a gift from God, and considering how we might respond with generosity, even in uncertain times.’  There are a number of ways of responding: by monthly contributions via the Parish Giving Scheme. This is our recommended mechanism, as it provides for monthly giving and enables us to budget accordingly.  In addition, the leaflet encompasses giving by one-off donation, by joining the Music Patrons Scheme, or by providing for future legacies.  The leaflet is suitable both for those wishing to give to the Cathedral for the first time, and for those to whom we are grateful because you are already giving.

Today we give thanks for all that has been since the building and Consecration of this beautiful House of God, and fort all God’s people, the household of faith, here. We celebrate being able to worship together here. As we trust God for the future, we remember that it is not just the building, but also, we, as part of the Cathedral community, who are consecrated – set apart – for God.

Belonging together, and like the Cathedral itself, we are called to be a lasting witness to the resurrection of Christ. In humility, and with resurrection hope, we ask for our Lord’s help in reaching out from this place to God’s people, the parishes, and the chaplaincies of the Diocese and to the institutions and organisations of the County. I continue to feel thankful.

What a privilege! What a joy!  Amen.

 

Canon Chris Hollingshurst