Minster Musings
At the beginning of October, the Church will celebrate Saint Francis, and this year it will be a special celebration as it marks the 800th anniversary of his transitus or passing over into eternal life. Our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters are being asked by Pope Leo to remember Francis’s ministry to the whole of creation and his role as a peacemaker, and I think this is something that we Anglicans can celebrate too. St Francis’s prayer The Canticle of the Sun is a prayer which rejoices in creation, calling the sun our brother and the moon our sister. It is a prayer that celebrates the interdependence of all life in God, and which doesn’t privilege humanity above the rest of creation. Similarly, St Francis’s prayer which we know as ‘Make me a channel of your peace’ is a prayer that celebrates our dependence upon one another for forgiveness, love and peace, and which firmly sets the responsibility for making peace on each one of us.
We have much to thank St Francis and his followers for, but especially for the way in which we celebrate Christmas and Passiontide. At a time when theological discussion was becoming very cerebral, Francis introduced a very practical way of celebrating both the birth and the death of Christ. The Christmas Crib we owe to Francis’s genius in bringing the events of the Christmas Gospel to life for those who could not read and who perhaps didn’t understand the highly technical Latin of the Church. Similarly, it was Francis who introduced the Way of the Cross to the Christians of his time, taking Christians very physically along Christ’s journey to the cross in a dramatic representation of the events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Having experienced the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem on Good Friday, I can testify that this is a much more moving way of celebrating the story than just reading it in the Bible. Reliving the story can be very powerful.
Francis’s Christianity was a very practical Christianity – a Gospel that was lived out in action. However, behind the action was a life of prayer, and especially the prayer of silence. Francis united contemplation and action, and it is this united approach to Christian living that we are called to today. Our care for creation must come from a heart that joins in the prayer of the whole creation – the song of the sun and moon, the earth and its inhabitants. Our peace-making must come from a heart that is settled and at peace with itself. Our action must arise out of our contemplation, out of the silence in which we find the peace, love and joy of God.
The Rev Dr Kevin Maddy
Weekday Chaplain
Il Poverello – St Francis (part two)
Many people think of St Francis of Assisi rather romantically, preaching to the birds. He was actually the son of a wealthy Italian merchant, heart and soul of the youth of the town, drinking, dancing and generally enjoying themselves, men and women alike. Francis was handsome, attractive, and always singing. But this changed when he went off to fight for the local army, was captured, caught malaria, which became chronic, and came home greatly humbled. During his recovery he thought he heard a call from God to rebuild his church, and went off with a couple of friends to repair a local ruin. But his call was in fact much wider. The rest of his life was lived in community with no possessions.
Despite his life of poverty, Francis challenged senior figures, even popes, mainly about the wealth and practices of the church, and sued for peace with the Egyptian Sultan during the Fifth Crusade.
One lasting legacy is the Third Order, which he founded for those who felt “called to serve God in the spirit of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience in everyday life”. There is a principle for each day of the month, on the three Notes of the Order, Humility, Love and Joy, as well as the three ways of Service, Prayer, Study, and Work. We are ordinary people who try to live out the Gospel.
All of us share Francis’ love for creation, respecting and nurturing living things, and recognising that all are connected. We identify with the sharing of food and hospitality, and any meeting of Franciscans usually generates laughter. We hope that this, and our joy in worship, is visible.
As Franciscans we feel close to the earth and all she nurtures. Francis found his true self through finding Jesus, and we all seek that same liberation.
Sue Baines-MacNeil
September in Pictures
Term began with the Trinity Academy Sixth Form cramming into the Minster for their first assembly of the year and Calderdale College’s University students had their Graduation evening, with a lovely reception outside in a marquee on the lawn beforehand.
We welcomed civic guests to the Minster to mark the fourth anniversary of the Accession of King Charles III
The concert season began again in earnest. We had Elvis in the building, Out of the Box marked ‘The Last Night of the Proms’ with Skipton Brass (below) and we enjoyed songs from the shows in the ‘Voices of Valjean’.
Repairs to the tower roof were made by intrepid rope-access experts. Stone and leadwork repairs to the North Clerestory to prevent water ingress into the Barnabas Chapel and organ chamber also continue and should be completed in October.
Strategic Plan 2021-6 – Impact Survey
The Minster is now coming towards the end of the current Strategic Plan which finishes at the end of the year. The Minster would like to capture your views about how the Minster has progressed over the last 5 years and to hear some of your opinions before we launch the new Strategic Plan on Easter Day 2027. If you haven’t already done so, please would you complete an Impact Survey that asks a series of questions about the Minster and what we have been trying to achieve in these recent years. Many thanks to those who have already responded.
We hope that you will give this your attention and it should take no longer than 10 minutes to fill in. Please tell us what you think has worked well and helped to take us forward, and if you believe there are things we have got wrong or areas where there is room for improvement. There is no doubt that the Minster is now in a very different place from where it was back in 2021, with a large, diverse and growing community, a huge cultural programme, and very much at the heart of the Borough with an international ministry to Germany and Tanzania. In the New Year we shall publish a commentary on the Strategic Plan and celebrating everything that has been achieved. To see the current Strategic Plan click HERE!
Please complete this survey by Monday 5th October. To open the survey please click HERE!
The Eco Slot
The 18th October marks Anti-Slavery Day. Slavery might be something you think of as being way back in the past – surely the world, or at least what we regard as the ‘first world’, has moved on since then? Well sadly, the answer is no. In fact, slavery is in place right under our noses – hidden in plain sight.
What does modern day slavery have to do with eco-church?
Eco-church is about caring for all of God’s creation – and that means our fellow human beings as well. We are to care for them in a Christ-like manner – with compassion, not judgement (John 8: 1-11). We’re called to set prisoners free – not pile more condemnation onto them (Deut. 24:17-18). It’s up to us to keep our eyes open to what is going on around us – and take appropriate action to protect and rescue anyone we suspect may be being held in slavery of any form – details of useful contacts are at the end of this article.
The topic of people arriving on British shores in ‘small boats’ has been an emotive one for several years now and there are no easy answers as to exactly why so many migrants want to come here, neither are there any easy solutions to stemming the flow.
But try and put yourself in the shoes of one of these people for a moment. Your homeland has been bombed into oblivion, or you’re regarded as an enemy of the rulers in your own country, so you’ve fled to a refugee camp in a neighbouring country. The conditions there are appalling – food is in short supply, there’s no clean water and sickness and disease is rife in this overcrowded city of tents…
Then one day, someone approaches you and asks if you want to escape all this and make a new life.
Of course you do!!
They offer to get you to Europe – but it’s going to cost money of course – so your family scrape all their valuables and any cash they have and hand it over. You’re going with their blessing and prayers that you’ll be able to make enough money in Europe to help them rebuild their lives and then you will return home to them. Everything they have is invested in you now.
You set off on the long journey, it’s dangerous, but you make it safely into mainland Europe. But what are you supposed to do now? You don’t speak the language so how do you even begin to find work? And where will you even live? All the finance you had was spent getting you this far…
Then one day, someone approaches you and says there’s plenty of work in the UK – and it comes with accommodation – do you fancy it?
Of course you do!!
But it’s going to cost you money to get there and you have nothing. No problem they say – we’ll loan you the money and you can pay it back from your wages.
You think of your family who’ve invested everything in you – and you agree to the offer.
You’re packed into an inflatable boat with 200 others – many with a similar story to yours – and finally you arrive in what was supposed to be the ‘promised land’. At least you can speak the language a little here and you’re given accommodation by the authorities whilst you wait to be ‘processed’ until one day, someone comes to meet you – you disappear without trace from the hotel.
Because now you have been given a job – washing cars, harvesting crops, farming cannabis, working in a nail bar or barber shop, working in a ‘regular’ corner shop, delivering fast food, shoplifting, dealing drugs, working in a brothel, working as a domestic ‘servant’…
You work around 16 hours, 7 days a week for a pittance – and every single penny you earn goes towards paying for that boat ride across the English Channel and your accommodation.
But the debt will never be paid because the interest is being piled on every day. You’re scared. If you try to escape, either they will kill you or the authorities will capture and deport you back to the country you originally fled from – to face almost certain death. You’re trapped either way.
Welcome to a life of slavery – your family back home never hear from you again…
Slavery also happens within the UK home population – often based around organised crime such as ‘county lines’ and ‘cuckooing’, where vulnerable children and adults are groomed and then tricked into being agents of criminal behaviour such as drug dealing. The story is similar – victims end up with debts they can’t possibly pay – and because they’ve become involved in criminal activity, they’re afraid to speak to the authorities.
The truth is that slavery is far more prevalent in the UK (and worldwide) than we dare to think.
There is lots of helpful information on the Salvation Army website here:
https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/modern-slavery
See also West Yorkshire Police for other signs to watch out for:
Latest statistics can be seen here:
