Slide 1:
People like to talk about “thin places” where we seem to see
God a little easier. There are holy places like Mt. Zion in Scriptures, or even
places in the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem for our faith. These are places where
encounters with God seem to occur the most or even just places that draw our
minds towards God and all that He has done for us.
But we don’t often talk about thin places in our own
journeys. Places where God spoke to us alone and not necessarily anyone else. Winchester
is one of those places for me.
Slide 2:
I originally went to Winchester because of a pilgrimage.
Specifically, we went to see the shrine of St. Swithhun, one of the early
bishops of the Cathedral back in the 800s.
Slide 3:
One of the chef miracles St. Swithun performed was on this
bridge. This is, by the way, the only picture that is not mine in this
presentation. I believe it belongs to the Winchester Historical Society (It can be found at this link).
Anyways, according to legend, a woman was carrying a basket of eggs when some
workers on the bridge decided to be mean and knock her basket over. Bishop
Swithun was walking across and helped the woman pick up her eggs. When he
picked them up they were miraculously fixed and unbroken.
Slide 4:
My stole, which I was given for my ordination, marks this
journey with the bridge and the egg, along with the Taizé cross from the later
part of my pilgrimage to England and Taizé, France in 2003.
Slide 5:
But enough about that for now. Before I get into my story. I
want to talk a little more about the history of Winchester Cathedral. I’ve
learned more every time I’ve visited (this was my third time now), and learning
more of the history makes me feel more and more connected with the church each
time.
Slide 6:
The church is very old, from 642. In fact, here we can see
the remains of the original church that stood here. Later, when William the
Conqueror came to England, because this was an important city of the realm, he
had a new church built here. My ancestors would have come over with William the
Conqueror, so this is one way I feel connected to this church.
Slide 7:
One way we see the importance of this church is who was
buried here. There are some kings, but also the clergy, like Bishop Henry de
Blois here, were related directly to kings.
Slide 8:
Or folks like Bishop Fox who were in key positions in the
government. So this continued to be an important church over time.
Slide 9:
One of the beautiful things about Winchester is that, while
remembering the past, this is still a functioning church. They still say
prayers on the hour. And we see the continuing to remember the past while still
functioning in the present through juxtapositions like this one of the older
font with the newer holder for the Pascal Candle. It’s a great reminder that we
are joined together in the body of Christ throughout all ages.
Slide 10:
The font itself dates back to Henry de Blois’ time as
bishop. It depicts scenes of St. Nicolas.
Slide 11:
But onwards into the church itself
Slide 12:
As you can see, not only is the church in use still, but it
is undergoing renovation. This has been going on since 2014, three years ago
and the last time I was here.
Slide 13:
This gives you a closer look at the altar frontal being
currently used, as well as the rood screen in front of the choir.
Slide 14:
And here we see the lectern. I particularly liked seeing the
pelican here. It’s a medieval symbol for Christ because pelicans were believed
to give some of their flesh for the nest of their young. It’s also in the coat
of arms for Corpus Christi in Cambridge where I was attached as a seminarian
for a term.
Slide 15:
This is pulpit. The style is similar to one of the pulpits I
saw in Cambridge where Thomas Cranmer preached. You’ll notice some words etched
on the side of the wall here...
Slide 16:
…Which you’ll see throughout in different parts of the
church.
Slide 17:
There are also many side chapels, as in most cathedrals from
the Middle Ages.
Slide 18:
This includes the Lady Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
More on this later though.
Slide 19:
We have the choir seating as well.
Slide 20:
With the main altar behind.
Slide 21:
And here you can see more clearly the renovation being done
here.
Slide 22:
And here you can see what the altar looks like in Advent, as
well as how long the renovation has been going on.
Slide 23:
The pulpit in the choir, I think, is much nicer.
Slide 24:
And while this isn’t a great picture, here is the cathedra,
the bishop’s chair. To show that this is a cathedral, and one with some prestige.
Slide 25:
Winchester has a great history of learning, shown here with
Headmaster Warton teaching Aristotle and Homer to the children. One of the
ministers’, Lowth’s, sons discovered the idea of parallelism in Hebrew poetry.
Even today, there are students connected to the church, including the son and
recent graduate of a friend of mine. This is another way I feel connected to
the church personally.
Slide 26:
The cathedral also has a strong connection to author Jane
Austin.
Slide 27:
She is one of the last to actually be buried here in the
church under a marker, which is at this spot in the cathedral.
Slide 28:
Her tombstone mentions her father, a priest, and her
wonderfulness as a person but fails to talk about her accomplishments.
Slide 29:
Which has been rectified by the memorial plaque right next
to her body.
Slide 30:
This being the 200 year anniversary of her death, the church
has done a lot to commemorate her life recently, as seen with this artwork
here.
Slide 31:
A quirk of the church is that it is right on a flood line.
Slide 32:
Which you can see in the crypts at certain parts of the year,
such as in December.
Slide 33:
But back to the reason we’re talking about this great
cathedral. Back in 2003, I made my pilgrimage to this spot, where Swithun’s
shrine stands.
Slide 34:
I was with other youth of the Diocese of Alabama at the
time, and right in front of the icons here, we did a reconciliation ceremony.
Slide 35:
Here’s a view of it before the restoration work to give you
an idea of how I would have experienced it back in 2003 (minus the crèche).
This would have been where pilgrims would have crawled to experience the shrine
to Swithun. I went up to Bishop Andrus, now Bishop of California, then Bishop
Suffragan of Alabama. I remember he asked me “what’s on your mind?” Before I
could think, I replied “Am I to be a priest?” I hadn’t realized that I was
struggling with this question at this point. I had a few people suggest that I
should be a priest, but I hadn’t felt the call until that point, so I mostly
left the idea alone. Bishop Andrus responded by saying we’d pray for guidance
and he gave me a hug.
Slide 36:
I was pretty confused as this point, and crying, so I went
to the chapel behind the shrine, the Lady Chapel.
Slide 37:
As you might be able to see here, the panels represent
different miracles of Mary. These are restorations from the 1930s repainted
from the original.
Slide 38-39:
And of course the stained glass above the panels.
Slide 40:
Keep in mind, stained glass in England is all more modern,
thanks to Oliver Cromwell and the Cronies in the 1600s. I wish this picture was
better, because it shows the front stained glass which is made up of all the
broken pieces of the stained glass windows originally here, a unique
arrangement to this church.
Slide 41:
But back to the Lady Chapel. Another thing to note is that
in the 20th century, it was decided to make reparations for Joan of
Arc’s death by commemorating her with this statue here, just outside the
chapel.
Slide 42:
And nearby, we have this mobile, which states:
Slide 43:
“I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.” This
quote from Joan is another connection point since I was very young at the time
of my call. And I didn’t really know what was going on.
Slide 44:
This place inside the chapel was helpful with that. It was
here at around this spot that I stopped and reflected on what had just happened
with my call. And dried my tears. This was early on in our journey, the 4th
day in fact. We would go on to the Taizé community in France a few days later.
It was there I reflected more on what happened, I decided I was too young to
think about ministry now, but that somehow made the sense that God was calling
me to ministry get stronger. That year, I would do a week internship at my
sending parish to get a better sense of the daily workings of the church, and I
would do other things that slowly lead me…
Slide 45:
… to this point, being here with y’all as an ordained
clergy. Again, this stole represents my journey, beginning with the journey to
Swithun’s shrine and ending the first chapter of this journey reflecting in
Taizé. I’m still moving forward in my own ministry, and I think it’s helpful as
we all move forward to, from time to time reflect on our past. I still get a
feeling every time I go back to Winchester, and I hope each of you have places
or moments in your life where you felt God speak to you, perhaps in a way
beyond your understanding at the time. Thank you for listening!
Bibliography:
Crook, John. Winchester Cathedral. Andover, Hampshire, U.K.: Pitkin Unichrone, 2001.
Bibliography:
Crook, John. Winchester Cathedral. Andover, Hampshire, U.K.: Pitkin Unichrone, 2001.