Worship, Prayer and Christian Formation

at Ely Cathedral Autumn 2019

Disciples of Christ:Power, Politics, Planet

Sunday 8 September, 10.30am 12th Sunday after Trinity

Preacher: The Bishop The Visible Community: Counting the Cost

Bishop Stephen has been our chief pastor since 2010. He has had a ministry to marginalised groups over many years. He has a particular interest in mental health issues. Since 2014 he has been the Church of England’s lead bishop for education in the House of Lords where he speaks on issues affecting communities within the Diocese and on mental health and disability. Having been the Anglican bishop accompanying the L’Arche Community in the UK, a mixed community of people with learning difficulties and those who care for them, he is now ministering in that role internationally.

4pm Choral Evensong with AddressPreacher: The DeanPower and Prayer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer uses the phrase ‘the visible community’ to describe the people summoned to walk Jesus’ compassionate way of the cross. We are those people; disciples of Jesus, drawn to his invitation, to a calling to work for the kingdom of God upon earth. Through the teaching we encounter in the Gospel of Luke, our preachers help us to explore the demands of the Gospel on our own lives, witnessing publicly and working actively to love Christ in and through the more vulnerable members of our society.

Sunday Sermon Series: The Visible Community

Prayer for the Season

God our deliverer, defender of the poor and needy: when the foundations of the earth are shaking,give strength to your peopleto uphold justice and fight all wrong;in the name of your Son,Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

David Stancliffe

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Worship is offered daily, all are welcome

Monday - Saturday7.30am Morning Prayer (A short said service with bible readings, canticles and prayers)8.00am Holy Communion (said)5.30pm Evensong

Sunday8.15am Holy Communion (A said service, in traditional language with a short address)10.30am Sung Eucharist with music, hymns and sermon4.00pm Choral Evensong with short address

On Thursdays and Saints’ Days there is an additional eucharist at 12.10pmA full list of services can be found on the Cathedral website.

* Incense is used at services marked with an asterisk

Disciples of Christ: Power, Politics, PlanetWorship, Prayer and Christian Formation at Ely Cathedral

In his book The Cost of Discipleship the great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who lost his life to the Nazis in 1945) speaks of ‘the Visible Community’; those summoned to follow the Crucified Lord in the life of grace.

Jesus calls his followers ‘salt of the earth’ and says that, through them, the earth and all its goodness is preserved for those who appear to have nothing and to be valued as nothing by the powerful; the poor, the vulnerable, the weak.

As Jesus’ disciples it is for us, too, to follow him in self-giving and self-sacrifice: to honour the forgotten, the ignored and the oppressed. We are ‘the Visible Community’, and we have an earthly task to be signs of God’s kingdom here and now; to be lights of the world and to care for those with no defence.

In our Autumn programme we explore the practical demands of the Gospel on our lives as we witness publicly to Christ in the realm of power, politics and planet.

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Sunday 6 October, 10.30am16th Sunday after Trinity

The Revd Dr Jenny GageThe Visible Community:Justice and Faithfulness

Jenny has recently returned to the Cathedral as Minister for Social Justice, having served over the past four and a half years as a priest in the Grunty Fen Team Ministry, and before that the Three Rivers Group. Jenny was a member of the congregation and then an ordinand here. Prior to training for ordination, she started the Ely Forum for Social Responsibility, so is now returning to that original passion. She is a Trustee of Ely Foodbank, volunteers for the debt advice centre Christians against Poverty, and is a befriender at the Yarlswood Immigration Centre.

4pm Choral Evensong with AddressPreacher: Canon James GarrardSpeaking Truth to Power

Sunday 29 September, 10.30amFeast of St Michael and All Angels*

Preacher: Canon Jessica MartinThe Visible Community:Conflict and Recognition

Jessica has been residentiary Canon at the Cathedral since 2016. An academic specialist in the religious literature of the seventeenth century, she also has an interest in sexuality and holiness, serving on two different national Church of England bodies pondering these areas. She is finishing a book which looks theologically at the modern world’s relationship with greed and consumerism (both in sexual issues and more widely) called Holiness and Desire.

4pm Choral Evensong with Address*Preacher: Canon Victoria JohnsonFighting for Justice

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Sundays: 8, 15, 22 & 29 September, NoonMeet The Preacher - Facilitated by Canon Jessica MartinEveryone is invited to ‘Meet the Preacher’ and discuss the insights and questions the sermons raise, from noon in Powcher’s Hall after the 10.30am Eucharist.

Sunday 22 September, 10.30am14th Sunday after Trinity

Preacher: The Revd Dr Stephen CherryThe Visible Community:Integrity and Compromise  

Stephen has been Dean of Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge since 2014. A former residentiary Canon of Durham Cathedral, he is the College’s Director of Studies in Theology, Religion and the Philosophy of Religion. Stephen’s books have addressed themes such as humility and learning in discipleship, and forgiveness after shattering experiences; he has also written about the spiritual dangers inherent in the busyness of our lives today and published two collections of prayerful meditations. His most recent book (God-Curious, 2017) is an introduction to theology for people intrigued by life’s eternal questions.

4pm Choral Evensong with AddressPreacher: Canon Jessica MartinA New Song for a New Earth

Sunday 15 September, 10.30am13th Sunday after Trinity

Preacher: The DeanThe Visible Community:Conversion of Life

Mark Bonney has been Dean of Ely since 2012. Prior to coming to Ely he was Residentiary Canon at Salisbury Cathedral and before that worked in parish ministry for 19 years. He has always had a keen interest in the relationship of spirituality to daily living, resistant to the privatisation of spirituality and faith that is a common presumption of contemporary thinking.

4pm Choral Evensong with AddressPreacher: Mr John Marshall LLMWorshipping the Creator

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Sunday 6 October, NoonCathedral Community ForumWith speaker The Revd Dr Jenny Gage. (See page 15)

Sunday 13 October, 10.30am Harvest Festival EucharistEveryone is very warmly welcome to this traditional Harvest Festival Eucharist. We are thrilled to be joined by members of the worshipping community from Kigali, Rwanda, with which the Diocese of Ely is linked. Our relationships and mutual learning are very much a theme of this Harvest service. Bishop Nathan, the new Bishop of Kigali will preach, and our worship will be enlivened and enhanced by Kigali’s ‘Prince of Peace’ choir.

4pmHarvest Songs of PraiseWe are delighted to welcome the new Bishop of Huntingdon, The Right Revd Dr Dagmar Winter, to preach at our Harvest Songs of Praise this year. It will be the first time that Bishop Dagmar has preached in the Cathedral and a very appropriate day as she has huge experience of rural ministry in Northumberland. We sing our favourite Harvest hymns as we give thanks for ‘all good gifts around us’, supported by the Boy Choristers and Ely Imps who are singing together at this service.

Harvest Weekend: The Harvest of Farm and Field

Friday 11 - Sunday 13 OctoberWe give thanks for the harvest, and for all who work in farm and field to ensure that we are fed and the land cared for. Events take place throughout the weekend, with displays,activities for every age group, a ceilidh, and a marvellous array of the fruits of the earth. Our worship includes:

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Caring for Creation: Stewardship and Responsibility

An important aspect of our calling is the valuing, protection and conservation of our vulnerable planet and all that lives upon it. The theme of stewardship for our finite resources runs through this autumn programme. Here is the worship which sustains our commitment; but look also for those lectures and events which underline this theme.

Monday 16 September, 8 - 9pm Prayer for the EarthCan you spare an hour to pray for the earth? Join us for a simple vigil and silent prayer in the beautiful surroundings of Prior Crauden’s Chapel as we call to mind the growing environmental crisis and pray that we may all walk gently on this earth. The Chapel will be lit by candles and is accessed by a steep set of winding stairs. The Lower Chapel will also be open for prayer and contemplation with a simple prayer station.

Sunday 22 September, 2pmAnimal ServiceOur annual service is a wonderful chance to give thanks for the animal companions with whom we share our lives and our planet, to bring them into our Cathedral, to ponder how best to care for animals and to ask God to bless them. We are very pleased that the Ely Imps, our Cathedral Children’s choir, are singing at this service.

Thursday 3 October, 5.30pmEvensong for the Eve of St FrancisSt Francis, whom we celebrate tonight, renounced the wealth and power into which he was born to embrace poverty, care for the weak and suffering, and a reverence for the gifts and creatures of God’s creation. Eventually he founded a monastic community, the Order of St Francis, which now has many members all over the world. As we honour the radical conversion of his life, we pray to discern how best to live simply and humbly, and topreserve and defend the planet and its many and various living species.

Sunday 6 October, 8pmCandlelit Compline for CreationtideWhy not follow the Amnesty Lecture on land conservation (see page 14) with an evening service of contemplation and superb singing in the incomparable setting of the Lady Chapel? A quiet evening service sung by the Lay Clerks. We honour the vulnerable, various, complex and beautiful gifts of God’s creation which sustain and delight us and are under such threat from the consequences of human greed.

Sunday 27 October, 10.30amSung Eucharist for Stewardship SundayWe give thanks for all we have received from God and reflect on our own call to faithful, committed and generous stewardship. We witness to Jesus not only in worship but in the decisions of our daily living, and in the way that we use our time, gifts and money to the glory of God. The preacher is Canon Victoria Johnson.

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Women as Witnesses to the Life of Faith

Tuesday 15 October, 5.30pm Evensong for the Feast of the Saints of ElyWe give thanks to God for the kinswomen of St Etheldreda - Seaxburh, Withburga, Ermenilda and Werburga - those who followed Etheldreda in this place of prayer with courage, conviction and integrity.

Wednesday 16 October, 5.30pmFirst Evensong of the Translation of St Etheldredawith procession and the Commemoration of Founders and Benefactors.St Etheldreda, Foundress of this place of prayer, established a double monastery on this site in the year 673. Her story shows her to have been a woman of conviction, authority, skill and integrity; and she gave up earthly riches for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. After her death her bones were removed to a shrine on this site, which became a place of pilgrimage. The prayers of those many generations of pilgrims join our own as we intercede for the world Christ came to save.

Friday 18 October, 5.30pmFestal Evensong on the Feast of St Luke*The apostle Luke is traditionally understood to have been a physician, and as we celebrate his feast day we give thanks for all who work to heal and care for their fellow human beings. As well as being author of the Gospel that bears his name, he also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, which tells the story of the extraordinary and transformative spread of the Gospel message to Gentile as well as Jewish hearers across the near east and the Mediterranean.

Saturday 2 November, 8pmSolemn Requiem Eucharist for All Souls*In the Lady ChapelWe remember those lost to us, naming them with love and giving thanks for all they taught and showed us about the kingdom of love to which we journey. The early seventeenth century setting by Victoria is sung in the extraordinary acoustic of the Lady Chapel.

Thursday 17 October, 5.30pmSolemn Eucharist for the Feast of the Translation of St Etheldreda*On this day in 695 the body of St Etheldreda was first moved (translated) into the monastic church. In 1106 and again in 1252 on this same day her mortal remains were moved as the new Cathedral was extended and beautified to allow pilgrims to visit her shrine. The Very Revd Michael Sadgrove, the former Dean of Durham (one of our sister Benedictine foundations) is our preacher as we celebrate the Eucharist in thanksgiving to God for the blessings and example of our Foundress.

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Witnesses to the Coming Kingdom: Saints, Sacrifice and Self-Giving

Saturday 14 September, 5.30pmEvensong on the Feast of the Holy Cross*The Feast of the Holy Cross contemplates the instrument of humiliation and torture upon which Jesus died, and its transformation into a sign of life and redemption upon his resurrection from the dead. As we think upon the wood which grew for such an extraordinary use, we pray for everyone who suffers humiliation, imprisonment, contempt, and cruelty at the hands of others, and pray for God’s redeeming mercy upon us all. The Cathedral choir is joined by Old Choristers at Evensong as we mark this day of thanksgiving for the life-giving cross.

Saturday 21 September, 5.30pmFestal Evensong on the Feast of St Matthew*The apostle Matthew is reputed to have been a tax collector - part of the hated system of repression under the Romans in the Holy Land. He left that life behind for one of poverty and self-giving after Jesus called him to be one of his apostles. Traditionally he is the author of the Gospel that bears his name.8

Sunday 17 November, 10.30amSung Eucharist with Holy BaptismWe celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism and welcome new members of God’s family to the journey of faith, hope and love.

6.30pmSaying GoodbyeA remembrance service for people who have lost a child atany stage of pregnancy, at birth or in infancy, whether last week or 80 years ago. Run by the Mariposa Trust.

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Sunday 24 November, 10.30amSung Eucharist for Christ The King*The feast of Christ the King acknowledges and celebrates Christ’s servant kingship over all creation, and looks towards the fulfilment of his kingdom, where everything is turned upside-down: the hungry fed, the poor made rich, and the powerless given honour. It is the culmination of the season in which we look towards that kingdom and pray especially for its coming, and it heralds the waiting and expectation of Advent. The Dean will preach and Canon Johnson will preside.

Saturday 30 November, 5.30pmFestal Evensong on the Feast of St Andrew*The apostle Andrew was brother to Peter and a disciple of Jesus. Like Peter, he was a fisherman, but left his nets and his livelihood to follow the call of the Gospel. He is said to have been martyred by crucifixion, and in celebrating him we recognise and honour the cost of discipleship.

Faith in Adversity: Reformation, Dissolution and Change at Ely

In November 1539, the monastery at Ely was dissolved. Centuries of prayer and tradition were disrupted and destroyed. We mark this event this year, the 480th since the dissolution, with a Latin Vespers followed by a lecture from Professor Eamon Duffy.

Monday 18 November, 5.30pmVespers Sung by the choir of the Roman Catholic church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge, directed by Nigel Kerry, with music by Christopher Tye, Magister Choristarum (Master of the Choristers) at Ely from 1543. Officiant: Monsignor Mark Langham of Fisher House, Cambridge.

7pmEly - Cambridge and the Reformation - A Lecture with Music Etheldreda Canon Professor Eamon Duffy lectures on the 480th anniversary of the dissolution of the monastery at Ely. With music from Ely Cathedral Choir.Tickets £5 (to include reception following Vespers before the lecture)

Sunday 3 November, 10.30amAll Saints’ Sunday*We celebrate all those thousands of men, women and children, many of whose names are forgotten by human history, who have in their own time and place witnessed to the truth and love of the Christian Gospel and worked towards the coming of God’s Kingdom. We are joined with them, part of the great Communion of Saints across distance and time, through the sacrificial love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Sunday 10 November, 10.30amRemembrance SundayWe gather to honour those who gave their lives for the freedom of others. We keep silence to witness the poppy drop from the Octagon as we pray for peace in our troubled world. Canon Jessica Martin will preach.

4pmRequiem Eucharist* sung by the Boys, Girls and Lower Voices of Ely Cathedral Choir. The Requiem is by Fauré.

Monday 11 November, 10.55amAct of Remembrance An act of Remembrance attended by King’s Ely. There will be a short act of worship on Armistice Day at which the school choir will sing. All are invited.

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Thursday 10 October, 6.45 - 8.30pmEly Cathedral Business Group Autumn DiscussionClimate Change: Implications for Business?Speakers include Dr Emily Shuckburgh, OBE, Deputy Head of the Polar Oceans Team at the British Antarctic Survey. (Free entry)

Monday 4 November, 6.45 - 8pmThe Revd Canon Mark Oakley, Dean of St John’s College, CambridgeDoing Justice in the Church for LGBTQ+ IssuesMark Oakley is Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge, and Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London. He is an author of books which explore the relationship between poetry and faith and an active supporter of human rights. He is an Ambassador for Stop Hate UK and a Trustee of the Civil Liberties Trust. His latest book (By Way of the Heart), is a collection of his sermons. He will talk about ‘the silence of our friends; the Church and LGBTQ+ issues’.

Sunday 24 November, 6.45 - 8pmHis Honour Judge Lucraft, QC, Chief Coroner of England and WalesDoing Justice for the DeadMark Lucraft is a member of the Cathedral congregation and was appointed Chief Coroner in 2016. He became a Senior Circuit Judge in 2017 working mostly at the Central Criminal Court. He has recently conducted the inquest into the London Bridge attacks. He will talk about the responsibilities of the Chief Coroner and the serving of the common good.

Thursday 28 November, 6.45 - 8pmLucy Frazer, QC, MP, Minister of State for Prisons Doing Justice in PoliticsLucy has been MP for South-East Cambridgeshire (which of course includes the City of Ely) since 2015 and became Minister of State for Prisons in July having served briefly as Solicitor General. She is a barrister and became a QC in 2012. She will talk about working at the interface between politics and the law.

Tickets: £7 (with free bar, available on the door or book in advance)Venue: South Transept, Ely CathedralBox Office: 01353 660349 www.elycathedral.org

Lucy FrazerMark LucraftThe Revd Canon Mark Oakley

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Discipleship and Learning: Power, Politics, Planet‘Doing Justice’ - Discussion Series

What is justice? We use the word about making things right and fair in society, so that people may be respected, valued, having rights in themselves and responsibilities to each other. Justice in the Scriptures is one of God’s qualities, and societies which strive for justice are working in his service.

But how is justice served? Our discussion series this term will focus on what ‘Doing Justice’ might mean in different contexts. The series will range from the national legal frameworks which work to ensure fair dealing within our nation (and which in our politically uncertain times face a particular challenge), to the campaigns for justice which might have an urgency our current systems can’t accommodate.

Come and participate in discussions about what it means to ‘do justice’ - in politics, in government, in a time of acute climate change, in sexuality, and in what we owe to the dead. Discussions will be facilitated with Francis Spufford, acclaimed local author, and with Canon Jessica Martin.

Thursday 19 September, 6.45 - 8pmJonathan Jones, QC, Procurator GeneralDoing Justice in GovernmentJonathan is a member of the Cathedral congregation and sings regularly as an extra singer with the choir. He is the Treasury Solicitor and Permanent Secretary of the Government Legal Service, until 2015 named the Treasury Solicitor’s Department. Earlier this year he was appointed a Queen’s Counsel honoris causa. Since 2016, he has been the Civil Service Health and Wellbeing Champion with a remit to promote good physical and mental health. He will talk about what it means to be working at the interface of law and government.

Sunday 29 September, 5 - 6.30pmTamsin OmondDoing Justice in Climate EmergencyTamsin is part of Extinction Rebellion with over 10 years’ experience of climate activism. She worked for Greenpeace, The Green Party, coordinated the interfaith work for 10:10 and was a founding member of Climate Rush and Plane Stupid. She occasionally writes for newspapers and has published a book (Rush! The Making of a Climate Activist). She will talk about the kind of justice which sometimes has to act outside the law.

Dr Emily ShuckburghTamsin OmondJonathan Jones

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Saturdays: 14 September, 12 October & 9 November, 8.30 - 10am‘Way of Life’ Breakfast MeetingsWith Canon Jessica MartinVenue: Powcher’s Hall

Come and have breakfast! Over croissants, orange juice, and excellent coffee, come to a group which explores scripture, right action and the life of the spirit together, talking over the readings for the Sunday eucharist that weekend, sharing stories, supporting each other, and trying out silent contemplation together. Why not come along? – all are welcome, whether occasionally or regularly, and whether you have come before or not. Email e.jones@elycathedral.org if you would like to come, so that we can get the catering right.

14 September: Terry Johnson will talk about his work with the debt advice centre Christians Against Poverty.12 October: Christine Tweddle & Izaak Martin will talk about their work with adults with special and additional needs.9 November: Rachel Johnson will talk about Toilet Twinning.

Sunday 6 October, Noon - 1pmCathedral Community ForumVenue: South Transept, Ely CathedralEveryone is welcome to the Community Forum. The main speaker will be Jenny Gage, who will reflect on her sermon and her role as Minor Canon for Social Justice. Learn more about Chapter’s vision of the Cathedral as an outward-looking community serving the city, the Diocese and the region. Chapter seeks to grow the numbers, and deepen the spiritual experience, for all with whom the Cathedral engages, with a very particular aim to deepen and grow the existing worshipping congregation. We will also be reviewing our congregational charitable giving and our Cathedral links with St John at Hackney and Zanzibar Cathedral. All are welcome.

Saturdays: 8 September, 5 October, 2 November, 7 December, 8amCathedral Litter PickAs part of our work towards becoming an Eco-Church, Renew, the Cathedral Environment Group, organises a monthly litter pick. Join a hardy team of litter-pickers who spend an hour tidying Ely, meeting in the South Car Park at 8am. We return to the Cathedral by 9am for coffee and cake. All are welcome.

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Friday 4 October, 10am - 4pmGender, Power and the Pulpit - A Day ConferenceVenue: Ely Cathedral Conference Centre

A conference on gender, power and preaching, with Liz Shercliff and speakers including Dr Elaine Storkey, Canon Victoria Johnson and Canon Jessica Martin.Tickets: £12 (including refreshments)Box Office: 01353 660349 www.elycathedral.org

Sunday 6 October, 6.30pmBen Jupp Memorial Lecture - Ely Amnesty GroupVenue: South Transept, Ely CathedralJohn Burton, CEO of the World Land Trust, will talk about the work of the Trust in conserving the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats, acre by acre.Entry free; retiring collection taken for the work of Amnesty.Following John’s lecture all are warmly invited to ‘Compline for Creationtide’ in the Lady Chapel.

Sundays: 1 September, 6 October, 3 November & 1 December, 10 - 10.15amAmnesty Prayer GroupEvery month, on the first Sunday of the month, at 10am, a small group meets to pray for those imprisoned, tortured or disappeared for reasons of conscience. Join us in Bishop Alcock’s Chapel to pray for 15 minutes for those whom the world finds too easy to forget.

A Woman’s Calling: Etheldreda and her Modern Inheritors

Tuesday 15 October, 6.45 for 7pmLecture in Honour of the Saints of Ely Dame Janet Nelson, DBE, FBA, former Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London, will lecture on ‘Women in Anglo-Saxon England’.

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More details about Disciples of Christ: Power Politics, Planet can be found on our website.

Images © ECPL, Keith Heppell, Andrew Sharpe, James Billings, Timothy Selvage.

Ely Cathedral Cambridgeshire CB7 4DLTel: 01353 667735Email: receptionist@elycathedral.org

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Banksy ‘Grappling Hook’ - Temporary Exhibition

An extraordinary art work by the renowned street artist, Banksy, is on temporary display in Ely Cathedral until the end of September.

The ’Grappling Hook’ (2017) is one of 26 made by Banksy and signed by the artist. It takes the form of a large crucifix with 3 steel grapples attached to a 4m long piece of knotted rope. It was created to bring awareness to the West Bank dividing wall, a 700km long barrier dividing the two most holy places of Christianity, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in old Jerusalem. All proceeds from the sale of each Grappling Hook benefited the communities within the West Bank.

Photo: Bonhams