Sunday July 15-Coventry & Stratford upon Avon

Sunday, 15 July, 2012- by Robert Hill, Men's Choir

After a long, tiring, and safe journey to England we have had the privilege of playing tourist for a few days before starting our residence in Ely on Monday.  After our separate flight groups met up at Heathrow we went to Woburn Abbey, a grand house built on the site of a former Cistercian monastery, and then checked into our hotel in Northampton.  Today (Sunday) we attended worship at Coventry Cathedral in the morning and visited Stratford-on-Avon in the afternoon.  Britain is always full of tourists in the summer, this year more so than ever with the Olympics and the Royal Jubilee, and it’s a delight to be part of such an exciting time in the UK’s history.

This morning’s worship experience in Coventry Cathedral was an especially moving time for all of us.  As most of you know, the Cathedral was almost destroyed by German firebombs in 1940 and then was rebuilt to be a symbol of reconciliation after the war.  What I did not know until today was that the “old” cathedral was not replaced by the “new”; rather the existing cathedral was expanded to include a new building.  The old cathedral, complete with high altar and cathedra (the bishop’s chair), still stands without roof, window, or walls, and is still used for worship every Friday.  Behind the altar in the old part of the cathedral are the words “FATHER FORGIVE” which are all the more poignant for the word that is missing.  It does not say “forgive the Germans” or even “forgive us;” it just says “forgive.”  Forgive us all for our sins of war, for destroying God’s creation, for hatred of each other.  This cathedral stands open to the elements, the old bell tower standing as a beacon of forgiveness and grace to a broken and grieving world.

On this, my third tour with the choirs of Christ Church Cathedral, Coventry’s open cathedral reminds me that our mission here is to expand the walls of our church in Lexington to include the entire world.  Britain’s tourists flock to her majestic Cathedrals but most visitors only experience these cathedrals as they would any beautiful building or museum.  Many seem unaware that the buildings they are walking through with camera in hand are active churches, yet every afternoon when we rehearse before Evensong a hush goes over the tourists and their faces light up as soon as we start to sing.  The hubbub of people speaking every language on earth goes quiet as people strain to hear songs of praise and thanksgiving to God, and people stop looking at the building and start looking at the church.  Just like at Pentecost when everyone heard each other in his own language, music coming from a Kentucky church (expanded to include England) is able to reach people of all nations.

After you read this I hope you will close your eyes, imagine yourself standing in our beautiful Kentucky church, and know that it is now reaching across the oceans.