The Installation of Canon Rosy Fairhurst and David Dewdney as Canons of
Leicester Cathedral
Sunday 7 September 2014
“Should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a
hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left”
Jonah Chapter 4, Verse 11
In 1994, the Nobel Prize winning biochemist Francis Crick wrote: “You, your joys and
sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and your free
will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their
attendant molecules.”
Well, if he is right, this significant moment in the story of our Cathedral is nothing more
than an illusion. Think how that statement contrasts with the readings from the Book of
Jonah and from the Acts of the Apostles which, based on Francis Crick’s understanding of
human consciousness are completely meaningless. The story of Jonah can only make
sense to us if we believe that God is actively involved in our human stories, is intensely
present to us, and that our human experience is only explainable by giving attention to
what God may be doing. The story of Jonah of course begins with God saying “Arise, go
to Nineveh and cry against it.” Jonah, disinclined to take on a task which is going to be
gruelling, dangerous, unfruitful and extremely unpopular takes a ship and goes in the
opposite direction towards the fleshpots and temptations of Tarshish. The Lord pursues
his unfaithful prophet and we all know how the story ends. The sinking of the ship and the
swallowing of Jonah by a great fish which regurgitates him onto dry land and re-orientates
his life.
This afternoon’s reading takes the story on from there. The call of God to Jonah and the
intervention of God in Jonah’s life leads him inexorably back to where he would rather not
be: but where the real work is to be done. And now we see the rage of Jonah towards
God. His intense indignation at God’s perverse and irritating habit of being merciful to
people he should be punishing. And it also portrays God’s response, sending physical
trials on Jonah to help him see how fortunate he is and to move him beyond the self
pitying hopelessness which had afflicted him.
The New Testament reading from Acts portrays a similarly proactive God whose life,
presence and effect on the early Christian communities is experienced as the work of the
Holy Spirit. It is second nature to describe the impact of this divine presence as
miraculous, transformational and life giving.
How does this help us think about the life and work of this Cathedral? About the particular
responsibilities that David and Rosy take on today? They are only too aware that they join
the College of Canons and the Residentiary Chapter at a moment of extraordinary
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opportunity and challenge. Installing Canons in a Cathedral at the very moment when the
Canons’ stalls are being physically removed and half the building is shrouded by
scaffolding and boards, is a reminder of the larger drama and the sweeping narrative in
which our Cathedral is now caught up.
We could settle for the scientific materialist explanation of Francis Crick as the most
satisfactory way of understanding what is happening here. That the discovery of Richard
III is an extraordinary historical and academic accident with no meaning beyond the effect
on visitor numbers and the profile of this Cathedral. But the much greater challenge is to
see the hand of the God who turned Jonah’s life around and who animated the early
Christian communities as the same spirit which is beginning to activate and germinate the
many seeds that have been sown in this place over the years. And to take that truth and
that awareness deep into every aspect of the Cathedral’s life and work.
If that is so, we can be persuaded that David and Rosy’s arrival here is part of the process
by which God in His own time and in His own unexpected, unpredictable and radically
unplanable way transforms church and society in our own day.
If we profoundly believe that, it suggests three things about which are new Canons might
want to reflect particularly in the days ahead.
First that the rhythm of prayer, attention to Scripture and waiting on God which are part of
the life of every Cathedral, are especially and centrally important to this Cathedral at a time
of dramatic change. Remaining still before God and attentive is challenging enough in the
silence of a great Cathedral, but even more testing against the background of hammering,
drilling and cursing which are a feature of every building site. But you Rosy come to us
with a vocation to help us explore what communities of prayer might look like if they grew
out of the soil of this changing Cathedral. You have come to us with a vocation to help us
discover whether the spirit of God is leading us to establish new monastic communities as
part of the way in which this Cathedral might serve and connect with the communities
around us. And you come with some experience of the Benedictine, Franciscan and
Ignatian traditions which might help us think about ways in which the active spirit of God is
transforming and reshaping the Church at the heart of this city.
Secondly it will lead us to see that this new chapter in the story of our Cathedral is clearly
part of the Spirit’s work amongst us in this Diocese in relationship building. In that sense
the Bishop and the Cathedral share a common task – to be a pontifex - a bridge builder.
The bridge building task of this Cathedral between our urban and rural communities,
between the Christian community and those of other faiths, between our resident
populations and our major civic institutions particularly our three Universities, between our
City and County Local Authorities. Above all between a community of those who
understand and explain our history by paying attention to the presence of God on the one
hand and a secular society for whom much of what we appear to think and say has little
resonance or traction.
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Rosy comes to us with experience of the Grubb Institute and its work in interpreting much
of the life of the Church on the boundary with society. Our hope and prayer today is that
she will bring these insights and these tools of interpretation to bear on our understanding
of how this Cathedral interacts with its context and how it pays attention to bridge building
as the way the spirit of God is working through the common life of this Cathedral.
And thirdly, Rosy and David, you arrive at a time when a key task of the Cathedral is to
proclaim God’s mercy on the City as Jonah was called to do in Nineveh. To be part of a
pastoral team in a Cathedral like this is to learn very quickly how many people gravitate
towards this place burdened with cares, anxieties or self-punishing narratives which
undermine their self esteem and spiritual and mental health. The Cathedral is to be above
all else a place that remains radically open and welcoming to those who will find it hard to
find their place elsewhere. Those who seek asylum, or who study away from home, or
cannot locate themselves in some of our parish churches, or who are simply lost, lonely
and detached. Some recent work which I have been engaged in through our Commission
on Poverty in this Diocese, is beginning to remind us how many people, especially the
poor, live in fear these days. Fear of destitution, of not being able to pay the bills, of not
being able to feed their children, of not ever finding their way back as active citizens into a
life that has meaning, relationships and purpose.
This Cathedral like Jonah in Nineveh cannot escape to Tarshish. It has to turn its eyes
from some of the seductions that may beckon at times and remain what it is called by God
to be – the home, the hearth, the heart of our communities where Jesus Christ
unconditionally welcomes those who come to him with heavy hearts.
For these three tasks of our Cathedral we install and welcome you today – to enrich and
deepen our life of prayer that we may attend to God’s presence here. To build bridges into
and across our communities.
To proclaim the radical, unconditional mercy and
forgiveness of God for all people, especially the lost. As you do that among us we ask
God’s blessing and strengthening for you both in the days ahead.
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