Leicester Cathedral: Richard III Anniversary
22 August 2013
“Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes
to be first among you must be slave of all”
Less than one year after his discovery, King Richard III is already having a visible effect on
this Cathedral. The removal of this pulpit from the South to the North side and the creation
of a permanent plinth as a focus for worship have long been anticipated by those of us
who preach here regularly and it has taken this discovery to precipitate this important
work. There is of course much more to come but already we see that we are caught up
not just in remembering events of five centuries ago but in witnessing their physical impact
on our contemporary world.
The story of the King in a car park, now so familiar to New York taxi drivers, journalists and
all those who had never heard of Leicester before, is now part of our story. Twelve
months ago we could not have imagined the dramatic sequence of events, discovery,
analysis, and presentation to the world – a story told and retold countless times and a
story still unfinished. Last week’s news of a judge requiring fuller and further consultation
on the final resting place of King Richard III keeps this story alive and moving for a while
yet.
But whatever the outcome and whatever the final resolution turns out to be, Leicester is
now in a new way a storied place. And this Cathedral with the discovery so close and the
plans for Cathedral Gardens with a commemoration of the Battle of Bosworth and of
Richard III both to be visibly included, has become in so many ways the epicentre of this
story.
What does it mean to become a storied place? The answer to that lies in the meanings
which attach to the story. And cathedrals are called to be places, supremely, where
people come to find meaning. To pray, to reflect, to plead, to gather strength, to rest, to
summon up courage, to listen to solemn words. They are places where the traveller, the
seeker, the refugee or the petitioner may quietly come, often anonymously, without fear of
comment, remark, question or challenge.
This is why for this Cathedral to be associated now, and for the future, with this story
connects the Cathedral in a new and profound way to the story of Leicester and
Leicestershire over these five centuries. And it is the meaning of that story and its
connection to the personal stories of those who visit which will become so important in the
years ahead.
And this is vital because it’s clear both from the Scriptures and from the whole of the
Christian tradition that God chooses some places to reveal Himself to people just as God
chose one place for the Incarnation. And that cannot be otherwise since, it is in place that
God meets and interacts with the world. I’m not speaking of some places which are
necessarily more holy than others, but of some places where particular stories are so
clearly focussed that it is possible to see the action of God intersecting with human history.
And it becomes now part of the vocation of this Cathedral to show how this place, this
neighbourhood, this city and this county have become a place where that interaction is
visible.
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And I think there are three reasons why that is now the challenge.
First, because this story means that (whatever eventually happens to the remains of King
Richard) this Cathedral and its neighbourhood will mark the place where his body has lain
for five hundred years. It is inevitable that he will continue to be remembered here. The
story points us to what Christians call “salvation history”, the story of God’s action in the
life of every person in Jesus Christ. We have heard this afternoon about King Richard’s
prayer and about his own life of faith. For Christians the site of a fallen king is also the site
of God’s saving work. It is a reminder that in every human life God’s grace is to be
discovered, regardless of whether they are saints or sinners or, in the case of most human
beings, a mixture of both. This Cathedral therefore stands, as it always has, as a visible
sign of God’s saving work through the past history of the people who’ve worshipped here.
And that sign becomes clearer, more focussed, more visible as it is associated with this
story of an anointed king, fallen in battle. If, as Christians firmly believe, King Richard at
his death entered eternal life with God, so those who come here to remember him and to
find the story of his life and death, will we hope and pray be inspired to know that that
promise of eternal life is offered to them too.
Secondly, it is the task of this Cathedral to witness to God’s action in the present. The
discovery of King Richard’s remains certainly do not mean that the Cathedral should
become a museum, a repository of past history alone, a place to be visited in order that
people can disconnect from their present world and escape from the realities of here and
now. This Cathedral, associated with the story of King Richard, is also the place where
the Eucharist is celebrated week by week and day by day. It is a place where the present
story of God’s involvement in human history today is celebrated, revealed and made
visible. The writer Susan Hill has asked: “Where else in the heart of a city is such a place,
where the sense of all past, all present, is distilled into the eternal moment at the still point
of the turning world?” That is the task here to ensure that the story of Richard III can be
revealed in a way which illuminates our present story and therefore can be part of the
prophetic work of this Cathedral in our own day.
And thirdly, this story points us to the future. This touches on the Gospel reading from St
Mark which we heard earlier. It is the account of one of the most disappointing moments
in Jesus’ time with the disciples. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, those called at
the very beginning of Mark’s story and those in the most inner circle of Jesus’ followers,
have the opportunity to reveal how close they are to Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom, of
discipleship and of leadership. They completely fail to rise to the challenge. They
demonstrate that the fundamental human tendency for personal power and glory, for the
use and manipulation of others to get what we want – these instincts were still alive in
them. And Jesus takes the opportunity to deconstruct the forms of leadership that his
disciples would have been most accustomed to seeing. They had seen and experienced
the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes and King Herod. And Jesus recognised, that
the form of leadership these groups were now demonstrating was lethal, would be toxic in
the kingdom for which he was giving his life and for which he was preparing his disciples to
be leaders. There has to be a radically different kind of leadership, focussed and built on
self sacrifice and self disregarding service of others. “Whoever wishes to become great
among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be
slave of all”
And here too lies the task of this Cathedral. To help people see and reflect on the story
that is now threaded through this place. To invite people to ask what there is to be learnt
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from it of virtuous, life giving leadership and what can be learnt about self regarding
destructive leadership (for perhaps there are elements of both).
It is as Christians face these questions prayerfully that the teaching, interpreting and
instructing work of the Cathedral goes forward. And it is in opening up the hearts and
minds of visitors to this place that the continuing impact of the life and death of King
Richard will work its effect in our day.
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
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