Cathedral Blog

Songs of the Spirit: The Benedictus And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;     for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people     by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God,     the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,     to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1. 76-79 One of the best things about living at Christ Church is being able to get up early in the morning and go for a walk in the meadows before it fills up with joggers, dog walkers and people taking their daily legally sanctioned strolls. It is gloriously peaceful and if I can get up early enough to see the sun rising I’m reminded of the promise in the Benedictus that ‘the dawn from on high will break upon us’. The Benedictus, the Song of Zechariah, has been said or sung in early morning worship since it was introduced by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century. It is a song of blessing (‘Benedictus’ means blessing in Latin) and hope. But it is a song that also speaks of times of hardship. It begins, ‘Blessed by the Lord the God of Israel; who has come to his people and set them free’ - we are reminded that God’s people were once enslaved, had enemies and longed to be able to worship God in freedom.  Zechariah’s song sprung out of a time of hopelessness. The Bible tells us that he was an elderly priest who, with his wife Elizabeth, was ‘getting on in years’. They had no children. The priests would take on a week’s duty in the temple where they officiated at services: a bit like being Canon-in-Residence in our Cathedral. One day whilst in the temple Zechariah encountered an angel who promised him a son, to be called John. He was told he would have ‘joy and gladness’, that the child ‘will be great in the sight of the Lord’. (Luke 1.14) But Zechariah didn’t believe the angel. “How will I know that this is so?” he asked. “For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” (Luke 1.18) From that moment he became mute, unable to speak at all. He remained silent throughout the entire pregnancy and didn’t speak until his baby was eight days old. It was only when he announced, ‘His name is John’ that his tongue was freed and he began to sing his song of blessing and hope. One reason the Benedictus is said every morning is that in monastic times there would be a time of ‘great silence’ between Compline and Matins. Saying the Benedictus is a reminder that we, like Zachariah can break our nightly silence with praise. Within the Benedictus there are great themes of hope and salvation. There is hope for the salvation of the people of Israel: ‘a mighty saviour’ is on his way. There is hope for Zechariah’s son John who will prepare the way for Jesus with his father’s prophetic blessing upon him. And there is hope for all people: for each one of us. ‘The dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ A few days ago a dense morning fog descended on Oxford. You could hardly see a thing. Just the vague outlines of people walking in meadows. It was one of those days when you could only just make out a few steps ahead. Yet later in the day the fog lifted, clear and beautifully bright. This seems an apt metaphor for our times. Perhaps we are deep in the fog, in the gloom, not knowing what the next steps are? Many people are struggling to keep going and to keep positive. The future seems unclear. What can we plan? When will be able to gather with our friends and family? We are still in uncertain times. The Benedictus reminds us that we can have hope and that the dawn shall break. The light shall shine in the darkness. Hope is different to optimism – which is about blindly believing things will be better. Emily Dickinson writes: “Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all." Often hope is delicate and very fragile, sometimes just a flickering candle, a clump of daffodils, a ‘thing with feathers’. Hope is rooted in trust. Trust that God has brought God’s people out of the shadows in the past, and will do so again.   A trust that the fog is not the only weather, and it shall lift. That the dawn from on high shall break upon us. This is an edited extract of a sermon given by Revd Clare Hayns on 7 February 2021.

On Strove Tuesday I had a booked appointment for my vaccine at the Kassam Stadium. It’s well signposted to get there. You just have to avoid the consumer temptations of the Sainsbury’s Superstore. It’s a labyrinth trying to find your way out, and in that may be an allegory. From the moment you are waved on into the parking lot to the check-in desk, pre-screening and jab itself, the courtesy and care is overwhelming. You are not a number, this is not a production line, and whatever your age, occupation or status you are treated with utmost respect, genuine warmth and generous amounts of smiling. I was in and out in twenty minutes, but it wasn’t the efficiency that I found remarkable. It was the NHS care. I left through a back exit into the carpark and felt I’d experienced something of the Kingdom of God. Thank you, NHS. 

Day Twenty Three 5:7. Whenever necessity requires a visit to the public baths or any other place, no fewer than two or three should go. When someone has to leave the house, he ought to go with companions designated by the superior, not with persons of his own choosing. V.       You have made us for yourself, O...

Day Twenty One 5:4. The washing and cleaning of your clothes may be done in the monastery or at the laundry. The superior decides how often your clothes are to be laundered, lest an inordinate desire for clean clothes inwardly stain your soul. 5:5. Nor shall the body be denied proper hygienic care as standards for good health require. Do this...

Day Nineteen Chapter Five  5:1. Keep your clothes in one place under the care of one or two, or as many people as may be needed to air them out and prevent damage from moths. Just as a single storeroom furnishes your food, so a single wardrobe should supply your clothing. Pay as little attention as possible to the clothes you receive as...

Day Sixteen 4:9. If he neglects to mend his ways after such admonition, he should first be reported to the superior, before his behaviour is revealed to others, whose task it is to expose his failing in the event of his denial, so that his misconduct may not somehow be withheld from the others, after he has been corrected privately. But if he...

Day Fourteen 4:5. The man who directs his attention towards a woman and enjoys her similar token of affection should not think others fail to notice this mutual exchange. He is certainly observed even by persons he thinks do not see him. But if his actions escape the notice of men and women, what will he do about the One who keeps watch on high,...

Day Twelve 3:5. Sick people necessarily take less food so as not to aggravate their condition. During convalescence they are to receive such care as will quickly restore their health, even if they come from the lowest level of poverty in the world. Recent illness has afflicted them with the same frailty which the wealthy possess from their previous manner of life. When sick people have fully recovered, they should return to their happier ways, which are all the more fitting for God’s servants to the extent that they have fewer needs. Food formerly necessary to remedy their illness should not become a pleasure which enslaves them. They should consider themselves richer since they are now more robust in putting up with privations. For it is better to need less than to have more. V.       You have made us for yourself, O Lord. [Alleluia]. R.       Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.  [Alleluia].   “There is nothing I shall want.” We looked at the second line of Psalm 23 right at the start of our reflection on Augustine’s Rule in the context of the pooling of goods that is the common life. The final sentence of this section also reflects the biblical injunction to cease desiring possessions. This section on illness is not actually very much about being ill but more about the fundamental attitudes of the members of the community. Once again the difference between those who were rich and those who were poor before they entered the community is referred to. It might seem that Augustine goes on about these differences in previous social status rather too much but in fact this is the final reference to them in the Rule.  Augustine’s understanding of human nature as in some way mis-aligned is apparent in this short passage “a pleasure which enslaves them” is typical of his view of life and our attachments. He is often portrayed as being against pleasure, certainly against sex, and we will see some of his thoughts on that later in the Rule. However, his real concern is freedom, the freedom that comes from grace. Clearly here he is not against the pleasure of slightly better food and is recommending it to enable those who are ill to recover. he just want it not to be something that imprisons them. This freedom he describes with string terms ‘happier’ and ‘richer’.   May the Lord grant that we may observe all these things with love, as lovers of spiritual beauty, radiating by our lives the sweet fragrance of Christ, not like slaves under the law but as free persons established in grace. Through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.   You can find the full text of the Rule of saint Augustine by clicking here

Day Ten 3:3. No one is to be annoyed, nor should it seem to be unjust, when a special diet is provided for brothers whose health has been adversely affected by their former status in life. A different background endows some people with greater physical strength. These should not consider others fortunate because they see concessions granted to their brothers and not to themselves. Let them be thankful rather that they have the strength to endure what others cannot. V.       You have made us for yourself, O Lord. [Alleluia]. R.       Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.  [Alleluia].   Augustine’s letters are another place (in addition to his wonderful expositions on the psalms) where his deeply attractive personality is so evident. One of many readers’ favourite letters is Letter 130. It is written to a wealthy widow Anicia Faltonia Proba and is a letter about prayer, there are some very beautiful passages on the Lord’s Prayer. It is the following section that relates to this passage from the Rule: Letter 130 (to Proba 130,16, 31) “Let each one do what she can; what one cannot herself do, she does by another who can do it, if she loves in another that which personal inability alone hinders her from doing; wherefore let her who can do less not keep back the one who can do more, and let her who can do more not urge unduly her who can do less. For your conscience is responsible to God; to each other owe nothing but mutual love.  May the Lord, who is able to do above what we ask or think, give ear to your prayers."(Ephesians 3:20) This section of the Rule relates precisely to the aims of the community expressed in 1:2. It is an injunction against envy and jealousy, and that great poison of community life resentment. But it is above all an encouragement to love. This is the same point that Augustine makes to Proba. If we owe no one anything other than love equally we are owed nothing but love and ought not be resentful or jealous if we get less or more than anyone else.    May the Lord grant that we may observe all these things with love, as lovers of spiritual beauty, radiating by our lives the sweet fragrance of Christ, not like slaves under the law but as free persons established in grace. Through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.   You can find the full text of the Rule of saint Augustine by clicking here

Day Eight 2:4. Keep to the prescribed text when you sing; avoid texts which are not suited for singing. V.       You have made us for yourself, O Lord. [Alleluia]. R.       Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.  [Alleluia].   From the sixteenth century until relatively recently English speakers used pretty much one translation of the Bible, the Authorised Version. Over the last 50 - 60 years translations have proliferated with ‘revised’ and ‘new’ versions of some of those versions appearing with alarming frequency. Amidst such a plethora of versions it is easy to look back nostalgically to a time when it was easy to memorise texts of Scripture because only one, familiar version was used. However, our current situation is much closer to that of Augustine’s time than the heyday of the Authorised Version. In North Africa in the fourth century. Numerous Latin versions of the Bible existed. It may be that it is for this reason that Augustine was so keen to stress that worshippers should use the ‘prescribed text’. Augustine is often claimed to have said that ‘he who sings, prays twice’ although there appears to be no source for this. However, in his Confessions (10, 33, 50) Augustine sheds some light on his view of singing in church which is not nearly so unequivocal: “Sometimes, again, avoiding very earnestly this same deception, I err out of too great preciseness; and sometimes so much as to desire that every air of the pleasant songs to which David's Psalter is often used, be banished both from my ears and those of the Church itself; and that way seemed unto me safer which I remembered to have been often related to me of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, who obliged the reader of the psalm to give utterance to it with so slight an inflection of voice, that it was more like speaking than singing. Notwithstanding, when I call to mind the tears I shed at the songs of Your Church, at the outset of my recovered faith, and how even now I am moved not by the singing but by what is sung, when they are sung with a clear and skilfully modulated voice, I then acknowledge the great utility of this custom. Thus vacillate I between dangerous pleasure and tried soundness; being inclined rather (though I pronounce no irrevocable opinion upon the subject) to approve of the use of singing in the church, that so by the delights of the ear the weaker minds may be stimulated to a devotional frame. Yet when it happens to me to be more moved by the singing than by what is sung, I confess myself to have sinned criminally, and then I would rather not have heard the singing. See now the condition I am in! Weep with me, and weep for me, you who so control your inward feelings as that good results ensue. As for you who do not thus act, these things concern you not. But You, O Lord my God, give ear, behold and see, and have mercy upon me, and heal me, — Thou, in whose sight I have become a puzzle to myself; and “this is my infirmity.”   May the Lord grant that we may observe all these things with love, as lovers of spiritual beauty, radiating by our lives the sweet fragrance of Christ, not like slaves under the law but as free persons established in grace. Through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.   You can find the full text of the Rule of saint Augustine by clicking here

Day Six Chapter Two 2:1. Be assiduous in prayer at the scheduled hours and times. 2:2. No one has any business in the prayer-room apart from the particular purpose which it serves; that is why it is called the oratory. Consequently, if some wish to pray even outside the scheduled periods, during their free time, they should not be deterred by people who think they have some other task there. V.       You have made us for yourself, O Lord. [Alleluia]. R.       Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.  [Alleluia].   With romantic images of medieval monasteries in our heads with their great Abbey churches - like the ruins many of us love visiting at Fountains or Rievaulx -  it’s hard to picture what Augustine’s monastery looked like. Indeed our cathedral church and the buildings here a Christ Church are a very long way from anything Augustine could have imagined. We know that the first monastery founded (in 388) at Tagaste was in Augustine’s family home. No doubt this was a substantial dwelling, probably designed ti accommodate servants as well as the family. Nevertheless with several people living in the community it may not have been very spacious. Bavel (Image Books 1986) suggests that if space and rooms were at a premium there may have been a temptation to use the room set aside for prayer for other purposes. Hence the second part of the section of the Rule we are looking at today. Having a place for prayer is in my view of utmost importance. It indicates the value we put on prayer and can help us fulfil the first part of this short chapter encouraging us to be regular and frequent in our prayers and not to rely on spontaneity which is the enemy of forming habits of prayer. A prayer space doesn't have to be grand. A spare box room, corner of a conservatory or a lean to will do. Here at Christ Church I am using part of the cellar under the sub Deanery. You may want to have a candle to light, incense sticks or other things that will trigger a sense of prayer. A prayer stool can help us have a good posture for prayer. Most people find an armchair is not helpful and it is hard to be still for very long when sat in an arm chair. A bible and prayer books of course, some spiritual reading, a cross or icons can also help. Many people like to keep pebbles, leaves or things found on prayerful walks in their prayer corners. It is said to take up to 90 days to establish new habits in life. people often start a new pattern of prayer with good intentions but soon give up. Having regular times for prayer in the morning and evening is essential to developing a solid prayer life, but don’t give up after a week or even a month. Press on when it seems difficult and if you fail for a few days don’t worry. start again. I’ve always found the morning is the best time to pray. Early evening works, but just before bed is the hardest. It’s a time when many couples chat to each other and reflect on the day and that’s important. No matter when you pray the significance is to ‘schedule hours and times’. Put it in the diary. Prioritise prayer above everything except real emergencies, it’s the only way it will happen. When I was Head of a London comprehensive school I had my times of prayer including 15 minutes before lunch break, in the diary. It was what helped keep me sane.   May the Lord grant that we may observe all these things with love, as lovers of spiritual beauty, radiating by our lives the sweet fragrance of Christ, not like slaves under the law but as free persons established in grace. Through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.   You can find the full text of the Rule of saint Augustine by clicking here

Day Four 1:6. Nor should they put their nose in the air because they associate with people they did not dare approach in the world. Instead they should lift up their heart, and not pursue hollow worldly concerns. Monasteries should not provide advantage for the rich to the disadvantage of the poor. Such would be the case if the rich become humble and the poor become proud. 1:7. But on the other hand, those who enjoyed some measure of worldly success ought not to belittle their brothers who come to this holy society from a condition of poverty. They should endeavour to boast about the fellowship of poor brothers, rather than the social standing of rich relations. They are not to think well of themselves if they have contributed to the common life from their wealth. Sharing their possessions with the monastery ought not to become a greater source of pride than if they enjoyed these goods in the world. As a matter of fact, every other vice produces evil deeds with a view to doing evil, but pride sets a trap for good deeds as well with a view to destroying them. What benefit is there in giving generously to the poor and becoming poor oneself, if the pitiful soul is more inclined to pride by rejecting riches than by possessing them? V.       You have made us for yourself, O Lord. [Alleluia]. R.       Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.  [Alleluia].   Augustine is carefully laying out the foundations for community living, being clear about purpose, the sharing of goods, valuing difference, meeting of needs. So it is interesting that he turns next to humility. Clearly for Augustine humility is one of the key fundamentals of being able to be in community with other human beings. the clue as to why humility is so important comes in 1:7. While other vices straightforwardly produce ‘evil deeds’ pride (the opposite of humility) doesn't simply produce evil deeds but can set a trap for us when we perform good deeds. As we saw at the very start of the Rule Augustine sees love as the foundation and goal of community living. Tarsicius Bavel in his commentary on the Rule ( Image Books, 1986) shows how humility and love are linked in Augustine’s mind, he quotes his work On the Trinity (*,8,12), where St Augustine writes: “To the extent that we are freed from the malignant swelling which is called pride, we are filled with love.” This is typically strong imagery for Augustine. Pride gets in the way of love, only to the extent that pride diminishes is there any possibility of love. Bavel also quotes one of Augustine letters (118, 3, 22), that makes the point just as strongly: “I would wish that you place yourself with all your love under Christ, and that you pave no other way in order to reach and to attain the truth that has already been paved by him who, as God, knows the weakness of our steps. this is in the first place, humility; in the second place, humility; in the third place, humility … As often as you ask me about the Christian religion’s norms of conduct, I choose to give no other answer than: humility.”’ To the modern reader it might seem that Augustine is overly concerned with material wealth here. there are, after all, plenty of grounds for pride other than wealth. Augustine is perhaps best known for strong attitudes about sin and specifically sex. I would rather see him simply as someone who understands the vulnerability of human nature particular in the areas of money, sex, food and power. Money takes its place alongside these other areas in which we so easily find ourselves out of balance.   May the Lord grant that we may observe all these things with love, as lovers of spiritual beauty, radiating by our lives the sweet fragrance of Christ, not like slaves under the law but as free persons established in grace. Through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.   You can find the full text of the Rule of saint Augustine by clicking here

Day Two 1:3. Do not call anything your own; possess everything in common. Your superior ought to provide each of you with food and clothing, not on an equal basis to all, because all do not enjoy the same health, but to each one in proportion to his need. For you read in the Acts of the Apostles: ‘They possessed everything in common’, and ‘distribution was made to each in proportion to each one’s need.’ V.       You have made us for yourself, O Lord. [Alleluia]. R.       Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.  [Alleluia].   It might appear that Augustine has changed the subject here, moving abruptly from the spiritual, talk of love and harmony to the physical. Looking at John 17 will help us realise that in fact this is the natural place to go next. In John 17 Jesus prays “all mine are thine, and thine are mine” (the archaic language of the RSV produces a powerful effect here which is lost in more contemporary translations). Jesus is talking to God about the disciples but it is a powerful reminder that Jesus is constantly non-possessive, kenotic (self-emptying) he is always letting go.  The pooling of goods has always been a feature of monastic communities, looking back to that life of the Jerusalem church which Augustine refers to, but it is also, of course a feature of married life, “With all my worldly goods I thee endow” (BCP Marriage service). Traditionally monks and nuns did not take a vow of poverty (the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are a later development associated with Franciscan friars). Augustine is not concerned with poverty, for him the pooling of goods is an outpouring of love. It is just what we want to do with those we love and it includes the spiritual and the material.  “to each one in proportion to his need” also probably needs some thought. It is not that everyone received the same. This can easily lead to resentment and envy. However, it is characteristic of Augustine, as we shall see later that he respects difference. he recognises that human beings are diverse, and this is important, the Christian life never imposes uniformity, it does not destroy personality. When we love someone we want them to flourish as themselves.  Probably the best known Psalm is the shepherd psalm The Lord is my Shepherd (Psalm 23) and it is much loved for its pastoral imagery and the recognition that life contains dark valleys through which we will pass. However, the second line contains a strong challenge to human acquisitiveness: “There is nothing I shall want.” Perhaps more than any other of the great theologians of the church Augustine is aware of desire. We want, we desire things, experiences all the time. But if our restless hearts are fully satisfied, find their rest, in God that need to acquire will be satisfied too.  This pooling of possessions is one of the toughest challenges facing us in our society and in any community. Perhaps a start can be made in looking at the language Augustine uses “Do not call anything your own.” Whether it is physical goods, spiritual experience, time or talents they are gifted to us for a season, our ownership is transient.   May the Lord grant that we may observe all these things with love, as lovers of spiritual beauty, radiating by our lives the sweet fragrance of Christ, not like slaves under the law but as free persons established in grace. Through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.   You can find the full text of the Rule of saint Augustine by clicking here

It was our indefatigable verger and unofficial guide and historian Jim Godfrey who introduced me to my favourite view of Christ Church Cathedral. It’s a spot I always take visitors to. Southeast of the cathedral in the Pocock garden just by the gate. Looking up towards the cathedral a tree blocks the view of the Victorian bell tower. Everything else visible is part of the Augustinian house that was here from early in the twelfth century. To the south the Prior’s house, next to it the Chapter house with dormitory above and then the church. Gilbert Scott's 1870 re-ordering of the Cathedral's east end may be somewhat different to the view seen by an Augustinian canon but otherwise it is not very different. Even the sense of being on the edge of the settlement with the country behind you remains. The continuity of prayer in this place is a part of who we are. I have found the cathedral one of the easiest places to pray in I know.  It is thick with the prayers of the thirteen centuries since Frideswide established her community here and thick with the presence of the saints, past, present  and future. This cathedral and the communities - monks, nuns, canons, college, Cathedral - that form it has seen plagues come and go. It is a valuable reminder to us that ‘this too shall pass’. It is also a reminder that we are called to live in community. No Christian is a Christian alone. St Paul’s vivid image of the body with Christ as its Head is fundamental to who we are. Redemption, Jesus’ work of saving us is only possible because we are part of each other and part of Him. How Christians, human beings live in community is part of our ongoing journey, we fall out, we irritate each other, we even sometimes fight, but we also reconcile, we restore relationships, we make peace. One way of living in community is demonstrated by those Augustinian canons. The rule that formed their life was written in North Africa in the fourth century by St Augustine. He is one of my favourite people, saints of the church. He must have been a very attractive person because throughout his life he attracted a community of people around him, before he became a Christian and afterwards. In this period of lockdown I am going to blog about the Rule that he wrote. I have arranged it so that it can be read, just a very short section a day, over thirty days. I hope that all of us at Christ Church will join in praying the Rule together. I suggest a simple form of prayer for doing this beginning with the Beatitudes, reading the section of the Rule for the day and then the prayer by St Augustine that I have taken from Chapter 8 of his Rule. Some days the reflection will be a link to an outside source. If you have any suggestions for these please let me know.  Not every section of the Rule will seem relevant to us but I think we can learn from every section as we seek to form our own lives. By reflecting on our history and where we have come from as a Christ Church community we can also nourish not just the present, but the future. What kind of community are we going to be? Here are the prayers I suggest for each day. The Beatitudes are themselves a distilled form of the Gospel, a summary of evangelical living and a Rule of Life (I said more about this in my sermon on All Saints Day)   The Beatitudes Blessed are the poor in spirit,  for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who mourn,  for they shall be comforted! Blessed are the meek,  for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger            and thirst for righteousness,  for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful,  for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,  for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,  for they shall be called children of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted              for righteousness’ sake,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.   V.         You have made us for yourself, O Lord. R.         Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in you.   May the Lord  grant that we may observe all these things with love, as lovers of spiritual beauty, radiating by our lives the sweet fragrance of Christ, not like slaves under the law but as free persons established in grace. Through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord.   Amen.   You can find the full text of the Rule of Saint Augustine by clicking here

Almost hidden from view, but visible once you know where to look, are two little monkeys in the 14th C stained glass in what we all the Latin Chapel. They are one of my favorite images in the Cathedral, part of a whole host of other animal and odd grotesque figures carved into the stonework or found in our medieval stained glass. What are they and why are they there? You will find them in the margins of the stained glass, playing in the wonderful patterns of flowers and foliage we see there. Our two monkeys face each other across the glass, mirror images of each other, I like to think of them as members of the same family, for they look very alike. You might wonder why are ‘non-religious figures’ appearing in windows that surround the walls of a chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine and where Saint Frideswide’s Shrine was kept, one of the specifically holy places of the Priory Church?  The answer isn’t too difficult to find. In the 14th Century there was a flowering of animal and grotesques in art. In the borders of manuscripts and also in the borders of stained glass windows, there appeared mythical beings, birds or animals, like our monkeys. These were not idle doodles of a humorous artist, nor were they just to fill in odd spaces, there were specific reasons for them, to help make comparisons or connections. Our monkeys they have a purpose in what we can call a stained glass book of sacred meanings. They are a slice of animal life parodying us. Have a careful look at some of our other medieval windows in the Latin chapel, you will find more of these marginal figures, including a beautiful brown squirrel eating an acorn. There are more in the ‘Becket’ window in the South Transept. Monkeys or ‘apes’ were understood as imitators of human beings. The famous bishop St Isidore of Seville (c.560–636), had an explanation that helps us see why, for he said that the Latin word for monkey, simius, is derived from similitudo, meaning resemblance or likeness. Why?  Because monkeys mimic what they see, often copying human behaviour. Medieval bestiaries carried on this theme suggesting that apes were so called, because they ‘ape’ our behaviour. So our little monkeys come from a long tradition of spiritual parody and satire on the folly and foolishness of their nearest relative, homo sapiens, us! By making us look ridiculous, they bring us back to earth if we get too proud or self important! Good spiritual guides suggest this is necessary for anybody taking their life of Christian faith seriously, to get rid of pride and become truly humble in order to be like Christ. Our two monkeys are a visual reminder not to take ourselves too seriously, to have a sense of perspective and humour about religious matters!  But what are they doing? If you follow the pattern they are in upwards, our little yellowish-brown figures are definitely climbing, both wear leather belts with metal patterns, so perhaps they are pets or perhaps performing animals, both climb a strong vine, looking upwards to the bunches of grapes overhead , their big wide eyes fixed on their prize, their hands and legs gripping the vine tightly! In other pictures of monkeys, such as those in York Minister and in many Manuscripts, their juxtaposition to other images and the way they are dressed often make a point, by poking fun at us they point to the real message. So what of our two? They are extremely handsome examples of 14th c glaziers art, their fur carefully picked out, delicate hands, very like ours done with creative care, big eyes and slightly opened mouth gaze at their prize, the fruit of the vine! There is something moving about these little creatures, almost hidden at the bottom of the glass panels. They are with Saint Catherine of Alexandria’s panel, a martyr shown holding her Catherine wheel! If they are near her, what might they be saying? We can only guess, perhaps to point out that there is an obvious meaning. The chains attached to their belts are gone, freed from captivity they can now seek the fruits of their life’s journey, much as the martyr Catherine did in shedding her life blood for others. There is another tentative link, we use consecrated wine for communion, made holy by special blessing prayers, Christians refer to drink as the ‘blood’ of Christ. Here is another way of looking at them, our monkeys represent Christ setting us free from any kind of oppression and slavery to share in his fruitful life, symbolized by Holy Communion. They may be small, but for me these little apes mean so much! Enjoy them!      Robin Gibbons is a chaplain for the Eastern Catholic Community of Melkites in the UK. He was a Benedictine Monk, artist and University Academic specialising in Liturgy and the Arts, latterly Director of Studies for Theology & RS at the Continuing Education Department Oxford. He is our Catholic Honorary Ecumenical Canon at the Cathedral.

While on duty as a day chaplain in the Cathedral and spending time among its many glorious treasures, I was always particularly drawn to this window. Even though I was quite unaware of its history and significance, I noticed the moving portrayal of holy men who are very much in their youth. In ecclesiastical art we mostly see the saints and prophets depicted as ancient, shown to express their wisdom, experience and lives of faithfulness. Here, in contrast, blond or red-headed holy boys are brought to our gaze. In the bottom left corner, Burne-Jones shows us the chubby boy Samuel, in his little tunic woven by his mother, entrusted from when he was weaned, to the care of Eli in the Jerusalem Temple. He has gone to ask his master why he called, when Eli explains to him that The Lord himself was calling. In the panel above, Samuel is shown as an active young prophet. Next David as a powerful young shepherd is shown dynamically overcoming the huge Philistine champion Goliath. He has stunned and wounded him on the forehead with a pebble from his slingshot and, drawing Goliath’s own sword from its scabbard, is striking the fatal decapitating blow. Goliath’s elaborate armour contrasts with David’s simple clothing. David had refused the heavy armour offered by the King Saul. In the panel above he is shown as a young harpist king, probably singing the Psalms which normally resound daily in the Cathedral. The cartoon or preparatory drawing of David and Goliath is held in the sacristy. The disciple whom Jesus loved best is believed to be the young disciple St John, regarded as the gospel writer or Evangelist. Reclining on Jesus’s bosom in the emotional turmoil of the Last Supper depicted in the lower panel, John is then shown above confidently holding a chalice, his traditional symbol. This is a cup of suffering and of salvation. St Timothy, a companion and co worker with St Paul, is seen in the last square panel learning from his mother, Eunice. She and his grandmother Lois, were active members of the congregation in Lystra. Her closeness and tender care for Timothy is clear. This mother affectionately teaching her son struck me as unusual, as I had only remembered seeing this depicted in church art with a girl and her mother -  St Mary and her mother St Anne. Timothy became the first Bishop of Ephesus, but is shown in the panel above as still a young man, studying a book. Two angels play their harps amid the natural beauty of the detailed vines, leaves, flowers and fruits adorning the window’s tracery. The subtle and lovely detail of the gold decoration of the white textiles worn in the four large panels is best appreciated on the spot. I later learned the history of the Vyner memorial window, which makes these themes startling clear. It was designed by Burne-Jones to commemorate the life of Frederick Grantham Vyner, an undergraduate student of Christ Church, tragically killed in 1870 at the age of only 23, after being kidnapped and held captive for ten days for ransom by Greek brigands. The youths, the vines and the nurturing teacher and mother in the stained glass take on a new, tragic significance. Vyner’s    heartbroken mother and sister also used the unspent ransom money to commission William Burges to build the gothic revival St Mary’s church at Studley Royal in the grounds of Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire.   Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.  1 Timothy 4:12     Janet Proudman is the Cathedral’s first Licensed Lay Minister, commissioned here in January 2018, and was a Day Chaplain in the Cathedral for 5 years before that. She previously served as LLM in a parish for 28 years and is a retired Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and former Honorary Hospital Chaplain at the John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals in Oxford.

Come and abide in us.  We magnify thee, giver of life     O Christ And we honour thy All-holy spirit  Whom thou hast sent from the Father    To thy godly disciples. Come. Light eternal, light undying; Shining with almighty power From the unbegotten light, Come, Light and life...

Plucked from a Premier League of brains, piety and money, many of the Great and Good in our Cathedral are announced by looming, posthumous fanfares of stone. Some of these worthies we recognise, but others have faded, a distinguished life reduced to a patch of quaint, decorative script that is understood by few and read by even fewer.   ...

In the East there is a rather strange and wonderful religious practice of venerating footprints of the Buddha (such as the one on the left). There are in total about 3,000 of these footprints, some elaborate and covered in significant buddhist symbols, others just simple impressions of a foot onto rock. They exist because, before he died, the Buddha instructed his followers not to make images of him, and in early Buddhism there are no portrayals of the Buddha at all. Instead, his presence was represented by symbols such as a wheel, or an empty throne, or these wonderfully strange footprints. The tradition started in India, spreading throughout eastern Asia as Buddhism itself took its first steps beyond the land of its birth. The footprints invited people to walk the same path as the Buddha himself. They also acted as reminders to his followers that he had really existed (that he wasn’t some ethereal, other-worldly being). In fact, they are the only artefacts that give the Buddha a physical presence on earth. At Christ Church Cathedral we have something akin to a Buddha footprint. It is a depression in stone of a footprint belonging to a monk, or more likely many monks, made half a millennium and more ago. The cathedral, which began life as an Augustinian priory, was served by a small community of monks (or Canons as they are more correctly called). Long before there was a Bishop of Oxford, and many centuries before the cathedral became the cathedral, it was the church of St Frideswide's Priory, used seven times each day for worship by the Augustinian Canons. More accurately the church was used day and night, as their daily round of services began in the middle of the night. It meant the Canons had to leave their dormitory in the dark to make their way down to the church. The dormitory was a long attic room above the chapter house, now used to house the cathedral offices. Interestingly, there were two staircases leading up to it; a day stairs and a night stairs. The day stairs was used to gain access to the cloister, and was more or less in the same place as the present staircase up to the cathedral offices today. Indeed, part of the original stone handrail is still visible at the bottom of this staircase. The night stairs, however, descended directly down into the church. It would have led from the dormitory out onto the gallery above the sacristy, and from there down through the sacristy into the south transept. This was the shortest route from the dormitory to the church, avoiding having to go outside. In other words, it was a short-cut. So, imagine you are an Augustinian Canon. You retire to bed at 9 p.m. as is required of you, and are then woken for Nocturnes, the first of the seven canonical hours (consisting of psalms and lessons), at midnight. Down the night stairs you descend, and at the bottom, as you enter the south transept, you step onto the floor of the church. However, you can make another short-cut, this time by stepping across the base of one of the columns. It was just a convenient step down into the south transept. And there, on the base of the column next to the sacristy door, is a foot-sized depression, formed by monks stepping into church for hundreds of years. It's a remarkable survival. Just like the Buddha's footprints, it is the only artefact that gives the Augustinian Canons a physical presence today. We have of course a fine monument in the latin chapel of Prior Alexander de Sutton, and there are one or two brasses of the Augustinian Canons dotted about, but nothing that takes us back to their actual existence in the same way that this footprint does. And just as the Buddha footprints are meant not to represent the Buddha but rather the way of walking or practising his teaching, our monk's footprint is not an image of an Augustinian Canon. But it does speak of their daily path, their cycle of prayer, the central part of their lives. I love the way we have been left this echo, the faintest of echoes, by which we can still sense the presence of the Augustinians in the building.  And when we step down from the sacristy into the cathedral, at whatever time of day, what are we doing if not following, however falteringly, in their footsteps?     Jim Godfrey, who is one of our vergers at the Cathedral, has spent many years studying the history of Christ Church. He is the author of the current guidebook to the Cathedral and helps to train the Cathedral Guides. He studied Buddhism as part of his theology degree, and has practiced meditation for the last 20 years.

  At the east end of the Cathedral, between the Latin and Lady Chapel is a curious wooden structure on top of a stone tomb. It may remind you of a tiny medieval church, there’s nothing like it anywhere else, it is certainly one of our curiosities, but what is it? Why is it there?   Often called the ‘watching-loft’ because people thought it had something to do with clergy being on ‘guard’ over the shrine of St Frideswide, making sure nobody stole the pilgrims offerings or even the bones of the saint herself!   However good research suggests that is rather fanciful for several reasons.   Let’s start by looking at it, the stone tomb below and the oak structure above. Close your eyes and imagine it totally built in stone; suddenly you realise that it is a single object, with three layers, an altar tomb, a canopy above it with niches all round and the wooden structure also with niches and carvings. The style is completely mid 15th c ‘gothic’ except for the door which is 17th century.   We see something found in many medieval churches and cathedrals, a tomb with a ‘chantry chapel’ directly above. A ‘chantry’ is a kind of holy ‘trust fund’ to ensure that a priest said mass and prayers for the people and family whose tomb it was, to ensure that they got into heaven. This stopped at the Reformation but the objects remained. For us the big question is, whose tomb was it, and why was the top half made in wood?   Luckily we have some answers, the late Fr Jerome Bertram of the Oxford Oratory in St Giles wrote a scholarly article setting out theories for the structure. (This is found in ‘Oxonienis, The Tomb Beneath the Loft, 1998). Bertram was an expert in heraldry and medieval funeral brasses, portraits of the dead made out of latten or brass that were engraved and then set into a stone slab. Many of these were removed over time; all that is left is an outline and slight recess where the brass once was. If you look inside you can see two outlines, a lady with a headdress and another, male in a long robe, with three heraldic shields, so obviously very important people. But only one is buried there, for in the 19th century the tomb was opened and the bones of one person, a lady, 5’6” were found. What happened?  Fortunately Dr Bertram’s research actually gives us a family name, Danvers, one of whom, Sir Robert, was a High Court Judge. This family had extensive lands and connections with many families in Oxfordshire. Sir Robert’s first wife Agnes died in 1447 and was buried in St Bartholomew the Less, Smithfield. He then married Katherine, a widow, who came from a good family in Great Hasley in Oxfordshire. She died in 1462, and after a lot of detailed investigation the conclusion reached was that “…the balance of probability must therefore be that the brass figures on the tomb in Christ Church commemorated Sir Robert Danvers and his wife Katherine, made soon after her death in 1462”.   The explanation for one body and the wooden structure seems to have been that the memory of Katherine faded. Robert, instead of being buried with her, as the brass matrix suggests, asked to be interred with Agnes. Since her three children were the heirs, the possibility is that they didn’t want to spend a huge amount on a tomb for their stepmother! So instead of stone, wood was used. We cannot be certain, but everything points in this direction, and it adds a touch of human pathos to the monument.   What else can we say? The idea the top part was a watching chamber can be disputed, the shrine of St Frideswide was probably where the Montacute Tomb now stands in the next bay down. If that is so, it is impossible to look out of that side, the steep staircase makes a substantial gap and the wooden paneling is too high for anybody to comfortably watch out of either side. It is also unlike any other medieval watching chamber.   It has been called the shrine, but history tells us that Frideswide’s shrine was definitely another structure, though it is possible that vessels and vestments for Mass and other precious objects from the shrine could have been stored inside.   A singing loft is a strong possibility, the remains of three seats (sedilia) for ministers cut into the tomb on the Latin Chapel side suggest sung Masses were celebrated both here and in the Lady chapel, so a small band of singers up above, would have been very useful for the singing.   Was it a chapel? I think we can say yes, the stairs are very worn suggesting lots of use and into the pillar on the east wall is a groove suggesting an altar was fixed up there. The whole architecture of the wooden framework is so like a chapel even to the wooden ceiling.   It’s one of our mysterious objects, a tomb, a loft chapel, a storage space and a singing gallery, but not really a watching loft, with the bones of lady, alone without her husband!       About the Author Robin Gibbons is a chaplain for the Eastern Catholic Community of Melkites in the UK. He was a Benedictine Monk, artist and University Academic specialising in Liturgy and the Arts, latterly Director of Studies for Theology & RS at the Continuing Education Department Oxford. He is our Catholic Honorary Ecumenical Canon at the Cathedral.

Pentecost: Come, Holy Spirit For this Pentecost, I have chosen a contemporary setting of a medieval text. The thirteenth-century liturgical text Veni, sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit) is attributed to Stephen Langton (c. 1150-1228), the Lincolnshire-born Archbishop of Canterbury; a text composed in England but used across Catholic...

Today, on Ascension Day, we end our series of reflections on the psalms. In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 47 Clap your hands together, all ye people * O sing unto God with the voice of melody. For the Lord is high, and to be feared * he is the great King upon all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us * and the nations under our feet. He shall choose out an heritage for us * even the worship of Jacob, whom he loved. God is gone up with a merry noise * and the Lord with the sound of the trump. O sing praises, sing praises unto our God * O sing praises, sing praises unto our King. For God is the King of all the earth * sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen * God sitteth upon his holy seat. The princes of the people are joined unto the people of the God of Abraham * for God, which is very high exalted, doth defend the earth, as it were with a shield. The Vice-Principal of my theological college used to say that he was constitutionally incapable of clapping in church. Embarrassingly, I still share his discomfort when a worship song requires a handclap, but Psalm 47 shows us that clapping in worship is scarcely an innovation. The opening verse probably refers to the kind of rhythmic clapping that can bind performers and an audience together. The calls to praise in verses 1 and 6 – ‘Clap’, ‘Sing’ – are followed by elaboration of the rationale for praise, each verse reiterating the divine majesty that covers all the earth. In Christian worship this psalm is associated with today’s feast of the Ascension, calling us to lift our hearts to the heavenly places where Christ reigns at the Father’s right hand. Yet the psalm does not leave us in distant adoration, ‘staring up into heaven’ (Acts 1:11), for the one ‘which is very high exalted’ also ‘defends the earth’. Worshipping God in Christ, we are embraced by the unfolding of God’s love, whose ‘length and breadth and height and depth’ (Ephesians 3:18) encompass heaven and earth alike. Edmund Newey

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

The Sixth Sunday of Easter: O Saviour of the World Salvator Mundi, Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585) Salvator Mundi  You may think that my choice of anthem for this last Sunday before Ascension is cheating slightly. Its text is part of the Good Friday liturgy, not from the liturgies of the Easter season: Salvator mundi, salva nos, qui...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 2  Why do the heathen so furiously rage together : and why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together : against the Lord, and against his Anointed. Let us break their bonds asunder : and cast away their cords from us. He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn : the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath : and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my King : upon my holy hill of Sion. I will preach the law, whereof the Lord hath said unto me : Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Desire of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance: and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron : and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings : be learned, ye that are judges of the earth. Serve the Lord in fear : and rejoice unto him with reverence. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the right way : if his wrath be kindled, (yea, but a little,) blessed are all they that put their trust in him.  Earlier in the week, writing about Psalm 1, I suggested that it was placed at the beginning of the Book of Psalms as a summary of some of the key themes of the book. Psalm 2, which follows it, does the same: this time, drawing out the themes of kingship and the sovereignty of God which are threaded through the Psalms. It reminds us, as we read, hear or pray the psalm, that God is the real sovereign, compared to whom the world’s leaders and their plans are insignificant.  Many Old Testament scholars think that this psalm was written to be used at the coronations of kings of Israel. Even at the moment of coronation, when they  symbolically received almost total power over the kingdom and its people, those kings were reminded: all this belongs to God. You are where you are because God has called you there; you have enormous power because God has given it to you; all you are comes from God, and all you do needs to honour God.  I wonder what that did to the way those kings ruled? (If you read the Old Testament books of Kings and Chronicles, you might think: not a lot!)  I wonder what it might change for the world’s leaders at the moment, if they truly believed the message of this psalm?  And I wonder what it might change in us, if we live as people who believe that real power belongs to a God who is righteous and loving? 

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 114   When Israel came out of Egypt *  and the house of Jacob from among the strange people,   Judah was his sanctuary *  and Israel his dominion.   The sea saw that, and fled *  Jordan was driven back.   The mountains skipped like rams *  and the little hills like young sheep.   What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest *  and thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?   Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams *  and ye little hills, like young sheep?   Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord *  at the presence of the God of Jacob;   Who turned the hard rock into a standing water *  and the flint-stone into a springing well. Most psalms open with a verse that brings God and God’s people together: a call to praise, lament or prayer before the Lord. Psalm 114 is different – it rises in a crescendo, naming God only at the very end. Beginning with the people of Israel, exiled among a people whose language and customs are alien to them, it recounts their flight to sanctuary. As yet, God remains unnamed, merely gestured to: the terms in which the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan are described echo the creation account in Genesis. Just as in creation, so here in deliverance, order is brought out of chaos in ways that exceed human powers of understanding. Then, in awe the psalmist describes these miraculous events again, not as past happenings, but as a present encounter in which the Red Sea and the Jordan are addressed directly, the mountains and hills also. And only then is God named: first in fear and trembling; then as the one who is so close to his people that his presence is like a draught of fresh spring water, slaking our thirst in the desert. Edmund Newey

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 134 Behold now, praise the Lord * all ye servants of the Lord; Ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord * even in the courts of the house of our God. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary * and praise the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth * give thee blessing out of Sion. This psalm comes a close second to 117 in the contest for shortest in the Psalter. Like its cousin, it is a hymn of praise, but whereas Psalm 117’s context is the day, Psalm 134 is an evening psalm, often prayed in the office of Compline before bed. It consists of two parts, the distinction between them being the switch from plural to singular in the final verse. In the opening three verses, the worship leader addresses the congregation, inviting them to praise God at the close of day. In the last verse the congregation responds with a blessing upon the minister. This pattern of call and response invites us to see that blessing is a two-way process: from God to us, obviously, but also from us to God: ‘Come, bless the Lord, you servants of the Lord’, says the modern translation, faithful to the Hebrew vocabulary. Odd, we may think, that creation could bless its Creator, but this is the dignity conferred on us in worship which puts us back in right relationship with God and one another: called not just to receive but to bestow blessing. Edmund Newey  

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean PSALM 47 Omnes gentes, plaudite O CLAP your hands together, all ye people: O sing unto God with the voice of melody. For the Lord is high, and to be feared: he is the great King upon all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us: and the nations under our feet. He shall choose out an heritage for us: even the worship of Jacob, whom he loved. God is gone up with a merry noise: and the Lord with the sound of the trump. O sing praises, sing praises unto our God: O sing praises, sing praises unto our King. For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon his holy seat. The princes of the people are joined unto the people of the God of Abraham: for God, which is very high exalted, doth defend the earth, as it were with a shield. Clapping is a universal expression of applause and usually approval. We have been doing it for millennia – and it currently finds common expression on a Thursday evening when we applaud all those working for the NHS and other social services during our Covid-19 crisis. The psalm cries out to be sung – as all psalms are in Jewish worship. There are numerous musical settings and hymns. One of my favourites is the anthem by Orlando Gibbons which was first performed when he received his D Mus in Oxford – ‘O clap your hands together’ in 1622. We particularly use the Psalm with its words ‘God is gone up with a merry noise’ at Ascensiontide. Every verse centres on God and the coming of his Kingdom or Rule. Can we join this worship and express our own sense of God’s Kingship in our lives? Interestingly the Psalmist focuses on the Nations, not just humans and the rest of creation. It is the Nations – the world of politics? - who are called together to express awe and wonder at our complex but inspiring world. Here is a universal challenge: May we see you Lord as King of all and sing praises with this psalm, for you are highly exalted and reign in majesty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. David Knight

O God, thou art my God O God, thou art my God: early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth after thee:  in a barren and dry land where no water is. Thus have I looked for thee in holiness: that I might behold thy power and glory. For thy loving-kindness is better than life itself: my lips shall...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean PSALM 17 HEAR the right, O Lord, consider my complaint: and hearken unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence: and let thine eyes look upon the thing that is equal. Thou hast proved and visited mine heart in the night-season; thou hast tried me, and shalt find no wickedness in me; for I am utterly purposed that my mouth shall not offend. Because of men's works, that are done against the words of thy lips: I have kept me from the ways of the destroyer. O hold thou up my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps slip not. I have called upon thee, O God, for thou shalt hear me: incline thine ear to me, and hearken unto my words. Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness, thou that art the Saviour of them which put their trust in thee: from such as resist thy right hand. Keep me as the apple of an eye: hide me under the shadow of thy wings. From the ungodly that trouble me: mine enemies compass me round about to take away my soul. They are inclosed in their own fat: and their mouth speaketh proud things. They lie waiting in our way on every side: turning their eyes down to the ground. Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey: and as it were a lion's whelp, lurking in secret places. Up, Lord, disappoint him, and cast him down: deliver my soul from the ungodly, which is a sword of thine; From the men of thy hand, O Lord, from the men, I say, and from the evil world: which have their portion in this life, whose bellies thou fillest with thy hid treasure. They have children at their desire: and leave the rest of their substance for their babes. But as for me, I will behold thy presence in righteousness: and when I awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it. This is one of the psalms of lament, a prayer that God will intervene on behalf of the righteous person. The psalmist protests his innocence (vv 3-5), he then renews his appeal for help (vv 6-9), and goes on to describe the actions of those who prey upon him (vv 10-12). He prays again for divine intervention, and ends by contrasting the lot of those who have their fill of good things in this world with his own spiritual poverty in God’s presence. The superscription calls this a psalm of David, and perhaps in origin it was a prayer of his for deliverance from his enemies, when he was being persecuted and pursued by Saul. Throughout this period of testing David believes that he is innocent of wrongdoing, and that God will acknowledge this. He urges God to reveal to him His lovingkindness, and utters the beautiful request in verse 8, ‘Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings’, a verse that was later incorporated into the monastic office of Compline. The phrase ‘apple of the eye’ was used to describe something precious, easily injured and demanding protection. It is a figure of speech that is also found in the Book of Deuteronomy (32:10), and in Proverbs (7:2). Taken with the phrase ‘Hide me under the shadow of thy wings’, these two phrases paint a powerful picture of God’s love and care for His people, which leads David in the final verse of the psalm to express his confidence that whatever happens to him he would one day see the face of God. David Meara

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 104 PRAISE the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God, thou art become exceeding glorious; thou art clothed with majesty and honour. Thou deckest thyself with light as it were with a garment: and spreadest out the heavens like a curtain. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: and maketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind. He maketh his angels spirits: and his ministers a flaming fire. He laid the foundations of the earth: that it never should move at any time. Thou coveredst it with the deep like as with a garment: the waters stand in the hills. At thy rebuke they flee: at the voice of thy thunder they are afraid. They go up as high as the hills, and down to the valleys beneath: even unto the place which thou hast appointed for them. Thou hast set them their bounds which they shall not pass: neither turn again to cover the earth. He sendeth the springs into the rivers: which run among the hills. All beasts of the field drink thereof: and the wild asses quench their thirst. Beside them shall the fowls of the air have their habitation: and sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from above: the earth is filled with the fruit of thy works. He bringeth forth grass for the cattle: and green herb for the service of men; That he may bring food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man: and oil to make him a cheerful countenance, and bread to strengthen man's heart. The trees of the Lord also are full of sap: even the cedars of Libanus which he hath planted; Wherein the birds make their nests: and the fir-trees are a dwelling for the stork. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats: and so are the stony rocks for the conies. He appointed the moon for certain seasons: and the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness that it may be night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do move. The lions roaring after their prey: do seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, and they get them away together: and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour: until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are thy works: in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches. So is the great and wide sea also: wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships, and there is that Leviathan: whom thou hast made to take his pastime therein. These wait all upon thee: that thou mayest give them meat in due season. When thou givest it them they gather it: and when thou openest thy hand they are filled with good. When thou hidest thy face they are troubled: when thou takest away their breath they die, and are turned again to their dust. When thou lettest thy breath go forth they shall be made: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. The glorious majesty of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works. The earth shall tremble at the look of him: if he do but touch the hills, they shall smoke. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will praise my God while I have my being. And so shall my words please him: my joy shall be in the Lord. As for sinners, they shall be consumed out of the earth, and the ungodly shall come to an end: praise thou the Lord, O my soul, praise the Lord. This long and beautiful psalm is a reflective song of praise to God the creator and provider: God whose love is manifested in the wonders of creation, God whose power is manifested in the glory of his appearing, God whose mercy is manifested in his tender provision for all that has been made.  It’s one of the few places in the Bible where we see hints of a creation story that far predates the two that begin the book of Genesis: a story in which God doesn’t create calmly, unopposed, out of a ‘formless void,’ but by taming the dangerous powers of creation. This psalm shows us the God who is beyond human understanding, powerful, glorious, and altogether good. What, to humans, is wild, strange and dangerous is entirely part of God’s domestic sphere. The roaring lions of verse 21 turn out to be God’s housecats, fed by his hand and, once day dawns, curling up in a patch of sunlight in their dens. Perhaps this is a psalm for those of us who – deprived of ordinary amusements – are spending more time outside: on our state-approved daily walks, runs or cycles, or in our gardens.  It can remind us that the beauty of the created world is for our sake, and that God who clothes the flowers in colour and scent will also supply our needs. And perhaps it is also a psalm for those of us who are cut off from the outside world, or from other things which sustain us. God, for whom ravenous lions are domestic pets, who dispels the waters of chaos with a stern rebuke, will protect us with his power and sustain us with his love. God, who created the world in all its wild splendor and rugged beauty, has seen far worse than this and borne it all. God will bear our burdens too. ‘Praise thou the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!’ Philippa White

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 111 1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, * in the company of the faithful and in the congregation. 2 The works of the Lord are great, * sought out by all who delight in them. 3 His work is full of majesty and honour * and his righteousness endures for ever. 4 He appointed a memorial for his marvellous deeds; * the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. 5 He gave food to those who feared him; * he is ever mindful of his covenant. 6 He showed his people the power of his works * in giving them the heritage of the nations. 7 The works of his hands are truth and justice; * all his commandments are sure. 8 They stand fast for ever and ever; * they are done in truth and equity. 9 He sent redemption to his people; he commanded his covenant for ever; * holy and awesome is his name. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have those who live by it; * his praise endures for ever. To the Jewish people, God’s name is unutterable. Only the consonants – YHWH – may be written and when that name is referred to in speech, it is always by a circumlocution: ‘the Lord’. Christians disregard this reticence too readily, ‘growing familiar with mysteries’, as Cardinal Newman put it. This psalm is an acrostic: in the Hebrew each half-verse begins with the next letter of the alphabet. From aleph to taw the ‘marvellous deeds’ of the Lord are spelled out. First, God’s works are praised in general terms, then they are enumerated specifically: the miraculous feeding in the wilderness, the establishment of the covenant and the commandments, the granting of victory and the settlement of the Holy Land. Yet, for all that these deeds reveal of the Lord’s ‘truth and equity’, still God’s name remains ‘holy and awesome’, beyond comprehension. What was true of the old covenant is also true of the new. In the face of Jesus Christ we have ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God’ (2 Corinthians 4: 6), but the mysteries of our faith deepen even as they are made known. Filled with ‘fear of the Lord’ we need not cower like Adam and Eve ‘in the garden at the time of the evening breeze’ (Genesis 3:8). Instead we may respond with awe and praise, as Moses did before the burning bush, knowing that the place where we stand is holy ground (Exodus 3:5). Edmund Newey

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 78 HEAR my law, O my people: incline your ears unto the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will declare hard sentences of old; Which we have heard and known: and such as our fathers have told us; That we should not hide them from the children of the generations to come: but to shew the honour of the Lord, his mighty and wonderful works that he hath done. He made a covenant with Jacob, and gave Israel a law: which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children; That their posterity might know it: and the children which were yet unborn; To the intent that when they came up: they might shew their children the same; That they might put their trust in God: and not to forget the works of God, but to keep his commandments; And not to be as their forefathers, a faithless and stubborn generation: a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit cleaveth not stedfastly unto God; Like as the children of Ephraim: who being harnessed, and carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God: and would not walk in his law; But forgat what he had done: and the wonderful works that he had shewed for them. Marvellous things did he in the sight of our forefathers, in the land of Egypt: even in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea, and let them go through: he made the waters to stand on an heap. In the day-time also he led them with a cloud: and all the night through with a light of fire. He clave the hard rocks in the wilderness: and gave them drink thereof, as it had been out of the great depth. He brought waters out of the stony rock: so that it gushed out like the rivers. Yet for all this they sinned more against him: and provoked the most Highest in the wilderness. They tempted God in their hearts: and required meat for their lust. They spake against God also, saying: Shall God prepare a table in the wilderness? He smote the stony rock indeed, that the waters gushed out, and the streams flowed withal: but can he give bread also, or provide flesh for his people? When the Lord heard this, he was wroth: so the fire was kindled in Jacob, and there came up heavy displeasure against Israel; Because they believed not in God: and put not their trust in his help. So he commanded the clouds above: and opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna also upon them for to eat: and gave them food from heaven. So man did eat angels' food: for he sent them meat enough. He caused the east-wind to blow under heaven: and through his power he brought in the south-west-wind. He rained flesh upon them as thick as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea. He let it fall among their tents: even round about their habitation. So they did eat and were well filled, for he gave them their own desire: they were not disappointed of their lust. But while the meat was yet in their mouths, the heavy wrath of God came upon them, and slew the wealthiest of them: yea, and smote down the chosen men that were in Israel. But for all this they sinned yet more: and believed not his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity: and their years in trouble. When he slew them, they sought him: and turned them early, and inquired after God. And they remembered that God was their strength: and that the high God was their redeemer. Nevertheless, they did but flatter him with their mouth: and dissembled with him in their tongue. For their heart was not whole with him: neither continued they stedfast in his covenant. But he was so merciful, that he forgave their misdeeds: and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned he his wrath away: and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise. For he considered that they were but flesh: and that they were even a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. Many a time did they provoke him in the wilderness: and grieved him in the desert. They turned back, and tempted God: and moved the Holy One in Israel. They thought not of his hand: and of the day when he delivered them from the hand of the enemy; How he had wrought his miracles in Egypt: and his wonders in the field of Zoan. He turned their waters into blood: so that they might not drink of the rivers. He sent lice among them, and devoured them up: and frogs to destroy them. He gave their fruit unto the caterpillar: and their labour unto the grasshopper. He destroyed their vines with hail-stones: and their mulberry-trees with the frost. He smote their cattle also with hail-stones: and their flocks with hot thunderbolts. He cast upon them the furiousness of his wrath, anger, displeasure and trouble: and sent evil angels among them. He made a way to his indignation, and spared not their soul from death: but gave their life over to the pestilence; And smote all the first-born in Egypt: the most principal and mightiest in the dwellings of Ham. But as for his own people, he led them forth like sheep: and carried them in the wilderness like a flock. He brought them out safely, that they should not fear: and overwhelmed their enemies with the sea. And brought them within the borders of his sanctuary: even to his mountain which he purchased with his right hand. He cast out the heathen also before them: caused their land to be divided among them for an heritage, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. So they tempted and displeased the most high God: and kept not his testimonies; But turned their backs, and fell away like their forefathers: starting aside like a broken bow. For they grieved him with their hill-altars: and provoked him to displeasure with their images. When God heard this, he was wroth: and took sore displeasure at Israel. So that he forsook the tabernacle in Silo: even the tent that he had pitched among men. He delivered their power into captivity: and their beauty into the enemy's hand. He gave his people over also unto the sword: and was wroth with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests were slain with the sword: and there were no widows to make lamentation. So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep: and like a giant refreshed with wine. He smote his enemies in the hinder parts: and put them to a perpetual shame. He refused the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; But chose the tribe of Judah: even the hill of Sion which he loved. And there he built his temple on high: and laid the foundation of it like the ground which he hath made continually. He chose David also his servant: and took him away from the sheep-folds. As he was following the ewes great with young ones he took him: that he might feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them with a faithful and true heart: and ruled them prudently with all his power. In the much-quoted words of the philosopher, George Santayana, ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ In many ways this sums up the message of psalm 78. The psalmist asks that ‘the hard sentences of old’ be listened to and taught to children, so that all may remember and learn from the history of the people of Israel. The psalm outlines the relationship between God and the people of Israel in the time of the Exodus. God repeatedly delivers and blesses: rolling back the sea for them to pass, providing water, manna and quails in the wilderness. The people fluctuate between remembering God’s provision of their needs and then forgetting: ‘many a time did they provoke him in the wilderness’, ‘they thought not of his hand.’ This time of difficulty that we live in can make us wonder where God is. We face a situation unknown in our lifetime. The psalm reminds us to look back. The past has things to teach us about how God sustains people through turmoil and reminds us how often we forget our dependence on the sustaining power of our Creator. Our God makes springs in the desert and gives us the sustenance we need day by day. We can take time to reflect on our past – both the tough times and the good times – to see how God provided for us. We can read the lives and prayers of Christians in the past who point us to the sustaining power of God. And we can count our blessings that we may not forget the hand that holds us and keeps us through the wilderness days. Emma Percy

PEN PORTRAIT No 22 Prince Leopold, the youngest son of Queen Victoria, studied at Christ Church in the 1870’s, and has been romantically linked with Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland   Early Life and Health Prince Leopold George Duncan Albert was born at Buckingham Palace on 7 April 1853,...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 137 BY THE waters of Babylon we sat down and wept: when we remembered thee, O Sion. As for our harps, we hanged them up: upon the trees that are therein. For they that led us away captive required of us then a song, and melody in our heaviness: Sing us one of the songs of Sion. How shall we sing the Lord's song: in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem: let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem in my mirth. Remember the children of Edom, O Lord, in the day of Jerusalem: how they said, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground. O daughter of Babylon , wasted with misery: yea, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee, as thou hast served us. Blessed shall he be that taketh thy children: and throweth them against the stones. A poignant image of the people of Israel in their captivity – impervious to the beauty of their new surroundings, unable to raise their voices to praise their God, whether through despondency or because they could not conceive that God might still be with them in exile. Jerusalem was God’s earthly dwelling place, and for his scattered children the ruins of the Temple and the city were grounds equally for hope and despair. The last few verses of the psalm are rarely used in Christian worship. The merciless cry for vengeance upon the descendants of Esau, the patriarch tricked of his inheritance by his brother Jacob; the memory, no doubt, of the Edomites’ part in the looting of Zion – how can we reconcile this with our Lord’s call to love our enemies? We all sometimes need to acknowledge our anger and frustration. Pour out your heart, and the figure on the cross will patiently, gently, wait for you to return to your senses. Troubles that burden us must be voiced before they can be healed, and there’s nothing we are forbidden to say to our Maker, who in his good time will restore both our frame of mind and our well-being. John Paton

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 24 THE earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas: and prepared it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord: or who shall rise up in his holy place? Even he that hath clean hands, and a pure heart: and that hath not lift up his mind unto vanity, nor sworn to deceive his neighbour. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord: and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him: even of them that seek thy face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory: it is the Lord strong and mighty, even the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory: even the Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. This psalm is a great liturgical song of praise to God which inspired composers like Bach, Handel and Joseph Barnby. The singers affirm God the Creator in the first two verses. This is the God who overcame chaos, symbolized by the sea, reflecting the story of creation found in Genesis 1. We then take part in the temple liturgy as, singing antiphonal chants, we go up the hill – a procession of pilgrims to the Temple, perhaps with the Ark or, as in later Judaism, the Torah – the scrolls, seeking to enter the mystery of God to be found in the worship of the Temple beyond the entrance doors. We acknowledge God, our Creator, as the King of Glory and pray that God will be revealed as the doors open and we come to worship the King of Glory not at a reverent distance, but within the threshold, the gate of heaven itself. Christians use this psalm particularly when we celebrate Jesus Christ the King ascending into heaven. He is the mighty Lord who has triumphed over death and leads us into the glory and mystery of God. We join in and glimpse the heavenly worship to which we aspire. David Knight

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance to God, in whom we have our origin and our end. Here at Christ Church the book of Psalms – the prayer book of the Bible, as it is sometimes called – sustains our daily worship, now as always. Public worship is no longer an option, but the cathedral clergy here are maintaining the daily round of prayer and warmly encourage you to share in the spiritual communion that prayer makes possible across all boundaries of time and space. At the core of this work of prayer the psalms voice the cry of our hearts to God. With this in mind the ministry team here is sharing one psalm each day with an accompanying reflection. Recalling the University of Oxford’s motto, Dominus illuminatio mea – ‘The Lord is my light’ – we pray that, together, we may know God’s strength, encouragement and blessing in this time of need. ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear: the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’ (Psalm 27:1) Canon Edmund Newey, Sub Dean Psalm 29  Bring unto the Lord, O ye mighty, bring young rams unto the Lord *   ascribe unto the Lord worship and strength.  Give the Lord the honour due unto his Name *   worship the Lord with holy worship.  It is the Lord, that commandeth the waters *   it is the glorious God, that maketh the thunder.  It is the Lord, that ruleth the sea; the voice of the Lord is mighty in operation *   the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice.  The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedar-trees *   yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Libanus.  He maketh them also to skip like a calf *   Libanus also, and Sirion, like a young unicorn.  The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire; the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness *   yea, the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Cades.  The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to bring forth young, and discovereth the thick bushes *   in his temple doth every man speak of his honour.  The Lord sitteth above the water-flood *   and the Lord remaineth a King for ever.  The Lord shall give strength unto his people *   the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.  Scholars tell us this is probably the most ancient of the psalms. It is based on, or perhaps a priestly response to, a hymn to the storm god, Baal, composed in Ugaritic. But as a psalm it celebrates God as the creator of all things, echoing the opening of Genesis: ‘The voice of the Lord is upon the waters (v.3).’  This is not a remote God outlying the universe, but a living God working within what is created to nurture and tend (‘The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve’); imbuing each of the elements with the breath of life – water and fire, the air we breathe and earth we stand on.  Repeatedly, the agency of divine creativity (again like the word in Genesis that calls creation forth from nothing) is the voice. The call of God and from God is returned back to God in worship (v.2) and praise (v.9). The call is, then, not only written into every order of creation (from mountains and rivers, to trees and animal life), it is also within us. Unlike Baal, the despotic overlord, our God is intimate; more intimate than we are to ourselves. We are part of the call, voicing the voice. The psalm itself is a voicing of the voice, and it speaks of the ‘beauty of holiness’ and the glory of God’s presence with us that fills those in the temple (and the temple itself). Worship is not just our response to the gift of creation, it is also a participation in God, speaking to God through God about God. In that worship lies all our strength, blessing and peace (v.11).   Graham Ward 

One of the great glories of cathedral worship is the rich musical tradition on which it draws – half a millennium of sacred music written across Europe and beyond, sung regularly in cathedrals, chapels and churches across the country. In Christ Church we often talk about the ‘beauty of holiness.’ We use the phrase from J.S.B. Monsell’s...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

In these extraordinary times, as our nation and our world face the unprecedented challenge of the Coronavirus epidemic, our first task is naturally to support and enable the efforts of frontline staff tackling the disease and supporting those who have fallen ill. As we engage in every way we can with their work, we as Christians turn for guidance...

Spiritual Communion for Anglicans I don't know about you but I'm shut in - cloistered in the Cloisters since Tuesday, doing a not very good impression of a human shield for my lovely wife, Chris. Never in our wildest dreams did we think four months battling cancer wouldn't be the scariest part of getting up each day. All my life I've found...

PEN PORTRAIT No 21 Fell is regarded amongst the greatest of Christ Church Deans. A notable reformer, he remains the only man to have been both Dean and Bishop of Oxford at the same time. Today he is perhaps best known as the subject of a children’s nursery rhyme   The young John Fell John Fell was born at Longworth, Berkshire, on...

PEN PORTRAIT No 20 The earliest known human remains in Oxford are those of a Saxon woman which were discovered in the Cathedral Garth (graveyard) in the summer of 1998   Oxford's beginnings Oxford was first settled by the Saxons, as its original name ‘Oxenaforda’ suggests. The first documentary evidence for the town comes from...

As a child, I never thought much about the dark. Well, that's not strictly true. I thought a lot about how scary it was, how much of it there was, I wondered whether the darkness hid the monsters in it, or whether the dark was a monster in itself. But I never thought much about what darkness was, how it behaved, what happened to it when my parents...

PEN PORTRAIT No 17 Locke is perhaps the most distinguished former member of Christ Church. Known as the ‘Father of Liberalism’ he is commonly regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of the Enlightenment   John Locke was born in the quiet Somerset village of Wrington on 29 August 1632. Both his parents were puritans...

PEN PORTRAIT No 16 Cranmer was a prime architect of the English Reformation. His two versions of the Book of Common Prayer (1549 and 1552) helped establish a new form of Anglican worship, and his death during the reign of Mary Tudor saw him lauded as a protestant martyr   Cranmer the scholar Thomas Cranmer was born on 2 July 1489...

Every time I put on my sunglasses, the sun goes behind a cloud. This fact has never endeared me to my fellow holiday-makers. Sometimes the effect is so immediate that my companions have ordered me straight back inside in the hopes of reversing it. I know that the world is big and that my simple act of putting on sunglasses is unlikely to affect the weather to such a precise extent. But nevertheless, I sometimes start to wonder. As we approached the season of Creationtide, a period dedicated to God as Creator and Sustainer of all life, I felt acutely aware of the threads that pull nature together, the flowers and the bees, the rain and the rivers, the intricate dance of life and death in the turning of the seasons. Surely if this one pollen-dusted bee can sustain the life of so many flowers, my simple act of putting on sunglasses could sway the clouds? Perhaps not. And yet there is a tension between the part of me that feels insignificant and the part that would have me at the very centre of the universe. Not because one is simply right and the other simply wrong  - but because both speak of something profoundly true about what it means for God to be the Creator and Sustainer of all life. ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted.’ (Matthew 10:29-30) We are more precious to God than we can possibly imagine. As a painter knows every stroke of his brushwork, and a composer every note of her symphony, so God knows every tiny detail of our lives. There is no doubt that we are, each of us, loved beyond measure. And it is that feeling – that belief that someone finds us to be infinitely precious – that makes us feel as if we are the centre of the Universe. That is what it means to be created and sustained by God – it is Love that creates us, Love that keeps us. The very fabric of the created world crying out in love. But that knowledge of our preciousness can quickly become distorted when we forget that we are not the sole focus of God’s love. It is not we that are created, at the expense of everything else; we are part of a tapestry of creation that connects all life, weaves all things together. Nothing I do is without consequence for another part of that tapestry. God’s creation is intertwined with its creator. It is important to remember that we are loved, but it can become dangerous when we imagine ourselves to be the sole focus. Too much scrutiny and our flaws will become glaringly present; too high a pedestal and we risk it all coming tumbling down. We all fall short of the mark at one time or another, but to imagine those faults as being broadcast across the universe, the front page of every newspaper, is to get our sense of our place in the world out of proportion. There is a line in Graham Greene’s Monsignor Quixote which I have never forgotten: the Monsignor encounters a man eaten up with guilt for the theft of two brass coffin handles, and after hearing his self-recrimination Father Quixote tells him: “[God] has created a universe – we don’t know how many stars and planets and worlds. You have stolen two brass handles – don’t feel so important.” That dizzy high pedestal, wind-battered and crumbling, is not where we are in God’s eyes. We are not higher than our station, balanced precariously in favour, we are in exactly the place we were created to inhabit. God sees every hair on our heads, God sees every fleeting desire of our hearts. God sees the whole beautiful, tangled web of the universe and every person in it. And we are all precious in God’s sight. Setting aside time to reflect on God as Creator and Sustainer is especially important because we need to have a sense of perspective. We need to understand that we are loved in all our tiny-ness, not because we are huge. The marks we leave on the world may be small, but they are profound. Like the marks we leave on other people’s hearts. This is particularly relevant when we consider our call to love and care for creation. We know that we are small and that the problems our world is facing are huge by comparison. It would be easy to say that we therefore can’t make a difference. But that isn’t true. No matter how small our actions they are counted; each small step we take is a real step in the right direction. And the ways in which our actions encourage, challenge, and transform the way other people interact with creation are numerous beyond measure. Knowing that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all life means knowing our place in the Universe. It means knowing that we are tiny but that our legacy is long-lasting. It means beginning to see the world in all its glorious complex huge-ness and saying with our creator: this is good.

PEN PORTRAIT No 14 Saint Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr, was among the most venerated female saints of medieval England. She is the patron saint of young girls, students, philosophers, and craftsmen working with wheels   Catherine the evangelist According to legend, Catherine was a 4th century noble girl of exceptional...

If you were standing on the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy today, you might watch the beginnings of human life. Andromeda is approximately 2.5 million light years away from Earth and, because it takes so long for the light to travel that immense distance, your view would be that of the Earth 2.5 million years ago.  To me, that number is...

PEN PORTRAIT No 12 Catherine of Aragon was Queen of England from 1509 until 1533, and Henry VIII’s first wife. Henry’s desire to annul his marriage with her led to the break with Rome which ultimately resulted in the Church of England as we know it.   Catherine comes to England Catherine was born at the Archbishop's...

  Emily: Your job title is very complicated! What do you actually do? Philippa: The first part of my job is ‘Succentor’ which, is a medieval title for the Precentor’s assistant. My job is to help him to make sure that all the liturgy and worship in this place runs smoothly. As Assistant College Chaplain I’m assistant to...

PEN PORTRAIT No 10 Robert Burton is famed for his remarkable book The Anatomy of Melancholy, to which he devoted his entire academic career. A vast encyclopaedia on the subject of depression, it is regarded as one of the greatest works of scholarship in the English language   The life of Robert Burton Robert Burton was born 8...

Today is International Women's Day and the theme this year is #BalanceforBetter  Many of us grew up hearing Bible stories - Daniel in the Lion's Den, David and Goliath, Noah and his ark - they are wonderful stories, inspiring stories. But so often we are told only the stories of Biblical men. Today we are taking the...

  Emily: What on earth is an LLM and what does it mean? Janet: The acronym ‘LLM’ stands for Licensed Lay Minister, sometimes known as Readers. We are ministers in the Church of England who are not ordained, in the way that priests are, but who are given licence by the Bishop to care for and teach people. The term...

  Emily: What is an 'Operations Manager'? Joseph: An Operations Manager is basically in charge of the building. It’s a role concerned with the physical stuff we’ve got, how we’re looking after it, and how it interacts with other people. My job is to create as good an environment as possible which is legal, safe, and...

DOOR 24 At last! It's Christmas Eve. So gather round. We've got a special Christmassy story for you.   Tonight is the night Baby Jesus finally takes his place in our crib scene. Piece by piece our figures have arrived in the new stable, which was designed and created specially for us by the Clerk of Works department. Whatever door...

DOOR 19 Here's a door you might not know about... though the crest over the lintel means it's immediately recognisable as part of Christ Church. Any ideas?   Well, it's the front door of the Cathedral Choir School. There’s been a Choir School at Christ Church since the sixteenth century when King Henry VIII made provision for a...

DOOR 15 What on earth's a Slype when it's at home...? It sounds very Harry Potter, doesn't it?   Wikipedia tells us Slype is not be confused with Skype. Hmm. Helpful. In fact, it’s one of those niche terms specific to ecclesiastical architecture. A variation on the word ‘slip’, the word means a narrow passage. And in particular, the...

DOOR 11 These Anglo-Saxon doorways can't be walked through any longer. They cannot welcome outsiders or mark the entrance into this holy place as once they did. They are just echoes of the Church on this site as it once was.   Our Lady Chapel contains the remnants of two doorways: the arches of stone still visible, but the doorways...

DOOR 7 When is a door not a door (Part 2)? When it's a window, of course. Like many Cathedrals and churches, we have lots of stunning stained glass which provide ‘windows’ into the Bible and the stories of the saints.   One of the most celebrated is the vibrant window in the Latin Chapel that houses the reconstructed Shrine to St...

DOOR 3 The Watching Loft overlooks the Latin Chapel, which houses the Shrine of St Frideswide, our patron saint. Many believe that the watching loft, which dates from around the year 1500, was erected to keep watch over the gold and jewels at the shrine and the pilgrims who visited it.   Others suggest that it was a Chantry Chapel –...

PEN PORTRAIT No 6 W. H. Auden, regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, was a poet, author and playwright. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 and was Professor of Poetry at Oxford, 1956 – 61   "Dance, dance, for the figure is easy..." Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York on 21 February 1907. He was...

Since 2014 we have been marking the centenary of the First World War, and as we approach the centenary of the Armistice this year a number of contributors have come together to reflect on the theme of Remembrance, and the ways in which we honour the fallen here at Christ Church Cathedral. The Chapel of Remembrance in Christ Church is...

Since 2014 we have been marking the centenary of the First World War, and as we approach the centenary of the Armistice this year a number of contributors have come together to reflect on the theme of Remembrance, and the ways in which we honour the fallen here at Christ Church Cathedral. One of our special events, by which we commemorated...

  'Frideswide' is the name of a Saxon princess and healer who became the Patron Saint of Oxford. Her name is still familiar in modern-day Oxford: home of the recently transformed Frideswide Square, St Frideswide's Church on the Botley Road, and the girls' choir Frideswide Voices. Her name means ‘Peace’ (frithes) ‘Strong’...

Four speakers bring to life key passages from scripture through works of art, poetry and music.   I learned today that David Attenborough was one of those responsible for introducing colour television to a nation of viewers. To me it seems entirely appropriate. Appropriate that a man famed for his discoveries should have been the one to...

This is a story about hands. Or rather, this is a story about the stories our hands have to tell. Most of us have two of them, and we rely on them every day in almost everything that we do. Our hands are at the forefront of our everyday lives: we gesture with them when we get excitable, we fiddle with them when we get nervous or bored, and we...

PEN PORTRAIT No 4 Thomas Becket, Saint Thomas the Martyr, was unrivalled among the saints of medieval England and his shrine at Canterbury Cathedral was one of the most important sites of pilgrimage in Christendom Born on St Thomas the Apostle’s Day, 21 December, in 1120, Becket (note: not a Becket, a later affectation) was the...

  This scene is depicted in one of the beautiful 14th century stained glass windows in the Cathedral’s Latin Chapel (located in the far left hand corner as you enter the Cathedral) but the image has a number of curiosities including a random Archbishop wielding an unusual staff... The only Gospel account of...

This Summer the Cathedral is hosting a series of six lectures covering topics in contemporary Christian Ethics. The Revd John Witheridge, an Honorary Chaplain at Christ Church Cathedral, has curated this year’s series and said: "The topics of the last two Summer Lectures series have been largely historical.  This year we turn our...

  This is the 'Alice door': a small door connecting the Deanery garden to the Cathedral garden. It can be seen from the North door of the Cathedral and, more importantly, it was a feature to be studied from the Deanery side of the wall. A young Alice Liddell, daughter of the Dean and inspiration for the famous story, would have known...

  My name is Emily Essex and I am the Cathedral Assistant at Christ Church. I work in many different departments and talk to all sorts of fascinating people including some who, as a visitor, you might never get to meet. And so, dear reader, I propose a journey to discover the hidden treasures of Christ Church: the history, the place,...