Blog

Nau mai, haere mai, welcome.

On Sunday 7th February, our cathedral community worshipped for the first time in the Interim Cathedral in the Peace Hall.

We are putting out into deep water, and we are going to be newly positioned for mission. This part of our journey is going to be about relishing new opportunities. It is a time to give thanks for all from which we have been liberated. We can travel a little lighter. Less to carry. A smaller space to care for and heat. A freedom from the emblems of warfare. A chance to chart a new course. In our worship, we will be freer to try new expressions of worship within the framework that we cherish. Not leaving everything behind; on the wall in the worship space, we have projected the windows of the cathedral building – there to express just one aspect of the spiritual home which has done so much to form us; a place which we will never lose connection with, how ever long "interim" turns out to be.

With Jesus, we know that the radical nature of the Gospel of grace and love makes for a journey which is not always characterised by placid waters – albeit that the Holy Spirit nourishes us with the deepest peace, beyond the World's ability to bring peace. It will be important for us to recall, time and again, that we are meeting for worship in a building named, “The Peace Hall”. Especially as we are a community of the Cross of Nails – a Community of Peace and Reconciliation. That cross is depicted in one of the new stained glass windows you'll see when you visit the Interim Cathedral.

In the deep water, Jesus' Followers filled both boats with so many fish that they began to sink. On another occasion in a boat, Jesus called out to the storm to be quiet, and it obeyed. He is Lord of all creation.

May our Interim Cathedral's proximity to the community; it's walk-in-off-the-street presence; the light and brightness that the fantastic paint job have gifted it with; the simplicity and unclutteredness of the space be a gift to us. The mission ahead on remediating the cathedral is a work that must be attended to; but it must always play second fiddle to the vocation Jesus has given us. We will remember together Luke 5:11, “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him”