0:00:03 > 0:00:09In 2012, the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy wrote A Human Haunt,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11a poem about London's Southwark Cathedral.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15"St Mary Overie, St Saviour, Southwark,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19over the river, a human haunt in stone,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22thousand years here, the sweet Thames well recalls."
0:00:24 > 0:00:27The poem is a reflection on the cathedral
0:00:27 > 0:00:30and the generations who have filled its pews.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32"Who came?" the poet asks.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36"Nuns, brothers, in good faith, saints, poets."
0:00:36 > 0:00:39She writes of Chaucer and Shakespeare,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42both associated with this stretch of the river.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44And finally, players, publicans,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47paupers, politicians, princes,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50all to this same persistent, changing space
0:00:50 > 0:00:53between fire and water, theatre and marketplace.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00Morning. And a very warm welcome to Southwark Cathedral in so many ways.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04A big welcome especially if you're visiting us this morning.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08And to a group of students from Italy at the back over there, it's lovely to see you.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15- The Lord be with you. - ALL: And also with you.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18- Lift up your hearts. - ALL: We lift them up to the Lord.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Christians have worshipped on the site of Southwark Cathedral
0:01:25 > 0:01:27for nearly 1,500 years.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30The current building dates from the 13th century
0:01:30 > 0:01:33and has welcomed generation upon generation,
0:01:33 > 0:01:38a persistent changing space serving a persistent changing community.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44Jesus answers the question, "Who is my neighbour?" like this.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48You make another person your neighbour
0:01:48 > 0:01:51by treating him or her as such.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56In reaching out to a person who is separated from you
0:01:56 > 0:01:59by creed or class or race,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02embracing that person, caring for them,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04you make that person your neighbour.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Southwark Cathedral is a busy, thriving cathedral
0:02:09 > 0:02:12in the heart of a modern and diverse city.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16In July 2013, I spent a week filming at the cathedral,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19seeing how this human haunt in stone
0:02:19 > 0:02:22attempts to reconcile persistence with change.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26How it tries to remain relevant to the community that it serves.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Peace be with you. Peace be with you.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40So it's a Monday morning.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44And this morning's services will be in the Harvard Chapel.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48We like to use every altar in the cathedral.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50- During the week?- During the week. - Right.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55This is the St Andrew's Chapel.
0:02:57 > 0:03:03And it has a particular dedication to praying for those people
0:03:03 > 0:03:07suffering with HIV/AIDS.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14This is my favourite part of the day.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Opening the cathedral,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19making it available for people.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Southwark Cathedral sits at the southern end of London Bridge,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35the oldest crossing point of the Thames into the City.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38It's an area of London that is transforming fast.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Regeneration, renovation,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45restoration. New buildings now dwarf the old.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50The cathedral is one of the few stable landmarks in this community,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53engaging with all its neighbours, new and old.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Multinationals, local businesses, residents,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00a process it sees as fundamental to fulfilling its mission.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04Welcome, and thank you for coming along today.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06If I can find my blippy thing.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Um, I'm Andrew Nunn.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12I'm the Dean here at the cathedral,
0:04:12 > 0:04:17and we have a vocation to work alongside community
0:04:17 > 0:04:22in sort of delivering the kind of support that people need
0:04:22 > 0:04:24in order to live well here.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27And when we were thinking about social mission
0:04:27 > 0:04:29we suddenly realised
0:04:29 > 0:04:34that we have an un-utilised resource
0:04:34 > 0:04:37within the parish, and that's All Hallows Church.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40It looks like a rural idyll.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44And in some ways it's as close as you can get to rural idyll in SE1.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48And that's why it's particularly important that we make
0:04:48 > 0:04:52the most of the opportunities that All Hallows presents.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54So this is our vision for All Hallows.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58It's within a larger vision, as I say, of development,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02but also of where the cathedral is going in the next period of our life
0:05:02 > 0:05:04in terms of what we're calling Living God.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09How do we live well within the city where we are embedded?
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Southwark Cathedral is Mother Church to its diocese.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Some 300 parishes, two-and-a-half million people.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23But the cathedral is also a parish church in its own right,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25serving its own immediate neighbourhood.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Within that parish it has two other churches.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32St Hugh's in Bermondsey, and All Hallows,
0:05:32 > 0:05:34partially flattened by the Luftwaffe
0:05:34 > 0:05:37and not used for worship since the 1970s.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43- This is what you were talking about at the meeting?- It is. This is All Hallows Church.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48And where we're actually standing is the South Aisle of the church.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53- But that is the North Aisle there?- If you just come up here,
0:05:53 > 0:05:57you see this was an entrance to something within the church.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59But that was within the church.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03So you want it to return to church function?
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Yes, but not in the way that it was before.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09So not just sort of clearing out and then rebuilding it.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12I want, at the heart of what happens here,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16it to be a place where, um...
0:06:16 > 0:06:19..where people can go and worship. So a chapel within it.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24Obviously, everybody who wants to come to church could get into the cathedral, I know that.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28- You've got a big cathedral.- A big cathedral.- Yes.- But although it's a big cathedral
0:06:28 > 0:06:31you can't necessarily do all the things you'd want to do,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35particular in terms of social mission. All those rooms we've got,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39- we're using for, basically, income generation.- Right.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42So if we had a mothers and toddlers group, for instance,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45or a fathers and toddlers group,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47that would take away income potential.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50But this gives us loads more opportunities,
0:06:50 > 0:06:54and the opportunities for doing the sorts of things like Messy Church.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01- Messy Church?- Messy Church is one of these new, fresh expressions
0:07:01 > 0:07:04of Church that has been encouraged, rightly so,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07within the Church of England and the Methodist Church.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12So different ways of worship for different groups of people.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Messy Church is for working with younger children.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22Now if a cathedral does Messy Church, it's a disaster. Do you know what I mean?
0:07:22 > 0:07:27- Because you're not very good at it? - We're not very good at it cos we do different kind of church.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31And I just want us to be able to offer, in the cathedral,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35at St Hugh's, here, different sorts of things, as appropriate.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40- Good morning. Welcome to the cathedral.- Thank you.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44- Is it your fist time visit?- We're just lighting a candle, thank you.
0:07:44 > 0:07:45OK.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47In this historic church,
0:07:47 > 0:07:52which is both a parish church and a continually used House of Prayer,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55it is our custom to have a very short period of prayer every hour,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57starting with the Lord's Prayer.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02"Our Father, who art in heaven,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04hallowed be Thy name..."
0:08:04 > 0:08:07So we've got a memorial here to William Shakespeare.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Did he ever worship here? We're not too sure.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Certainly the theatres in the first Elizabethan period
0:08:13 > 0:08:17were on this side. They were driven out of the city onto this side,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20so we had the Hope, the Rose, the Swan, and then the Globe Theatre.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Welcome to the Education Centre. My name is Alex Carlton.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29My role is to welcome the, well, 9,000 last year, schoolchildren
0:08:29 > 0:08:31through our doors.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47This is the coat that's worn by bishops.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50The is the Bishop of Croydon's coat.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56There are certain, or quite a lot of people who resent the fact
0:08:56 > 0:08:58that the clergy are all dressed up
0:08:58 > 0:09:01in their fancy clothes, as some of them will call it,
0:09:01 > 0:09:06but, I don't know, it's knowing that there are certain things
0:09:06 > 0:09:08that are stable.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Life changes so very quickly,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17particularly these days.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23But, no, it's a good thing to have the churches round the place
0:09:23 > 0:09:26that people can go to, particularly cathedrals,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28and, er, see that
0:09:28 > 0:09:34there's a peaceful area where they can hide,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36or sit and think,
0:09:36 > 0:09:41and then go out into the mad world again and cope with life.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43I'm sure of that.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Southwark Cathedral is the oldest surviving cathedral building
0:09:48 > 0:09:54in London. Along the Thames, to its west, is Bankside,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58once home to some of the city's oldest industries. Docks, tanneries,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01breweries. It's now a mixture of playground and business park.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Tate Modern inhabits the old Bankside Power Station
0:10:06 > 0:10:09next door to Shakespeare's rebuilt Globe Theatre.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12Riverside wharfs have become expensive apartments
0:10:12 > 0:10:14and prime office space.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19Today the cathedral is firmly located in the largely secular world,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22serving a community of old and new,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24faithful and faithless,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27all remembered every morning in the cathedral's prayers.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34"Loving God, as we give You thanks for the gift of this new day,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36we pray for our own local community
0:10:36 > 0:10:38and those who live and work around us here,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48for those who find every day a struggle against overwhelming odds,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57for them and for ourselves we ask Your blessing this day."
0:11:00 > 0:11:05The analysis of the stats that have come out of the census
0:11:05 > 0:11:09have been circulated, and I just thought it would be really useful to
0:11:09 > 0:11:11bring those to this meeting because,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14given everything that we're wanting to do with Living God
0:11:14 > 0:11:19and with All Hallows and stuff that's happening at St Hugh's,
0:11:19 > 0:11:21as well as in the rest of the parish,
0:11:21 > 0:11:26there were some surprising things and some things that, you know,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30one could've anticipated from what we know of the parish.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35The one that stuck out for me was the 50 percent rise in population,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38assuming they've done the mapping properly.
0:11:39 > 0:11:46But from 4,800 to 6,000, which bears out what it feels like
0:11:46 > 0:11:50in terms of new developments and loft conversions
0:11:50 > 0:11:52and new flats going up.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58So that, relatively speaking, that's a major demographic increase,
0:11:58 > 0:12:00- isn't it?- It is. It's a kind of... Yeah.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04- It does move it onto another sort of level really, doesn't it?- Yeah.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07I think it feels like more people live here.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11The neighbourhood planned stuff, all the projections, is that's
0:12:11 > 0:12:14going to increase exponentially.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18It's going to be four times the current levels within 15 years.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22- Much more residential.- Yeah, much more residential,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24and much more packed, much more high-rise.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28They're quite likely to pull down some of the lower-rise developments,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30like Maiden Lane Estate,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33in order to build high-rise stuff, in order to get
0:12:33 > 0:12:36better land use out of it.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42So some of the nicer council housing and family,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46what are they called? Housing Association developments
0:12:46 > 0:12:48are likely to disappear.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53Does your mission change at all as the area around you is changed?
0:12:54 > 0:12:58I think we've needed to become
0:12:58 > 0:13:04more acutely aware of some of the issues
0:13:04 > 0:13:06that, once upon a time,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10might not have been the general preserve of the Church.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14I mean the highly complex areas of planning and development that go on,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17the deals that get done between
0:13:17 > 0:13:20multi-million pound developers and the council.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24You know, there are local groups and resident's group,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28local planning groups, trying to make sure that those processes
0:13:28 > 0:13:33remain both democratic but also remain, um, er,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37good for the local people. So we're not prepared simply to stand by
0:13:37 > 0:13:42and watch the area ethnically cleansed of its poor people.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46We want to try and make a noise about that and to try to make it clear that
0:13:46 > 0:13:51that's neither right, nor is it good for the community in the long run.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53I don't think the forum will be lobbying planning,
0:13:53 > 0:13:58the Forum will be just making sure that the plan is being followed.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01What do you see the Neighbourhood Forum's role
0:14:01 > 0:14:04in the earlier stages of planning applications?
0:14:05 > 0:14:10Well, the planners deal with, will be dealing with the neighbourhood planners
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- at planning the document.- Yes.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15It will be up to them to interpret that document
0:14:15 > 0:14:18against every development that comes forward.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22A lot of the better Bankside members are small businesses,
0:14:22 > 0:14:27and they're as threatened by some of the new development
0:14:27 > 0:14:30and some of the knock-on effect of new development
0:14:30 > 0:14:33as our residents sometimes.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36I want to say, if I'm going to be involved with it,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39we're going to be putting pressure on you to show the residents
0:14:39 > 0:14:41who are appointed to the Forum
0:14:41 > 0:14:44- are appointed in a democratic and accountable way.- Right.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47- To somebody.- Yes, OK.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51- Well...- Because that -- What I'd say is that anybody can come.- Quite.
0:14:52 > 0:14:57- So that's democratic.- That's pretty democratic, isn't it?- No, that's just juggled.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02- THEY LAUGH - Not accountable to anybody on that basis. They can do what they like.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04SIREN IN DISTANCE
0:15:06 > 0:15:09Southwark Cathedral's reputation is as a radical cathedral,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13actively engaged in helping the poor and more deprived areas
0:15:13 > 0:15:15of the community that it serves.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19In this vein, ten years ago, the cathedral took on responsibility
0:15:19 > 0:15:22for another church in its parish. St Hugh's.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26St Hugh's had started life as a Victorian mission,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30founded by Charterhouse public school to support the poor of Bermondsey.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35In July 2013, it was being rebuilt under the auspices of the cathedral.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41This is Vintry Court, as it's going to be called.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45With social housing on the first floor up there,
0:15:45 > 0:15:49and private on the top, with some penthouse developments on the top,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51which pays for the rest of it.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53The entrance will be just across here,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56where it says "pedestrian access",
0:15:56 > 0:16:02and that goes straight into a fairly good-sized community space.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04So that we hope that will be people like...
0:16:04 > 0:16:06It will feel like a neutral space.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09And we'll have coffee tables and sofas and things.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14There's a kitchen there. That'll be where the community activities happen.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Then there are glazed double doors into the church area,
0:16:18 > 0:16:24which will be modern and simple and clean - and we hope very beautiful.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27- And...- I think it's Charterhouse School that had bought it.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32Charterhouse School was one of, there are six or seven mission settlements, they were called,
0:16:32 > 0:16:38at the end of the 19th century, where Oxford and Cambridge colleges and English public schools
0:16:38 > 0:16:42felt they needed to do something for the people in the East End,
0:16:42 > 0:16:46so they would invite local children from here to go and watch them
0:16:46 > 0:16:50play cricket on the green lawns of Charterhouse,
0:16:50 > 0:16:55and they would come down and run clubs in the winter and in summer,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and teach them how to box and how to do sports
0:16:58 > 0:17:01and play football and suchlike.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03But that was part of the long tradition,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06and people here remember it with great affection.
0:17:06 > 0:17:11There are 85-year-olds who met their sweethearts when she was in the sewing club
0:17:11 > 0:17:14learning how to hem shirts and he was learning how to box
0:17:14 > 0:17:17or to play snooker or whatever it is.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20And there are a lot of very happy memories,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23and whole generations have been through this place.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26And when you're living in a rat-infested slum, as they were
0:17:26 > 0:17:30in these housing blocks before they were rebuilt in the Sixties,
0:17:31 > 0:17:36then this really would have been both an oasis
0:17:36 > 0:17:38and contact with a local priest
0:17:38 > 0:17:43who was young and came from a different world,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and could open people's horizons, I think, to the fact that life
0:17:46 > 0:17:49could be different for people
0:17:49 > 0:17:53and equip them for, you know, greater ambition in the future.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57So we're hoping that the cathedral in the north,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00and St Hugh's here in the southeast,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04and the All Hallows Copperfield Street development
0:18:04 > 0:18:07in the southwest of the cathedral parish
0:18:07 > 0:18:10will create a really exciting sort of triangulation of
0:18:10 > 0:18:12three different kinds of resources
0:18:12 > 0:18:15but working together for the local community.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18There is even a cross on the side of the building,
0:18:18 > 0:18:23in the brickwork up there, just to remind us of what's going on.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30It's a very old-fashioned kind of notion of parish ministry, really.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32How do you sum it up?
0:18:35 > 0:18:40I'm... I suppose I would sum it up by saying that God...
0:18:40 > 0:18:42Sorry, this is rather...
0:18:45 > 0:18:51That God has a purpose for creation, and the purpose of creation is,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55ultimately, the reconciliation of everything
0:18:55 > 0:18:58in Heaven and Earth to himself.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00So there's kind of a notion of completeness
0:19:00 > 0:19:05of all that is currently unfinished or broken or damaged.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09And that, I think, is what the New Testament has in mind,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13what Jesus has in mind when talking about things like the Kingdom of God.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17There's a kind of finishedness that God is working towards.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20And when we're in the business of helping to improve
0:19:20 > 0:19:22people's quality of life,
0:19:22 > 0:19:28when we're in the business of building bridges and mending fences
0:19:28 > 0:19:33and bringing people into honest and just relationships with one another,
0:19:33 > 0:19:38whether it's got a religious label on it or whether it's in domestic
0:19:38 > 0:19:42and personal circumstances, whether it's in marriage preparation
0:19:42 > 0:19:45or good neighbourliness within a community,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48I think it's all part of that same, bigger project
0:19:48 > 0:19:50of bringing everything back
0:19:50 > 0:19:54into a sort of coherent and articulated whole.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56WHIRRING OVERHEAD
0:20:19 > 0:20:21- I'm going to walk with you.- Are you?
0:20:21 > 0:20:24- I don't know how I'll manage it. - Don't fall over the barrier here.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Cos that would be a disaster.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30London's most salubrious address.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32The house is a fantastic house to live in.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38But when... When we bought it, that was after the war.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41And it had been bombed,
0:20:42 > 0:20:44firebombed, and it had been rebuilt.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48But the road ended where the house stood.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Because the Bankside Power Station was then operating.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54So this was... um...
0:20:54 > 0:20:58just a dead end, and there was a builder's yard here,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02where the Globe Theatre is. And the Jubilee Walkway was opened up,
0:21:02 > 0:21:07- and that sort of transformed the whole area.- That's the Jubilee Walkway along the Thames?
0:21:07 > 0:21:10This is the Jubilee Walkway, yes. Where everyone's running.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12And cycling.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16But it makes for a lovely commute.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23And it's nice to wake up looking at St Paul's in the morning.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27- The opposition.- Well, if you look at it that way.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31- I'm sure you don't.- No, course not. I'm too... Too nice for that.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35Completely different beasts. Does London need two cathedrals?
0:21:35 > 0:21:39It does. I mean, does London need two cathedrals and an abbey?
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Yes, it does, because we all perform different functions.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46The Abbey is the one dealing with the, sort of State affairs
0:21:46 > 0:21:51and the royalty, and St Paul's deals with those huge kind of events
0:21:51 > 0:21:55in the life of the nation that wouldn't suit the Abbey.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00And I think it enables us to sort of be the cathedral
0:22:00 > 0:22:02for south of the river,
0:22:02 > 0:22:08but in a kind of more... accessible way, easier way, you know?
0:22:08 > 0:22:10That's not depriving at all, you know?
0:22:10 > 0:22:13But they do think, I mean over the river there now,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17- they'll be getting ready for morning prayer?- Oh, yes. Yeah.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19We all do have that routine.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23I mean that's part and parcel of what it means to be a cathedral.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25That the prayer,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27the Opus Dei,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30the work of God, goes on and on and on,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34- and has done for generations.- Yeah. - And that's the primary duty,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38you know, that's why I'm leaving at this time in the morning.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Isn't the river beautiful? I mean, it's just such a...
0:22:43 > 0:22:47It's a fantastic resource for this city.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51I mean, I just... And it's always different,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55that's one of the things I've learnt about living by the river,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59that it always looks different, feels different, you know,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02- its moods. So...- Yeah.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05In the morning you kind of capture just a bit of that,
0:23:05 > 0:23:10what the river's like. And I think, when I get to this point here,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14you suddenly realise all of the impact of the developments
0:23:14 > 0:23:17around London Bridge, when you just see The Shard there.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24Absolutely dominating everything there.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36We pray for our mayor, Boris Johnson,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39for the leaders of the local borough.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43And of all the boroughs that make up this diocese.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52God of truth, whose wisdom set her table and invited us to eat the bread
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and drink the wine of the kingdom,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57help us to lay aside all foolishness
0:23:57 > 0:23:59and to live and walk in the way of insight,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05that we may come with Gregory and McCrina to the eternal feast of heaven,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13- The Lord be with you.- And you, sir.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17How many this morning, there were two? No, you, the verger.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Well, I counted in so there were three of us, um... and... uh...
0:24:21 > 0:24:25- Including the verger and you? - Including the verger and myself.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28So, yeah, there was only one other.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33But it's kind of, um... It sort of speaks of faithfulness in a way
0:24:33 > 0:24:37to it, because you could, in some circumstances, go out and say,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40"Oh, there's not enough people, let's not bother.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Let's go and have a coffee."
0:24:42 > 0:24:46You know? And if you're thinking of it in those terms, you know,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50- of your audience.- Yeah.- And the kind of resources that you put into it,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54- it sort of seems a bit...- Yeah.- Mad.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58But it's not because, I mean, that goes on and on and on and on,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01all the time, and because it's not dependent upon
0:25:01 > 0:25:04who's going to turn up,
0:25:04 > 0:25:06apart from the fact that you need a priest,
0:25:06 > 0:25:11but given that that's going to happen, those who can't come
0:25:11 > 0:25:13I hope feel sustained by those who can,
0:25:13 > 0:25:15and the fact that it sort of goes on,
0:25:15 > 0:25:21and goes on with the rumblings of the... of the trains going past.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25And then I could hear the sort of start-up noise from the stores,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29on the Borough Market, cos they seem to have an increasing amount,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33you have to have music along with buying your chorizo sausage or something.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37So there was always, I could hear them testing out their sound system.
0:25:45 > 0:25:51- I wondered whether... People have ideas about religion.- Mmm.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54That keeps them away from religion.
0:25:54 > 0:25:59Yeah, all those people outside, why don't they come in? Well...
0:25:59 > 0:26:04Perhaps they feel that it's not for them. They're not worthy,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07they're not welcome, this that and the other.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11And that's quite difficult because you want, you want... You need walls
0:26:11 > 0:26:15in order to create space, in that strange way,
0:26:15 > 0:26:21but you want them to be porous. And I think that's the real challenge.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26So do you get sort of exhausted by the Church of England's sort of
0:26:26 > 0:26:30attitude towards, you know, the women's bishop thing,
0:26:30 > 0:26:36gay marriage, these things which tend to sort of dominate the headlines
0:26:36 > 0:26:38about the Church.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43Does that frustrate you? Because it makes your work here more difficult.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46It frustrates me on a load of levels, I mean it does...
0:26:46 > 0:26:50A lot of that is what's keeping people outside probably, isn't it?
0:26:50 > 0:26:52- Possibly, I don't know.- Yes, possibly.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56I think it doesn't really serve us well.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01For instance, the failure of the legislation
0:27:01 > 0:27:05to be passed last November on women bishops.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09And the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Rowan at that stage,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11did, on the following day,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15speak about a loss of credibility within the nation.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17And I believe that to be true.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Is it important for you that Southwark Cathedral says
0:27:21 > 0:27:25what the Church of England says, or it says what the Dean feels,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28or the Dean and the rest of his colleagues on Chapter feel?
0:27:28 > 0:27:32- There's a...- You see what I mean? - I do know exactly what you mean.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36- Is that a fair question, I don't know?- No, it's a very fair question,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40because we have tried to live an inclusive way of being the Church,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45and to welcome everybody, regardless of who they are,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47and because of who they are.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51You know? It's not sort of saying, oh, well, we will put up with you
0:27:51 > 0:27:55even though you're a woman, even though you're black,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57even though you're gay.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00We're saying that actually your presence here
0:28:00 > 0:28:03makes us more of the community that God has created.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07So we want to welcome you for who you are
0:28:07 > 0:28:10- and not simply put up with you for you.- So how do you do that?
0:28:10 > 0:28:14How do you become known as this cathedral which welcomes everybody?
0:28:14 > 0:28:19Well, I think at various stages we've been pretty outspoken
0:28:19 > 0:28:25about some of those issues. So that gave us a bit of a profile of that.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30At the moment what we want to do is to live that,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34rather than grandstand it all the time.
0:28:34 > 0:28:40So rather than be, you know, "The Pink Cathedral" in London,
0:28:40 > 0:28:44or something like that, I'd rather be
0:28:44 > 0:28:46a place where everybody would find a home,
0:28:46 > 0:28:50whatever their sexuality, whatever their ethnic background,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54whatever their gender, whatever their age, whatever their...
0:28:54 > 0:29:00Wherever they exist within the sort of, the range of wealth of poverty,
0:29:00 > 0:29:06or, you know, if it can truly be a community that's broad.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09And where people know how to live together
0:29:09 > 0:29:12with real quality and understanding and care for one another.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14I think that's very powerful.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36- Good morning, hello. The first time you come here?- French.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38French. Soyez le bienvenu.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40(SPEAKS FRENCH)
0:29:44 > 0:29:46Voila.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48Thank you very much, gracias.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Thank you, bye-bye, thank you. Adios.
0:29:55 > 0:30:01- Have you been doing this for ages? - Yeah. For... about six years now.
0:30:01 > 0:30:07- Six years?- Yeah.- Goodness me.- So... I enjoy it, it is very nice.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09How did you get involved in doing this?
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Um, I was doing the tour guide in courses,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14and I was doing my placement here.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19After that, after my placement, they asked me to stay here,
0:30:19 > 0:30:24to do voluntary here, with... because I speak different languages,
0:30:24 > 0:30:29- to make everybody happy, you know? - Right.- So it was very nice, yeah.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32It's a different thing, but I enjoy it.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Are you part of the congregation here?
0:30:35 > 0:30:39- Um, no, I'm just volunteering here. - Right. Are you Christian?
0:30:39 > 0:30:42- No, I'm Muslim.- A Muslim, OK, right.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46I mean it's a lot of people, they come in here from Arabic country,
0:30:46 > 0:30:50from all the world, you know? And as soon as I start talking to them,
0:30:50 > 0:30:55they say, "How's come you Muslim and you are working here?"
0:30:55 > 0:30:59I say, "Yeah, I'm Muslim but I don't speak in... You know,
0:30:59 > 0:31:02everyone respect the other religions,
0:31:02 > 0:31:07so I try to make other people happy and I show them what they want here.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11And so make sure they enjoy their day on their visit to the cathedral.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15- Do you practise your Muslim faith? - I'm Muslim, I'm fasting now.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18- Oh, cos it's Ramadan?- Yeah, it's Ramadan, I'm fasting.
0:31:18 > 0:31:24Yeah, it's very hard but I come here to help my colleague and to help,
0:31:24 > 0:31:26- you know?- Long days to fast in at the moment?
0:31:26 > 0:31:30It's a long day, yeah, but with strength
0:31:30 > 0:31:34and a love of my religion, I am happy now. Yeah.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36TRAINS RATTLE AND SQUEAK
0:31:43 > 0:31:45SIREN IN DISTANCE
0:31:54 > 0:31:58Hm-hm. Yeah, telling me, asking me if I'm coming down.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02You're meant to be deaf, you're not meant to be able to hear that.
0:32:02 > 0:32:03SHE LAUGHS
0:32:03 > 0:32:07- Thank you, my dearie.- There we go. A summer treat.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13- You're summer treating here every week, then?- Yes, I am. Yes.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18And I've also got these extra volunteers from the cathedral
0:32:18 > 0:32:20as back-up for, supposedly, when I'm not here.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24Right. This is official cathedral business, is it?
0:32:24 > 0:32:30That's right, it's our... We feel, because this unit is in our parish,
0:32:30 > 0:32:35we have a, you know, a duty of care to the people who live here.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38And I've been coming for about seven years now,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42an afternoon a week, and trying to build up social activities
0:32:42 > 0:32:45and this sort of social interaction and so on.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50- Is it important for the cathedral to have a presence in the community, is that it?- Yes, yes.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54I mean, if we say that a lot of the people who live in the parish are elderly,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57- what are we doing for the elderly? - Yeah.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00And this is what we've been doing for the elderly here.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05We had requests from the warden about seven or eight years ago,
0:33:05 > 0:33:09saying, I've got lots of very depressed and isolated people here,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13- can you come and help me?- Right.- So that's what it started off doing.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18- Ann, are you from here? Cos we know you're from Southwark.- Yeah.- Yeah?
0:33:18 > 0:33:22Born and bred, Great Dover Street, Tabard Street.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25I was confirmed at Southwark Cathedral when I was 17.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29- Really?- Wasn't I? I told you.- Yes, not that I was there at the time.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34I wish... I knew if they have a book and keep things like that.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Well, there must be the register of baptisms. Yes, yes.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43- No, but ours was confirmation.- Oh, confirmation, yes.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46- It would be, yes, yes.- Me and my younger sister.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49I can find out from the person who keeps the archives
0:33:49 > 0:33:52if there are the records, if we've still got them.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55- I was a Charterhouse girl as well. - What does that mean?
0:33:55 > 0:33:59- Charterhouse is...- A school.- A charity.
0:34:00 > 0:34:06- Here it was run by the Charterhouse School in Godalming.- Right.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11But also the church, St Hugh's Church, which is also...
0:34:11 > 0:34:15- Anybody from there used to come to our church, didn't they?- Yeah.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18- They pulled it down last year, or the year before.- Yes.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22- They're rebuilding it now, aren't they?- Yeah.- Yeah.- But I was there.
0:34:22 > 0:34:27What did the charity do, what did Charterhouse do for you? Did it pay for...?
0:34:27 > 0:34:31- They took us for one week's, they'd got that beautiful school at Godalming.- Yeah.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34You know, where all the posh, rich people went,
0:34:34 > 0:34:39and one week every year they let us go down there.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42Looked after us and give us some food.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45They used to teach you ballroom dancing,
0:34:45 > 0:34:47they done everything for you.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50Make your life, you know, nice.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Did you go into the cathedral at all, or not?
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Only if they took us, something like that,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00- but...- So for special events you might go.- Yeah, go there. Yeah.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04- Like confirmation.- Yeah.- Did you used to go into the cathedral, Jim?
0:35:04 > 0:35:07- Ever?- Not to the service, no.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09Right. HE CLEARS THROAT
0:35:11 > 0:35:13I've been in just to look around, you know?
0:35:15 > 0:35:17TRAINS RATTLE OVERHEAD
0:35:20 > 0:35:25"Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29As it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31Amen."
0:35:31 > 0:35:33"Remember your promise of mercy
0:35:33 > 0:35:36to Abraham and to his children forever."
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Let us pray.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44We pray for all those who have come to this cathedral today,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48we pray for this Holy place and especially for the meeting of
0:35:48 > 0:35:50the Chapter this evening.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58We give thanks for the privilege of serving You here
0:36:02 > 0:36:04and worshipping in this Holy place.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15Um, I'm actually locking the churchyard now. Sorry, thank you.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18I'm about to close the churchyard now.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24OK, thanks.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26So we're not happy about the bird,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28"holy matrimony" is a better wording.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33But it seems like the general feel is that it's a nice window.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Thank you very much for that. Right, if we go on to item 13, Living God.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42You remember we, um... we talked about
0:36:42 > 0:36:46the various stages we'd gone through as a clergy team.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48Um... And then, beyond that,
0:36:48 > 0:36:53looking at where we wanted to be going in the next five years,
0:36:53 > 0:36:59really. And how we would describe that to the congregation,
0:36:59 > 0:37:01in theological terms,
0:37:02 > 0:37:06but also in terms that will embrace
0:37:07 > 0:37:10every part of the life of the cathedral.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Bruce, do you want to sort of tell us where
0:37:13 > 0:37:16you think we've got to in all of that.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22I hope you've all received and read
0:37:22 > 0:37:24a kind of summary paper
0:37:24 > 0:37:28that went round to a Chapter meeting, to Chapter members,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31ten days, a fortnight ago
0:37:31 > 0:37:33which just sets the thing out for the whole year,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37in very broad terms.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41It explains the first term is about
0:37:41 > 0:37:46inviting as many members of the cathedral congregation as possible
0:37:46 > 0:37:49to a kind of, I don't want to call it a brainstorming session,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53but to ask some very fundamental, contemporary questions about
0:37:53 > 0:37:58how do you talk about God today? Can you talk about God today?
0:37:58 > 0:38:02And the interesting question is, what are we actually talking about
0:38:02 > 0:38:04when we talk about God?
0:38:05 > 0:38:07Let us pray.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11Underpinning everything at Southwark Cathedral is theology,
0:38:11 > 0:38:15the study of God. In the Sixties, the cathedral was a driving force
0:38:15 > 0:38:18behind a liberal theological movement,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22South Bank Religion, that argued for a rethinking of God
0:38:22 > 0:38:24as that which is at the heart of people
0:38:24 > 0:38:28rather than simply of being out there.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31Today, Living God is the name given by the cathedral
0:38:31 > 0:38:32to its latest initiative,
0:38:32 > 0:38:36to re-examine the fundamental question of faith,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39what is meant by God?
0:38:39 > 0:38:43It's a question the cathedral, as a community, wants to ask of itself.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47But it's also the question it wants to get out into the neighbourhood,
0:38:47 > 0:38:51into the minds of those who stream across London Bridge on their way to work each day.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Into the minds of everyone in their dioceses.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59# Keep me travelling along with you
0:38:59 > 0:39:03# Give me courage when the world is tough
0:39:03 > 0:39:08# Keep me loving when the world is rough
0:39:08 > 0:39:12# Live and sing in all I do
0:39:12 > 0:39:16# Keep me travelling along with you
0:39:16 > 0:39:20# And it's from the old I travel to the new
0:39:20 > 0:39:24# Keep me travelling along with you! #
0:39:24 > 0:39:28On Thursdays of this term, I know it's been an exciting end of term,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31but if you can think back, on Thursdays of this term
0:39:31 > 0:39:34we've been thinking about ways of keeping fit, spiritually.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Remember? You know how to keep fit physically, with exercise,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41how to keep fit when you're playing football and other things.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Keeping fit spiritually is important too.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46So click, please, let's have our little reminder
0:39:46 > 0:39:48of what we've done this term.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Talking about God, I showed you some pictures about the way that people
0:39:52 > 0:39:56have thought about God, and how God is really interesting to talk about,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59and to argue about, and we've all got different ideas about God.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04If you're able to get into those conversations, to really think and talk about God,
0:40:04 > 0:40:06it helps to keep your faith fit and alert.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10It makes you interested in the big questions and to ask the questions
0:40:10 > 0:40:14that haven't occurred to you before. Then there was one more.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17At the Chapter meeting last night you said something about
0:40:17 > 0:40:22how it wasn't really possible to, or was it possible, to have a conversation about God these days.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26- I wonder what you meant.- I think, until relatively recently,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29there's been a kind of conventional vocabulary
0:40:29 > 0:40:32that people have used to talk about God or not God.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36When people have said, I do believe in God, or I don't believe in God,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39maybe they've been talking about approximately the same thing.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43I think that vocabulary, that common vocabulary has disappeared now.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48And I think, given the philosophical and metaphysical complexities
0:40:48 > 0:40:51of talking about God, it's a really important question
0:40:51 > 0:40:57- because we can't take anything for granted, and as I...- Yes.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Well, yeah, and people have got such funny ideas.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06I mean they've got a very clear idea of the God they don't believe in.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11And they've rejected an image of God which is often a caricature
0:41:11 > 0:41:15of the God that people of faith actually do believe in,
0:41:15 > 0:41:19and many people are, you know, there are the secular fundamentalists,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23like Richard Dawkins, who was still bashing a Mediaeval notion of God
0:41:23 > 0:41:26that really most thoughtful Christian believers
0:41:26 > 0:41:29haven't believed in for centuries.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32So does that mean, at the school, for example, this morning,
0:41:32 > 0:41:36you can't say to the children, "Does God love you?"
0:41:36 > 0:41:39Cos that seems quite an old-fashioned way of talking about God.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42- It seems quite anthropomorphic.- Does it?
0:41:45 > 0:41:48Um... Well, I'll talk to you about that some other time.
0:41:48 > 0:41:53No, not at all, because God is a "you", not an "it",
0:41:53 > 0:41:57in terms of Christian theology. God is someone with whom we relate,
0:41:57 > 0:42:03God is not the background radiation noise in, you know, the cosmos.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08This is an active presence with whom I have a relationship.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Together we have a relationship.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14So I think... OK, I don't think God has hands and eyes
0:42:14 > 0:42:17and nostrils and ears and stuff,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20but I think it's still appropriate to talk about some of
0:42:20 > 0:42:23those qualities. I mean, the language of God hearing
0:42:23 > 0:42:27or God speaking or God prompting or God loving,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31I think as long as we know we're using language
0:42:31 > 0:42:35in a pumped up kind of way, I think that still works.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56I should point out it's coming up to half-past 12.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58And at half-past 12, in the Harvard Chapel,
0:42:58 > 0:43:00we have a brief service of prayer
0:43:00 > 0:43:03that's followed at quarter-to by Midday Eucharist,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05when you can receive Communion.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08The body of Christ.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12The body of Christ.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15The body of Christ.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31So good afternoon and welcome to our summer Day Chaplains' Meeting.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Chris mentioned vulnerable people.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39As you'll know, on Monday this week the new welfare benefits cuts took effect,
0:43:39 > 0:43:45so there are now people in this area who, a month ago, were coping,
0:43:45 > 0:43:48and this month won't be coping.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51And whether it's about whether they're having to leave their home,
0:43:51 > 0:43:56whether their jobs are threatened, whether they're not able to feed their children,
0:43:56 > 0:44:01you might just pick up a slightly different range of issues
0:44:01 > 0:44:03that people need to talk about when you come in.
0:44:04 > 0:44:09- So just please be aware of that. - Is there a local food bank, Bruce?
0:44:09 > 0:44:12If we get asked, this is Day Chaplains,
0:44:12 > 0:44:17is there a local food bank, or is there someone we can,
0:44:17 > 0:44:21or they can't feed the children, is there some, like, resource we can give them?
0:44:21 > 0:44:26I think there's one at Brixton, there's one at Peckham.
0:44:26 > 0:44:32But they would expect their so-called clients to be referred
0:44:32 > 0:44:34by another organisation.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38So you cannot arrive there on the doorstep, saying, I want something.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42- You've got to live in that area. - It's got to be referred by another agency.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46Unfortunately, when Peter John, the leader of the council,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50came to a meeting here a few months ago,
0:44:50 > 0:44:55he was predicting, in his own colourful phrase, he said,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59"We'll be returning to near Victorian levels of street poverty
0:44:59 > 0:45:04as a result of the current government's benefit reforms."
0:45:05 > 0:45:08So I'm afraid we've going to see a lot more of that.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13But stay in role,
0:45:13 > 0:45:15you're not here to...
0:45:17 > 0:45:21..to repair the Government's stupidities or mistakes or policies.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25You're here to be a pastor of the spiritual resource
0:45:25 > 0:45:29for people who need to talk about their life.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33You can't feed them, you can't house them, you'll be left,
0:45:33 > 0:45:35as we've often told you before,
0:45:35 > 0:45:40you'll be left with a sense of enormous dissatisfaction
0:45:40 > 0:45:43at the limits of what we can do for people.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46But that's, you know, part of what goes with the territory.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50Think of what God must feel like.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59I'm just going to turn the service back. Thank you.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18"Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
0:46:18 > 0:46:20and to the Holy Spirit.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26Amen."
0:46:26 > 0:46:28"You have filled the hungry with good things,
0:46:28 > 0:46:30and sent the rich away empty."
0:46:32 > 0:46:34Let us pray.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43SEAGULLS CALL
0:47:07 > 0:47:09(You're not emailing, are you?)
0:47:11 > 0:47:14- (Are you emailing?)- No, I tweet a prayer
0:47:16 > 0:47:20from my stall, so I've committed to doing it, so when I get in
0:47:20 > 0:47:24I'll look at what the Psalms are and then I'll just write a short prayer
0:47:24 > 0:47:27with the characters and the tweet.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29(Do you do that every day?)
0:47:30 > 0:47:32- Sorry?- Every day?
0:47:32 > 0:47:34Yeah.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36If you follow me, you'll see it.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39So what's today's? What have you written today?
0:47:44 > 0:47:46Well,
0:47:46 > 0:47:50the part of the Psalm I chose was from 119.
0:47:50 > 0:47:56"O, give me life according to Your word." And I said, "Lord, You promise us life through Your word,
0:47:56 > 0:47:58bless us today in all we will do."
0:47:58 > 0:48:02It's pretty basic, but then I've got 900 and odd followers who...
0:48:02 > 0:48:06It's just a way of sharing morning prayer with a wider congregation.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12I wasn't emailing.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17The very thought.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20You're not checking Facebook?
0:48:21 > 0:48:23HE LAUGHS
0:48:35 > 0:48:37We always keep one back just in case.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47- What have you got here?- These are, um, Asiatic lilies.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51It's called yelloween. So a nice bright colour.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54And the eremurus, foxtail lily.
0:48:55 > 0:49:00And then nice large monstera leaves to give a nice bit of impact.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03So did you buy them this morning?
0:49:03 > 0:49:07I've been to New Covent Garden Flower Market this morning, yes.
0:49:07 > 0:49:12- The hope is, will they be open by Sunday?- Absolutely, in this heat.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15I mean, they give so much joy.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19People come in and see the flowers, and say, "Aren't they lovely."
0:49:22 > 0:49:27And we get little notes left, "To the flower ladies,
0:49:27 > 0:49:29thank you for the lovely flowers." Which is lovely.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33Have you been doing this here for years?
0:49:34 > 0:49:36I started as a bucket girl,
0:49:36 > 0:49:40which is you just have the flowers in the bucket
0:49:40 > 0:49:42and you just pass it up to the arranger.
0:49:44 > 0:49:48- Right.- And then, of course, you then think that I could do that,
0:49:48 > 0:49:52and then you try and it's not as easy at it looks.
0:49:53 > 0:49:58Because you stand back and look and think, "Oh, that needs moving," and you move that.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02And then you think, "No, that's not right," so then you move that,
0:50:02 > 0:50:07and when you're supposed to have your mind on higher things,
0:50:07 > 0:50:12you're thinking, if only I'd put that gladioli over to the left more.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15We're very critical of our own work.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Everyone comes in and just says, "Oh, the flowers are lovely."
0:50:18 > 0:50:24But you just look at it very critically, we're very critical.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26So when these all come out they look fantastic.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39That was a conversation as well, cos that seems like
0:50:39 > 0:50:44it's going to be some engagement in terms of people talking about life, God, Living God,
0:50:44 > 0:50:49in various different ways. It's quite nice, where you get that, again, the doubling up,
0:50:49 > 0:50:52so it looks like a brain as well as a cloud.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56- Or a baguette.- Or a baguette.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58- With something to fill it. - THEY LAUGH
0:51:00 > 0:51:04- The other imagery of God...- It's a bit funky.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Yeah, the sort of spark, the sparkle,
0:51:07 > 0:51:11the sort of the genes, the God particle,
0:51:11 > 0:51:14that sort of language of...
0:51:16 > 0:51:19It's basically an exciting process to be a part of,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23Living God, trying to engage with the living part of it
0:51:23 > 0:51:24as well as the knowing God.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28Living it out every day, again, what language the people use
0:51:28 > 0:51:32to describe that, and sometimes it can be slightly woolly maybe
0:51:32 > 0:51:35because people don't necessarily know how to express it.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Bruce was saying the other day, in the meeting, about this Living God programme
0:51:39 > 0:51:45to try and get conversations going about what, presumably, it's about no longer taking for granted
0:51:45 > 0:51:48what you all believe, is that right? It's about...
0:51:48 > 0:51:52Well, it's allowing people to start in different places.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55So with the basic question, when we talk about God,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58what are we talking about, what are you talking about.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00What do you mean by God?
0:52:01 > 0:52:06I mean by God... One of the problems, I think,
0:52:06 > 0:52:09when you've... when you're in the business is,
0:52:09 > 0:52:13I was going to come out with an immediate sort of phrase,
0:52:13 > 0:52:15like "the ground of my being",
0:52:16 > 0:52:18because that is what I believe,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21but it kind of sounds a bit slick, doesn't it?
0:52:22 > 0:52:24God is the ground of my being...
0:52:24 > 0:52:29That sounds a bit about you. That sounds like the Andrewness of Andrew.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31- That phrase does?- Yeah.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35- That God is...- You said "the ground of my being".
0:52:35 > 0:52:38It's... I mean, God is... is...
0:52:38 > 0:52:41..my creator, God is the life I live,
0:52:41 > 0:52:46God is an ever-present reality,
0:52:46 > 0:52:50sort of, for me but beyond me.
0:52:51 > 0:52:57I... God in Jesus is, I mean I think,
0:52:57 > 0:53:01at.... at the heart, hopefully, the heart of my life.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05Is the cathedral here to try and encourage people to have
0:53:05 > 0:53:08these sorts of reflections and depths
0:53:08 > 0:53:11and understandings as much as
0:53:11 > 0:53:15to provide community centres in forgotten bits of Bermondsey?
0:53:16 > 0:53:19Is... Are they competing, kind of...
0:53:21 > 0:53:25They shouldn't be competing. The one should flow out of the other.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28But if we did nothing else,
0:53:28 > 0:53:32providing community centres in "forgotten bits of Bermondsey",
0:53:32 > 0:53:38as you've described it, is not the core activity of the Church.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41- The core activity of the Church is worshipping God.- Yeah.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45The Opus Dei, as we call it,
0:53:45 > 0:53:50so that is where the primary, so if we did nothing else
0:53:50 > 0:53:55and we worshipped God, we could be doing what we were called to do,
0:53:55 > 0:53:59both as human beings but as a cathedral community.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03But I can't... You can't... I don't believe you can worship God
0:54:03 > 0:54:09without that then affecting every step you take in every direction,
0:54:09 > 0:54:11and leads you to set up community centres
0:54:11 > 0:54:13in forgotten bits of Bermondsey.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17- But...- But the prayers are every bit as important as the actions.
0:54:17 > 0:54:22If you think about it, we've been here for a week and every day we've watched the Opus Dei,
0:54:22 > 0:54:26we see the prayers in the morning, prayers at lunchtime, prayers of the evening,
0:54:26 > 0:54:31and interspersed you see people dashing around, going out into schools and going...
0:54:31 > 0:54:36If we didn't have all of that, if we didn't those fixed points,
0:54:36 > 0:54:40I think you would get lost. You would forget your primary purpose.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44- Lord, in Your Mercy... - ALL: Here our prayer.
0:54:51 > 0:54:56We pray today for all who are living with AIDS,
0:54:58 > 0:55:00or HIV,
0:55:03 > 0:55:05for all who are affected,
0:55:08 > 0:55:10for all who have lost loved ones,
0:55:13 > 0:55:15and all who are orphaned.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Merciful Father...
0:55:19 > 0:55:23ALL: Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour,
0:55:23 > 0:55:25Jesus Christ.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31God's Holy gifts for God's Holy people.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35ALL: Jesus Christ is Holy, Jesus Christ is Lord,
0:55:35 > 0:55:37to the glory of God, the Father.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41GENERAL CHATTER
0:55:50 > 0:55:52Just to begin with, one graphic,
0:55:52 > 0:55:58I don't know whether people have seen Leanne's work,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02what Leanne managed to draw because she'd just got a new app.
0:56:02 > 0:56:03- THEY LAUGH - That's all it was.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05That's all it was, wasn't it?
0:56:05 > 0:56:08God can work through apps as well, clearly.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14What... What we came up with were these three levels on this.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20So we were looking at what the values of Southwark Cathedral were.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24We're got a mission statement in order to draw some values from that.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28So you lots there about transformation, authenticity,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31kingdom, honesty, passion,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33vocation.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36So we saw that as the kind of the ground stuff.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39Then there's what we called Engine Room.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43So what sort of enables the cathedral to function,
0:56:43 > 0:56:46so we've got "prayer" and "fundraising".
0:56:46 > 0:56:51And one of the things that we were talking a lot about was,
0:56:51 > 0:56:54and this, I suppose, was a starting point in many ways,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57was how do we live well, as Christians?
0:56:57 > 0:57:02How do we live well in the city? How can we actually encourage people
0:57:02 > 0:57:05to live well, because we believe that you can live a very good life
0:57:05 > 0:57:10here in the city. That the city is a good place to be
0:57:10 > 0:57:15and that, ultimately, it is the destination of Scripture
0:57:15 > 0:57:18in that the final vision
0:57:19 > 0:57:22of the kingdom is not around a rural idyll of
0:57:22 > 0:57:27nicely washed sheep in lovely fields, it's the city of God.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31And it's the heavenly Jerusalem coming down.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33So there's a very urban feeling.
0:57:33 > 0:57:38So the city must be a place where salvation and restoration
0:57:38 > 0:57:41and resurrection takes place for everybody.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59- Lord be with you. - ALL: Lord be with you.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03- Lift up your hearts. - ALL: Lift up your hearts.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
0:58:06 > 0:58:11I'm not saying that London is the city of God,
0:58:11 > 0:58:13but potentially it can be.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16Are you saying Southwark Cathedral is?
0:58:16 > 0:58:21I'm saying Southwark Cathedral can be an agent in trying to transform
0:58:21 > 0:58:25the lives of people who are living in the city,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28and we want to be committed to living well in the city,
0:58:28 > 0:58:34and giving them that greater vision of how good life can be.
0:58:35 > 0:58:39We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44ALL: Though we are many, we are one in body
0:58:44 > 0:58:46because we all share in one bread.
0:58:47 > 0:58:53Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Blessed are those who are called to His supper.
0:59:19 > 0:59:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd