A day in the life

Today at the Minster, I looked around and observed that ‘All of life is here:

congregation members cleaning,

art students practicing perspective,

members of the public sitting and remembering a loved one,

a Scene Of Crime officer dusting for prints,

those who came for the 10am Eucharist,

someone who came in off the street to have a look around,

local radio station team scoping out a possible community festival...’

I love the way in which these different lives converge, touch, and go out again; leaving traces, weaving connection:

that some are wiping away the dust that is inevitably brought in, while another is spreading dust in order to better-see fingerprints (yesterday two gentlemen tried to carry-off our heavily-weighted donations box, only to make their exit as a couple of police officers were walking past the building – the men were arrested);

that the slightly-dishevelled man wanting to look around might be genuinely interested in ecclesiastical architecture, as he claims, or might be casing the joint, and either way needs an attentive welcome;

that there is a man who loves to come in and sit in this open church whenever he is in town shopping, who seeks it out as life-giving, sitting alongside students who are struggling to see what is physically there, let alone what is more substantially so;

that we are not here simply for those who come to us, but rather, we are potential gift one to another; so that – in the pattern of Jesus – at times I am host in this space, and at times I am guest of those who come to us, and at times I am simultaneously host and guest…

That is just one day. Today. But every day, this is a living, breathing, God-filled space; where people encounter one another and our perspective is changed…