Weekly Notices | Sunday 1 November 2020 All Saints' Day
Welcome from The Revd Catherine Edenborough
I had an eye appointment at QA on Monday and witnessed a daughter bring her mother for an eye test. Her mother was in a wheelchair and unable to speak. In the waiting room, the lady was clearly distressed. Her daughter was calming her down, explaining what was going to happen, telling her she was doing really well and not to worry if she couldn’t see or point to the correct letter on the page. I then overheard some of the conversation with the optician and was moved to tears at how gentle the younger woman was, comforting and reassuring her mother. She seemed like a real saint to me.
This Sunday is All Saints’ Day when we remember those who have gone before us in the faith. I don’t know about you, but normally when I think about saints, the first thing I imagine is someone very holy, leading a virtuous and impossibly perfect life, often denying themselves all sorts of pleasures and dying a painful death. Someone I don’t feel I can possibly emulate, or even wish to!
Yet that experience on Monday reminded me that we are all saints and this is lived out in the small, everyday acts of loving kindness. These Covid times have highlighted the compassion of the doctors and nurses who have cared for the sick, often putting their own health at risk to look after their patients, and the key workers who are keeping local services running in the face of great challenges.
This Sunday’s gospel reading from Matthew reminds us of God’s topsy-turvy order in which the poor in spirit are blessed with the kingdom of heaven, the meek will inherit the earth and those who mourn will be comforted. This has nothing to do with the heroic acts of bravery we might have expected of a saint.
No, instead it is in the small acts of love and compassion that we are saints – something that feels far more doable and that we witness around us every day.
Catherine’s reflection can also be watched on YouTube
The Reverend Catherine Edenborough
Cathedral Curate
Visiting the Cathedral
Portsmouth Cathedral is open every day and all are welcome.
Visiting the Cathedral
Portsmouth Cathedral is open every day and all are welcome.
Services and Worship
We hold services at Portsmouth Cathedral every day. Find out more about our services here.
Online Services
Many services from the Cathedral are broadcast on Facebook. We also broadcast Morning Prayer and Compline daily from the homes of our ministry team. Find about more about our online services here.
Orders of service can be found on the Resources Section of our website here.
How to join the Online Refreshments via Zoom
Online Refreshments will be hosted on Zoom at 6.30 pm. You will be greeted in a waiting room before joining us. We would ask that you add your Christian and Surname as your Zoom name (e.g. John and Jane Smith) as you enter the waiting room as this will help us to ensure that it remains a safe place for the congregation to meet each week. Please follow the link or simply type in the Meeting ID followed by the Passcode.
Join on Zoom here
Meeting ID: 879 6792 3680
Passcode: 575649
Book for Sunday Morning Services
Prayers and Intercessions
We pray for all those affected by COVID-19.
We remember the following for whom prayer has been asked by members of the Cathedral Community: Clare, Bob, Derek, Nigel, Trevor, Izzy, Jenny, Clare, Bishop Peter Hancock, Laurence, Sylvia, Robert, Andy, Michael, Sarah, Sheila, and all those in need.
To add someone to the prayer list, please email info@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
In the Notices this week…
Upcoming Services and Events
All Souls Services - Monday 2 and Sunday 8 November
Light of Hope Installation
Toddler Service – Wednesday 4 November
Author event: A Conversation with Sarah Meyrick - Wednesday 4 November
Bible Discussion Group - Thursday 5 November
Hope in the Darkness - Wednesday 18 November
Community News
Cathedral Council and Chapter News
Finance and Investment Committee meeting – 4 November 2020
Lay Clerk honoured with prestigious fellowship
SCIE Safeguarding Audit – June 2021
Cathedral Shop now open!
Thank you for supporting Portsmouth Cathedral
Upcoming Services and Events
All Souls’ Services
Sunday 1, Monday 2, Sunday 8 November, various times | Book a Seat or Stream Online
All Souls is an opportunity for us to remember and give thanks for those we love but see no more. This year there are three services:
Fully Booked - Eucharist for All Souls: Sunday 1 November at 5.30 pm. A reflective service of music and readings including the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré sung by the Cathedral Consort.
Eucharist of Requiem: Monday 2 November at 5.30 pm. A reflective service with music sung by the Cathedral Choral Scholars. Tickets still available.
Eucharist of Remembrance: Sunday 8 November at 5.30 pm. A Eucharistic service where the Cathedral Choir will sing the Duruflé Requiem. Tickets still available.
We will read out the names of loved ones who have departed in the past 12 months at the Eucharist for All Souls.
All three services will be broadcast on the Cathedral’s Facebook page.
Light of Hope this Sunday evening
Sunday 1 Novemeber
Portsmouth Cathedral is joining cathedrals across the country to illuminate the night sky with beams of light as a symbol of hope for all those around them as part of a nationwide art installation for All Saints and All Souls Days during this pandemic year. ‘Light of Hope’ will be lighting up the sky this Sunday.
Toddler Service
Our Toddler Service is now happening on the first Wednesday of each month, via Facebook Live, so do tune in, and encourage your friends and family to join us, this Wednesday 4 November at 2.00pm, when we will be thinking about All Saints! As usual, we will also have singing and story time. Canon Kathryn.
Faith, Family, and Forgiveness - Vocation and the Novel: Sarah Meyrick in conversation with Canon Angela Tilby
Wednesday 4 November, 7.00 pm | Join us on Zoom
Sarah Meyrick’s novels, Knowing Anna and The Restless Wave, explore powerful themes of love, grief and grace. As well as being a novelist, she is a Lay Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and the Director of the Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature. Come and hear her in conversation with Canon Angela Tilby, via Zoom. Her novels are available from the Cathedral Shop.
Here is the Zoom link for Wednesday 4 November at 7.00 pm. We will be operating a waiting room, and will be unable to let you in unless we have your full name, so please make sure that this is clearly displayed when you join.
We look forward to seeing you!
Join us on Zoom here
Meeting ID: 844 7975 2377
Passcode: 320553
Bible Discussion Group
Thursdays, 7pm | Join us on Zoom
Our Bible Discussion Group continues on Thursdays at 7.00 pm. Newcomers are most welcome, and if you don’t have a Bible at home, just look up the reference at bible.oremus.org.
Here is the Zoom link for Thursday 5 November Bible Discussion Group at 7.00 pm. We will be operating a waiting room, and will be unable to let you in unless we have your full name, so please make sure that this is clearly displayed when you join.
If you have any queries, please contact the Revd Lyn Comerford: slcomerford@gmailcom.
We look forward to seeing you!
Join us Zoom here
Meeting ID: 810 6527 9789
Passcode: 648882
Faith, Family, and Forgiveness - Vocation and the Novel
Sarah Meyrick in conversation with Canon Angela Tilby
Wednesday 4 November at 7.00 pm
Sarah Meyrick’s novels, Knowing Anna and The Restless Wave, explore powerful themes of love, grief and grace. As well as being a novelist, she is a Lay Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and the Director of the Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature. Come and hear her in conversation with Canon Angela Tilby, via Zoom. Her novels are available from the Cathedral Shop.
Here is the Zoom link for Wednesday 4 November at 7.00 pm. We will be operating a waiting room, and will be unable to let you in unless we have your full name, so please make sure that this is clearly displayed when you join.
We look forward to seeing you!
Join us on Zoom here
Meeting ID: 844 7975 2377
Passcode: 320553
Hope in the Darkness
Wednesday 18 November, 6:00 pm-8:30 pm
An informal evening of reflection, prayer and hope in these strange Covid-19 times. It will be a contemplative journey enabling people to sit with the uncertainty of these times and know that they are held within some greater. An opportunity to reflect on 2020, to pray and find hope in the darkness.
Come and make a journey of reflection and prayer around the cathedral following our meditative installations, or simply sit in the quiet and reflect on your own. There will be chaplains available to talk and pray with you if you wish.
Entry to the cathedral is bookable on timed slots throughout the evening in order to ensure Covid-safety. The route around the meditative installations lasts around 45 minutes.
Community News
Cathedral Council and Chapter News
A joint meeting of Cathedral Council and Chapter took place via Zoom on Tuesday, 20 September 2020.
The meeting began with a presentation from the Head of Fundraising and Events, Sophie Henstridge-Brown, about her work since she joined the Cathedral team in February including an overview of the successful funding applications.
The Chief Operating Officer gave an overview of activities in and around the Cathedral since the Council last met in May 2020 including efforts that will see the budgeted deficit reduced to under £200,000 for 2020.
Council and Chapter reviewed and commented upon the proposed 2021 budget that they had provisionally approved at their May meeting. The formal approval and receiving of the 2021 budget will now take place at the November meetings of Chapter and Council.
The Dean provided a brief update on the next steps with the Cathedral’s new Vision and Strategy. He also gave an update on the new Cathedral Measures that if agreed by Synod this autumn will see the end of Cathedral councils in their current form.
Finance & Investment Committee meeting – 4th November 2020
A regular meeting of the Finance and Investment Committee will take place on Wednesday, 4th November 2020
Lay Clerk honoured with prestigious fellowship
Dr Bryn Hughes, a longstanding member of the choir’s back row, has been honoured by his peers in being made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The honour was recognition of his outstanding and continuing contribution to the profession. It is a huge honour with only 1600 Engineering Fellowships world-wide. Many congratulations Bryn.
SCIE Safeguarding Audit
The audit of the Cathedral’s safeguarding practice and procedures that had originally been scheduled for June 2020 but was delayed because of Covid has now been rescheduled for 22-24 June 2021.
This audit, by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), is a hugely beneficial opportunity for the Cathedral to review current policy and practice to help to ensure that the Cathedral is a safe and welcoming environment for all.
The Chapter Safeguarding Lead is Canon Kathryn Percival Kathryn.Percival@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk and the Lay Safeguarding Representative is Marian Pottinger laysafeguardportsmouth@gmail.com.
Cathedral Shop now open
Portsmouth Cathedral’s shop has reopened with festive products including Advent calendars, Advent candles and Christmas Cards alongside our popular cards, books and CDs.
We are very grateful to all the Shop Volunteers for making it possible to reopen and run the shop.
Opening times are available here.
Thank you for supporting Portsmouth Cathedral
A huge thank you to everyone who has responded generously to our requests to consider your support of Portsmouth Cathedral. Since March over twenty people have committed to making regular donations or increasing their regular support. Many have also made one off donations to help us through this difficult time.
Thank you for your generosity and your trust.
If you would like to find out more about supporting Portsmouth Cathedral, speak with our Head of Fundraising Sophie Henstridge-Brown on Sophie.Henstridge-Brown@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk or look at our website.
Getting in touch
We know that this is a lonely and anxious time for many people. Please feel free to get in touch if we can help in any way, or if you just want to hear another voice!
The Dean: 023 9282 4400 or Anthony.Cane@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
Canon Jo Spreadbury 023 9275 2335 or Jo.Spreadbury@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
Cathedral Curate, Revd Catherine Edenborough: 023 9282 3300 extn 221 or Catherine.Edenborough@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk (Usual days at the Cathedral: Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday)
Messages can also be left on the Cathedral phone system 023 9282 3300 or by email to info@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk or pastoral@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk.