Evensong Sermon For The Installation Of Ian Griffiths As Assistant Verger - 3rd Sunday Before Lent
Amos 2.4-7a
Ephesians, 4.25-end
Psalm 4
How awesome is this place (Trepte)
Blest pair of Sirens (Parry)
In the name of God, creator, redeemer, and sustainer. Amen.
This evening’s sermon is brought to you by the word VERGER.
V FOR VERGER. Did you know that the word verger gets you 10 points in Scrabble before you count adjoining words and delights such as triple word squares. This evening, Ian Griffiths has been installed as an assistant verger of Portsmouth Cathedral. But what does that actually mean?
The Cambridge Dictionary defines a verger as “an official in some Churches who takes care of the inside of a church building and performs some simple duties during services.” Simple duties - that bit made me laugh! Merriam-Webster.com defines a verger (chiefly British – I love that!) as an attendant that carries a ‘verge’ (as before a bishop or justice), and a church official who keeps order during services. Vocabulary.com defines a verger as a person who takes care of a church building and grounds and acts as an attendant (carries the verge) during ceremonies. Take your pick.
E FOR ETYMOLOGY, THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF WORDS. In Old French, a verge is a twig, branch, or wand of office. This comes from the Latin virga, meaning shoot, rod, or slender stick. A verger, therefore, means “He who carries the virge before the procession.”
The choristers might be interested to look up what it means in new French. I shall say no more, except that when French people are driving on UK roads, they find it amusing when there is a sign saying ‘soft verge’….!
The verge was historically used to make sure processions could proceed – I’m sure over the centuries many a self-important members of the congregation would have been pushed out of the way by a verge and many a cheeky chorister given a clip around the ear with a verge! Given that this is now classed as grievous bodily harm, the verge has a purely ceremonial purpose.
R FOR ROLE. Given the varied definitions, it won’t surprise you that trying to describe all of the duties of a verger is like trying to count the grains of sand on a beach. This mystery shows how little understood verging is, and how being a good verger requires an ability to be inconspicuous like a stagehand or waiting staff in a high-end restaurant but suddenly look confident and have presence when leading a procession.
In any given day, the Cathedral’s vergers will set up for services, attend meetings, move chairs, dig a hole in the garden of rest for the burial of ashes, move chairs, chat to Cathedral volunteers and visitors, change lightbulbs, verge at services, keep the records up to date and accurate, ‘work’ the sound desk and offer a sympathetic ear to people who are in spiritual distress, gauging whether or not they need to involve a member of the clergy team. It is both a practical and spiritual role. Vergers across the country enable church building to remain open outside of service times, serving a vital ministry of welcome and witness.
R ALSO STANDS FOR RELATIONSHIPS with colleagues; present day in day out, they are often the glue in a Church community; indeed, many choristers and choral scholars remember the vergers fondly for this constant presence in their lives during their time at Portsmouth Cathedral.
G FOR GLOBAL. You can go into most Anglican Church around the world, and you will find someone who fulfils the role of verger. Having served in Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Portsmouth Cathedral, then at the Cemetery Chapel in Alhaurin el Grande, part of St Andrew’s Chaplaincy in the Costa del Sol East. Upon returning to the UK, Ian worked as a verger at Ely Cathedral, then as Dean’s Verger at King’s College Cambridge before coming back home to Portsmouth. Ian has verged on choir tours, state occasions, including the funeral of Princess Diana, and on Carols from King’s.
E IS FOR EARNINGS. Vergers do not do their job for the money. They do it because it is a vocation to serve God in the house of prayer. Lay people, they devote their lives to the service of the Church. The reward? To spend your days looking after beautiful buildings and get the satisfaction of ensuring that services and other events run smoothly. The symbol of the Guild of Vergers is a pair of crossed keys. I like this because it is both a reminder of the practical aspects of a verger’s job, but also that you should never cross a verger – you do so at your peril!
R IS FOR READINGS. If you were fortunate enough to attend one of the splendid Christmas Carol services, you may have noticed that there were always two vergers weaving their way around the building to deliver readers to the Nave and Quire lecterns for back-to-back readings. The timing that this involves is something that requires both skill and practice.
Vergers also read at services, and Ian has led Evening Prayer. This evening’s readings speak of judgement for rejecting the law of the Lord. We are to keep his statutes. The letter to the Ephesians reminds us of the importance of truth telling, to not get bound up in sound bites, and how anger should not lead to sin, with the wise teachings that we should not let the sun go down on our anger. As someone with a short temper, this is a sobering read for me. Perhaps it might be for you too?
Thank goodness, she’s reached the end of the word verger! Actually, this sermon is brought to you by the word vergerS. Sorry! I lied!
S IS FOR SONGS AND SIRENS.
Think of all the anthems, psalms and hymns vergers must know! Ian has a super singing voice. We were tearing up the stalls with our harmonies last Sunday evening during the Candlemas Carol service!
The epic anthem was composed by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry uses John Milton’s poem At a Solemn Musick. An analysis of the poem says, “Milton’s celebration of noble poetry set to music, which he presents as an echo of the music of heaven itself, is couched in terms of the Sirens of Greek mythology, two mysterious winged women hidden in the cliff-tops whose enchanting song drew sailors irresistibly.” Putting aside that they are women, I think this is a fabulous image of the return of Ian and Chris, travelling by ferry to and from the Isle of Wight!
Words from the introit, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” This place is awesome, even more so since Ian and Chris returned. Vergers help us to remember that this is none other than the house of God. Ian’s strong faith shines through, even if the Church of England’s attitude to same-sex marriage has caused considerable hurt to him and Chris. He does not give up, and I admire that in him. Words from this evening’s psalm: “Thou hast put gladness in my heart…”; God has put gladness in my heart since Ian and Chris have returned to Portsmouth.
Finally, each year my social media is flooded on September 9th because it is international buy a priest a beer day. I think that February 5th should be international buy a verger a beer day, so when you leave this awesome place, I would be grateful if you would please put this date in your diary for 2024.
Amen.