Coventry Cathedral - Peace I leave with you

MUSIC 1: PEACE I LEAVE WITH YOU - AMY BEACH

SPEECH: WELCOME (CANON NITANO)

Welcome to our morning service from Coventry Cathedral as we celebrate a special service of Reconciliation. I am Canon Nitano Muller, the Canon for Worship and Welcome, and our preacher this morning is Bishop Sophie Jelley, Bishop of Coventry. 

The music for this service is sung by our Cathedral Choir under the direction of Acting Director of Music Joe Watson, and the organist is Liam Condon. The choir this morning is made up of Girl Choristers and lay clerks from the surrounding area who come together to worship in this wonderful place.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul reminds us that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” and entrusting us with the ministry of reconciliation. In this place, marked by the wounds of war and the hope of renewal, the Litany of Reconciliation offers us a moment of reflection before God, as we acknowledge what divides us and pray for the healing of broken relationships.

SPEECH: LITANY OF RECONCILIATION (CANON NITANO)

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class,

Father, forgive.

The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own,

Father, forgive.

The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth,

Father, forgive.

Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others,

Father, forgive.

Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee,

Father, forgive.

The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children,

Father, forgive.

The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God,

Father, forgive.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Amen.

SPEECH: COLLECT (CANON NITANO)

God, the Father of mercies,

has reconciled the world to himself

through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ,

not counting our trespasses against us,

but sending his Holy Spirit

to shed abroad his love among us.

By the ministry of reconciliation

entrusted by Christ to his Church,

receive his pardon and peace

to stand before him in his strength alone,

this day and evermore.

Amen.

(A Collect for the Season of Reconciliation)

MUSIC 2: HYMN: For The Healing of the Nations

Words by Fred Kaan (1920-2009)

CP 427 Allelulia dulce Carmen from Essay on the Church Plain Chant (1782)

SPEECH: READING :2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (CANON KATE)

So if anyone is in Christ, there[a] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being![b] 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,[c] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God.

SPEECH: RECONCILLIATION SPEECH

The Reverend Canon Kate Massey, Canon for Arts and Reconciliation

Coventry Cathedral is a place with reconciliation at its heart. And in our fractured world, reconciliation is something we desperately need. But what is reconciliation? What do we even mean when we use that word?

At one level, it is simple: reconciliation is the restoration of right relationships. But how we journey towards that place of restored and right relationship is anything but simple. Each damaged relationship whether between individuals, communities or nations - is unique. This means each requires a unique repair. The journey of reconciliation involves just the right balance of accountability for what has gone wrong and forgiveness of the same. Those who seek reconciliation are called to embrace truth, offer repentance and be merciful. In reconciliation, there must be justice, but also love... Theologian Joseph Liechty, who spent decades peace-building in Ireland and Northern Ireland, talks of reconciliation as a stew of these different ingredients.

I like the image of the stew as a way of understanding reconciliation. Human beings have been making stews for millenia. There are as many different stew recipes as people who make them. Traditionally, stews are something people make using what they have to hand – maybe some leftover meat, whatever vegetables are in the kitchen, a bit of seasoning, maybe the end of a bottle of red wine... But all stews have two key things in common: a good stew has the right balance of different ingredients and a good stew takes time. The same is true for reconciliation. It only works when those ingredients of justice and mercy and accountability and repentance and truth and peace and love are combined in just the right way. And like cooking a stew, reconciliation cannot be rushed.

You can get recipes for stews in most cookbooks these days, but a good stew is soul food and is something you learn to cook from someone you love. Likewise, there are many useful courses that teach conflict transformation and peace skills. But true reconciliation is a work of the soul and we learn it from others.

At Coventry Cathedral, we believe that it is God who gives us the ministry of reconciliation and we learn how to live it through his Son, Jesus Christ. The One who restored a right relationship between Godself and all creation helps us share in God’s reconciling work. God inspires us when peace seems impossible, guides us in balancing truth and justice and love, sustains us when the journey seems endless and shares our joy when peace emerges.

MUSIC 3 - UBI CARITIAS - OLA GJEILO

SPEECH: RECONCILLIATION SPEECH TWO

When I first came to Coventry from India to study International Relations at the University, I thought I was coming to a city to learn about the world.

I didn’t realise that the city itself would become one of my teachers.

Coventry is a city marked by what happened here in the Second World War. The ruins of this Cathedral still stand as a witness to that history. But what has stayed with me most is not the devastating destruction, but what happened afterwards.

Instead of allowing hatred and revenge to have the final word, this city chose reconciliation.

I have come to understand that reconciliation is not about pretending that the past did not happen, or asking people to forget their past. It is about remembering honestly, and then asking what we will do with that memory.

That has changed the way I think about the world.

As a student of international relations, I have spent years thinking about borders, states, conflict, diplomacy and power. But living in Coventry has made something very real for me: behind every humanitarian crisis, are human beings. People who grieve. People who carry memories. People who long to belong. People who, despite everything, still have to find a way of living alongside one another.

And I have experienced that possibility here.

At Coventry Cathedral, I have found people from various countries, cultures and worldviews gathering in the same place. I have worshipped alongside people whose stories are very different from my own. People who have experienced conflict, displacement and loss. And I have discovered that reconciliation begins in remarkably ordinary places: in genuinely listening and making room for another person, and sometimes simply in having the courage to stay at the table.

That feels particularly important at a time when the world can seem so fractured.

We see wars being fought in real time. We see communities divided by fear and suspicion. We see people reduced to labels.

Coventry has taught me to resist that reduction.

Reconciliation asks something harder of us. It asks us to see one another again as human beings, as children of God.

I came to Coventry to study. I think I am leaving with a deeper understanding of what it means to be human. What it means to be a Christian, not only in name (literally for me).

And perhaps that is Coventry’s gift: the reminder that even after terrible things have happened, our story does not have to end there.

We can remember. We can grieve.

We can choose differently. And we can begin again.

MUSIC 4 - HYMN - LET US BUILD A HOUSE

Words and music: TWO OAKS by Marty Haugen (b. 1950)
© 1994, GIA Publications, Inc.

SPEECH: SERMON (BISHOP SOPHIE)

On the wall of the ruined cathedral here in Coventry there is a plaque that reads: ‘The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of Hosts, and in this place will I give peace.’

Almost two years ago on a dark Autumn morning, I was staying in Coventry city ready to be announced as the new bishop. In the habit of taking a morning run, that day my feet took me to the ruined cathedral just as the sun was rising through the fragments of mediaeval glass that hang in the ancient window frames. Instinctively kneeling on the stones, I found myself praying for peace. Peace for our troubled world, peace for the Diocese lead and peace for the hearts of all people.

Perhaps you have a place that you visit to pray. Maybe, what the saints have described as a ‘thin place’ where somehow heaven meets earth and the presence of God is more apparent than in the other places you go.

Here in Coventry, the Cathedral ruins have become for many a place of pilgrimage and a thin place in which to seek peace. From the story of our cathedral and the violence endured in 1940, there formed a vocation to take the message of peace and reconciliation forward not simply to this generation but also for all that are to come.

Just as prophet Haggai declared ‘and in this place will I bring peace’—God’s desire is to bring peace, or wholeness to the whole of creation. This can be hard to sense in these days of entrenched warfare, environmental degradation and the hostilities that so often pervade our daily lives.

Years later Jesus addresses this same dilemma with his friends the disciples. ‘Peace I give you, my peace I leave you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’ By this point they have already seen and heard him speak peace over troubled hearts and minds, physical bodies, and broken relationships and now he makes them a promise, not just for themselves but for all who would follow him in the future.

Thomas, the disciple known for needing detailed evidence, a need many of us can probably identify with, rushes into the questions - but where are you going and how can we get there. In response Jesus points them away from the where and the how and invites them to focus on the who. My peace I give you.

As the story of scripture unfolds it becomes clear that the ultimate fulfilment of that peace would not necessarily be seen in this life, in the midst of the political, economic and environmental realities we face, though the bible is clear that ultimately one day this will be so. In the meantime, we are invited into a relationship of peace with the prince of peace who is with us always and everywhere. Whose presence is not dependant on our situation, status, history, or background or even on what we have done or failed to do. It is simply an invitation to know ourselves loved and free to receive his gift of peace in these days.

The cathedral ruins have continued, for me, to be a thin place where I regularly start my days and pray for peace. Perhaps you too can find a thin place, where you live, a place to pause awhile and pray, a place to receive God’s promise that, ‘in this place will I give peace’.

So, may the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus today and for all your days to come

Amen

MUSIC 5 - VERLEIH UNS FRIEDEN - MENDELSSOHN

SPEECH: INTERCESSIONS (CANON NITANO)

“Grant us peace, in our time, O Lord.”

Those ancient words feel particularly urgent today.

Here in Coventry, we know that peace is more than the absence of war. It is the work of listening, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.

So we bring before God our wounded world, those who suffer through conflict and division, and ourselves, that we might become people of peace.

Let us pray.

For the Church throughout the world, that we may be instruments of forgiveness, unity, and hope in places of division and pain,
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.

For nations in conflict, for communities divided by hatred or injustice, and for all who work for peace and understanding,
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.

For families, friendships, and relationships that are strained or broken, that hearts may be softened and reconciliation found,
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.

For those who carry guilt, anger, resentment, or sorrow, that they may know the healing grace and mercy of God,
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.

For the lonely, the excluded, and those who feel separated from others, that they may be welcomed with compassion and love,
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.

For our own community, that we may seek forgiveness where we have failed one another and grow together in faith and peace,
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.

For those who have died, and for all who mourn, that they may rest in God’s eternal peace,
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer.

SPEECH: (CANON NITANO)

Gathering our prayers into one, and trusting in the mercy of God, we pray as our Saviour taught us:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours,

now and for ever.

Amen

MUSIC 6: HYMN: THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS JUSTICE AND JOY

Words by Bryn Rees (1911-1983)

Tune CP 591 Hanover A Supplement to the New Version (1708)

SPEECH: BLESSING (CANON NITANO)

May the God of peace
heal what is broken,
restore what is wounded,
and reconcile us to himself
and to one another.

May Christ Jesus,
who forgave without measure,
teach us to walk in mercy,
to speak with kindness,
and to live in love.

And may the Holy Spirit
give us courage to seek peace,
grace to offer forgiveness,
and hearts ready to welcome all.

And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.

MUSIC 7: ORGAN VOLUNTARY: THE PEACE MAY BE EXCHANGED - DAN LOCKLAIR