Discover a new vision for the future – Dean of Belfast urges
In his first sermon as Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann urged people to draw a line under the past and discover a new vision for the future.
Dean Mann was speaking at a Service of Installation and Institution held in St Anne’s Cathedral on Tuesday August 30.
The new Dean spoke about the divisions of the past, but also focused on the hardships experienced by many in the current economic climate.
The Dean based his sermon on readings from the Old Testament (Exodus 5: 1–6, 13) and New Testament (Revelation 3: 7–13) which featured in the service. The Old Testament reading recounted how the Hebrew people under Moses, slaves to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, had been told that those making bricks must find their own straw to bind with the clay for baking the bricks.
The Dean said many people in society today feel they are expected to do the same or more work with fewer facilities and resources than before the financial crisis.
“Slavery has long been abolished in our society, though of course not in other parts of the world, but we are in no doubt that even here economic pressures have brought many people to a personal financial and family situation where they, with the same expectations from others, have become a slave to their own circumstances and feel that indeed they are attempting to make bricks without straw,” the Dean said.
Rather than simply seek a solution that addressed their suffering, the people of the Exodus sought a new start. Moses showed the Hebrew people that the solution to their ills lay in a fresh vision of the Promised Land.
By contrast the reading from the New Testament was full of hope, Dean Mann said. It spoke of an open door standing before the people of the Church who are faithful and trusting in Christ and one another.
“That gift is the open door, the gift of space, lovingly offered, the chance, the opportunity for new hope. This may ring hollow in the minds of those whose responsibility it has been to make others redundant, cut the hours or pay of an employee, reduce pension provision or whatever, but let us be honest and say, none of us have been entirely free from unavoidably making life more difficult for others than it should be, just living in the rich western world is enough to ensure that we are. So much more then should we be conscious of the need to open doors where we can – and work to relieve the needs of others. All of us can do this,” the Dean said.
In his sermon, Dean Mann also made reference to recent events at the Cathedral, saying all are familiar with division and discord, whether in the community, within or between families, and even in the Church. St Anne’s Cathedral has had its own very public share of disagreement, he said.
“This Cathedral has been both a source of blessing to others and also a place where, in recent times, discord and hurt have been experienced, some of it very public, some privately, in the inner recesses of hearts touched by the pain of division and insult, perhaps on witnessing how fellow worshippers of God have forgotten themselves in their desire to make a point,” the Dean said.
He continued: “Let us try to learn from the application of our lessons to our situation, where success and failure are evident, where healing is the door standing before us, open and no one can shut it but ourselves.”
The Dean said that as people attempt to draw a line under these things in whatever area of life they may experience them, they seek not just to return to a former state of peace and calm, but go beyond this to discover a new vision for the future, finding new energy for the tasks ahead.
Referring back to the first reading, the Dean said the Hebrews had eventually entered the Promised Land. “To that place, in recognition of faithfulness and patient endurance, God offered the open door that no one could shut,” he said.
“That door is standing open, as I pray the door of this Cathedral will stand open, and the hearts of all who worship here will stand open and will turn in love to their neighbour.”
Dean Mann said that by looking to the future, we acknowledge what has been, but strive to maintain the hope of renewal, committing ourselves both corporately and individually to a new path; placing an open door before others and as we offer them opportunity to grow and develop, we ourselves receive encouragement and stimulation to make our own steps forward in love and healing and forgiveness.