February 2006Highlights

New Business: New Ethics

ELY CATHEDRALnews

Issue 5

This year’s Work/Life Seminar, the fourth to be held at the Cathedral, breaks new ground. The Seminar was established to explore the spiritual and ethical dimensions of work in the modern economy. Earlier seminars explored issues of work/life balance, spirituality in the workplace and creating a soul-friendly working environment. Although open to all, they appealed particularly at Christians in the workplace. This year the seminar is aimed at a wider audience. Recent scandals, like the collapse of Enron, have pushed corporate ethics to the top of the business agenda, and the seminar is intended to be a significant contribution to thinking through the nature of corporate ethics.

Business ethics is now big business, but the emphasis is often on codes of conduct, trading practices and the like, overlooking the main issue, namely the purpose that business enterprise is designed to achieve. Too often this is seen in narrowly financial terms. Today, concern for the environment, fair trade, and the desire of employees to work for a socially responsible employer challenge this narrow focus. So this year’s seminar examines The Moral Nature of the Company, and takes place from 24th – 26th February.

Ethical and spiritual issues (understood in a wide sense) are matters of common concern in today’s world, and the seminar offers an opportunity for those of different backgrounds and faiths, and of none, to explore this common ground. It brings together speakers and participants with experience of different aspects of corporate life, and the number of places is limited to ensure good quality interaction. As well as the programme of talks and discussions, it provides time to reflect in the timeless space of Ely.

The panel of speakers is led by Andy Street, Director of Personnel, John Lewis Partnership, Being a Responsible Employer, and Bob Coates, Director of Group Corporate Development & Strategy, City & Guilds, Responding to the Moral Challenge. It also features Dr Peter Heslam, Director, Transforming Business, University of Cambridge, The Role of Business in Making Poverty History, and Richard Murphy, Director of Tax Research LLP, Responsible Taxation. They are joined by guest speaker, Madeleine Bunting, who writes regularly for The Guardian and The Tablet. In 2004 she published Willing Slaves – How the overwork culture is ruining our lives.

Full details about the seminar are available from Lesley Ann Thompson at the Cathedral: 660350; e-mail l.thompson@cathedral.ely.anglican.org

ANY QUESTIONS February 1: 7.00 for 7.30pm in the Cathedral Centre.Panel: Canon Alan Hargrave, Jan Munt, Helen Clapp & Tony Adams. Presented by the MU.

CANDLEMAS February 2: 12.15pm Said Eucharist

THE STORY OF ELY February 3: 7.30pm Son et Lumière with the Cathedral Choir for the Music Appeal Enquiries to Janet Leebetter 01353 660310

YALE ALUMNI CHORUS February 15: 7.30pm Yale Alumni Choir with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra & CUMS

WORK/LIFE SEMINAR February 24 – 26: The fourth seminar takes place at Bishop Woodford House. Full details on this page.

GUIDES THINKING DAY February 25: 2.00pm The Annual Service for the Girl Guides movement.

ASH WEDNESDAY March 1: 8.00am & 7.30pm Two celebrations of the Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes mark the first day of Lent.

WOMEN’S WORLD DAY OF PRAYER March 3: 2.15pm This annual service takes place this year in the Lady Chapel.

Regular servicesSundays:8.15am: Holy Communion10.30 am: Sung Eucharist4.00 pm: Evensong

Daily Services:7.40 am: Morning Prayer 8.00 am: Holy Communion12 noon: Midday Prayers – Quiet Hour5.30 pm: Evensong (Evening Prayer – Wednesday)

Illustration taken from Business Ethics Conference, Colorado

Lent Study GroupsWe plan to run Ecumenical Bible Study Groups for five weeks during Lent. They will look at the Beatitudes, based on the book ’Life Attitudes’ by Robert Warren and Sue Mayfield. (All participants will need to buy a copy of the Life Attitudes study guide for around £3.99.)

In five sessions the course encourages Christians to to examine their lifestyles in the light of Jesus’ radical teaching and to live out the values of the Beatitudes in their lives.

If you would like to join a group with people from the other churches in Ely, please ring or email Ben Jupp not later than 1st February (01353 727801 or e-mail thejupps1@aol.com) with the following information: your name & address, phone number or e-mail. Please state whether you are willing to lead or host a group and which of the following sessions you are able to attend: Monday pm, Tuesday pm, Wednesday pm, Thursday pm, Monday am, Tuesday am.

Cathedral ClergyThe Very Revd Dr Michael Chandler, Dean Canon Dr Peter Sills, Vice Dean Canon David Pritchard, Precentor Canon Dr Alan Hargrave, Missioner

Moscow Chamber Orchestra to accompany Yale Alumni Choir at Ely CathedralEly Cathedral are delighted to host the Yale Alumni Chorus benefit concert on Wednesday 15th February. They will be accompanied by a choir from CUMS (Cambridge University Music Society) and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. This world renowned Orchestra was recently described by the New York Times as the “dynamic Moscow Chamber Orchestra and one of the world’s great ensembles”.

The orchestra will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. Their Music Director, the pianist and conductor Constantine Orbelian, is the first American ever to become music director of an ensemble in Russia. In January, 2004 President Putin awarded Orbelian the coveted title Honored Artist of Russia,” a title never before bestowed on a non-Russian citizen. The music programme is equally set to impress with pieces from Khachturian’s Spartacus, Faure and Vaughan Williams. Their concert at Ely will be followed by a performance at the Barbican in London so this is an event definitely not to be missed.

Thought for February

THE TURNING POINT

February, often a dull and misty month, begins with a wonderful celebration of light. The festival of The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, generally known as Candlemas is observed on February 2nd. On this day we remember Mary and Joseph’s visit to the Temple in Jerusalem to make the traditional thank-offering for the birth of a child. While they were there they were met by Simeon and Anna, two of the saints of Israel, who recognised in the child Jesus the One who was to save his people and be a light to the nations. Simeon also prophesised that he would suffer for his people, and that a sword would pierce Mary’s heart.

Candlemas is the turning point between Christmas and Easter, and our focus turns from the Incarnation to the Passion. Sometimes, when Easter is early, Lent begins very soon after Candlemas, but at other times there is a time of waiting, as there is this year. Waiting is not something that we take to easily today. It goes against the spirit of the times with its emphasis on super-fast communication and instant gratification. So much effort goes into ensuring that we don’t have to wait. Waiting seems like so much wasted time.

But learning to wait is an important spiritual discipline. The instant culture makes me and my wants the centre of concern; spiritual growth – indeed any human growth worth the name – means learning to let something bigger than me become the centre of my life. That is what Simeon and Anna saw in Jesus, and that was a turning point for them. These revelations come to us in God’s good time, and for this we must wait. So, we wait patiently and in hope in this grey month praying that Lent will be a real turning point for us.

Peter Sills

The Dean WritesFebruary is when Chapter’s planning for the coming year begins to be implemented. There is a huge range to the cathedral’s activities and many of them are unchanged for years and decades, perhaps centuries. Our principal activity is the worship of Almighty God. Everything is sublimated to that but an immeasurable degree of activity goes into making it possible. Every activity costs money and so fund-raising is an ever present necessity.

The Music Appeal is gathering momentum and there is a host of ideas which are associated with it. We are grateful to all who have supported it, and we optimistic about its future. In January we undertook a significant renewal of our Stewardship Scheme. The outcome is being assessed, but thanks to all who have maintained or increased their support. Unfortunately all these, even added together and combined with the sterling efforts of the shops, Almonry and Refectory, are insufficient to meet the ever-increasing needs of an immensely expensive building and the outreach work that is laid upon us by the call to be a mission Church. So it is, with reluctance, that Chapter decided to ask our visitors to contribute more to our costs. The only effective way of doing this is by increasing the admission charge and a new range of modest rises is being brought into effect. We are continuing with our campaign of offering free passes to those entitled to them, and it is hoped that we will be able to ‘hold the line’ for a few more years without facing a financial crisis.

Michael Chandler

Two Books for LentTwo excellent homegrown Lent books will ensure that the six weeks from1st March to 15th April are productively spent this year.

Canon Vanessa Herrick’s Take Up Your Cross (DLT 2005) offers daily meditations on the Eucharistic lectionary. The nature of weekday lectionaries means that the book will be usable in any year, and will take its readers through this Lent and many others. Although directed primarily at people

in licensed or authorised ministry, it speaks in an accessible way to a general readership. The imaginative and insightful approach to Scripture which we value in Vanessa’s preaching is its hallmark.

Canon Peter Sills offers a close study of St Mark’s Gospel in TheTime Has Come (Columba Press 2006). This is the year in which the three-year Sunday Lectionary cycle focuses on Mark, and the book is a wonderful opportunity to attend to this Gospel’s presentation of Jesus, and to consider our own lives and attitudes in that light. It is suitable for individual or group study, and each daily section ends with a suggested spiritual exercise. The writing is invigorating and

challenging, and informed by the author’s keen sense of current events. At every stage, it challenges its readers to consider the Christian response to the contemporary world.

Could you manage both in one Lent? They are astonishingly complementary. Any time spent engaging with them will be profi table.

Bridget Nichols

Both books are available from the Cathedral Shop. Canon Sills will be holding three Sunday discussions for those reading The Time Has Come, at 12.oopm in the Old Library on March 5, 19 & April 2.

A view from a Cathedral Homegroup About 40 years ago we took the fi rst steps of Christian discipleship in Cambridge. We have been members of home groups in different churches ever since. Back in 2001 we joined a new Cathedral home group which started after an Emmaus course led by Canon Peter Sills. It began with about 10 people and is still about the same size. Some of the original members no longer come but newcomers have joined over the years to make up the number.

Why get together in a group? Simply because we all need help from one another on the journey of faith. (Perhaps that’s why the most prominent word picture of the church in the Bible is a ‘body’ in which the ‘eye’ cannot say to the ‘hand’ ‘’I don’t need you’’). Meeting in a home group of course is just one way in which we can be encouraged by fellowship with each other – there are many others within the life of the Cathedral community such as prayer groups, retreats, Mothers Union and, of course, Cathedral services.

What happens in a home group? For most of our time we search out the Bible’s relevance for us today with the help of study guides. For example we have tackled a series on OT characters, some of the Gospels and more recently the Epistle of James. We have also looked at a number of themes such as spirituality (through the Beta course) and third world justice (using Jim Wallis’ book – Faith in Action). We are now using Margaret Silf ’s book Lighted Windows – an ‘Advent Calendar for a World in Waiting’. We don’t always agree, which is not surprising because we come from many different backgrounds. Listening to and caring for one another demonstrates what is really important – our unity in Christ. Its not all study – we sometimes have meals together, occasional walks, going to the cinema and bird watching on the Norfolk coast!

How do we relate to the wider Cathedral community? Following a recent meeting of the groups our hope is that this will develop further their involvement in the Cathedral’s mission of ‘Striving to be a community of worship, welcome and care’. Over the years, we have found

home groups simply invaluable. If you are interested in joining an existing or new group why not speak to Canon Alan Hargrave.

Pauline & Ben Jupp

New HomegroupWe are planning to start a new homegroup which will meet fortnightly at 51, Henley Way, Ely. The initial exploratory meeting to decide themes, dates and times will be at the above address at 6pm on Sunday 12th February.

If you are interested call Alan Hargrave on 660304 alternatively e-mail: alan.hargrave@cathedral.ely.anglican.org or just turn up on the day!

Musical Visit From PragueWe are delighted to welcome to Ely, the orchestra of the Prague Conservatoire on the 18th March.

This orchestra, from one of the European centres of musical excellence, is visiting

the UK for the fi rst time and will be performing Elgar’s famous Dream of

Gerontius. They will be accompanying the combined choirs of Stowmarket Chorale and the English Arts Chorale led by their

musical director, Leslie Olive.

This promises to be an exhilarating and exciting evening of music, the soloists are; Neil Jenkins,

Emily Bauer-Jones & Michael Bundy.

The performance will begin at 7.30pm.

Tickets are available from the Cathedral box offi ce,

tel: 01353 660349 or 01449 743990

the time has comea lenten journey with st mark

peter sills

Wednesday 15th February at 7.30pm

YALE ALUMNI CHOIR WITH THE

MOSCOW CHAMBER ORCHESTRA & CUMS

Khachaturian – Spartacus: Introduction and Dance of Nymphs from Suite No. 1 •

Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from Suite No. 2 • Rimsky-Korsakov • Cortège of the

Nobles, from Mlada Fauré – Messe de Requiem Op.48 • Vaughan Williams –

Fantasia • Serenade to Music • Thompson – Alleluia • Parry – I Was Glad

Conductors: Stephen Cleobury, Jeffrey Douma,

Constantine Orbelian, Sir David Willcocks

TICKETS – £20, £15, £10, £5 from the Cathedral Box Offi ce 01353 660349

and Cambridge Arts Theatre.

Calendarfebruary

Wednesday 15th19.30 The Yale Alumni Chorus concert

Friday 24th February19.30 Work/Life seminar Son et Lumiere

Marc h

Wednesday 1st – Ash Wednesday19.30 Sung Eucharist

Friday 3rd14.15 Women’s World Day of Prayer in Lady Chapel

Tuesday 7th21.00 Lent Compline in Lady Chapel

Friday 10th19.30 Ely After Dark

Sunday 12th18.30 Taize Service

Tuesday 14th21.00 Lent Compline in Lady Chapel

Saturday 18th19.30 Stowmarket Choral Society Concert

Tuesday 21st21.00 Lent Compline in Lady Chapel

Monday 27th19.30 KSE Mystery Play

Tuesday 28th19.30 KSE Mystery Play21.00 Lent Compline in Lady Chapel

Thursday 30th13.10 Lunchtime Concert – Radcliffe Choral Society, Harvard USA

apri l

Saturday 1st April19.30 Britten Sinfonia Concert

Sunday 2nd April18.30 Spark in Judea – Play in the South Transept

Saturday 8th April19.30 Ely Choral Society Concert

Wednesday 12th April19.30 St Mark Passion

Sunday 16th April – Easter Sunday10.30 Orchestral Mass

Saturday 29th April14.30 Wood Green Animal Service

These details were correct when printed. The calendar is updated on the Cathedral website www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org

Tickets for concerts and other events may be bought from the Cathedral Box Offi ce on 01353 660349 or directly from the desk at the South Door.

Sundays & FESTIVALS

2 Presentation of Christ Evensong – 17.30 Preces – Ayleward

5 Fourth Sunday before Lent Sung Eucharist – 10.30 Preacher: The Dean Mass for 4 Voices – Byrd Hear my prayer – Purcell Organ: Concerto in B fl at – Handel

Evensong – 16.00 Preces – Ayleward Greene in C See, see the word – Gibbons Organ: Echo voluntary – Blow

12 3rd Sunday before Lent Sung Eucharist – 10.30 Visiting Choir Preacher: Canon Peter Sills Evensong – 16.00 Visiting Choir

19 2nd Sunday before Lent Sung Eucharist – 10.30 Preacher: Canon David Pritchard Messe Solenelle – Vierne Tantum ergo – Durufl é

Evensong – 16.00 Preces – Rose Bairstow in D O give thanks - Wesley Organ: Procession - Mulet

26 Sunday next before Lent Sung Eucharist – 10.30 Preacher: The Revd. Dr Peter Heslam Missa Brevis - Preston Glorious and powerful God – Stanford

Evensong – 16.00 Preces – Edington, Paul Trepte Collegium Magdalanae – Leighton For lo, I raise up – Stanford Organ: Passacaglia – Leighton

The full list of services and music is published on the Cathedral’s website.

MARCH DeadlineThe deadline for the March edition is Friday 17th February. Copy should be emailed to: j.kerridge@cathedral.ely.anglican.org

Bishop Woodford House March & April 2006How to Live a Prayerful Life A Quiet Day for Lent led by Sister Pia Buxton CJ. Friday 24th March, £20 inc coffee, lunch & tea.

Icons & The Passion of Christ: looking towards EasterFriday 31st March – Sunday 2nd April £95 /£105 or come just for the day on Saturday 1st April 9.30am to 4.30pm £16 inc. coffee, lunch & tea.

A retreat using Icons to refl ect on the Passion of Christ and looking towards Easter led by Sister OSB from Turvey Abbey

A Quiet Day for Holy Weekled by The Rev’d Keith StraughanMonday 10th April, £16 inc coffee, lunch & tea (Note - this is a change from the previously advertised leader)

To book for any of these events please contact us at Bishop Woodford House, Barton Road, Ely, Cambs, CB7 4DB tel 01353 663039 or e-mail bwh@ely.anglican.org

Ely Cathedral, The Chapter House, The College, Ely, CB7 4DLTel: 01353 667735Fax: 01353 665658 receptionist@cathedral.ely.anglican.org www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org

Friday 10th March 20067.00pm – 9.30pm

ELY CATHEDRAL AFTER DARK

Experience the atmosphere,Envisage the layout in monastic times,

Sup on “pottage, bread & cheese”,Ending with Compline by candlelight.

Tickets: £12.50 Available from The Chapter House

The College, Ely, CB7 4DLTel: 01353 660300 (S.A.E. Please)

Organised by the Monastic Barn Group

Proceeds for Education Centre Equipment