9th February 2025: Sydney, Australia
Having taken a couple of days in Sydney to recover from jet lag, it seemed good to start the reflective part of my trip to Australia and New Zealand by visiting St Andrews Cathedral for evening prayer. I obviously expected a quiet and reflective service, in the refined atmosphere of a Cathedral. Something of a surprise, then, to find that before i could even get to the Cathedral precinct, I had to cross a police line. Next, I had to make my way through a large and vociferous crowd who were surrounding the Cathedral, raising their voices in objecting to the presence in Sydney of President Herzog of Israel. When following Jesus, always expect the unexpected!
It was good to be welcomed by Sandy Grant, Dean of the Cathedral, as in the background, a speaker was demanding an end to the ongoing Israeli abuses in Gaza and the West Bank, a matter close to my own heart.
With the Cathedral PA system turned up to the max, Evening Prayer continued as planned, with a congregation of sixty or more, led by Jonathan Adams, the Precentor. The cheering and chanting continued outside, along with the persistent thrumming of the police helicopter, at times just a few hundred feet above the Cathedral.
The point is that I went to St Andrews Cathedral expecting a familiar, peaceful and contemplative experience – a moment of contemplation and encouragement as I begin my personal journey of retreat over the next few weeks. In the event, I received much more than that. I found something much deeper, much more profound. I sensed God’s presence, not because of my expectations, but in spite of them.
As I made my way out of the Cathedral after the service, through the growing and increasingly noisy crowd, and escorted through the police line, I was reminded that when we seek God, he meets us on His terms, not ours. He meets us in His way, and not always in the way we had expected. The real lesson for me, was in the reminder I am called to be in some way His presence in this world. I was reminded that our faith is utterly inseparable from the world around us.
This was the first day of my personal journey of retreat in Australia and New Zealand. I encountered the God who gave me much more than I had asked or imagined (Ephesians 3:20).
I’ll take that.
Richard Jackson: Horsham,West Sussex
I am hugely grateful for the commitment and courage of the Dean, Precentor, Cathedral Team and the people of St Andrews for keeping the Cathedral open and going ahead with an open service of Evening Prayer on a day when it would have been easy to cancel the event or move it to a private space.