Theological Approach
The Cathedral’s Theological approach to worship.
A recurrent theme of the Cathedral’s life is journey. As well as being a way of life, journey is expressed clearly in our Sunday Liturgy when the whole assembly moves through the renovated space between ambo, font and table. Journey suggests that we are called to travel, rather than to arrive, to be dynamic rather than static.
The cathedral community honors the question as much as the answer. To seek and to enquire is higher calling than knowing all the answers. We are learners to the end.
The cathedral sees transformation as process rather than event. In response to the question ‘Have you been saved?’ we warm to the answer given by Fr Raymond Raynes, sometime Superior of the Community of the Resurrection; ‘I’m damned if I know.’ Like St Paul, we ‘press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 3:14)
The cathedral seeks to be inclusive in every way, and operates an open table in its worship, at which every seeker after God is welcomed, no questions asked. We serve the Episcopal Church, but welcome Christians of every label. We are a Christian community, but welcome people of any faith, or none. Our community is diverse in terms of age, race, gender and orientation. Jesus is our Way, but not to the exclusion of all other paths to God. Our liturgical space is designed to be user-friendly to members of both Jewish and Muslim traditions, who share with us spiritual descent from Abraham.
Our community sees faith in terms of exploration as we encounter in a spirit of wonder the ever-unfolding revelation of God’s love.
We seek to be progressive in our faith, grateful for the Biblical scholarship which now uncovers the deep meaning of the Scriptures beneath their literal face value. Inerrant Scriptures seem to us about as believable or supportable as infallible popes. The cathedral is affiliated to The Center for Progressive Christianity.
History, and a glance at world events today, shows only too well the tragic and brutal consequences of absolute certainty in religious conviction. Total certainty of an exclusive relationship with God leads to the dismissal of others and a denial of their right to find God in accordance with their own tradition. It leads eventually to crusades and inquisitions and militant fundamentalism.
As a cathedral of the Anglican Communion, we rejoice in the Via Media, the middle way between extremes, which is a mark of our tradition and a reminder of our call to understanding, mutual respect, and reconciliation.