View from the Vicarage : Back to the future?

 York has always been a special place for me.I really enjoy the narrow streets and the feeling that I was almost going back in time to the Middle ages when all that beautiful city was crowded with people.Recently  I learnt about Transcendence, the intriguingly titled “Ancient Future Mass”, which is held in York Minster every month. I  travelled up to one of these “multimedia services”  called “Motherhood and Apple Pie” (well, it was Mothering Sunday evening and they were serving apple pie or Simnel cake before the service). Perhaps I could combine my love of the old and the new…

I arrived in good time – York is only just over an hour by train from Peterborough. I was welcomed warmly and had a chance to meet one or two other pilgrims.  The service took place in the Chapter House (a stunning octagonal building very similar to the one at Lincoln Cathedral). Over 100 of us went into the darkened room. The main light came from the candles around the altar and the screens. They were playing a variety of chants to establish a prayerful mood. We did not need books as words and pictures were projected on to the screens.

I am well used to traditional worship with “bells and smells” as we have at St John’s on special days. I am also used to the children from school coming together for worship in church and projecting pictures on to the screen. Here the combination of dark and light, modern and traditional, words and works of art, all came together for a most memorable event – although as the picture I took shows, you cannot catch the “numinous atmosphere”, the divine feel, in a photo!

The words were familiar from our Parish Communion. The ministers wore traditional vestments; there was incense and other ceremonial, and the aim is to provide a place where the tradition can be renewed for today. The setting of the Minster was awe-inspiring and we could enjoy it all as we went on a journey  When it came time for the gospel procession, we learnt a very simple Taizé chant and then all 100 of us processed into the vast choir where we heard the Gospel read and then sat to hear our preacher proclaim God’s word. Instead of the intercessions, we were all given chance to go for a prayer walk and find a place where we could pray. The only difficulty was picking a place from the many we could choose!

A key element of Transcendence is the mixing up of old and new - plainsong chants over ambient beats, live video mixing using ancient iconography, beats and DJs working alongside Palestrina sung by the Minster's musicians. They  named the service Transcendence because they wanted to express a sense of awe; to inhabit a space where someone would want to fall on their knees in adoration of the majesty and mercy of God.

Going to Transcendence has been compared to stepping into a medieval painting, bathed in light and moving images. Its a place where you can sit on a cushion (or a chair) and watch incense curl through the projector beams, lighting up the futuristic technology, and journey around an ancient building by night  kneeling at a creative prayer installation, before sharing in the ancient life-giving sacrament of the Eucharist in bread and wine.

Transcendence is designed to enable worshippers, or simply the curious, to participate in a way which is appropriate to them. You can use each one of the prayer installations, or simply be in the building. There is ample space for reflection, the lighting has a candlelit feel and no one is required to join in with anything which makes them feel uncomfortable.

The group that started Transcendence, Visions, has evolved over the last twenty years and produced a whole range of books on “Multi-sensory” worship and prayer. We are already doing quite a lot here to offer people a range of styles of worship. Some have been excited by pictures, some love incense or a variety of music. Taizé worship is now a regular feature at St John’s.

I believe there is a place for innovative worship in our Catholic tradition – possibly one evening a month. If you might be interested, why not contact Paul Whiteley or myself? I came away refreshed and wanting to do and learn more. As Jacob said after his dream of the ladder and angels at Bethel : “Surely God is in this place…”

One thing is certain – we need to find ways of reaching out to more people who are not yet part of our worshipping community. We do many sorts of worship but perhaps not enough for those who like both tradition and a chance to think of God quietly in different ways.

With every best wish , Peter Garland

For further information, and pictures, visit www.transcendenceyork.org 

Or  read Sue Wallace's “Multi-sensory worship”, published by Scripture Union.