Qui diligit Deum

Not surprisingly, it has been another odd term in Chapel, what with the virus ... but it has been a mercy to be able to gather in worship as one community, even if for the first half we had to wear masks.

This has now become a joy (albeit obviously a somewhat muffled one) as we can now all sing … but still must wear masks. If we ever needed evidence for the importance of music and singing in worship, this was it, and I am so very grateful to the (unmasked) Choir and Mr Mason and those who work with him. It has also been great to work with our new Head Sacristans, Shirin and Miles, and to see their leadership exercised over our excellent team of servers at the altar, under the watchful care of our Verger.

It has been a challenging and encouraging experience to share my role as Chaplain for a whole month with Fr Thomas Fink-Jensen (below), on placement here in his final year for his curacy. I now realise all the more the value of collaboration in any task. I asked him if he would like to contribute to The Quad, and this was what he wrote:

‘Why is the Chapel so big and imposing? In daily life I’m an Assistant Curate at St Michael and All Angels Church in South Lancing, and the Chapel dominates the northern scenery quite a bit from the village. In November I have been tracing Fr Richard around the College and the two Lancing prep schools to find out what a School Chaplain does, and I must say that I rather enjoyed taking part in the worship of your grand Chapel. But why is it so big? Surely, a chapel half the height and size might have done the trick, and who needs seven altars anyway!

The founder of the school, Nathaniel Woodard, was very much inspired by what became known as the Oxford Movement in the Church of England. Lancing College Chapel is very much a product of that movement, which – you will not be surprised to hear – had its origin in Oxford. I lived in Oxford for a number of years, most of which in Jericho, where a church (St Barnabas), built at a similar time, towers over lots of tiny houses in which many (often) poor people lived. Until just a few years ago, the neighbourhood still had a public bath house, as a fair number of the houses didn’t have showers or a bath in them!

Why build such a large an imposing building then? Why not invest a little of that money in the wellbeing of the poor people living around these marvellous buildings? Lancing village is full of people who could do with a little help. Well, the idea is that by caring for the spiritual needs of the people through services and (priestly) ministry, as well as by making the building as grand and beautiful as possible, our needs are very much met. In Jericho the poor people of the parish would perhaps only very rarely hear such beautiful music as they could hear on a near-daily basis in church. And they might not be able to afford expensive paintings, statues, and tapestries – all of which are available for all to see on a daily basis.

Then again. Why build such an imposing building? Well, to teach us through all of our senses that God is rather large – a mystery that we cannot fully take in or comprehend. Sometimes, and very often, God reveals himself in tiny and barely noticeable things: a still small voice, a little baby born over 2,000 years ago, a little piece of bread. So we love the small and seemingly insignificant, by knowing that God loves all. The grandeur of the Chapel is our daily reminder that these things, the life with God, are part of our walk together – in which we learn and try to pry a little deeper into the greatest mystery of all: namely God himself.’

Fr Thomas is too modest to point out that his parish also lives by the offering of beautiful worship and by care for the poor. This is shown in a very practical way in his role as trustee of Lancing and Sompting Food Bank; if you want to find out more you can find it here: www.facebook.com/LSCFoodBank/

FR RICHARD HARRISON Chaplain