A Rhythm of Life is a thing of beautiful simplicity. It is not there to constrain or to conform, but to remind us who we are and what we value – and to call us back when we get distracted from that. A good Rhythm of Life is generous enough to be interpreted in many different contexts and to be lived by many different people, yet it still provides a sense of commonality and identity.
Members of the Community of Prayer are encouraged to embrace the four elements of our Rhythm of Life and make them their own:
Prayer
Prayer is a habit of being present with God. The more we immerse ourselves in prayer, the more the reality of the God we encounter resonates in our lives, and the closer we come to glimpsing the world through his eyes rather than through our own. The presence of St Cuthbert’s Shrine in our midst is a reminder of a life shaped and formed in prayer to which we all, in our unique ways, are called.
Prayer is the heartbeat of our life together here at Durham Cathedral, with Morning Prayer prayed at the start of each day and Evening Prayer (or Evensong) drawing the day to a close. These acts of worship quietly transform us, and enable us to intercede for the needs of the world. Members of the Community of Prayer are encouraged to pray these services with us as often as they are able, either online or within the Cathedral itself.
Hospitality
Durham Cathedral has been a place of hospitality since its very foundation, with pilgrims flocking to the shrine of St Cuthbert. In its days as a Benedictine monastery the community embraced their vocation to receive all guests as Christ, “for he will say, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’” (Rule of Benedict 53:1; Matthew 25:35). This charism continues today in our welcome to all who come.
The Community of Prayer embraces this calling by committing ourselves to offer the hospitality of our hearts and minds to one another as fellow pilgrims on the way of faith. Evidence of this is seen in the generous way we engage with members of the community, and in our desire to seek the face of Christ even in those whom we may find it challenging to understand or to walk alongside.