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.

Learning

There is always more to discover on the way of faith, and Durham Cathedral rejoices in its vocation to be a place of learning and enquiry. The tomb of The Venerable Bede is in our midst, and we are blessed to have a connection with a saint who prayed that Christ would “waken us from the greyness of our apathy, and renew in us your gift of hope” – an invitation to us all to find a sense of joy and wonder in exploring God’s creation. 

There are many ways to engage online with this aspect of discipleship at Durham Cathedral. Sermons are offered regularly to spark prayerful reflection and conversation, the great issues of our time are debated, and themed material is available at various times of the year. We encourage members of The Community of Prayer to make the most of these and other resources, and to be proactive in their desire to bring faith into dialogue with the world around us.

Transformation

Jesus taught us to pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. He called us to be agents of transformation and bearers of hope as we seek to live God’s kingdom in the here and now. Inherent within this is a commitment to work for peace, justice and reconciliation, and a desire to strive for the integrity of creation.  

We invite members of The Community of Prayer to embrace this calling within their own lives and to nurture it within the various communities in which they are placed.