Stained Glass Panel

"St John the Baptist"

INSTALLATION AT THE CATHEDRAL

It was announced with joy that the Revd Dr Jane Tillier, our vicar, had been invited to become an Honorary Prebendary of Lichfield Cathedral. This news was greeted with great satisfaction by a parish keenly aware of the quality of leadership with which we are blessed and the value of the Ministry Development work which our vicar is undertaking for the diocese. In the same magazine, parishioners were invited to the installation at the Cathedral during Evensong on Saturday, 26th February 2011. This prompted Roy Finney to suggest that we hire a coach for the occasion and what a great idea that was! The coach was costed to break even if 30 of us supported a 33 seater coach trip and, to our great joy, far more people than this wished to attend. Forty four set out by coach enabling a £60 donation to be made to church funds. Great idea. Thanks Roy.

On the day of the service, we had an hour to look round the cathedral and were pleased to locate the 30 Prebendal Stalls around the choir and to identify the Colwich seat where Jane was installed. We were then drawn back to our pews by breathtakingly beautiful choral singing while the Bishop, the Chapter and the College of Canons took their places in the Chapter House where the candidates for installation made and subscribed the Declaration of Assent and took the Oath of Allegiance and Canonical obedience. The Revd Dr Jane Tillier and the other five priests were then conducted to their seats at the front of the Nave.

Simultaneously, & resplendent in full and often glorious regalia, The Procession' assembled, facing west along the northern aisle in time-honoured order: Cross and Tapers; Choir; Director of Music and Headmaster, Priest Vicars Choral, Verger, Assistant Curate; The Prebendaries, The Archdeacons, The Assistant & Area Bishops, Verger, The Bishop, The Bishop's Chaplain. We stood as the College of Canons moved west and then paused to hear the choir sing the introit from the Shrine of St Chad. The quality of this introit and of all the music of the service was high, enhancing immensely the wonder and the holy mystery of the occasion. A hymn and psalm preceded a reading from 2 Timothy, then after the Magnificat Bishop Jonathan referred to the 400th anniversary of the authorized version of the bible and preached the relevance of the bible, in its entirety, to our lives today.

After the sermon, the beautiful Choral Evensong service was interspersed with the ritual of the installation: the Bishop's Address to the Prebendaries, the Prebend­aries' declaration; its signing; and the leading of the Prebendaries to the Quire Gate, where each in turn presented their Bishop's Mandate for Installation to the Dean of the Cathedral who finally installed them to a standing ovation from the congregation. No Opening of Parliament, no Sovereign's Coronation could have seemed more time-honoured, more awe-inspiring or more profoundly moving than that installation service to the 60-strong company of family, friends & parishioners assembled to honour their vicar and express their joy in this well-deserved acknowledgement of her outstanding service. Congratulations again, Revd Prebendary Dr Jane Tillier,

Merrilyn Coutouvidis, Church Warden.

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Song by Sarah Mclachlan "Angel"