Read the Dean's Sermon for the City Service

A special Festal Evensong took place at Norwich Cathedral to celebrate the City of Norwich on Sunday 11 June.

Ahead of the service, the new Lord Mayor and Sheriff of Norwich were joined by civic dignitaries, community champions and academics for a parade from City Hall to the Cathedral.

Rooted in historic pageantry, the procession was joined by Snap the Dragon and the Norwich Whifflers, and the colourful party was welcomed by the Dean of Norwich, the Very Revd Dr Andrew Braddock, who led the led the service at the Cathedral.

You can read the Dean's full sermon from the service below.

City Sermon, Norwich Cathedral, June 2023: ‘What Is A City For?’

The Very Revd Dr Andrew Braddock, Dean of Norwich

Readings: Jeremiah 29.4-7; Matthew 21.10-17

It is very good to welcome you all to your cathedral for this city service, following the wonderfully colourful procession through the streets of Norwich.

When I was installed as Dean just over four months ago no one told me my duties would involve driving away a dragon from the cathedral. Happily, neither I nor Snap seem to have suffered too much as a result of our encounter!

As you know, these civic processions have a long and eventful history. Back in the early eighteenth century they were even more lavish occasions than our procession today.

Food and wine were central. One city chronicler, Benjamin Mackerrel, tells us that:

‘On Guild Day the old Mayor, Sheriffs, Aldermen, the St George’s Company and Common Councillors met at eight o’clock in the morning at the house of the newly elected Mayor where they enjoyed sugar rolls and wine.

From here the dignitaries then paraded on horseback to the house of the retiring Mayor where a substantial breakfast of pasties, roast beef, boiled legs of mutton and wine were provided. The procession then set out for the cathedral.' [i]

I don’t know about you, but I am rather glad I wasn’t expected to drink wine and eat mutton chops from eight o’clock this morning.

Nonetheless, today, as in times past, is an opportunity to celebrate the life of our fine city and it provides a splendid beginning to the civic year for our new Lord Mayor and City Sheriff.

But today’s celebration also begs a questions: what is a city for?

The poet T. S. Eliot, in one of the choruses from his verse drama, The Rock, puts it like this:

When the Stranger says: “What is the meaning of this city ?

Do you huddle close together because you love each other?”

What will you answer? “We all dwell together

To make money from each other”? or “This is a community”?

What is a city for?

Across history one of the distinctive marks of this and other great cities, is that they are places of exchange:

the exchange of goods, as centres of trade, commerce, business and industry.

the exchange of ideas, as vibrant places of learning, research, culture, and faith.

and - not least - the exchange of mutual aid, as places that focus the provision of healthcare, social welfare, education, housing and charitable action.

Put those various forms of exchange alongside each other and you get a thumbnail sketch of the evolution and activity of cities across history: activity underpinned and sustained by their governance and the interaction of civic and community life.

It is apt that today’s procession and service reflects many of these different kinds of exchange and interaction.

Of course, we shouldn’t see cities just through rose-tinted glasses. Amongst other things, they can also be places that concentrate poverty, highlight the divide between rich and poor, and amplify isolation. Sometimes the centre of a busy city can be the loneliest place to be.

But this is not their purpose.

The contemporary American writer on cities, Otis White, puts it like this:

‘the real purpose of cities’ he suggests ‘is to create a group of people who will take responsibility for their community. And it’s this willingness to accept responsibility that is the difference between a resident and a citizen’. [ii]

Taking responsibility is what we see Jesus doing in our second reading (Matthew 21.10-17) as he drives away, not a dragon, but the money changers from the Temple. Confronted by injustice, he chooses to take a stand. Jesus takes responsibility for both the spiritual and material wellbeing of the community.

The prophet Jeremiah, in our first reading this afternoon (Jeremiah 29.4-7), also writes about taking responsibility.

Addressing the Jewish exiles in Babylon, he urges them to commit to the life of the city: to build houses, plant gardens, harvest produce, and to raise their families.

Not least, says Jeremiah, ‘seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare’.

In other words, Jeremiah is urging them, even though they are exiles, to play their full part in the life of the city, to think and act not just as residents but as citizens.

The responsibility of citizenship was a key theme for the great political thinker William Beveridge.

Often cited as the architect of the welfare state, his Beveridge Report of 1942 offered a vision for post-war Britain as a society that would come together to defeat what Beveridge described as the five giants of idleness, ignorance, disease, squalor and want. The creation of the National Health Service remains the most obvious legacy of Beveridge’s work.

This year sees the 75th anniversary of Beveridge’s follow-up report, Voluntary Action. Published in 1948, and now largely forgotten, Voluntary Action set out Beveridge’s belief that the creation of a welfare state must be complemented by the nurturing of a welfare society.

For Beveridge, active citizenship was critical:

‘The making of a good society’, he wrote, ‘depends not on the State but on the citizens, acting individually or in free association with one another, acting on motives of various kinds, some selfish others unselfish, some narrow and material, others inspired by love of man and love of God. The happiness or unhappiness of the society in which we live depends upon ourselves as citizens...’ [iii]

Beveridge went on to underline the importance of service, and cultivating the spirit of voluntary action, as a vital part of what it means to be active citizens.

Neighbourly kindness, volunteering, undertaking our jobs and roles in a spirit of service, giving to others, being willing to stand for public office: all these are aspects of active citizenship for which we give thanks today.

They are vital for the health of the city and its communities. They give purpose to the city’s life, guiding and underpinning its role in fostering the exchange of goods, of ideas and mutual aid.

Today’s procession and this service invites us to see ourselves, not simply as residents of Norwich, but as this city’s citizens. We are those now entrusted with seeking the welfare of this city, for, in the words of Jeremiah, in its welfare will be our welfare.

And if, to return to T. S. Eliot, a stranger should ask us: ‘what is the meaning of this city, do you huddle together because you love each other?’ May we always aspire to answer ‘yes – because this city is a community: a community of citizens’.

[i] Quoted in Peter Salt Snap the Norwich Dragon (2010) p.9

[ii] Otis White The Purpose of a City (August 20, 2010) http://otiswhite.com/the-purpose-of-a-city/

[iii] William Beveridge Voluntary Action A Report on Methods of Social Advance (1948) p.320

Pictures by Bill Smith.