Chris's Story: Ministry Behind the Scenes

What is it that makes work meaningful? There is a well worn illustration that goes like this.

One day 3 stonemasons were asked to describe what they were doing in their work. The first replied that he was building a wall. The second replied that he was earning money to keep his family fed and warm. The third replied that he was building a cathedral. All three were engaged in the same activity but each had a markedly differing perspective on the meaningfulness of their work.

Meaningfulness comes from the sense of being engaged in something much bigger than ourselves, something that is worthwhile and whose purpose we are caught up in, and can own and bring to life..

It is not so easy to find people who are building cathedrals today, but Chris Matthews, the second head verger of Durham Cathedral, is someone who is involved in running a cathedral day by day. So how does he see his work and what difference does his faith make to him?

Much of the work of a cathedral verger goes on unseen. Vergers are responsible for the meticulous preparation of the daily round of worship and for the efficient operation of the life inside the building. No two days are the same in the life of the cathedral, and flexibility is vital. Vergers need, most critically, to be as accommodating as possible. A key part of their role is to make people feel at home and welcomed and to handle whatever comes their way with confidence and calmness.

Chris illustrated this need for flexibility with a story.“ One evening there was a big concert in the cathedral and it had just begun when a very tearful young woman arrived at the door wanting to light a candle. Her father had just died. Getting to the votive candle stand was impossible with the concert in full flow.

So I found some candles from the verger’s vestry and we went through the side entrance into St Cuthbert’s tomb without anyone noticing.”

It would have been so much easier for Chris to just say sorry and make excuses and not help, but that would have gone right against his vision of why the cathedral exists and his part in it. Chris said, “it is really important that the cathedral is seen as a living hospitable place where people can come and find something to hold onto in their changing lives.”

Chris agrees that it would be quite possible to do the job of verger without having any particular strong Christian faith. The job is, like all jobs, full of practical activity and constant demands. It is quite possible to be present at the daily worship without taking part.

Chris had grown up in a Christian home but was not particularly involved with church or Sunday School in his youth. It was not until he began to work at the Cathedral that he was confirmed along with his father. “That was a great thrill to get confirmed together.” Chris, like many others, found his experience on a Cursillo weekend to be very profound, and he is now organising the publicity for the 25th anniversary reunion in Durham later this year. He sees his faith life as a journey and feels he has found his feet and now has a sense of purpose and a definite ministry in his work.

Outside of work, Chris takes a keen interest in the environment and is a keen bird watcher. He studied coastal management in his degree.

“It is in nature that I find God most close to me. Sometime when I am walking to work I look at the trees and listen to the birds and have a deep sense of all creation just wanting to be seen and heard. That is what the Cathedral stands for. It is a place where everyone can come and be seen and heard by God no matter who you are or what you looking for. This is a place where everyone can feel important and included and my work is part of making that happen.”

Chris is a naturally reserved and rather shy person who could so easily be lost in a workplace that didn’t value him. Chris has worked in jobs that had very little meaning. For a while he worked in the Inland Revenue at Longbenton. “Each day I would wake up think, ‘Oh no, here is the start of another very long day.’ I could find no fulfilment in the work and there was very little interaction with people. You just worked in your little cubicle, isolated from others. I could find very little that was fulfilling in that work”

Now Chris is conscious of being part of a very ancient occupation. How many other jobs have a psalm to give their work meaning?

‘I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.’ : Psalm 84

What Chris finds in the Cathedral is a real sense of feeling truly valued in the eyes of God and has discovered there a ministry to enable others to enjoy the same relationship.