Lent at Bradford Cathedral

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday – 14th February 2024. Bradford Cathedral will be marking this with a service of Choral Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes at 7pm, a service which is in addition to the two regular said services on the Wednesday morning at 8:15am and 10:15am. All are welcome at these services.

Alongside these extra services, the Cathedral’s regular pattern of worship continues. On Sundays these are the 8am Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer; the 10:30am Choral Eucharist; and the 3:30pm Choral Evensong.

Other opportunities to gather for prayer include Morning and Evening Prayer online at 9am and 5:30pm; Midday Prayer at 12noon; Choral Evensong on Mondays and Tuesdays at 5:30pm; and services of Holy Communion on Wednesdays at 8:15am and 10:15am.

As well as these services, there will also be a Passion Play, morning retreat, and services to mark the World Day of Prayer.

Riding Lights Theatre Company presents
‘The Narrow Road’ by Paul Birch

Wednesday 28th February | 7:30pm

Powerful Theatre on the journey to Easter.

Riding Lights Theatre Company are pleased to announce a revival of their acclaimed passion play The Narrow Road by Paul Birch, for the season of Lent and Holy Week 2024.

For many years, Riding Lights Theatre Company has toured its passion plays to churches, cathedrals and communities across the UK, providing a unique, revitalising experience of the drama of Christ’s passion.

…vivid and contemporary, with moments of high drama… [Church Times]

A man stands alone on a dusty road, an extraordinary journey before him; one that will re-trace the footsteps of Jesus into a world of miracles and madness, violence and liberation.  As The Narrow Road is walked, this turbulent world is turned upside down; its inhabitants confronted by an unexpected and surprising vision.

Meeting the characters and re-living the events of the gospels, this draws us back along that original road, through the place of the cross and into the challenge of a life beyond. Compellingly performed, The Narrow Road asks each of us to step out in faith on that journey today.

Prayer Vigil for International Peace

Friday 1st March 2024 | 6pm

At a time of international tensions and conflict in different parts of the world, you are invited to gather in Bradford Cathedral on the World Day of Prayer, to pray for international peace. The service will be led by the Dean of Bradford, the Very Revd Andy Bowerman, and will involve contributions from different communities from across Bradford.

The Ukranian Community also invite you to join them for a Prayer Vigil for Peace in Ukraine to be held on the second anniversary of the invasion of their country by Russia. This will take place on Saturday 24th February, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Pakington Street. Bradford BD5 7LB. The service will begin at 10:30am and is expected to last for approximately one hour.

The Christian practice of listing vices and virtues has a long history, going back at least to the times of the very early desert monks in the fourth and fifth centuries. As they cultivated their little patches of land in order to sustain themselves, they also cultivated their bodies and souls to make them as fruitful as they could. Later, medieval Christian manuscripts featured the motif of the ‘virtue garden’, in which the virtues (usually seven) are shown as trees, being watered by prayer. 

The Visual Commentary on Scripture’s Lent offering this year is based as usual around 14 ‘Stations’, beginning on Ash Wednesday and continuing on Mondays and Fridays until Holy Week. All the commentaries in the series have an audio feature so that you can listen to them while viewing the works of art. Our 2024 Stations will share with you a series of seven works exploring, first, the seven vices most commonly included in lists of the ‘deadly sins’, and then, second, the seven cardinal and theological virtues. 

Watch and Pray

This Lent we are encouraged to wait expectantly for God to meet us and sustain us through the storms and trials we all face.

The Church of England’s Lent theme for 2024 is Watch and Pray: Wisdom and hope for Lent and life.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus kneels in darkness in the Garden of Gethsemane. Though he pleads with his disciples, “Stay here with me … Watch and pray,” they all fall asleep, leaving him alone in his hour of deepest suffering.

This Lent all of us are encouraged to draw on the wisdom of Black Spirituality, particularly the practice of “tarrying” (waiting) as a community to draw closer to Jesus and to each other. Combining exuberant singing, fervent prayer and quiet lament, such services typically take place at night and last somewhat longer than the “one hour” Jesus asked of those first followers.

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