Mae gyda’r Gadeirlan hon hanes hir oes.  Tra bod deoniaid (ac esgobion) yn mynd a dod, y mae’r Eglwys Gadeiriol parhau.  Dyma beth yw sialens ac yn orfoledd.  Mae’r sialens oherwydd pan fod Deon newydd yn cael ei sefydlu,mae holl bwysau hanes yn gorwedd ar ei ysgwyddau.  Fodd bynnag, mae hyn yn achos llawenydd hefyd, yn enwedig bod hyn yn creu cyfle am greadigedd, gan fod pob deon yn ychwanegu rhywbeth ohono fy hun – nid yn unig i’r adeilad, ond i’w bywyd ysbrydol hefyd.  Nad yw’r deon yn cael ei adael i’w fo hun – mae addewid gras Duw yn cefnogi ac yn ysbrydoli, a dyma’r gorfoledd fwyaf dwfn.

This cathedral has a long history.  Deans (and bishops) may come and go, but the cathedral remains.  This is both challenge and joy.  It is a challenge because when a new Dean is installed the entire weight of this history rests upon him.  However, it is a joy as well, and doubly so, because there is the opportunity for creativity, for each dean to add something of his own – not just to the building, but to its spiritual life.  Nor is the dean left to his own devices – the promise of the grace of God both supports and inspires, and this is the deepest joy of all.

Tradition is a heart-warming word:  when we talk about a traditional Christmas Dinner, we know exactly what we’re going to get.  When we say that a couple are getting married in a traditional ceremony, we know that it will be done as it has been done for centuries, and all the elements it will include. However, tradition can also be a rather fuddy-duddy word: if someone has no sense of style, we might say that his outfit was “very trad”, meaning that it is boring or old-fashioned.  When Christians use the word “tradition”, they mean something much more exciting than any of these meanings. For what Christians mean by tradition are the truths and the secrets about God that have been handed down through the centuries – secrets and truths which are not dusty or dry or old fashioned, but living and exciting and perpetually new For at the heart of the tradition is a narrative about encounter with God, a living God who creates and challenges and turns life upside down. 

This afternoon, we have heard three readings proclaimed, all three containing essentially the same challenge, founded on an encounter with God. In our Old Testament lesson, the prophet Isaiah encounters God in the temple and faced with the glory of God, he is undone “Woe is me, for I am unclean and I live in the midst of an unclean people”, and then remade by God and sent forth as a prophet. In our New Testament lesson, Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee, speaks of the changed life he discovered in Christ: he too is touched by the grace of God, unmade and remade, holding the treasure of the grace of God in an earthenwear vessel. And in our Gospel reading, we meet Christ, revealing his divine authority in out-fishing the fishermen and producing a supernaturally abundant catch of fish, causing Peter to realise his inadequacy in the face of God’s grace, being unmade and remade “From now on, you shall be a fisher of people.” In these encounters God unmakes and remakes all those involved, giving them an experience of the eternal and unchangeable and introducing radical change into their lives. 

The Christian tradition is actually about change, about conversions down through the centuries people have encountered through the truths and secrets that have been faithfully handed on: the channels of grace and the revelation by which the personal power, grace and blessing of God revealed in Christ is offered, remaking and challenging lives to the very core. Today we are creating a new dean, a new tenth man to take charge of the chapter of canons and of the cathedral, but of one thing I am certain and that is that I am not appointing the curator of a museum.  Instead, this cathedral is to be a place of encounter, of revelation, of the handing on of the truth of God’s powerful call to conversion in Jesus Christ.

Nigel is being asked to take into his hands and to pass on two things in particular.  First, a tradition of worship, the proclamation of God’s Word and the celebration of the sacraments.  Every day for 800 years this place has been prayed in, the Word of God proclaimed and the sacraments celebrated, and, if we are to believe the stories of our origins, for 600 years before that in the monastery of Kentigern and Asaph at the bottom of the hill.  Nigel, this worship is something which is handed on to you, not as something static and fixed, but as living and growing, in which what is essential must be maintained, and what is forever living and fresh – the Gospel of Jesus Christ - is proclaimed.  Second, you are being given a context in which to proclaim the Gospel:  a location in the here and now, but one which is in Wales, and among the peoples of Dyffryn Clwyd and ancient Powys.  You must find new ways of tending our ancient language and of the faith as received by us here in Wales. 

Mae’r iaith Gymraeg a’i ddiwylliant yn yr ardal hon yn draddodiad hefyd.  Lleolir Llanelwy ar y ffin rhwng Cymru a Lloegr, rhwng yr arfordir a’r mynyddoedd.  Ond nid ydym eiroed wedi bod a chywilydd o’n hunaniaeth Gymreig –  dyn ni’n dod a’n ffydd Gristnogol i Gymru mewn ffordd unigryw,a dysgu ffyrdd o fynegi Cristnogaeth fel rhan o rythem fywyd a phrofiad Cymreig. Another part of tradition is the Welsh language and culture of this part of the world.  St Asaph lives on the borderland – between England and Wales, between the coast and the mountains.  But we have never been ashamed of our Welsh identity – bringing the Christian faith to Wales in a unique way, and learning to express Christianity in the powerful rhythms of Welsh life and experience. Most importantly, what is being passed on to you today is the cure of souls of this cathedral and Rectorial benefice – the call to bring people into an experience and knowledge of the living God – for when I speak of truths and secrets:  here must the truth of Christ be proclaimed, and one and all called to discover for themselves and in themselves the secret of God’s grace in their lives.  Nigel, be faithful to what you have received, all that has been handed on to you, but take this tradition and make it your own – bring your gifts of creativity and joy, of celebration and enthusiasm, and open for us a window into heaven. 

Croeso i’r sialens a’r gorfoledd hon, ond yn pob dim, byddwch yn feiddgar gan fod Duw gyda thi. 

Nigel, welcome to this challenge and to this joy, but in all things be bold, for God is with you.

The Rt Revd Dr G K Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph.