York Mystery Plays 2014

As most of our Sunday was to be taken up with visiting York for the Mystery Plays, an eight o'clock Communion service would have been a desirable start to the day, but alas, there was no celebration available on this particular Sunday within easy reach of Andrea's apartment. After breakfast we set out on the hour's journey across the Wolds to one of Britain's most ancient and historic cities. At this time of year, fields in the rolling landscape are greenish turning gold at different rates, as grain crops ripen at different rates. The summer colours reminded me of the rice fields of the Delta del'Ebre.

We used York's efficient park and ride service to access the city centre with ease, arriving just after eleven to permit Andrea to check in and acquire her steward's jacket before we made our way to College Street, located at the East end of the Minster, for her to take up her duties as welcomer and programme distributor. My heart was still set on finding somewhere to join in the worship of the day, so I went for a stroll around the Minster perimeter, to find our what might be going on. 

St Michael's le Belfrey, on the South Western corner of the Minster was packed with people singing to a pop band from lyrics projected on a screen, and nearby the sounds of the mighty organ could be heard as it accompanied Morning Prayer. I walked on, and spotted St Wilfred's Catholic church two hundred yards across the road from these two, and walked over to check out the Mass times. The eleven o'clock service has just reached the offertory, so I stood with latecomers in the narthex and 'heard Mass', as folks would say in the old days. 

For me, it was a far from ordinary 'hearing', as the Mass text was from the new unpopular latinised English translation, but beggars can't be choosers. As far as I'm concerned the Lord's Service on the Lord's Day, no matter what the format, is the pivotal act of remembering together with others who Christ is and what He did for us, wherever I find myself. It's a small act of solidarity, even if Communion is not possible. 

In St Wilfred's, the Sunday Mass leaflet was available to enable me to read the familiar texts of the day before I returned to join Clare and Andrea. The procession of Passion Plays had only just begun at noon with the first recounting of the creation of the world at the first Mystery play wagon stop on the green at the north side of the Minster. I stopped, watched and photographed the first two plays, and then returned to College Street, where I stayed for the rest of the afternoon, seeing again the performance of the creation and fall stories and the ten others, right through to the Last Judgement that followed over the next five hours.

The entire event offered a moving experience of biblical story telling, using poetically rich ancient texts, stimulating to hear, challenging in the way they interpret traditional Christian teaching. Each Guild presenting a play produces it within the limitations of the wagon staging format, and yet is free to set the play in whatever context it chooses. Much community effort goes into interpreting the meaning and value of texts that reflect scripture and how it has been interpreted down the centuries. This makes the Mystery Plays a truly lively means of presenting the Gospel in an evangelistic way that offers a contemporary audience plenty to think about.

We had no time for sightseeing in York. The Mystery Plays absorbed all our time and attention. I took nearly four hundred photographs in an effort to capture something of the occasion. There's such a lot to see that another visit to York and Yorkshire generally, sometime next year is definitely something we'll be planning soon.