Lichfield Festival

I've just come home from an extraordinary performance in Lichfield Cathedral, of the Great Voices of Bulgaria: fabulous harmonies and extraordinary precision in ten female folk singers. It was a treat.

The first few items in the repertoire were explicitly religous - including a setting of the Lord's Prayer. But I found a sense of the presence of God as much in the apparently more secular items of the programme. There was just something in the intonation and collaboration which transported me to a sacred place.

It was one of those occasions when I marvel at the fact that I can access such beauty so readily. For me, it was a two-minute walk to get home at the end of the performance.

This, you see, is the ten days of the Lichfield Festival. What a wonderful opportunity. Over the next week, I am looking forward to performances by Black Voices (a wonderfully talented Gospel quintet from Birmingham), by Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, by the poet Michael Symmons Roberts and by the CBSO (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra).

It is extraordinary to have all this on our doorstep. Today, for example, has been the Georgian Market. The Cathedral Close was - despite the wet weather - thronging with stalls and visitors. Many were in costume: in the past this has traditionally been the Medieval Market; but this year is the 300th year of the birth of Lichfield's most famous son, Samuel Johnson, so a change of emphasis was inevitable.

It is a great privilege for a Cathedral like ours to offer hospitality to so many people, looking for so many different experiences. There is a missionary challenge here that I don't yet feel we have got our heads around. Roll on 2010.