Message from Bishop Rachel, 3 February 2025

Published: Monday February 3, 2025

Bishop RachelAs I begin this presidential address, I want to take us back to our gospel reading (Luke 2: 25-35) as we gather as Diocesan Synod on the eve of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, also known as Candlemas.

Watch below ↓

Imagine the Jewish temple in Jerusalem approx. 2000 years ago – there’s political turbulence … and religious turbulence. And here, there is this significant present moment – a mystery as this old and faithful man takes the tiny Christ child in his arms and lifts his eyes to something much greater – and it is a moment of a deep recognition of identity – of Self and of God.

This baby is God – The God for all peoples – the light for the world. And this moment is not only one of recognition and identity, but also a moment of profound and mysterious relationship. As Simeon holds the young baby in his arms there is that mysterious truth that it is actually God who is holding him and always has done.

Here is a moment of intense life changing joy and mystery – and yet no denial of pain or struggle. Indeed, if we read on a few more verses, we would encounter the elderly Anna who knew so much about pain and sorrow but who, like Simeon, lived to God’s praise and glory.

Over the years, Simeon had continued to look forward to the consolation of Israel and had held fast to God’s past promises of a coming Messiah. As those truths of God from the past are now revealed in the present, Simeon still talks to Mary about the future.

Here in this present moment in the temple there is the intersection of the past and the future with the present. And we can take heart today in the present, amid worldwide political turbulence and amid our own religious turbulence. And as we do so, I want to keep those words identity and relationship written large as Christ is proclaimed as the light for all nations.

As the Church of England we have been rocked, shaken, angered, devastated, by our past failings when it comes to safeguarding and the abuse and pain that has been inflicted on people’s lives through abusive relationships, distorted identity.

And this is not all about the past, because people’s lives, identity, and relationships are continually impacted in the present by that pain and trauma – not only due to the horrific acts of abuse, but also through people’s failure to respond and act appropriately. The things that have been kept hidden in the dark and not brought into the light.

The resignation of an Archbishop of Canterbury is unprecedented – and identity and relationship have been sorely tested in many, many different directions. Subsequent events have revealed yet more brokenness, not least this week with the events surrounding the resignation of the Bishop of Liverpool. People’s individual identity, and identity as Church at all different levels has been fractured, and relationships have been marred.

Of course, for many people across our country, the Church of England’s current crisis around identity and relationship, sadly seems irrelevant and barely touches their lives; yet for other people there is confusion, anger, and even disdain. There are lay and ordained leaders, volunteers, diocesan staff, and indeed bishops, who are questioning their own identity in relation to the National Church. There are big questions: What is the National Church? What is it we are identifying when we talk of hierarchy or power? How does our decision-making work? Where is the accountability at national level? What does it mean for us to belong together yet to have a distinct identity as local church or school, or chaplaincy or community partner?

And yet – and yet – not a ‘but’ or an escaping from the painful realities, rather an ‘and yet’ because God’s love and mercy and grace continue; and in all the lament and sorrow and mess of the past weeks and days (and days in which I have continued to reflect hard on my own identity as a bishop), I have also continued to be thankful and have had my eyes lifted to God’s glory and the light of Christ – even if not quite in the same way as Simeon.

There have been many present moments in recent weeks of eye-opening joy as I have engaged with so many places of life in this diocese and listened to local stories, not least regarding all that went on over Christmas across the diocese – the people of all ages who still chose to come and be welcomed and to hear the good news of Christ. Thank you to everyone who has led, supported and made this possible – and in that I remain deeply thankful for all those who tirelessly give of themselves to ensure that children, young people and adults, can be safely welcomed, worship and flourish.

Since the start of this year, I have been encouraged and thankful to God for the places where I have seen our vision of LIFE Together being lived in numerous ways. Just a few examples from a long list: two weeks ago, I was in Dursley primary school where I truly saw LEADERSHIP committed to transformation. Each week, like Bishop Robert and Archdeacon Hilary, I have the privilege of participating in worship with numerous faithful disciples in villages and towns in worshipping communities with distinct local identity, and seeing and hearing how people are being enabled to grow in FAITH as adventurous followers of Jesus Christ.

It was wonderful to be at the launch of Grace Network in Cirencester as the adventure unfolds in the old House of Fraser building cheek by jowl with the thriving and ancient parish church. On that same day it was a privilege to engage with families and volunteers in Cheltenham at a food pantry; and then to visit the Schoolhouse Café and the Armoury gym and in all of it to see IMAGINATION opening new paths to faith, and people living out Christ’s love and hope in places of inspiring ENGAGEMENT with people of all ages and backgrounds.

Earlier in January it was good to gather with Area deans and lay chairs for an evening, and then the week before last to be away together as a Bishop’s Staff Team as we looked at that intersection of past, present and future – to reflect on who we are as a diocese and our identity lived out across all the many and varied local contexts, keeping relationship front and centre, and to be aware of what that means for  the staff of the Diocesan Board of Finance as a move to new offices is planned. That move will support a renewed sense of identity together, and stronger interconnected relationship in that joint venture of resourcing the many local expressions of Church.

And talking of that resourcing, please know that I don’t underestimate concerns in parishes about finding parish officers, or managing buildings, or struggling with so much administrative and operational stuff; and I’m aware we need to go on asking the right hard questions, but only ever as we go on lifting our eyes to the mystery of who God is revealed in Jesus Christ, and believing in the transforming work of God’s Holy Spirit, and saying yes to participating in it.

So, I am excited and expectant about the shaping of the nine deanery plans this year – each with their own identity but with a commitment to holding them together in our identity as one diocese, and recognising the importance of deeper and stronger interdependent relationship with each other.

Thank you to Area deans, Lay chairs, Deanery groups; thank you to staff at College Green who, in relationship, are helping bring these plans into being. I’m grateful to Bishop Robert for holding us to task so that we will have the plans by the autumn – and there is already a clear focus and commitment to some of the infrastructure that is going to be required for implementation. All of this is about being resource aware whilst also being utterly mission focussed.

The planned deanery parish share discussions are all about being resource aware – thank you to Archdeacon Hilary and Lisa and others for overseeing the upcoming deanery parish share meetings. I pray they will be rooted in relationship – with each other and with God – and be about so much more than money as we go on discovering our corporate identity as members together of the body of Christ, and like Simeon go on lifting our eyes.

In 2022 as we refocused our vison of LIFE Together and shone a spotlight on 5 commitments, I tried to paint a picture of what an even more kingdom-shaped panorama might look like across the diocese of Gloucester. In dreaming of the future I wrote…

‘…I pray that in the coming years there will be a rich variety of sustainable and diverse worshipping communities, long-established and new, celebrated as living and breathing beacons of love, hope and justice. Our worshipping communities will be enabling the Body of Christ to grow, be strengthened and to participate in God’s work amid joy and pain, such that new and existing baptised followers of Jesus Christ of all ages, backgrounds, colour and accent, are increasingly confident in living and sharing their stories of faith in their everyday contexts, rooted in prayer. Stories of faith will be growing through strong links between pre-school groups, schools, homes and local worshipping communities, and we will be at the forefront of caring for creation. Across the diocese we will be partnering with organisations, and making connections with people committed to the care and transformation of lives, communities and the environment, grounded in our desire for God’s kingdom to come on earth as in heaven. As we serve and engage with the struggles and delights of the people and places of this diocese, people of all ages and backgrounds will be inspired to discover Jesus Christ and life in all its fullness, and become disciples.’

A vision of what it might look like – and of course, that all begins and ends in our relationship with God, so our greatest resource is prayer as we go deeper in FAITH in our commitment to live as adventurous followers of Jesus Christ.

Simeon (and indeed Anna) were people of prayer. It is to be our starting place and our ongoing dwelling in relationship with God. The place where we root ourselves in silence, word, longing, repentance and thanksgiving – individually and together.

As we gather as Synod in these present days amid the church’s fractures and failures, when there are wonderings and questions about who and what the Church of England is – questions about identity and belonging, and when relationships (not least across places of different theological and ecclesiological perspectives) seemingly threaten to pull us apart, may we recommit ourselves to prayer, with humble and repentant hearts, and with a renewed reorientation to lift our eyes to God whose Church it is:

‘For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples…’ (Luke 2:30-31)

I hope and pray that every expression of church and community across our parishes, schools and chaplaincies will be strengthened in a sense of local identity. May every expression of Church lived out with partners such as Sportily, Grace Network, Church Army; and every expression of church lived out ecumenically, be confident in a local identity which speaks of relationship with God, with one another, with the wider community and with all creation. And in all of that to recognise our lives as being part of something even bigger – not only deanery, and ‘the diocese’ (participating in our LIFE Together vision), but  even bigger as our identity as people of the Kingdom of God seeking to join in with God’s kingdom work of transformation as we endeavour to live and share Christ’s life in all its fullness living, from a place of God’s abundancy amid our joy and our pain.

For Simeon, surrounded by all that political and religious turbulence, there was a close-at-hand focus in a very present moment as he looked down at a tiny child. Yet, there was also a lifting of the eyes to see a much bigger picture and a recognition of being part of that which stretched back into the past and stretched into the future.

As diocesan synod and as ‘the diocese’ in this present moment, our eyes have seen God’s salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. In all the turbulence around us and within us, may we know Christ’s peace as our identity in Christ is deepened individually and together, as we discover yet more of what it means to live in relationship with one another and with God – locally, as deanery, as diocese, and as Christ’s church, and yes even as part of The Church of England among the people and places of our lives.         

                            

Bishop Rachel’s Presidential address is also available in video format, please watch below.

2 thoughts on “Message from Bishop Rachel, 3 February 2025

  1. Oh how simply wonderful
    and uplifting dear Bishop
    Rachel , you are a total inspiration , navigating with
    great skill and conviction ,
    troubled waters .
    Hooray for you , and how lucky
    are we .

  2. Thank you for a very moving and inspiring address.
    On Sunday last I led intercessions at Hereford Cathedral and ended with some words from a hymn written by Robert Willis
    ‘For the light is stronger than the darkness
    and the day will overcome the night
    though the shadows linger all around us
    let us turn our faces to the light’
    Prayers and best wishes.

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