Message from Bishop Rachel, 21 July 2026

As I write this, it is garden party season here at Bishopscourt, and it is such a joy and privilege to be hosting different people, whether from worshipping communities or the wider community. It is a small way to say thank you to so many, and those thanks go out to every person reading this letter regardless of whether or not you have been at a party.

In the garden this afternoon we will celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the Mothers Union with members of the latter, and then later on people who are advocates for eco-church across the diocese will gather in the cool of the evening.

Yet as I ponder this letter in the early hours of the morning, looking out from the chapel window, there are no people – just tables and chairs, and squirrels darting across the straw-like grass as juicy mulberries fall from the trees, leaving large swathes of red and messy stain. I notice that a bird’s nest has been destroyed and some of the flowers are wilting and shrivelling. And as I look out and sit with God in prayer, I find myself thinking that this garden reflects the beauty and mess of the landscape I have been inhabiting in recent days.

I have had the joy of being out and about in parishes, including the confirmation of young people and adults sharing amazing stories of growing in their relationship with Christ. There has been the primary school visit as well as opportunities to engage with young people in different settings. I have been at the General Synod of the Church of England engaging with many painful issues; and I have been in the House of Lords speaking on matters around violence against women and girls across the globe, as well as issues around criminal justice. And there has of course been political turbulence, a new Prime Minister and yet more change. Amid all of the above, there has been the daily reality of many conversations and meetings with clergy and laity, worshipping communities and groups, whether joyous, difficult or painful. That is always true of the emails too.

Yet, at the heart of it all is the desire to join in and contribute to God’s work of transformation, healing and reconciliation as I seek to lead us in what it means to be the Church, living and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, as we open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us and around us.

The many glimpses of beauty in the garden at Bishopscourt remind me of the words in the creation narratives in the first chapter of Genesis, as God looked on creation and ‘saw that it was good’. Yet, the places of mess and destruction and imperfection in my garden, remind me that humanity has marred the goodness, and there are places within me, and around me, and across diocese, country and world, which need Christ’s resurrection life, mercy, and renewal. I rejoice in those beautiful words in Paul’s letter to the Romans in which he gives us that image of creation groaning and longing for redemption (Romans 8:22) knowing that God is in the business of making all things new.

So, as we walk into August may it be a time to notice and celebrate the beauty around us and within us, and also to notice and tend the mess. And at a time when the earth is parched and longs for water, may these days of summer be ones in which we put our roots down ever more deeply into the living streams of God’s love, in prayer and the reading of scripture, that we might continue to bear fruit in due season (Psalm 1: 3)

This comes with my prayers as I give thanks for the life in which we share and for our partnership in the gospel of hope.