Message from Bishop Rachel, 9 June 2026

If you ever travel to London from this part of the world, you will arrive at Paddington station, and like me you may enjoy watching children and adults alike sitting next to the statue of Paddington Bear as they pose for a photograph.

This famous fictional bear, created by the children’s author Michael Bond, arrived from Peru with the famous tag round his neck saying, ‘Please look after this bear’.

Recently I rewatched the first Paddington film based on the book. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Released in 2014, the film reflects the books as it encapsulates the adventures of Paddington as he gradually becomes part of the Brown family and finds a place of welcome and a place he can call home. It is not without its challenges. The film is poignant, funny, sad and thought-provoking; and as with all good stories enables us to reflect on our own stories and to think about the experiences of those different from ourselves and what they might be living in their own story.

I frequently find myself travelling back from Paddington station thinking how grateful I am to be ‘going home’. Yet, those words, which can trip off our tongues very easily, refer to something which is an alien concept for so many people near us and far away.

Home should be a place of safety – a place where we can be ourselves and indeed go on growing into who we are becoming. Home is a place which holds a sense of welcome and security for us, whether we live alone or with other people. Yet, there are many people, whether nearby or far away, who for so many different reason do not have that sense of rootedness with a secure home. This includes those who are refugees. Interestingly, Michael Bond’s creation of Paddington Bear was influenced by his memories as a boy at Reading station at the start of the second world war, seeing children being evacuated to the countryside and Jewish refugees arriving. His family welcomed two Jewish boys for the duration of the war.

There is a poignant quote in the Paddington film when Paddington says “Mrs Brown says that in London everyone is different, and that means anyone can fit in.” And then he goes on to say, “I think she must be right – because although I don’t look like anyone else, I really do feel at home.”

Sadly, I’m not sure how many people who have arrived here from other countries, particularly in recent years, would echo that statement.

As Christians there are important reflections and actions to be taken regarding the call to welcome the stranger (e.g. Matthew 25:35) – Indeed, St Benedict in his Rule says that all guests to the monastery should ‘be received as Christ’.

In the global village of this world, people are constantly fleeing from conflict, violence, persecution, the violation of human rights, and displacement due to climate change. There is undoubtedly important dialogue to be had and significant political decisions to be made regarding the whole subject of immigration, yet even amid differing views and political tensions, we should never stop seeing the face of Christ in every human being regardless of their appearance or country of birth.

Refugee Week takes place in June every year around the time of the Anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Convention of the Rights of Refugees. The dates for this year are 15-21 June, and the aim is to better understand why people are displaced; to celebrate rich diversity in our communities; and to try and stand in the shoes of those who arrive in other countries seeking safety, welcome and a sense of home.

Alongside Refugee Week, Sunday 21 June has been designated as Sanctuary Sunday, and Adele Owen, the former director of Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (GARAS) who now lives in Bristol, has written about it here.

Warren Lee is the current director of GARAS, and it is a privilege for me to be a patron of this amazing charity which supports those arriving in Gloucestershire within the asylum process and those who are then resettled as refugees. GARAS was named in our Diocesan Prayer Companion yesterday.

The organisers of Refugee Week 2026 have chosen the theme of ‘courage’ and have suggested 10 Simple Acts that we can enter into to stand with refugees and perhaps build new connections in our local communities. A children’s author, Quentin Blake, born just a few years after Michael Bond, has illustrated these acts, and people are free to reproduce his artwork Simple Acts | Refugee Week

My hope and prayer is that the days of Refugee Week will enable us to have the courage to reach out in love and kindness to the stranger; to have the courage to find out more about someone’s story, and to look at their courage in seeking to find safety.

‘Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’ (Matthew 25:35)

With my thanks and prayers as ever