Tag: Bishop Robert

Message from Bishop Robert, 18 July 2023

Some 40 years ago, I was a student volunteer with the Missions to Seafarers in Fremantle, Western Australia. It was there, as in my mind I thought of what I might do when I returned home after this gap year experience, that the chaplain challenged me to take seriously the call to ordination. I still studied Business on my return to the UK, but that swiftly led to theological college, ordination and for the last 34 years the most fulfilling ministry as deacon, priest and bishop.

Message from Bishop Robert, 18 July 2023
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Message from Bishop Robert, 27 June 2023

It’s one of my jobs at home to put out the recycling – paper and cardboard, glass, tins and, of course, plastic. Like so many, I can say I am doing my bit, but of course, I know that, as the climate crisis deepens and we need to care for creation, for the world that God has made and all that is in it, there is more to do. Wouldn’t it be even better if there was less in my general waste and less in my recycling too? Plastic Free July® is an invitation to take this challenge, to be part of the solution and reduce or even eliminate our use of plastic.

Message from Bishop Robert, 27 June 2023
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Message from Bishop Robert, 18 April 2023

This coming Sunday at 3pm we will be welcoming Canon Andrew Zihni as the 39th Dean of Gloucester. The eagle-eyed will notice that he comes as the Dean of Gloucester – his ministry while rooted in the life of the Cathedral is not restricted to it! As the Dean, he is the senior priest of the Diocese and shares with Bishop Rachel, with me and her whole staff in the leadership and care we together seek to offer to the whole Diocese.

Message from Bishop Robert, 18 April 2023
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Message from Bishop Robert, 28 March 2023

One of the questions asked of the candidates at an interview I was chairing recently was what were they passionate about? It was a great question, passion is that strong, motivating force that drives a person’s life. It might be about sport, or a hobby. If we are lucky, it might be our work, and it will be something that we want to share with others, that they might become as passionate about it as we are.

Message from Bishop Robert, 28 March 2023
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Message from Bishop Robert, 14 March 2023

Thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength … (Isaiah 30:15)

I have found myself returning often to these words from the prophet Isaiah over the last few years as a reminder in busy, sometimes anxious, sometimes challenging times that it is in God we are to place our trust and from God our hope and our confidence for all that will be.

Message from Bishop Robert, 14 March 2023
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Message from Bishop Robert, 20 February 2023

This coming Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we begin our Lenten journey. Many of us will mark this by being present in church where we will receive the imposition of ashes, the sign of the cross marked on our foreheads with the words ‘Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ’ before we are fed with the bread and wine of communion to sustain us on our journey.

Message from Bishop Robert, 20 February 2023
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Message from Bishop Robert, 7 February 2023

I have just returned from a fabulous mission weekend with the Thameshead Benefice, a group of six parishes and nine churches located between Cirencester and Tetbury – a mix of larger villages such as Kemble and smaller communities that together create a lively church community reaching out to all who live in the area.

Message from Bishop Robert, 7 February 2023
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Message from Bishop Robert, 24 January 2023

I was privileged last year to lead one of the first pilgrimages to the Holy Land after Israel reopened its boarders following the global pandemic. In contrast to previous pilgrimages, the Holy Sites were generally quiet – ours was the only group present in the chapel in Bethlehem where Jesus is traditionally thought to have been born. That quiet extended to another of our visits, like the vast majority of pilgrimages, to the Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem.

Message from Bishop Robert, 24 January 2023
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