Month: March 2015

I was glad to be part of Leeanne’s baptism on Sunday at St Finnian’s, Lochgelly. Dot pours the water – responding to my request to pour it from high enough that you can hear it!

Lochgelly is in the heart of post-industrial Fife. It was known for having the lowest house prices in Britain. Our congregation has held together – it’s really important that our church should be present in places like Lochgelly. They are now growing again with leadership and encouragement from Lay Reader, Margaret Dineley.

Leanne’s baptism was an opportunity for celebration and affirmation

Revd Graham Taylor, Rector of St John’s, Perth, told his congregation that he was ‘giving up sermons for Lent’. What he meant was that he was going to interview members of the congregation and encourage them to talk about life and faith.

So he did that with me on Sunday. We had what I thought was quite a searching conversation. It took place at the end of the week in which I marked 10 years since my consecration and arrival in Scotland. So there was some reflecting about that. We talked about my reaction to illness and whether I felt that faith had sustained me. We also looked at the ‘can a bishop go to heaven?’ question. The latter sounds frivolous but it is anything but that. I told Graham that I found some of the conflicts which a bishop is involved in to be spiritually distressing at a deep level.

And what about giving up sermons? Well I think we need to work hard at the difficult art of preaching. I try hard not to read a script because communication which appears to be spontaneous communicates better. ‘Appears to be spontaneous’ – because there has to be an underlying script if the preacher is to achieve a creative blend of economy and spontaneity – with personal conviction. As a Rector, I was fond of interviewing members of the congregation. That’s how the media do it and I think it works for us. People want to hear personal story and faith story – and this is a good way of giving them access to that.

I was glad to be in St Paul’s Cathedral today for the Service to mark the end of operations in Afghanistan. It was a dignified service which acknowledged bravery, faithfulness and the costliness of it. Archbishop Justin referred to the families ‘taking the phone to bed ….’ Just in case.

I sat beside my friend and colleague, Rt Rev John Chalmers, whose son was wounded and was in the congregation. I was really glad to meet Ivor and Marie Turkington, whose son Neal died during the campaign. Neal was a friend and contemporary of our younger son, Mark. I knew him well and preached at his funeral. Ivor and Marie and their family are building schools in Afghanistan. Their courage is humbling

Canon Alison Peden has been instituted as Rector of St Modoc’s, Doune. The preacher was Bishop Kevin Pearson.

This completes another set of significant changes in the life of our church. Alison will spend one third of her time at Doune. The rest of her time will be spent in her expanded role as Provincial Director of Ordinands, working as part of the Scottish Episcopal Institute – our new training agency for our future clergy and Lay Readers.

I find that people tend to make rather gloomy assumptions about the supply of potential ordinands. The reality is that people are appearing and uttering those remarkable words, ‘I believe that God is calling me to be a priest’. Not enough perhaps to replace the high level of retirements which are coming – but a much healthier situation. Alison’s task will be to oversee their journey from vocational discernment, through training and on into ministry.

So she – and the staff of the Institute – have in their hands the shaping of the next generation of people in ministry in our church. Literally a vital task

We had our Diocesan Synod today – my eleventh as it happens.

We are quite upbeat at the moment. Many of our congregations which were seeking clergy now have the new leadership which they need. And those clergy seem to be settling in well and giving us all encouragement. By my calculation, we have five more appointments to make – and one recently-appointed to be instituted. If you come from a diocese which counts its clergy in 100’s, that may not seem like a lot. But for us, it is really significant

During our Synod, we commissioned Revd Thomas Brauer as our Diocesan Missioner. This is also a really significant event which greatly increases our capacity for development in our congregations.

This was my Bishop’s Address
And this was my Sermon at the Eucharist