Thankyou brothers and sisters for being here today at this very special service as we enter Holy week. And thank you for all the care, love and prayer you show through your ministries as disciples, lay leaders and clergy. Thank you especially for this past year of service and the way in which you have supported me as your bishop. Thank you!
It was a delight to be present for the Installation of Archbishop Sarah last week in Canterbury. Two thousand people gathered to mark a moment in history or should that be her-story… as she took up her public ministry of leading the Church of England and the whole Anglican Communion! The Prince and Princess of Wales were present, along with the Prime Minster and dignitaries from around the world.
But for me the special moment was meeting for morning prayer, earlier in the day, with a couple of dozen female Bishops to pray with, and for, ++Sarah. We met in a tiny medieval church a stone’s throw from the Cathedral, hidden from the gaze of the world. We sang our hearts out, prayed with tears, and sent her on her way with joy. No Lenten abolition of ‘Hallelujahs’ on that day!
Over coffee, following our Morning Prayer, I spoke with Linda, Archbishop and Primate of Canada. I asked her if she could tell me the end of a story that inspired me 25 years ago.
Twenty-five years ago, I was five years ordained and just in my first year as incumbent of the church where I had served as curate. That parish in central Nottingham was one of the poorest and most challenged in the country. I sometimes felt that we were a church that knew much of the crucifixion story and rarely got to glimpse the celebration of resurrection. We often felt the struggle of life, with many of our number either being destitute asylum seekers or unemployed; survivors and victims of abuse or those who had been offenders of one sort or another. We were deeply in debt through an over ambitious building programme, and the problems we faced, immense.
It was in the midst of feeling overwhelmed by a sense of imposter syndrome, and inadequate as a priest, that I heard the story of a little diocese within British Columbia in Canada called Cariboo. The diocesan bishop was reported speaking about the diocese becoming bankrupt. This was the result of the lawsuits brought against the diocese for the harm done to indigenous students who were residents in the schools run by the Church. I was struck by this bishop saying that for the gospel to be truly good news, the Church needed to compensate those who had been hurt by them. That they should give all they had for the sake of those harmed. That the story of our faith is one where death is necessary in order that new life, resurrection life, could be found.
Ever since then I’ve wondered what happened to the Church in that place…
Linda was able to tell me. Following the dissolution of the diocese, the church congregations had lost their buildings but become part of a new missional community within the much larger diocese of British Columbia and the Yukon. And in the past couple of decades they have been working on how to work together across difference, indigenous and white settler Canadian, coming together to listen and learn, and create a new future. Building bridges and finding healing through friendship.
Ten years ago, they formed a new Diocese, changing the old name of Cariboo to the new name of ‘The Territory of the People’.
Their mission statement describes what they do as a gathered people of Christian faith: “’The Territory of the People’ walk together with all God’s people, journeying into a new creation, and trusting with faith and courage in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We love as Jesus loves, living with integrity and openness, and are committed stewards of God’s world.”
This month they have received a Cross of Nails from Coventry Cathedral as they become partners in the Community of the Cross of Nails. I have such a cross here around my neck. This symbol is travelling through the Territory as a visible sign of the Church’s commitment to work and pray for peace, justice and reconciliation. Such work is done through seeking to heal the wounds of history; learning to live with difference and celebrating diversity; and building a culture of justice and peace.
Today here in this Cathedral we are meeting for this Chrism Eucharist to renew again our vows to follow Christ faithfully, to live out the gospel of good news. One which calls us to receive for ourselves the reconciliation ministry of Christ and to then be ministers of that reconciliation within the communities in which we live and whom we serve.
It was at this service last year that I joined you here in the diocese to walk with you through this past year of recovery. It has been a tough year, with scrutiny from both the Charity Commission and INEQE, the auditing review of our safeguarding practice. And it has been a year of opportunity as we received significant money from the national Church to fund the important work of helping us to become a Church which can grow in its mission and purpose.
As we come together again, as disciples, lay and ordained leaders, from schools, parishes, and chaplaincies, we are here to recommit ourselves to following Christ and to serve Him as He calls us.
We have heard the words from Colossians which I invited us all to dwell in over this past year. Words which remind us that we are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved. Called to be Christ-like by clothing ourselves with the love and compassion of God. Recognising the need to forgive one another just as we have been forgiven.
The events of this Holy Week open up the possibility of forgiveness for all people. We need to go and live and tell that story to them.
In a few minutes we shall receive the oils for blessing, oils for anointing the sick and dying; for baptism; and the oil with which we anoint for service those being confirmed and ordained. Mal will then lead us in the Litany of Reconciliation, which those who are part of the Community of the Cross of Nails from all around the world share in each day. As we seek God’s forgiveness through these words perhaps you might like to hold the diocese of ‘The Territory of the People’ in your hearts too. And then before we make our renewal of vows you are invited to come and receive anointing for the ministry of reconciliation to which we are all called as followers of Christ.
