As I retire, I am grateful beyond words to God and to you for the opportunity to serve in this wonderful Diocese and County. As I think back, I am overwhelmed by the ways in which God has blessed all of us, and by the fruit that has been borne through your continuing faithfulness. I will pray for you as you continue to respond to God’s call to be witnesses to the Gospel in who and how you are, in your being and in your doing, for the people of Suffolk and beyond.
I am grateful too for the many ways in which our partnerships with other organisations and within our communities have also borne wonderful fruit. Being part of the fabric of our communities is vital and we see this across the county. I personally have been thankful for partnerships in farming, supporting young people, health, education, the military, and local politics, as well as for the opportunities that come through serving in the House of Lords – something I was never expecting to happen!
I am also very mindful of regrets, regrets at my failings not least in being your pastor. I can think of a long list of occasions where I have not reached out when I should have done. Our pastoral life, our showing and sharing God’s love through care for one those among whom we live and work, our care for the stranger and those in need, our care for one another, this is the heart of being the Church. We live out our love of God and love of our neighbour, through prayer and worship, and care and service. I am sorry for the many ways in which I have failed in these areas, which are of course at the heart of the calling of a bishop.
I want to thank you for the generous gift from the Diocese which I will use towards buying a new lathe to continue to develop my woodturning, for which retirement I trust will provide a lot more time. Thank you, and thank you to all of you who came to the Candlemas farewell service at the cathedral – that was a profound moment of transition for me, and I am grateful for all of you for your support and prayers. I am very grateful to Bishop Graeme who will take up the responsibilities as Acting Diocesan Bishop on March 1st , and to Bishop Tim who will provide further episcopal support for the Diocese. With them and with the rest of the Bishop’s Staff Team, I can retire knowing that the Diocese is in very safe hands!
We are living in turbulent times. The world has become even more unpredictable, and forces inimical to what many of us hold as core to our faith seem to be gaining sway. At the same time, there seem to be glimmers of hopes for peace both in the Middle East and in Ukraine, yet it is hard to untangle and understand what is really going on. The signs of peace on the one hand, and drastic cuts in overseas aid, petroleum companies reinvesting in oil and gas exploitation, deals being done to exploit another country’s mineral reserves, on the other hand.
As we walk towards Ash Wednesday and Lent we are being given an opportunity to ask where God is at work in all of this. This is a time when we are brought once again face to face with our frailty and our mortality, and so with our utter dependence on God. I would encourage you to spend time thinking, praying, reflecting, listening to God through Scripture, reading and meditation, to discern what God is calling us to in this strange season. This is surely a time for discernment, prayerful and careful discernment, to align with God’s call and will which is always a call and will to love, to healing, to reconciliation. I encourage you to spend deliberate and intentional time praying for ourselves and our world, seeking God. The phrase that has been ringing in my ears for the past couple of months is “pray more, do less”, not, I hasten to add, just as retirement advice, but as words for the Church. That will mean different things to each of us, but at the heart it is about genuinely listening to God. I will continue to pray for you, and ask you to pray for me, as together we pray for our world, seeking God.