Almost at the drop of a hat, Bishop Jo is preparing to join an international delegation of religious leaders (ecumenical and interfaith) to pray for peace in Kyiv next week.She will be representing the Church of England (and Anglican Communion) with the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury.She would covet you 'journeying' with her in your own thoughts and pravers. The itinerary will involve flying to Poland then travelling by bus from Warsaw on Monday to Kyiv (estimated 12-16 hours). There are two days of prayers and meetings with local religious and political leaders in Kviv on Tuesday and Wednesday, returning to Warsaw on Thursday.Please pray for friendship and fellowship to develop across the diverse group of 16 delegates gathering in Warsaw, for encouragement of those with whom they engage in Kyiv, for safe passage along the way, and above all that our prayers and solidarity might be fruitful for the cause of peace with justice across the region.If data /wifi allows, Bishop Jo will try to keep us updated through the Guildford Diocesan Communications team.
On Sunday we will stage our monthly Funday@4 service at Dunsfold Church.While the service is primarily aimed at children and families, everyone is welcome. The theme for the day is the Sower of the Seed and there will be craft work, singing, an inspirational talk and also some cake and a drink as sustenance.Please come along and join the team who put so much effort into making Funday@4 a success.And as you have probably guessed already, our service starts at 4pm.
Speaking on the closing day of the National Cathedrals Conference, Archbishop Stephen Cottrell praised the ‘precious and important’ contribution of the cathedrals, emphasising their role of service and teaching to their communities.He said cathedrals had a mission to show the ‘heart of Jesus’ in world of “so much hurt and so much confusion and so much uncertainty.” The heart of Christian teaching and mission is to open the heart of Jesus to everyone, he told the conference.“Our primary vocation is to be the place that serves and teaches… to be the Church which is aligned with that which is basic and obvious to our Christian faith, which is to show the heart of Jesus to others both from our teaching and preaching and evangelising and through the service that we offer,” he said.In his speech, the Archbishop (see photo) urged cathedrals to see themselves as a ‘work in progress’ and to continue asking the ‘hard missional questions’ about how to transmit the Christian faith in a changing world.“That is always an issue for us., that we settle for what we have got, rather than asking those hard missional questions about how do we constantly translate both the Gospel we have received and this expression of it, set in stone, in liturgy, in music and art - how do re-express it to our constantly changing cultures?” he said.Drawing a parallel with the stonemasons yard tour of York Minister, which allows visitors to see stonemasons at work, he said: ‘What that tells me very, very clearly is this building is a work in progress – it also tells me something else, which I think is hugely important, which is that in order for York Minster to be itself, it has to constantly change.“The Archbishop, who preached and presided at a service of the Eucharist in Newcastle Cathedral, was speaking at the close of the four-day conference. Speakers at the event have included the former Prime Minister Sir John Major and the Church of England’s lead bishop for the environment, Graham Usher.
Last week Bishop Jo took part in an East-West dialogue, known as The Magi Initiative. Organised by the Bible Society leaders from the major Christian denominations of the Middle East gathered in Cambridge for dialogue, prayer and fellowship with a diversity of UK church leaders. "In effect it was one long and very exciting bible study, focusing on the theme of Exile and finding the synergy between Eastern spirituality and Western scholarship.'"I led a session on ‘The Grace of Exile: Biblical Perspectives on character formation through hardship’ after which there were reflections and responses from those who live with the reality and risks of current exile. It was heart-wrenching to hear some of the daily realities for the courageous Christians who remain in Iraq, Armenia, Syria, even Lebanon. Owing to war and persecution, their numbers are reduced by an estimated 90%."Please pray for them and express solidarity wherever possible – they need help to rebuild homes and livelihoods if any public witness to the gospel is to be sustained in the region where the church first began. And my goodness, all those whom I met – whether Armenian Apostolic Orthodox or Armenian Catholic or Maronite or Roman Catholic or Syrian/Coptic Orthodox or Lutheran, Anglican or Pentecostal – they have guts when it comes to faith and witness, determined to shine as lights no matter the darkness!"
