In this week's video, Bishop Richard reflects on the ordination last weekend of five deacons and five priests in Hereford Cathedral.He says: 'A deacon is called to remind the whole people of God about the priority of service.... Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reminds us that the primary task of ministry is not to do everything ourselves but to encourage the whole people of God to own their responsibilities as baptised Christians to live for Christ and make him known to others.''Ordained ministry exists to facilitate that effective ministry by everyone else.'Bishop Richard's weekly video message #207You can find a transcript of this week's video on the diocesan website.
As always, our Parish News is packed with stories from all our villages, a helpful listing of the many events in our parishes, wildlife notes, book reviews, lots of small ads, and of course a Chuckle Corner.You can click the DOWNLOAD link to view the Parish News in PDF format.
In his last video recorded a few weeks ago in Bahrain, Bishop Richard talks about camels -- and the pervasive influence of materialism in our culture.He says 'consumerism fuels insecurity and unhappiness.' ... So how might we model generosity? 'Don't spend more; give more away!' He concludes: 'Our Father is a generous God. May He help us to be the same.'Bishop Richard's weekly video message #205You can find a transcript of this week's video on the diocesan website.
Bishop Richard has been in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the consecration of our former Rural Dean, Sean Semple, as the new Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf.From the perspective of Bahrain, Bishop Richard reflects on how the familiarity we have with our own culture has stopped us seeing how radically detached the UK has become from its Christian foundations. 'We live in a country now where we ... have largely rejected the King [Jesus].'We 'will need to be in a constant place of prayerful discernment as [we] seek to be faithful to the Lord ...'. 'Such prayerful dependence, the dependence [that Jesus'] disciples learned on their first mission, is something we need to cultivate even more.'Bishop Richard's weekly video message #202You can find a transcript of this week's video on the diocesan website.