Number 89 Summer 2008

FROM THE BISHOP News and Views from Around the Diocese Summer 2008 No. 89 FROM THE BISHOP In the photograph below, I have been caught amid The dying and rising of Christ which I see in the beautiful flowers of a street in Spello, a town others whom I love in the looking, awakens me to not far from Assisi, where I was leading a the Christ within rising from the place where I pilgrimage, back in May. may discover the Spirit of God, both in the images In only a matter of of his presence and his absence. days, Elspeth and I This sentence, of course, I constantly develop and will be at the change. Lambeth Conference. So, on that basis, there are, for me, five We are both looking principles of what it is to be an Anglican. forward to it. Michael 1. We are given a means to be sustained in Porteus, an living the Christ-like life: namely The Word experienced and of God and all the Sacraments of the insightful priest in our Church. The Word of God is not only within Diocese, describes a the sacred treasury of the Holy Scriptures, Bishop s role as but also in the writings, sayings, art and .the focus of the prophetic excitement of the Fathers of the Church s solidarity, Early Church, the Holy Mystics and Saints not only inter parochial, inter diocesan, inter of Church History, the Music and Art of our Anglican, but also with the world, different Christian Cultures. The wealth of particularly that which the Diocese embraces . the Sacramental life of the Church is, of So, the programme of the Conference gives bishops course based on Baptism and the Eucharist. the wonderful opportunity to deepen our However, these introductions and initiations understanding of our role in each of these areas, into the Holy the Presence of God including Inter-faith and Climate change open us to seeing that there are infinite challenges. What about life-style and being a sacramental moments and resources in our Bishop? How do we adapt our own personal lives to daily living:: .. finding Go in all things . the demands of the task? So, the issues of Anglican 2. Our conviction is articulated through a polity and the international fascination (if not fulsome participation of a local Christian obsession) with human sexuality are, in my view, Community, where we, as Anglicans can only one small part of why we are being invited by offer ourselves to God sacrificially and so the Archbishop of Canterbury to be together. be that Christ in the communities in which Elspeth and I thank you and the whole Diocese for we live and work. This will involve an your support of us as we take part on this, once in a understand of and a commitment to the life-time, experience. Liturgical Life of the local Church which The forth-coming Lambeth Conference has reflects the development of worship in the stimulated me into thinking and praying about what Province to which we belong. The Christian I, as your Bishop, hold to be primary in being in community to which we belong reflects the Anglican. The following remarks are not meant to Apostolic witness and authority of the be definitive but to stimulate your thinking and Diocesan Bishop to the centrality of Christ. praying and perhaps, even, bring about a response Being an Anglican involves collaborating from you. To begin with, what is my Gospel ? The with that authority. point about the Gospels is that we work with them 3. In order to follow Christ, my responsibility in order to develop our own Gospel. So here it as an Anglican is to be open constantly to is at least for the moment! education and training that enables us to work with others in the Christ-like life. This 1 means a thorough commitment to study and the Outer Hebrides, on islands like Eigg, small learning using the resources which are so congregations find themselves deeply involved rich within and beyond our Anglican in their communities and districts. Growth in communion. This development is based on a this Diocese cannot be measured principally on deeply held and cherished freedom to live numbers. In towns such as Fort William and and challenge prophetically local structures, Dunoon, I find myself with lay people who are including those of the Church itself. This reading widely, developing a discipline of challenge is based on the desire to point prayer that goes largely unrecognised. towards the Light of Christ and not to Nevertheless, we do have a challenge to address promote alternative and self-absorbed power growth. As I have said in many of our charges, bases. when presiding at the Eucharist: if, over a two 4. Anglican s using these gifts with generosity year period each member of this Diocese were and enthusiasm are called to serve to befriend someone in your district and bring sacrificially in and beyond the realms of them into your Church community, exciting safety and security by being faithful to the possibilities for our future will rise to the Anglican desire to be inviting and expansive surface. , Something of the vision of what it is to others no matter who they are. to be an Anglican, which I have tried to describe may begin to be realised anew. One of the main challenges facing this One of the important introductions of this Diocese over the next few months is Mission past year has been the birth of our new and Ministry in what is known as the West Diocesan Website... Highland region: from Portnacrois through (www.argyllandtheisles.org.uk) What is so Glencoe to Kinlochleven. There are six important is that the information about each of congregations in the region. The cultural our charges is up to date and as attractive as diversity is marked and, with the retirement of possible. What has been reassuring is the way in Peter Rice as rector back in May of this year, which many have used it and kept Hazel Morris, representatives of each charge have been who manages the site up to date. meeting regularly to discern the best way On June 7th 2009, we will be holding a St forward to become clear about the role of a new Columba festival in St John s Cathedral Oban. stipendiary Priest (Rector) for the Region. We We are, obviously, at the early stages of will be advertising for the post relatively soon. planning. However, we are fortunate indeed to Please keep your eyes open for the adverts in have Bishop Richard Holloway as the preacher. Church newspapers, our Scottish Episcopal We would like to involve music and musicians, websites and, of course, my monthly as well as have liturgical involvement from Newsletter. Readers may be aware of someone across the Diocese. Please put the date in your who may be interested to applying. diaries and watch for more information in the Both the College at Cumbrae and Bishop s Bishop s newsletter. House on Iona continue to attract groups and Recently, St Johns Cathedral, Oban featured individuals from many parts of the world. There in the radio 4 programme Sunday Worship , are undoubted challenges that face Island broadcast nationally.(see article from The Retreats Limited, which has financial and Cathedral) The programme which used people management responsibility for each of these from across the denominations in Oban, caught resources. What makes them even more acute the atmosphere of our Celtic history and the challenges is that decisions made with regard to challenges of that spirituality. Donald Davidson, their work and development affect the life of the the priest from St Paul s Kinlochleven, held a whole Diocese. In a small Diocese, with limited service which involved an unknown grave resources, we have it seems to me, begun to behind the town. This was featured on local address effectively many of the difficulties that television. So it s good to know that our charges have arisen over the years. are working on keeping their and the Diocesan Some in bigger Diocese in the Scottish profile in front of the media. Episcopal Church question the appropriateness Back in April, I recorded from the radio a of providing so much financial support to performance of James Macmillan s 3rd ministry in this Diocese when there seems to be Symphony, a new composition, inspired by the little sign of growth. Not surprisingly, I feel as Japanese Roman Catholic novelist: Shusaku your Bishop defensive about such thinking. On Endo. This story with the title Silence - tells 2 of the heart-rending attempts of a Jesuit priest to Clergy has since fallen again. It is imperative that find his colleague who had gone missing, only we examine why we have failed to become what we to be trapped himself and forced to betray his told our Bishop that we d be. Catholic faith. The novel raises huge questions Most of us, I fear, habitually don t manage to about courage and the reality that we are all change our ways until it is forced on us. (Will we prone to the betrayal of Christ, a betrayal that stop wasting our money on roads and using our cars Christ does not judge but accepts as part of the unnecessarily, until we can t afford the petrol, or journey of faith. A challenging read, which I there is no petrol to buy?) As our Clergy retire, or can thoroughly recommend. move on, people expect them to be replaced. Until The Diocese and its charges are in my recently, that expectation was able to be fulfilled.

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