Coronavirus Ad Clerum 22 September 2020 Dear Friends Greetings from Bishop Sophie! Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practise cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4.1–6 It is a great joy to greet you all, finally, as the Bishop of Doncaster! This is one of the readings from the service at York Minster yesterday which though strange, due to the restrictions of Covid 19, was nonetheless a wonderful confirmation of God’s call to me to serve alongside you in our Diocese of Sheffield. In the circumstances, the gift as a result of this situation is that I enjoyed the support of many of you personally, as I have been able to get to know many of you as I wouldn’t have been able to do, if the service had taken place when originally planned in March. This reading has particular resonance for me as it highlights one of the golden truths of ministry: ‘We do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord’. This is the great purpose of the church. It is my prayer that we know and experience the lordship of Christ and shine as lights for him in the world however he calls us. The other noteworthy resonance is the reminder that ‘we do not lose heart’. There have no doubt been times in the past six months when we will have felt tempted to lose heart, myself included. Please know that as we enter the next six months my love and prayers are with you and I will do my best to be an encourager in our midst working with my colleagues in the Bishop’s Senior Staff Team to support and guide you with all the wisdom that God provides by his holy and life giving spirit. Consecration selfies! You will recall in the last Ad Clerum we asked for pictures of you as ‘selfies’ ideally watching the livestream of the service. Thank you to those who have already supplied your snaps. We have been delighted to see your joyful pictures! Even if you watch at another time or were simply praying it would be lovely to collect the visual memory. If you would like to contribute please send your offering to [email protected] with a JPEG attachment or whatever you can manage so we can collate them. If you didn’t manage to catch the service yesterday please see https://www.sheffield.anglican.org/news/consecration-of-sophie-jelley-as-the- bishop-of-doncaster Installations at Sheffield Cathedral We are delighted that after months of delay and even though he has been inhabiting the role since April, the acting Archdeacon of Doncaster Javaid Iqbal will be installed (becoming the full Archdeacon of Doncaster) at Sheffield Cathedral on Wednesday evening at 7pm alongside the new Bishop of Doncaster who will also be installed. This will be a livestreamed event and our new archdeacon will be preaching. We will be sharing pictures of this event afterwards and your prayers are greatly appreciated. You can find details on how to join in on https://www.sheffield.anglican.org/events/installation-of-the-bishop-of-doncaster- and-the-archdeacon-of-doncaster Ordinations We greatly look forward to our ordinations this weekend at Sheffield cathedral as we celebrate with those being ordained deacon and priest thanking God for their patience and grace in this period of delay. We are grateful for your prayers for those ordained on Saturday by the Bishop of Sheffield and Doncaster on Saturday and Sunday and the Bishop of Maidstone on Monday. Those to be ordained deacon: Joshua Blunt St John the Evangelist, Goole James Crossley St John the Baptist, Chapeltown Beth Langner St Paul, Norton Lees Matthew Lawes Christ Church, Fulwood Carol Lee Holy Trinity and St Oswald, Finningley with St Saviour Auckley Gill Salter St Lawrence, Hatfield Helen Terry Christ Church, Hillsbrough and Wadsley Bridge Jo Twigg Penistone and Thurlstone Team Ministry Matthew Wood St John the Evangelist, Ranmoor Those to be ordained priest: Charles Burton All Saints, Wath Alison Cook Christ Church, Stannington Neil Elsom St Mary, Greasbrough Sara Goodman Christ Church, Pitsmoor Sarah Maughan St Leonard & St Mary, Armthorpe Tracey Morris St Luke, Lodge Moor Sibylle Nothhelfer-Batten The Manor Ela Nutu Hall St Augustine, Endcliffe Lucy Sablan St Thomas, Philadephia Godfrey Smallman St Luke, Lodge Moor Ben Tanner Christ Church, Endcliffe David Whitehead St John the Baptist, Chapeltown Church of England Guidance Updates We are very aware that there is a rapidly evolving situation in relation to government measures taken to respond to the rise in the ‘r’ number across the nation and that we all have a responsibility to remain vigilant. Please see the latest guidance here. The most significant change is that from 28 September the maximum number in attendance at weddings will be reduced from 30 to 15. As far as we can determine at this point, funeral attendance remains unchanged at 30. We are presently not aware of any other changes impacting on public worship, but we will of course continue to monitor further guidance (especially from the Church of England Recovery Group) with care, and we ask you to seek to do the same. Some have also asked for guidance around planning for Remembrance Sunday which we expect to be able to clarify in the coming days. Good news stories We are delighted that even in the face of the restrictions so many of you are finding creative ways to be church and offer worship services in a whole variety of ways and contexts. Some of the Senior Staff have so enjoyed joining in the reading through the whole bible (in a Covid secure way!) in shifts from 8am to 8pm last week in the beautifully reordered church at St Peter’s, Bentley. We are so pleased to see the development of the models of oversight and focal ministries coming to life in different settings across the Diocese. There are also interviews for some of our posts going ahead albeit in unusual circumstances. We are delighted to see the diocesan strategy moving ahead in this way. Please do continue to pray for those who are taking on new ministries. In the meantime, this comes with our gratitude and prayers for you as you continue to shine as Lights for Christ across the Diocese of Sheffield. Every blessing The Rt Revd Sophie Jelley Bishop of Doncaster The Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox Bishop of Sheffield .