My thanks to all of you who came to my farewell service in the Cathedral yesterday afternoon. It was wonderful to see so many of you and to be enfolded by your prayer. I was deeply moved by your affection and warmth, and I am grateful for your generosity and kindness. I treasure the many messages, cards and letters I have received over recent weeks and will take them with me into retirement.
As I look back on my years here, I increasingly realise the debt that I owe you. Thank you for your dedication and witness to the Gospel, much of which is unseen and often goes unacknowledged. You have taught me so much about what it is to be a Christian today.
I look back in thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness, but I also want to look forward with hope to all that lies ahead. Farewells and partings are painful experiences, and as Ascension Day approaches I’m sure it was no exception for the first disciples as Jesus was received into glory. But sadness is not the dominant theme in the Biblical account. The New Testament is laden with yearning for the coming of God’s Kingdom, for His rule and reign to be fully revealed, for the day when evil will be finally vindicated and love will be seen to have triumphed.
In a few days’ time we will be invited to participate in Thy Kingdom Come, a global movement of prayer, which runs from Ascension Day to the Day of Pentecost. This is the tenth year that we will be marking these 11 days of waiting on God in prayer and reflect on that evocative phrase from the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Thy Kingdom Come’.
We live in a world disfigured by war and violence. Poverty and disease are all around us. Yet we worship a God who is at work in His creation and who invites us to respond to the working of the Holy Spirit. Someone once said, “Pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you.” It is that deep prayer to which we are called and, in response, to give our lives in God’s service.
As I bid you farewell, I pray God’s continued blessing upon this wonderful diocese, inspired by the costly example of St Alban.
Please pray for me, as I pray for you.
+Alan
