Credit: Diocese of Sheffield
It was a great joy this week to join with many folk from across our Diocese, as well as from the community here at the Cathedral, to celebrate the consecration of Pete Wilcox as a bishop.
For all the complexity of the service, the very heart of the liturgy was an exploration of vocation and our response to encountering Christ in word and in sacrament. We spent a great deal of time praying for Bishop Pete and his family and also reflected on our own place in making his ministry as bishop fruitful.
Although there is still a little while to go still until we mark the beginning of his public ministry, I hope that we will all see the coming weeks as an opportunity to pray for and with Bishop Pete as he prepares for the intensity of the early months of his ministry in the Diocese.
Petertide, which begins this Thursday, is the time when new ministries begin across the Church and there is a mood of thanksgiving and expectation. Indeed, next week we shall be welcoming the three diocesan ordination services into the Cathedral.
Let us pray that all those ordained to new ministry, and especially Bishop Pete, will know the renewing presence of the Holy Spirit, the humility and compassion of Christ and the grace of God the Father in all they begin to do in his name.
Canon Christopher Burke
Vice Dean and Canon Precentor