As we give thanks for our new Bishop and our new Bell, let us pray that we may also have the courage to share the good news of Jesus in our communities and across this diocese.
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.
One great early teacher of the Christian faith, Gregory from Nazianzus in Turkey, said that there are only two ways to God, "journeying outwards, and journeying inwards."
Next Sunday we will be processing from the Cathedral after the morning service, up Fargate, to join with the other city centre churches for a short service at the cross beside the Town Hall.
Although there may well be a sense of the seasons changing, there is also a very strong link between the themes of encounter and hope present in the incarnation.
As we all gathered to watch fireworks explode, bonfires ignite and sparklers glow at the weekend, I wonder if we stopped to think of the significance of the occasion.