Simon Marsh

 

 

BISHOP MICHAEL BAUGHEN made me a Deacon there in 1982, and a Priest in 1983: returning to Chester Cathedral is always a returning home for me, and the sense of delight is undiminished no matter how frequent, or infrequent, my visits. The ancient walls of the enclosure bring to mind the bishops, and deans, and priests, and colleagues, and the whole multitude of wonderful Christians who have mothered me in the faith: some of them knowingly, many of them all unwittingly. The bishop’s seat is home to joy and sorrow, feasting and fasting, a place of returning and of learning, a place for “Again”.

 

Maundy Thursday’s Blessing of Oils and Recommitment to Ministry was a beautiful, joyful occasion this morning. With music to bring tears to your eyes before and after a deeply moving and inspiring sermon from the new Bishop Suffragan of Birkenhead, and in company with many friends whose hairstyles and colour (and probably much else besides) have changed quite a bit over the years, we somehow, all of us, became NEW again. A personal greeting from the Diocesan, lunch hosted by the Dean, laughter and reunion: yes, coming home helps to “bring it home”. Some Brian Wren words in the Offertory hymn will stay with me awhile …

 

Great God in Christ you call our name,
And then receive us as your own,
Not through some merit, right or claim,
But by your gracious love alone.
We strain to glimpse your mercy seat,
And find you kneeling at our feet.

 

And for our Cathedral, for our bishops, deans, priests, and colleagues, for the whole Body of Christ, for holy oils and for the sacraments, for joys and sorrows, for feasting and fasting, for home to return to, for the promise of “Again”; for all of these I am profoundly grateful.  For where there is Love there is God. And where there is God we find ourselves at home.