Hundreds of clergy, lay leaders and people from across the diocese gathered at Wells Cathedral for the Chrism Service in Holy Week, to reaffirm their ministerial vows, marking a time of renewal and commitment.
Welcoming everyone Bishop Michael and Bishop Fiona said, “This service affirms the ministry of all God’s people: bishops, clergy, deacons, readers, and those in the wonderful variety of other lay ministries we have across the diocese; and the whole people of God.
“Sometimes, it can seem as if God only calls ‘special people’, but we only need to look to the Bible to see that God values and calls everyone – by name – to live out our faith every day.”
This was the first time Bishop Fiona joined us for the Chrism Service. In her sermon she shared, “……….our ministry itself is a gift. Look with me at our reading from 2 Corinthians, where Paul writes that we have this ministry through God’s mercy. Being called to know God, being called to love God, being called to serve God in ministry are all acts of God’s mercy. Were it not for the mercy and kindness God has given us, we wouldn’t know him, and we wouldn’t be serving him. So, we’re called to be thankful in and for our ministry. It’s a gift. Sometimes it feels like a heavy gift, but it’s a gift nonetheless.
“Don’t we know that? When we walk alongside people and speak words of hope, and life, and joy to them. When we weep with them, entering into their struggles. When we see God at working changing their lives completely as they put their trust in Christ. What a gift! Let’s be ministers who are thankful, thankful for God’s mercy and kindness in giving us our ministries. Thankfulness may be the foundation, but we need to build on that foundation with faithfulness. Faithfulness in the ordinary and the everyday. In the struggles, which are real.”
You can read Bishop Fiona’s sermon in full below.