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March 2022 March 2022

BISHOP’S LETTER

Earlier this week I was asked by a group of
Year 7 school pupils what church was ‘for’ and
what it was ‘like’. I responded that church was
‘a rehearsal space for the kingdom of
heaven’, following this somewhat baffling
description by explaining how my favourite
part of secondary school was the annual
school play: the thrill of belonging to a cast
and working together for a final production.
The plays and musicals (Bugsy Malone being
my first, I recall) were like a heightened version
of everyday life and rehearsing them took 839209
much commitment, collaboration, and hilarity.
Church does seem to me almost like that: the place where we enact the drama
of salvation, learning the words and ways that help us to know and play our part
in the Christian story. The congregation isn’t the audience but invited into the cast
– just as Jesus called disciples not simply to watch and appreciate him, but to ‘go
and do likewise’.
Lent is offered as a time of intensive practice for Christ’s coming Kingdom: a
season for adopting, or deepening, the habits of faith and learning our role as
Christians before a watching world. These weeks, culminating in the dramatic
events of Passiontide and Easter, ask a great deal from us, but are eternally
rewarding. See you at rehearsals!

With the assurance of my prayers,
+Andrew.

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