The Bishop of Lancaster Prepares the Way for the Lord
My attention was drawn this morning to a Pastoral Letter for the First Sunday of Advent, written by the (relatively) new bishop of Lancaster , the Right Reverend Paul Swarbrick. It's not horrendously long, you can read a pdf of the whole letter here , but it does remind us of some simple, yet eternally powerful and fundamental Christian teaching. Teaching that seems to be seldom (if ever) heard these days. Teaching which is being constantly undermined by church-men who seek to modify the Gospel. To temper the life-changing power of the Cross with what they tend to term "radical inclusion" but which in actuality amounts to nothing more than confusion and an abandonment of the Gospel message. Bishop Swarbrick's letter begins with this: Beginning our journey towards the crib at Bethlehem, the Church reminds us of God’s call for each one here to safeguard a sense of the sacred. Each one is called to know the Holy One. Each one is called to be holy. But this is no...