Presidential Address March 2025
Matthew 5.43-end
‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Thank you Taizé for your prayers to open this synod, based on today’s Gospel reading. Jesus may have called us to love our enemies, but he didn’t call us or the new world order to hate our friends and allies at the expense of loving our enemies which seems to be the way these days. I am very aware that 40% of the British Army make their home in this diocese, so please pray for our forces families at this time of heightened concern.
Life is suddenly uncertain again. From the time of the pandemic to now, our very existence and safety seems to be in question in a way in which we have not known since the Cold War. Trust is in short supply in society and in the church. I was glad when Lent arrived because it gives us the chance to repent and to renew ourselves in the face of society’s anxieties and church failures. And yet, and yet, in our parishes we continue to witness and indeed in many young people, facing up to whole lives of uncertainty, there is noticeably a new enquiry into faith. I wonder if the church is ready for this.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.
Those Ash Wednesday words are seared into my soul and indeed anyone who ministers on Ash Wednesday knows these words off by heart. We should remember that we are dust, mere dust, only the love of God in Christ Jesus can raise us to new life. The choice we have, especially those of us who know enough about Jesus to bother coming to a Diocesan Synod, the choice we have in repentance is what to do about it here and now. God does the rest.
The danger with uncertain times, is that we seek comfort in certainty. It is beguiling, and at its brutal end leads to the kind of political extremes we are seeing now on either side of the world. One person who has stood against this is Pope Francis, which is somewhat ironic considering the authority style of the papacy. But this humble man, who now struggles for breath, has brought similar Christian characteristics to his leadership as St Francis his namesake. This pope is the first Pope Francis ever, and his example and teaching has embodied this love for people, all people, and for peace and unity. Canon Andy Perry has spoken to me passionately about the Pope’s latest book entitled Hope. I am reading it for Lent. It is the first autobiography to be published by a Pope this side of becoming ash. The final words of his book say this; “We need to be humble, to leave space for the Lord, not for our false securities. Tenderness is not weakness: It is a true force”.
It is ironic that at a time like this, that a film like Conclave could be so popular. I won’t spoil the story line for you if you haven’t seen it, and it makes the Church of England look tranquil, but it is immensely powerful and speaks into our times. At one point, the Dean of the Cardinals makes this speech.
“There is one sin which I have come to fear above all else……certainty. Certainty is the great enemy of unity…….the deadly enemy of tolerance. Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery and therefore no need for faith.”
Faith in the face of certainty is needed now more than ever. This Lent, I call us all to place faith ahead of certainty. Faith in God who is faithful, faith in our church, faith in each other, especially those different to you or whom you disagree profoundly with. This is what our young people are searching for in these uncertain times. I know this because this is what they tell me in all the school visits I do. They are searching, but they are not searching for a way that looks like the world they are growing up in.
The question I am asked most as bishop is what one thing I think matters most. Ask yourself that now. How certain are you? My answer is that what matters most, above anything else, any other rule or opinion, is the example of Jesus in the Gospels. That is what we are called to be like. He is who we are called to be like. And even Jesus doubted on the cross. I believe this is what Jesus meant by ‘be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Perfection is not what I see before me, but Christians are what I see before me, perfected by following the only one who was perfect.
In our uncertain world, let us not be certain to one another, let us allow space for the mystery, for the doubt and for the faith – for there we will find hope and when we return to dust, we will be with the perfect one.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.
The Rt Revd Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury