Bishop’s Letter

Bishop’s letter – Worship is key

From Michael Langrish, Assistant Bishop for Bath and Wells

In January I was back in my old Diocese of Exeter, marking the death of Sabine Baring Gould 100 years before. What an extraordinary person he was, with an incredible range and roundedness of learning and interests, in an equally full and fulfilled life. He was a great traveller and prolific writer of biographies, folklore, travel books, theology, novels and hymns, including some, such as ‘Onward Christian soldiers’ that remain popular today. He was a linguist and translator; and, as an archaeologist on Dartmoor, very much a pioneer in the field. For many, his greatest achievement was his collecting the old folk songs of Devon and Cornwall, providing inspiration for such composers as Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Holst. He was also the Squire of Lewtrenchard and, being ordained, he appointed himself as parish priest as well!

This he saw as his true vocation. His responsibility, and that of the local church, was the cure of souls from cradle to grave. This meant a care for the spiritual wellbeing of all in the community and for their bodily and social welfare too. Striving for good health and housing must go hand in hand with growth in faith and prayer. All should be encouraged to full humanity, to holy discipleship, to the recognition, and use, of whatever gifts anyone possessed for the common good.

But, underlying all of this, one other aspect of this great man’s life speaks very strongly to me now. That is how he understood worship and its relationship to the whole of life. ‘To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God’.

This edition of Manna contains encouraging stories of New Christian Worshipping Communities in Bath and Wells. Worshipping is key. I am reminded of the later words of Archbishop William Temple: ‘It is sometimes said that conduct is supremely important, and worship helps it. The truth is that worship is supremely important, and conduct tests it.’

Bishop Michael