[Magdalen] Please pray

[Marion Thompson]

Such a parting is sweet sorrow, both for you and for the eight parishes 
you have served so faithfully.  God bless you and ease your heart  -- 
and happy birthday, too.

Marion, a pilgrim


On 9/10/2017 3:38 AM, Michael Bishop wrote:
> Dear All
> I am quietly waiting to go across to church for my final celebration 
> of the Eucharist as a rector in my parishes as I retire from 
> stipendiary ministry this coming Thursday which is my 70th birthday. 
> The service will be a very special one - the congregations of my 8 
> parishes will be coming together for this service and the numbers seem 
> likely to be very large as people who I would not have expected have 
> been saying they will be here.
> The last few weeks have made me feel like Frank Sinatra - with lots of 
> farewell visits and events.
> .It will be hard to go - I have been here for almost 21 very happy 
> years -living here longer than anywhere else in my life - but the time 
> is unquestionably right. Please pray for me as I seek to settle into 
> new ways in my retirement home in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire and for 
> the parishes I will be leaving. They have a time of uncertainty as 
> they await the Bishop's decision on what the future will bring for 
> them. It seems almost certain that there will be a long inter-regnum 
> as the diocese seems to see vacancies as an opportunity to save  money 
> from the budget. People find it difficult to understand why there is 
> as yet not even the beginnings of a search for a new parish priest.
> God bless us all.
>