Mirth and tears as Bishop Michael leaves diocese

Farewells were said at two services in Lichfield Cathedral on Sunday 27 September as Bishop Michael presided and preached for the last time before handing over the Crozier to the Dean of Lichfield for safe keeping.

He led and presided at the 10.30 Eucharist, at the end of which his card was marked: 10/10 in all categories* according to the head steward, Dr Richard Stephenson.

*it was strongly suggested that 10/10 for hospitality should be shared 5+5 with his wife, Julia.

A large congregation attended Evensong, with the Deputy Lieutenant for Staffordshire and Lord Lieutenants of West Midlands and Shropshire all present; Jeremy Cotton DL, Dr Derrick Anderson CBE and Mrs Anna Turner JP respectively. Many former staff and clergy were also present, including The Rt Revd Mark Rylands, former Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mandy Rylands and Romita Srisunder (former Directors of Ordinands), Simon Baker (Archdeacon of Lichfield), Julian Francis (Archdeacon of Walsall), Adrian Dorber (Dean of Lichfield) and Julie Jones (CEO/Diocesan Secretary).

All our companion dioceses - Qu'Appelle (Canada), Matlosane (South Africa), Hyderabad (Pakistan), Cork, Cloyne and Ross (Ireland) were represented with Bishop Tilman Jeremias of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany who read the first lesson in German. The second lesson was read by Dr Julia Ipgrave.

In his sermon, Bishop Michael profusely thanked the many people he had encountered and worked with in his time here before he drew on the evening's gospel, the Road to Emmaus, picking four items to focus on and a final theme:

• The road to Emmaus - in a life-giving encounter, the traumatised disciples unknowingly meet the Lord.

  "For the last ten years, it has been a privilege and a joy to travel around this wonderful diocese, visiting churches, schools and communities and repeatedly setting out on pilgrimages.

  "I've become a bit of a serial offender in that regard, I'm afraid. I have loved every mile, every foot that I have walked in this great diocese, and I have met so many great people, and always in my mind has been the figure of Chad, our first bishop, when he came here to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the pagan missions.

  "He walked everywhere, greeting all whom he met and walking. In that sense, walking is an attitude of spirit, not reliant on physical ability nor inhibited by physical disability. It is when we turn outwards, onto our roads, into our streets. When we greet all whom we meet. It is then that we find the life which renews us and encourages us on our way.

  "Some of the hardest times in the last ten years were the years of pandemic, precisely because we could not get out to meet people in the way we were used. But still, we reached out as best we could. And I think that those difficult years taught us to treasure more deeply the precious gift of walking alongside one another."

• The book or scriptures: after explaining their disappointment to the stranger, the disciples were astounded and inspired, on relection, as Jesus mined and explained the prophecies to them - and ongoing Bible-study is something Bishop Michael described as something he's loved doing with parishes and fellow spiritual travellers and will continue to enjoy all the more for its own delight rather than to aid a sermon preparation deadline!

• The table around which they ate at the end of their journey. Bishop Michael described the two joys - around the sacramental table in sharing the Eucharist in parishes up and down the diocese on Sunday mornings and other occasions: "Nothing has given me more joy than to visit a parish church on a Sunday morning and preside at the Eucharist, and Eucharistic living must reach out beyond liturgy to make hospitality the mark of our life together;" and the pleasure in hosting or partaking in meals and time spent with others, acknowledging the blessing and opportunity that a spacious house and garden that came with the job has had in facilitating that.

Finally he talked of hope - getting grammatical with language, he showed how the disciples left Jerusalem lacking any hope, and returned in haste to share the joy they discovered - that Christ had risen. "As we know that hope so easily can die in our world of sorrow and loss and cruelty. Each of us individually will have been through an experience like that, and a sense of collective hopelessness can come to dominate a whole society. But we, we are the pilgrim people of Jesus Christ, called to bring hope, to meet people on the road and greet them with joy, to share the wondrous story that God's book tells of God's love for all."

There were then a few words of final farewell led by The Rt Revd Jan McFarlane, Dean of Lichfield. The Revd Treena Larkin, the third Bishop's Chaplain to serve St Chad's 98th successor paid tribute to Dr Julia Ipgrave who with Bishop Michael has provided so much support and hospitality to visitors to Bishop's House. Sam Rushton, Diocesan Secretary presented a small gift from the diocesan staff.

The diocesan gift to the outgoing bishop, a pair of bespoke Moorcroft tiles illustrating scenes from all round the diocese and set into Michael & Julia's dining table was mentioned. The Cathedral, as the mother church of the diocese had contributed to the diocesan gift, but also, at the end of the service as Bishop Michael and Julia prepared to walk down and out of the cathedral, the dean and canons gave him a pilgrimage stick, carved with the words 'Ninety-ninth Bishop of Lichfield' and ‘Inservi Deo et Laetare’ – the cathedral’s motto, ‘Serve God and be joyful’ which chimed beautifully with the quote at the end of the order of service:

Give me my scallop shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
My gown of glory, hope's true gage,
And thus I'll take my pilgrimage.

Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1553-1618)

Bishop Michael then described a pectoral cross (the cross worn round a bishop's neck), a gift he commissioned from renowned local sculptor Peter Walker ready for his successor, the 100th Bishop of Lichfield, whoever she or he may be. The design harks back to Anglo-Saxon metalwork of St Chad's era, in particular drawing inspiration from items in the Staffordshire Hoard found not five miles away. This is to be kept with the diocesan crosier in the safekeeping of the Cathedral.

During the next hymn, Bishop Michael moved from the nave to the chancel where, for the last time, he sat in his cathedra, the chair solely for use by the diocesan bishop. In front of him sat the four area/suffragan bishop of the diocese, who stood before him as he read the Deed of Delegation, the legal document passing authority to The Rt Revd Sarah Bullock, Bishop of Shrewsbury to be Acting Diocesan Bishop of Lichfield until the one hundredth bishop is appointed.

Then, after a reading from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England describing St Chad's last days, Bishop Michael went round saying farewell to his closest colleagues before processing to the high altar. Here he passed his crozier, an ornate and heavy staff, to the dean who laid it on the altar, to await a new diocesan bishop. At this point, The Revd Laura Macfarlane, one of the last priests ordained by Bishop Michael this June, blessed him.

While the congregation sang songs of prayer, a small party including family, cathedral canons and Bishop Timothy Menezes, ecumenical canon and representing the Roman Catholic archdiocese for the region, moved to the shrine of St Chad where they prayed together. The Dean and Canons and Bishop's Chaplain relieved him of his episcopal robes and gave him his new pilgrimage stick after which Michael and Julia processed out of the cathedral to their car and drove off to their retirement home in Leicester.

The Dean led the congregation in praying for the one hundredth Bishop of Lichfield and a final anthem, 'A Gaelic Blessing' of deep peace was sung over the congregation by the choir as the service ended.

The services can be rewatched below:

Sunday Eucharist

Evensong

View the Farewell Evensong order of service pdf

A sample of ten years of the 99th Bishop of Lichfield's ministry in photos: