Safeguarding Sunday service

Over 200 people came together in our cathedral church on Sunday 19 November to give thanks for the work of our Parish Safeguarding Officers and all those who serve with them, to pray for the safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults across the churches and chaplaincies of our diocese and to commit ourselves afresh to this ministry which we share.

Existential risk in this and future decades

So great are the challenges we face, that this and any government will need deeper humility combined with greater practical wisdom to lead the nation forward. I focus my remarks on my own two areas of focus in this House: the climate and artificial intelligence – both areas of existential risk in this and future decades.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God

Peace is far more than a truce: an absence of conflict, violence and war. Peace is the presence of human flourishing, of well being, of harmony, of lives well lived from childhood to old age. Shalom describes the world we long for; the world we pray for Sunday by Sunday; the world each of us is trying to build.
Spirit of God awakens a new life, both dead and alive, detail of stained glass window by Sieger Koder in church of Saint John in Piflas, Germany

Rooted in God the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

The future of humankind is not unlimited enhancement, mechanisation and automation says Bishop Steven in his presidential address to Diocesan Synod. Artificial Intelligence has great potential but also carries significant jeopardy. Christians need to engage in an informed way as this technology develops for the sake of present and future generations, remembering that we have a distinctive understanding of human dignity and person hood and what it means to be human.

Think about all these things

A kingdom of healing and renewal in the natural world. A kingdom of justice as inequalities grow wider. A kingdom of peace in a world at war. A kingdom of welcome and a friend in need to the many who are in distress. Surely Charles is king for such a time as this.

Lift up your hearts!

Walk down any street and you will see many people shuffling along – often with their eyes glued to their devices afraid of missing anything yet actually missing everything.

Our calling to be ministers of hope, of faith, of love

Christ walks the earth among us, calling, calling, who will go for us and whom shall we send? At some point we have said ‘Speak, for we are listening. Here I am, send me’. And we have tumbled into the stream, and begun a journey of discovery.
A Let it Grow sign in a patch of tall grass

The fifth horseman

The Bishop of Oxford speaks on the need for the Church not just to conserve but to restore the natural world intentionally in the years ahead.

A letter to the Diocese of Oxford

My vision for the Diocese of Oxford is that we will be a diocese where all are affirmed and cherished, where same sex relationships can be celebrated and those who hold the traditional view are honoured and respected