A Letter from Bishop Steven

Dear Friends, I write with some significant news and with a mix of emotions to the clergy and lay people of the Diocese of Sheffield. Downing Street has announced this morning that I have been nominated as the next Bishop of Oxford. …
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Gentleness

Easter Day sermon from the Bishop of Sheffield. Acts 10.34-43 and John 20.1-18 One of the great figures of the Quaker movement, Isaac Pennington, wrote these words in a letter to his friends in 1667.  He is trying to describe what it…
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The Vision Keepers

A sermon at the Chrism Eucharist Yesterday I was in St Peter’s Tankersley, one of the oldest churches in the Diocese. My reason for being there was to dedicate new building works.  There is a new heating system, a new kitchen and space…

Thank you!

I spent an hour or so yesterday signing around 200 certificates to be sent to churches across the Diocese of Sheffield to say thank you for the contributions to Common Fund, our shared Diocesan budget.  This is something I do every year. …

Breathe Deep 2016

Over three hundred young people aged 11-18 gathered together on a cold Saturday in January for our third annual Breathe Deep day. They came to St Thomas Philadelphia, with their leaders, from all across the Diocese.  Together we were exploring…
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Commissioning Service for Mothers’ Union President 2016

This morning I commissioned the new President of the Mothers’ Union in the Diocese of Sheffield, Pauline Reynolds (on my left in this photo with the rest of her team). This is the sermon I preached at the service. I focussed on the second…

A Sheffield parable (and an inspiring true story)

Lent begins tomorrow.  It’s the time of year when Christians give something up – usually food - or else take something on for the sake of others.  Let me tell you a true story for the beginning of Lent about kindness and practical help. Sohail…

Inside Out – but incomplete

“Do you ever look at someone and wonder what’s going on inside their head?” Last summer Ann, my wife, took me to the cinema to see Inside Out, the new animated film from Pixar. You might have seen it.  If not it’s just out on DVD. Inside…

David Bowie, Lazarus and resurrection

Along with thousands of others around the world I was moved yesterday by the news of death of David Bowie.  My condolences and prayers go to his family and his close friends. As many others have said, his songs are part of the soundtrack…