#93 June 1998

Page 1

Sharing the Good News in the Decade of Evangelism

Sun- shine welcome for Bishop Dominic

page 2 SEEING IS BELIEVING

Election Day consecration for the Bishop of Reading

The Church should rethink its attitude to visual images, says Richard Thomas

Who will forget May 1. It was of course the day of the General Election, a day which dawned with a sense of expectancy and ended in high drama and history in the making. It was also the Feast Day of Saint Philip and St James and while Londoners voted in the sunshine, we gathered in the cool of Southwark Cathedral to watch a different kind of history unfold. The ballot boxes seemed far away as the. Archbishop of Canterbury ordained and consecrated Canon Dominic Walker, member of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd and former Team Rector and Rural Dean of Brighton to be Bishop of Reading in the Diocese of Oxford. 'As people flock to the polls they will be taking with them their hopes and their desires. Our desire is for a Christian Britain, a land under the Lordship of Christ,' said the Archbishop of Canterbury as he welcomed Dominic Walker's mother and sister and 'visitors from the Oxford Diocese'.

page 3

SOMETHING UNDERSTOOD Mark Tully is coming to Bognor '98 page 4

ANIMAL MAGIC Andrew Linzey: God wants us to delight in all of his creation page 8

A CHILD'S WORLD Children have a lot to say especially about God - if only we would listen

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'As people flock to the polls they will be taking with them their hopes and their desires. Our desire is for a land under the Lordship of Christ' Nearly one thousand people packed the cathedral for the double consecration in which the Revd Wallace Berm was also ordained Bishop of Lewes. They included our own Bishops of Oxford, Dorchester and Buckingham, the Bishops of Winchester, London and Chichester, an exotically dressed Bishop from the Mar Thoma Church, the Bishop of Polynesia, the Father Superior of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, Rabbi William Wolff, Iman Dr Sajid, the Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire anda row of women from an African Mothers's Union group on a visit to this country, whose white robes and blue turbans made a splash of colour in the south transept. By contrast Dominic Walker himself entered the cathedral dressed in the simple black habit of the Order of the Good Shepherd by special permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was a service marked by a moving sense of unity and commitment. Outwardly Dominic Walker, an Anglo-Catholic religious and Wallace Berm, a member of the evangelical Reform group, represent very different traditions. Yet it was clear from the service which they planned together and which wove together classical and modern Church music - a sublime Mozart 'Sanctus', Elgar's 'The Spirit of the Lord', Melody Green's 'There is a Redeemer', and Wesley's 'And can it be', that they are brothers in Christ.

'We need no greater blessing than to grasp again the centrality and all sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ' And it was to Christ that the Revd Alexander Motyer pointed us that morning. In his sermon, the former Principal and Dean of Trinity College, Bristol, spoke of the Risen Lord Jesus who brings his word to bear on our situation. The one to one relationship with Jesus 'me and Jesus', 'you and Jesus' is what really matters. 'We need no greater blessing than to grasp again the centrality and all sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ', he said. From the crowds who queued after the service to congratulate him, it is evident that the new Bishop of Reading is a man of the people. But to all who have met him, it is also abundantly clear that for him the centrality of Christ is all important. Report by Christine Zwart More pictures on the back page

Inside the DOOR

pages 10 & 11

VOCATIONS AND ORDINATIONS Who's new in the Diocese

page 14 SUBJECTIVE HISTORY? There's some interesting omissions in a new reference book

page 15 EASTER SHOP Nothing but Good News on offer in Cowley

page 18 THE JOY OF GIVING Gift Days' huge success

The Archbishop of Canterbury congratulates Bishop Dominic Walker after his consecration in Southwark Cathedral in London. Photo: Frank Blackwell

Let our rugs elevate your room

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page 19 WINE AND ROSES Book now for flower festivals and worship

Magic carpets

• On the A44 in Woodstock • Regent Arcade Cheltenham Ai


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