“When you grow old, … someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (John 21.18)

Six years ago, I had the privilege of accompanying Archbishop Rowan at his Enthronement as Archbishop of Canterbury.  As we entered in procession into Canterbury Cathedral, with many hundreds of expectant faces turned towards us, from where we stood we could see the entire length of the cathedral; the nave, the steps to the Choir, the steps beyond that to the Trinity Chapel and to the throne of Saint Augustine.  And as we looked towards the chair, for all the world it looked to me, not so much as a throne as an electric chair.  With every step taken forward, I almost felt that I was escorting the Archbishop not to a throne but to a place of torture, rather than a place of celebration!  Six years later, and perhaps Archbishop Rowan will agree with me! 

Now I have been led to my own chair:  and there is a part, a little part perhaps, but a part at least, that feels an absolute terror of what I am being led into.

In the Gospel just read to us, we heard Jesus say to Simon Peter, something like, “Simon Peter, do you love me?  For if you do, then the day will come when your love for me and for my people will lead you into places where you do not wish to go - to spend and to be spent for the Gospel.”

The job of a bishop is not an easy one - and with each presentation that has been made at this Enthronement, this Inauguration of my ministry, you will have heard another charge laid on me, another duty imposed, another responsibility invited.

Nor is it a general duty - it is something specific to this time and this place - where I, as the outsider and stranger, must come to the very heart of the Christian family of St Asaph.

Fe’m gwahoddwyd i eistedd yn yr un man â Sant Asaff - i eistedd mewn cadair benodol, ac i fwrw ymlaen a chynnal traddodiad penodol.  Mae bod yn etifedd i draddodiad mor hir yn aruthrol - traddodiad o bedair canrif - ar ddeg  - a hanner - i dyst ac ysbrydoliaeth cadarn Cyndeyrn ac Asaff; ysgolheictod a diwylliant William Morgan a William Lloyd; haelioni Isaac Barrow.  Fe’m galwyd nid yn unig i fod yn esgob - ond bod yn gynhalydd parhad ysbrydolrwydd Celtaidd penodol a rhoi mynegiant newydd iddo.  Mewn Eglwys Gadeiriol lle mae ei seiliau’n tyst i ryfeloedd ac anghydfodau ffiniau, fe’m galwyd i fod hefyd yn dyst i’r cymodi a ddarganfyddir yng Nghrist; i lefaru dros y bobl hyn, y diwylliant hwn, yn y fan hon.

I have been invited to sit in the place of Saint Asaph - to sit in a particular chair, to carry forward and to uphold a particular tradition.  It is an awesome thing to become the heir to so long a tradition - the tradition of fourteen and a half centuries - the witness and the powerful spirituality of Kentigern and Asaph; the scholarship and culture of William Morgan and William Lloyd; the generosity of Isaac Barrow.  I am not just called to be a bishop - but to be the bearer of the continuity of a particular Celtic spirituality and to give fresh expression to it.  In a cathedral which in its very stones bears witness to war and boundary dispute, to be a witness for the reconciliation found in Christ; to speak for these people, of this culture, in this place.

In other words, I am being called to incarnate the Gospel of Jesus Christ - a message two thousand years old, born in a completely different age and part of the world, and to make it relevant, challenging,sustaining and even exciting for this part of the world, the corner of God’s vineyard here and now. 

And it is a awesome thing indeed to be called to a job which has been done for fourteen and a half centuries before I came to do it!  It will have been done well, it will have been done badly at times over that millennium and a half, but now it has to be done by me!

There is a scripture which says, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”  I might be tempted to add “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the people of St Asaph.”

But two things encourage me, and they are both in the Cathedral today:

First it is the people; it is you.  The fact that you have come today; that the priests extended their hands in blessing over me.  And I sense a great expectancy among you.  You know, a bishop arrives with a big stock of ideas - but I will tell you what impresses me - I have already found a lot of what I consider the best ideas expounded and developed in the life you already have.

What I find is a diocese in good heart;it has been a particular pleasure that Bishop John Stewart Davies has been willing to be here today - to hand me his pastoral staff, which is a symbol of the ministry which I must now pick up and carry forward.  Bishop John is taking a big risk (not that he had much choice over his successor mind you); all that he has achieved, he must now pass on to me - in the way it was passed on to him by Archbishop Alwyn and by Bishop John Charles, all the way back to Asaph and to Mungo.

However, I sense that what he does pass on to me is a community with a sense of purpose - a church family that knows the business which it is about, and which has a very real Gospel to proclaim.

This brings me to the second thing which encourages me.  Everywhere you look in this Church, there is the symbol which is at the heart of Christianity - the Cross - sometimes plain, sometimes decorative,sometimes quite aweful (in the proper sense of the word).

This cross, wherever I see it, speaks powerfully to me personally:

First of all, it speaks to me of a God who says, “Gregory, I love you so much that I am willing to pay this price to win your heart.”  This is true for every one of us - in the cross, Christians see Jesus stretching out his arms to embrace us, saying, “I love you completely, passionately, without limit, without condition; this sacrifice is my gift to you.”

Secondly, he says to me, in the cross, “Gregory, even over your mistakes I can triumph.  I took all the world could throw at me, and I triumphed in the resurrection.  You may make terrible mistakes; but, trust in me; I can still triumph.”

Christianity has not always got a good reputation in today’s society.  We are often seen as a backward-looking people, whose song is complaint and superstition.

But I want to say today, “No! We are a people who have been released from complaint and fear because we have tangible proof in the cross of Christ Jesus that God loves us completely and to the end.  There was a time, a specific, real and historical time, when God hung upon a cross;and this cross is God’s judgement on the world:

To the powerful, God says, this is the way I exercise power - by service and sacrifice:

To the proud, God says, Repent, for it is not in praising yourself, in counting the good things that you do, but in spending yourself that is the way to the fullness of life:

To the cynic, God says, what meaning do you find in the world?  I will give you an example of meaning - so powerful and so deep that it will carry across the centuries - the power of my love.

But equally,

To those who are weary, God says, let me carry your pain on the arms of the cross:

To those who are beset by failure or by sin, God says, I will pay the price to redeem you out of all of that:

To those who are lost in the maze of life, God says, walk in this way, and you will find life.
So this is the passionate commitment in which I can go forward - indeed in which I am carried forward; that in this ministry I have a people to serve, a people whose welcome, good sense and wisdom can support me, inspire me and prompt me to new acts of service

And that, in the Cross of Christ, I have a message which is worth speaking - a message worth explaining and exploring.

But above all else, I want it to be good news.  When Jesus began his ministry, he visited the synagogue and read the scripture from the scroll of Isaiah;

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me;
He has sent me to announce good news to the poor,
To proclaim release for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind;
To let the broken victims go free,
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Isaiah/Luke)

Well, Jesus is the Messiah, and what you have in me is a very poor servant;
But if I - if I and you, if we together - can bear authentic witness to such good news, we will be doing a great thing.

Love bids us welcome in this place; love for you and love for me, for bishop and for people, for believer and for doubter; and Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  (Mt 11.28) “Fear not, little children, it is the Father’s pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” (Lk 12.32)

Let this be our good news today.  Amen

The Rt Revd Dr Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph