Prayer following the announcement of Bishop Peter’s retirement

Here at Bath Abbey, we are very much saddened by the news of Bishop Peter’s retirement. We are extremely grateful to Bishop Peter for his leadership, kindness, integrity and faithfulness, and all that he has given to so many over the past seven years. For more details please see: https://www.bathandwells.org.uk/2021/03/bishop-peter-announces-retirement-as-he-continues-recovery-from-leukaemia/

Our love and prayers are with Bishop Peter and his family and we join together in a prayer especially written for this time by the Bishop Palace Pastor, Rosey Lunn:

Gracious and loving God,

We give thanks for the ministry of Bishop Peter in this our Diocese of Bath and Wells: for his wise leadership, for his gentle pastoral care for all those entrusted to his charge, for his integrity and his faithfulness, and for all that he has given to so many over the past seven years. You have brought him through these challenging months of sickness and treatment, and we give thanks for strength recovered and for hope renewed.

As we learn with deep sadness that he must lay aside his duties as our Bishop, we pray for your blessing on him and Jane as they look to the future: enfold them in your love, fill them with your peace, and give them the strength they need to move through this time of transition and letting go. Give them the assurance that you will always hold them fast, that this time of loss may, through your grace, become a discovery of knowing you more deeply, serving you in new ways, and delighting in the life of their family.

And we pray for our Diocese at this time, especially for Bishop Ruth, that you will give us patience and discernment as we seek the way forward, vision for the future, unity to support one another in uncertain times, and trust in your loving purposes for us all. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen