The Bishop of Blackburn, Rt Rev. Philip North, delivered a wide-ranging Presidential Address to the latest meeting of the Diocesan Synod last night at The Redeemer Church, Blackburn. 

Referring to various current world events he said: "As Christians, it is so easy to feel powerless against such a backdrop. We watch on as events unfold with very little idea what to do or say. The words of Jeremiah, which many of us read on Monday morning, all too often come to our lips.

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Disaster overtakes disaster, the whole land is laid waste.

But for the Christian, whilst we may be tempted to despair, we know it can never win the day. If Jesus has won the victory, there can only be hope."

Read the full address below. 

It is a privilege as always to be able to address you as president of the Synod. Just two things before I start. First there is sometimes an uneasy silence when I finish, but there really is no need to applaud a presidential address. And second, the views I am about to express are my own and you are entirely free to disagree.

In the first few weeks of 2025, the world has been turned upside down with consequences that no one can yet predict. The Trump presidency has seen the dramatic tearing up of the post-war alliance between Europe and the United States and a sudden rush across Europe to increase defence budgets and re-arm. Trade wars between the US, Canada, China, Mexico, the European Union and now the UK threaten the stability of the global economy, and as we learnt in 2008 and 2020, when the world economy is shaken, the people who fall out of the tree are always the poorest.

But perhaps the most frightening impact is on Ukraine, the victims three years ago of an unprovoked attack from Putin’s Russia which has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and has seen many more lives destroyed and traumatised. Of course some of you here have direct connections with that battered country, having made space in your homes and churches for refugees.

The news of a possible ceasefire in Ukraine is very welcome and we must pray that Russia also agrees to it as an important first step. However the pressure that has been placed on the Ukrainians and in particular Volodymyr Zelenskii, a man of raw courage who has led his people with such distinction, has been alarming in the extreme. It has included the public humiliation of a shouting match in the White House, the sudden withdrawal of military aid leading to needless loss of life and the condition of signing an unfavourable minerals deal as a bargaining chip for the restoration of that crucial aid.

Such tactics might lead to an uneasy ceasefire, but this kind of bludgeoning can never be the foundation for peace. For peace is about more than the cessation of violence. Peace can only come with justice, and for there to be justice, then stolen land must be returned, reparations must be paid and future security guarantees must be in place. I hope that European leaders will not weaken in those basic demands.

As Christians, it is so easy to feel powerless against such a backdrop. We watch on as world events unfold with very little idea what to do or say. The words of Jeremiah, which many of us read on Monday morning, all too often come to our lips.

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
    Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
    I cannot keep silent;
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
    the alarm of war.
Disaster overtakes disaster,
    the whole land is laid waste.

But for the Christian, whilst we may be tempted to despair, we know it can never win the day. If Jesus has won the victory, there can only be hope. So in such dangerous times, what do we do?

First we pray. I am delighted with the way that our Year of Prayer for Growth and Renewal has captured imaginations across traditions in every part of the Diocese and the resources which have been made available on the Fruitful app by our outstanding discipleship team are being hungrily devoured.

Prayer gives us a superpower stronger than any weapon, any aggressive social media post, any war-mongering diplomatic communication or any trade tariff. Prayer throws open for us the court of heaven and brings God’s kingdom breaking into the present. Prayer silences the powerful and raises the lowly high.

We are offering prayer this year for the growth of our churches, and we are also surrounding the process to discern our future strategic vision with prayer. But at the same time we must go on praying and fasting with conviction for a fair and lasting peace in Ukraine.

Second we strive for justice. The scriptures offer us a rich vision of human dignity and of human flourishing. Jesus, by his Incarnation, demonstrates to us the infinite preciousness of every human person made in the image and likeness of God. And then, in the common life of the community he builds, he models for us right relationship with God and with each other. That vision of God’s kingdom is the heart of our understanding of justice as Christians. That is what motivates our work with schools, our community projects, our pastoral care and our passion that all should know right relationship with the God we meet in Jesus.

We may not be able to engineer justice in Ukraine. But we can bear witness to God’s kingdom in the way we strive for justice in our own parishes and in our daily lives. I am delighted that our theme in this synod will be racial justice, because lying behind the work of the Church of England’s Commission for Racial Justice is a rich vision of God’s kingdom.

In the same way our desire to be a safe church and repent of safeguarding failures expresses our desire for the justice of the Kingdom in which all are precious, all are beloved and all know the safety of God’s eternity. Fr Alex Frost’s work in battling against the scourge of ketamine on our estates is another vivid example of Christians bearing witness to God’s justice. So what can you do to build justice locally?

And third, we work for peace. We are in the season of Lent. Very soon we will be at the table of the Last Supper with the Lord when he will promise the disciples a ‘Peace the world cannot give.’  Then just three days later, having endured the cross and risen from the tomb, he will return to the same Upper Room to greet them twice with the words, ‘Peace be with you.’ That peace which he promised at the table will be the gift he shares with them.

The peace which Christ gives is not a peace that the world can give because it flows from the cross. It is a peace that is rooted in the defeat of sin and in restored relationship with the Father. It is peace with each other only because it is first and foremost peace with the Father, wrought through the blood of his Son.

That is our gift to the world. The greatest contribution we can make to global peace is to introduce people to Jesus Christ so that they can know in their lives that peace which is the gift of the cross.

A frightening world. It is so easy to start to believe that the loudest voices will be those that hold sway and that we in our little churches can do nothing. Don’t believe that for a moment. Keep praying. Strive for the justice of the Kingdom. Share the peace that comes from Christ. And in a world of fear, we will be bearing quiet witness to a deeper truth, the truth of God’s own kingdom.

+Philip Blackburn

March 12^th 2025

Ronnie Semley, March 2025