First woman bishop preaches at St Collen's

* The eisteddfod service at St Collen's last Sunday. 

In her sermon at St Collen’s annual eisteddfod service last Sunday, the Church of England’s first woman bishop drew a comparison between Christian worship and singing in a choir.

Llangollen’s parish church was almost full to hear the Rt Rev Libby Lane, Bishop of Stockport, (pictured below) as guest preacher.  

She explained that it was a long time since she had sung regularly in a choir but, growing up, she sang with her mother in the local choral society and at school in a chamber choir, and later on in the chapel choirs at university and theological college.

“And while my singing may not be notable, I learnt extraordinarily important values from being part of a choir,” she said.

“I learnt about mutuality. Choirs get better when they learn to be mutually dependent.

“Those with the strongest voices are not always the best choir member.

“By definition it is not possible to be a choir on your own. The capacity to listen, and take account of one another, is key to effective choral singing, I remember.

“There is something extraordinarily valuable is learning both to take responsibility for your own contribution, while simultaneously accepting responsibility for the actions of others.

“It is a lesson in Christlikeness, in living out the gospel.”

The Bishop added: “In love and obedience to God in Christ we each have responsibility for our own engagement and participation, and we all have responsibility for the engagement and participation of one another.

“Like the voices that make up a choir, what we bring will be particular to us but essential to the whole.”

The general theme of the service was “For those in peril on the sea” and all donations from the congregation went to the Mission for Seafarers.