Carols in a cow barn was one of the highlights of Christmas for the Bishop of Norwich. He joined the people of Thornage for a carol service at Thornage Hall.
The historic hall near Holt is a community, with its own farm, where people with learning disabilities, live and work, supported by staff.
They also have their own choir, which featured in their annual carol service – held in the cow barn, alongside the resident red poll cattle.
Bishop Graham called it ‘the most wonderful carol service.’
On Christmas morning he preached and presided at Eucharist in Norwich Cathedral.
Bishop Graham’s Christmas message to his diocese, filmed in Aylsham parish church with the volunteers of Bure Valley Bump Start is here.
He also enjoyed meeting the faithful congregations at two churches looking for new priests, when he took December services in the far south east of his diocese at St Peter and St John, Kirkle, Lowestoft, and 70 miles to the west in All Saints, North Runcton, near King’s Lynn.
He hosted Christmas celebrations for church staff and volunteers and saw Christmas celebrated on a large scale at the Thursford Christmas Spectacular (Europe’s biggest Christmas show of its kind) and at The Wonder, where Soul Church in Norwich spreads the gospel message at sell-out shows.
During December he was delighted to learn that the dedicated team at St Mark’s Church in Oulton Broad had achieved a diocesan first with St Marks becoming the first Diocese of Norwich church to win the Eco Church Gold Award.
The Bishop was also busy in in the House of Lords during December, questioning the Government about COP30 in Brazil, helping children with special educational needs access forest schools, and measures to prevent children using virtual private networks to avoid age verification to access harmful material online.
Concerned about the weakening of language around phasing out fossil fuels, he urged the Government to use bold language and take the path of virtue in pursuit of net zero.
He spoke in support of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill insisting that protecting our oceans is vital for the flourishing of humanity and saying the ‘wondrous works in the deep’ of Psalm 107 are threatened by deep-sea mining, overfishing, pollution, ocean acidification and oil and gas extraction.
The speech is here and was reported on by the Church Times here
He also listened as the German President addressed both Houses of Parliament in the Royal Gallery. The Bishop said it was ‘a powerful speech about the gift of reconciliation, standing together against those who seek to destabilise and threaten democracy, and seeing that “the strength of law, rather than the law of the strong, prevails”.’