Hundreds of well-wishers have paid tribute to Bishop Libby at a special service at Chester Cathedral. The congregation bid her farewell on Saturday 30 March in what was her final act of public worship in the Diocese of Chester before taking up her new episcopal duties as the Bishop of Derby.
Bishop Libby says goodbye
Bishop Libby delivered a heartfelt sermon in which she thanked the people and places of the Diocese of Chester that have been a part of her ministry over the years. Citing Paul’s letter to the Philippians, she said: “I’ve been reading and rereading it as I prepare to move: the love and hope and gratitude Paul expresses for Christ and His people in this letter, articulates much of what I want to say as I go – Paul says it better than I could, so read Philippians and know it echoes my continuing prayers for you all.”
Bishop Peter said we will "miss her very much."
In reference to Philippians 2:3, she told the congregation that in “these times of uncertainty and turbulence… we could do a whole lot worse… than to take the passage as a manifesto for every aspect of our life, individual and shared: ‘Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.’”
She went on to reflect on the story of the Samaritan woman (John 4) as a model of discipleship and said it was her hope that “her example may help us be agents for the coming of God’s Kingdom.”
Read her sermon in full here.
View the order of service here.
Children from Bishops’ Bluecoat High School performed a special routine of drama and dance, and a video, projected on to large screens, featured children from church schools across the diocese thanking Bishop Libby for her ministry and leadership as the Chair of the Diocesan Board of Education.
Bishop Libby was announced as the next Bishop of Derby in December 2018. Speaking on the day of the announcement, she said: “I am excited and privileged to have been called to serve as Bishop of Derby. I grew up here and my vocation was fostered here. Derbyshire nurtured me and brought me to faith and I want to love Derbyshire back."
She grew up in Glossop in north-west Derbyshire and was selected for ordination while working in Chesterfield.
Bishop Peter Forster, the Bishop of Chester said: "Libby has had a splendid ministry in the Diocese of Chester, and most notably over the past four years as Bishop of Stockport. We will miss her very much, but she will be an excellent Bishop of Derby as she takes her exceptional gifts to this wider ministry in the Church."
She legally became the Bishop of Derby in February 2019 and will begin her public episcopal ministry in May at a special installation service at Derby Cathedral.