The pottiest of blessings for Bishop of Burnley

The Bishop of Burnley flushed out the perfect Bible passage when he blessed a new church toilet near Lancaster last week.
Bishop of Burnley, Phillip North, blessing a new toilet at Holy Trinity Church, Wray. (s)Bishop of Burnley, Phillip North, blessing a new toilet at Holy Trinity Church, Wray. (s)
Bishop of Burnley, Phillip North, blessing a new toilet at Holy Trinity Church, Wray. (s)

Not letting the chance for a great blessing at Holy Trinity Church, Wray, go down the pan, the Rt Rev. Philip North turned to Twitter to ask for suggestions for prayers and passages. And a wealth of funny replies came flooding back.

“I’ve blessed a lot of things in my life but never a lavatory,” he said.

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“I was thrilled to be asked but I was unsure what to preach about! I had a lot of response on Twitter with some witty replies.”

Fr James Mather, for example, quipped: “Yonder is the sea, great and wide, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts...”

Meanwhile, Alan Charter tweeted a picture of a WC with the quote: “Finally brothers, aim for perfection.”

David Keen posted, “From the throne came rumblings like thunder” while Tim Cox offered, “Moses took two tablets and went up the mountain.”

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But far from driving him potty, the bishop found the fun in the challenge.

After all, as he said: “Christianity is all about finding the joy in things - and this is one blessing I’ll certainly remember!”