In addition to the churches which have approved the Porvoo Declaration, we continue to pray forchurches with observer status. Observers attend all the meetings held under the Agreement.

The Porvoo Declaration commits the churches which have signed it ‘to share a common life’ and ‘to pray for and with one another’. An important way of doing this is to pray through the year for the Porvoo churches and their Dioceses. I was reminded of an elderly man who, when I was young, walked up and down Croydon’s shopping streets with a placard that read “Be sure your sins will find you out.” I treated him with curiosity as a boy, and disdain as a teenager. As an adult, I reluctantly admit that he had a point. I will never again question the importance of confession. In the meantime, the December and January editions are somewhat shorter while Clive prepares for February."Monthly Theme – mirroring themes from the recently agreed Strategic Framework for the Diocese. This will include content offering information and guidance to stimulate prayer. It is a prayer focus for the Friday of each week.

PROMPTED by something that Mark wrote, I paid a visit to Crossbones Graveyard, a short walk from Southwark Cathedral. This tranquil space amid hectic streets is the final resting-place of 15,000 women and children, residents of brothels near by, who — for 400 years, until the 16th century — were licensed to ply their trade by the Bishop of Winchester. As Mark pointed out, their episcopal licence was not enough to allow them a Christian burial, and they are interred in this patch of unconsecrated ground. I’d be very interested to take your suggestions on sources, favourite quotes on prayer, as well as thoughts on the new structure/content. I hope that the design elements can be developed further during the coming months, too. I decided that the best thing to do was to carry the bag across the room, step into the shower, and wash myself and the whole slithery bag together, but en route I managed to spill some of the contents on to the cream-coloured carpet. I inspected it gingerly: not exactly stained, but definitely discoloured. It was in a shady part of the bathroom, however, and I thought to myself, “I can get away with this.” Facing the embarrassing prospect of actual tears in the diocesan office, I dealt with it in the time-honoured way — by sniffing energetically and handing round the biscuits.

Friends of Crossbones have created a community garden. Every year, in the summer, the clergy of Southwark Cathedral make a procession through the streets, robed and with incense, to conduct a service of “Regret, Remembrance and Restoration”. Every month, however, there is an event to honour the memory of all women who have died as a result of the wrongdoing of men. I SPENT the night before a speaking engagement in the Cotswolds with a former colleague, in her 19th-century cottage in the hills. In the bathroom, the following morning, I discovered that the top had come off my bottle of shower gel, and its contents had emptied themselves into my washbag. Grumbling, I fished out my toothbrush and deodorant, which left me with a bag full of liquid soap. The Prayer Diary is a list of Porvoo Communion Dioceses or churches covering each Sunday of the year, mindful of the many calls upon compilers of intercessions, and the environmental and production costs of printing a more elaborate list. ANDREW NUNN will be sorely missed as Dean of Southwark, but there is genuine excitement about welcoming his successor, the Revd Dr Mark Oakley (a regular contributor to this column), who will be installed next month. The Vision for Alive 2023Special Prayer Focus - the fabulous Diocesan Board of Educations' Praise Parties on 15/16 June 2023 May 2023

The Prayer Diary is in transition; I hope this new format will become easier to follow and make use of. I ate an uneasy breakfast, and said nothing about it until we opened the front door to leave. “What on earth has happened?” my host gasped. I had underestimated the effect of an entire bottle of shower gel and the soft water of the Cotswold Hills in ageing pipes. A volcano of bubbles had erupted out of the drains. There was foam everywhere — on the lawn, over the drive, across the flowerbeds. Reddened with shame, I had to confess everything.