A Year of the Lord's Favour

In A Year of the Lord’s Favour, Bishop Pete Wilcox offers us a glimpse into his own pilgrimage. With candour and compassion, he tells of a year marked by both the weight of episcopal calling and the fragility of a cancer diagnosis. Yet in these pages, we do not find despair, but a quiet, steadfast witness to the presence of God. This is a story for anyone who has found the path of faith strewn with thorns—and still chosen to walk it. This book is tender, wise, and deeply human. It is woven through with hope, humility, and the beauty of God’s faithfulness in every season. -- Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York A powerful text offering a rare insight into the vulnerabilities of someone in a perceived position of privilege, who by the very nature of that office, may be deemed in some way, immune. It gives light, hope and encouragement to anyone affected by cancer. This refreshingly open and candid account of the collision of a number of life events, each of which could be described as monumental on their own, leads the reader by the hand, and reveals that “high office” indeed, does not offer immunity from anguish, illness or indignity – and certainly offers no guarantees or protection from disappointment, or the brutality of a treatment plan prescribed to cure. This account reveals an intensity of emotion from humility to fallibility, the discomfort of a self-declared introvert, to one who ultimately has to accept that they are both reliant and dependant on others, most poignantly, the kindness of others – and the creeping revelation that even he is unable to hold all this lightly. The power of this hugely personal story is the rawness of sentiment, the honest discourse about cancer, its brutality and its respect for no one. The power of reflection, sharing of feelings we’d rather not feel – or admit to feeling – and both the frail and precious nature of life. -- Dame Hilary Chapman, Lord-Lieutenant of South Yorkshire and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing