A truly beautiful summer morning and regular and visiting worshippers attended the morning Eucharist at St. Mary's Church on the ninth Sunday in Trinity. The service began with the choir singing the introit, 'Thee we adore', in St. Anne's Chapel. The first hymn was 'Come down, o love divine.' Rev. Andrew welcomed all to the service and had great pleasure in announcing the 'Church Member of the Month' - a lady who is a great ambassador for St. Mary's and can be seen regularly in church, dusting, flower arranging, meeting visitors and a lot more besides. She is one of the few who has seen the ghost of the 'monk' on the altar steps.' The accolade was presented to a surprised Miss Ruth Rolfe.
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Kelly read the morning's readings. Dr. Anne Kelly read from the Book of Wisdom and Mr. Steve Kelly read from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans. Owen Edwards read the third reading from the Gospel of Matthew and related the parable of the wheat and the weeds.
The readings were followed by Psalm 86. Rev. Andrew delivered the sermon.
"For two years, I was a teacher of music and religious education at Lancaster before going to study for the ministry. During that time - the late '70s, the teachers went on strike and, of course, the focus of the media was upon us. Everyone knew about how schools should be run, how teachers should behave, about discipline, all were experts on the open-plan system. "The same is true of the vicar, everyone knows how his job should be done. He should be married with 2.4 children so that he knows about family life, he should be single so that he can devote all this time to his flock. He should give time to the teenagers, the young, visit the elderly, the newly married, the unmarried, those in the afternoon of their lives, the residential homes, the hospitals, those on the electoral roll, those who fell out with the previous vicar, sort out the person who arranged flowers on the wrong windowsill. Be seen at the pub, not be seen at the pub, be grateful for all donations and never be a woman and definitely not a woman Bishop. It is useful that we all know about being a vicar.
"No one is perfect, and if we take our responsibilities seriously, we can be the church we are meant to be. The 'church' means all of us, and the challenge is to love one another. Christ died and rose again for all of us. We are the corporate sower to sow the seed of Christ in the world, he has no hands left here on earth except ours and let us reap the harvest he sent us. We are that church and are called to get back to our work of sowing."
The prayers were led by student priest, Owen Edwards. The offertory hymn was 'Alleluya, sing to Jesus'. The Eucharist was celebrated at both altars and the celebrant was Rev. Andrew. During communion, the choir sang the motet 'Teach me O Lord' by Attwood. The final hymn was 'Ye holy angels bright'. The Church Fete will be held on Wednesday afternoon, July 30, in church grounds. The Flower Festival will take place from August 14-17 at St. Mary's. All those requiring memorial posies, please contact Barbara Morris, Mary Smith or Maureen Webb.