A large congregation had gathered at St. Mary's Church for the morning Eucharist to celebrate the Conversion of Paul.
The service in the care of Rev. Michael John began with the hymn, 'The Church's one foundation'.
Rev. Michael warmly welcomed one and all and reminded the congregation to read all the notices on the pew leaflets.
The morning's readings were given by Mr. John and Mrs. Suzanne Bevan. John read from the Book of Jeremiah and Suzanne read about the Conversion of Saul/Paul from the Acts of the Apostles.
The third reading from the Gospel of Matthew was given by Rev. Dennis Baxter.
The sermon was delivered by Rev. Michael. He stated that both he and the Rector had been upset to see leaflets of another faith distributed around the church. These leaflets were of a fundamentalist nature with the conviction that their faith is the only true faith. People who peddle this lierature have made one omission - they might be wrong. Michael stated that he is a Christian who welcomes TV and radio programmes which challenge the existence of God. The greatest enemy of faith is not the questioning of it, but people who are not willing to talk and discuss openly and think that their way of seeing and understanding is the only valid way - these are the closed-minded fundamentalists.
"Today we welcome one of the greatest turning points, and its worth remembering that Paul's conversion was a matter of seeing everything differently. He began to change from a bigot to one who was so far from God that he knew nothing at all, yet was willing to surrender to God's grace. Let us all be open to receive, to grow and to embrace what we learn along the way. We do not know all the answers, but let us learn on this journey of exploration and mystery with God. We are not on our own as we head towards the truth. He will never desert us and He will set us free."
The prayers were led by Mr. John Morgan
The offertory hymn was 'There's a wideness in God's mercy'.
The Eucharist was celebrated at both altars and all were invited to join in communion with our Living Lord.
During the Eucharist, the choir sang 'God so loved the world' by Goss and 'O Taste and See' by Vaughan Williams.
Michael welcomed the members of Sunday Club who joined the congregation and they explained what they had learnt and done during the morning.
The recessional hymn was 'All hail the power of Jesu's name'.
The flower festival will be held July 2-6 - the theme being 'A Floral Symphony'. For further details of Bible study groups, 'phone 844330. The benefice annual meeting will be held at Church House on Tuesday, February 17, at 7.30 pm.
On Sunday, there will be a special presentation to Mr. Peter Smith on his retirement.