Advent 315 December 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer As some of you may know, I served my title post at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, in Gillingham, Dorset The wonderful thing about curates is that they can be deployed liberally around the parish and further afield And, during my tenure, there was an interregnum at the […]
Advent Sunday1 December 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer I received quite a shock the other day when I tried to look up some news on the Sherborne School website I found that I could now choose between Twitter, Facebook, Sound Cloud and Instagram I did not know where to start Understanding social media is especially difficult for me […]
Remembrance Sunday10 November 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer On Palm Sunday in 2010 my family visited my aunt in her Nursing Home on the outskirts of Ripon. As we were talking she started to cry We, obviously, wanted to know what had upset her but she began talking, in a confused way, about the “awful loss of life” […]
Trinity 213 November 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer I very much enjoyed the Estate Bonfire last night I have always loved the spectacle of fire and fireworks since I was a child and am reminded of the old nursery rhyme which goes: Remember, remember the fifth of November Gunpowder treason and plot We see no reason why gunpowder […]
Trinity 20 (Bible Sunday)27 October 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer On the 12th October the film Official Secrets had its debut We are planning to go and see it on Tuesday at the Plaza in Skipton The film stars Keira Knightley, Matt Smith and Ralph Fiennes and tells the story of GCHQ whistle-blower Katharine Gun, In the run […]
Trinity 1920 October 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer Last Sunday we witnessed a crowning moment in the history of the Anglican and Catholic Churches Cardinal John Henry Newman was canonised by the Pope and is now a Saint His Canonisation was the result of two “verified” miracles First, Deacon Jack Sullivan was relieved of spinal stenosis and […]
Trinity 1813 October 201910.30 Eucharist Revd Nicholas Mercer I have been very much enjoying the recent programme on BBC 2 called “Inside the Vatican” The series follows the lives and work of those at the centre of the Catholic Church. It goes behind closed doors following the Pope and some of his highest ranking officials But it […]
Trinity 1529 September 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer It is interesting how some people keep turning up in your life I first encountered George when I was a schoolboy at Uppingham School. Indeed, I met him in the Chapel every week When I left School, I thought that was the last I would see of him, however, we […]
Trinity 1422 September 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer I read, last week, the story of a Nigerian woman who gave birth to quadruplets in a London Hospital The woman was returning home from the United States, when she went into labour – in the plane – and was subsequently delivered of four children The birth and post-natal treatment […]
Trinity 111 September 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer Last year I sat through a judgement given by the Chief Justice of the Falkland Islands It was an important case as it concerned the former Chief of Police He was standing trial on historic sex offence charges The Judge delivered an impeccable judgement reminding himself, and the attendant audience, […]