The Second Sunday after Trinity21 June 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer One of my guilty pleasures is reading restaurant reviews Whereas, I am not inclined to spend money going out for dinner, I love to read about them I am a particular fan of Jay Rayner and Grace Dent As one might imagine, the last three months…
The First Sunday after Trinity14 June 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer In 1848 the Sunday school hymn “All things bright and beautiful” was first published It was written by Cecil Frances Alexander who was the wife of the Archbishop of Armagh and gave us the phrase “the rich man in his castle and the poor man at his…
Trinity Sunday7 June 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer I have been struck throughout this crisis by the close correlation between the lockdown and the liturgical calendar Broadly speaking, we went into lockdown at Passiontide and now emerge on Trinity Sunday While as Christians we followed the trials and tribulations of our Lord- we suffered our own trials and…
Pentecost (Whit Sunday)31 May 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer Today is the Feast of Pentecost It is known as Whit Sunday in the Anglican Church which is a variant of the word White Sunday This was the reference to the white robes which the newly baptised wore after their baptisms Baptisms which took place on this day in…
Sunday after Ascension Day24 May 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer There has been much talk in the past week about when will we get back to “normal” We have already seen some return to “normality” and this will, hopefully, increase in time Something is said to be normal if it conforms to a general pattern It comes from the…
Sixth Sunday of Easter17 May 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer This Sunday is Rogation Sunday It is descended from a Roman tradition where citizens asked the Roman God Robigus to protect their crops from wheat rust. It was later adopted by the Christian Church From the Latin rogare, God was asked to protect the crops and prevent…
Fifth Sunday of Easter10 May 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer As most of you will be aware, the 8th May was the anniversary of VE Day The day when the guns fell silent in Europe seventy five years ago More than one million people celebrated in the streets of Great Britain To commemorate the 75th anniversary of this…
Reverend Nicholas Mercer 30 April 2020 Today we meet together at the graveside to say good-bye to John Gill We meet in the most extra-ordinary of circumstances, in the midst of a pandemic We cannot meet together as we would like /and can only do so distanced from each other Despite the limitations, we can…
Fourth Sunday of Easter3 May 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer I was at Theological College at the time of the financial crisis in 2008 I recall it very vividly as there was a brief moment when the country held its breath believing that the banking system was on the verge of collapse At the time, a fellow student…
Third Sunday of Easter26 April 202010.30 Morning ServiceRevd Nicholas Mercer I have never forgotten a story I was told at the start of an operational tour of the Balkans The Commander told us about US Navy pilot in Vietnam whose plane was shot down The pilot ejected and parachuted safely to the ground and then spent the next 6…