Ash Wednesday26 February 2020Revd Nicholas Mercer Today is Ash Wednesday It is the start of the beginning of Lent which is a penitential season in the Church In the Bible and in the Medieval Church, covering ones head with ashes was considered a sign of repentance, sorrow and mourning Quite literally we mark the start of Lent […]
Septuagesima9 February 202010.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer After a very full Sunday last week, I went home and slumped in front of the television My favourite programme on a Sunday is “SAS – Are you tough enough” but, last week, I was also drawn to the BAFTA awards I had recently seen “The Two Popes” which had been […]
Candlemas2 February 202010.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer As many of you now know, we sent our daughter to a Catholic School in Sherborne Known as the “nuns on the hill” they were educated in a beautiful Palladian manor called Leweston The rule of thumb goes that “the boys at Sherborne date the girls at Sherborne but marry the […]
Third Sunday of Epiphany26 January 202010.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer This coming week marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz The camp was liberated by the Red Army on the 27th January 1945 and a memorial service was held, this week, at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem- you may have heard about it on the media To […]
First Sunday of Epiphany12 January 202010.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer You will note from the inside of the Church that the Christmas decorations have all been taken down No more Christmas tree, Advent Crown and Crib Christmas is over The Wise men have seen the Christ Child and they have journeyed home from whence they came There is, […]
16 January 2020Revd Nicholas Mercer It is a great honour and privilege to be asked to preach at this Service of Thanksgiving for Sir David today I am conscious, not only of David’s very distinguished career as a Captain of Industry But also the recognition of his achievements by the State He leaves behind a distinguished business […]
Second Sunday of Epiphany19 January 202010.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer It would not be an exaggeration to say that marriage has been dominating the headlines in the last week Despite the conflict in the Middle East and the beginnings of an impeachment It has been the marriage of Harry and Meghan which has stolen the show At the […]
The Epiphany5 January 202010.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer Last Sunday evening, we stayed with my brother in Ripon Not only is he an excellent cook but he subscribes to Netflix which enables us to enjoy a film of our choice And after dinner we watched a film called “The Green Book” The title is taken from a real […]
First Sunday after Christmas29 December 201910.30 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer Reviewing the year is something we all like to do at the end of December I have already read reviews of photographs and restaurants for 2019 My own review of TV programmes have had two standout performances The first was Phoebe Waller Bridge’s “Fleabag” I would never had […]
Christmas Day25 December 201910.00 EucharistRevd Nicholas Mercer One of my favourite pieces of music at Christmas is the Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten It is scored for a three-part treble chorus and consists of eleven movements, The most exciting movement, in my view, is called “This Little Babe” which takes it text from a poem by the […]