• Sermon preached for Lent 1, 2013

    Here’s the video.


    And here is the text:

    One of my favourite stories about St Mary’s is one that I’ve heard several versions of. It concerns one of my predecessors as Provost here.

    He had been here for a couple of months and thought that things were going OK. And then suddenly a letter appeared from a member of the congregation. (It may be that person is still here and just about to write to me in similar terms, so I’m taking a risk in telling this story).

    The gist of the letter was that its author listed the many ways in which the worship of the congregation had changed in those three months.

    See here, the letter writer wrote – see all the changes that you’ve made.

    And in the letter there was a list. In the version of the story I like the best there were 90 points listed but I don’t know whether we should allow a little bit of exaggeration in the telling.

    And the Provost in question had to confess (more…)

5 responses to “Ordinary Sunday in Eastertide”

  1. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    But, but… this Sunday is in no way ordinary time! It is still in Easter!

    1. kelvin Avatar

      You are right, Tom. It is just an ordinary special Sunday…

  2. Pam Avatar
    Pam

    Wall to wall gorgeousness from the choir – music to my ears! (Perhaps a video one day)?

  3. Augur Pearce Avatar
    Augur Pearce

    I guess the Ascension was celebrated on Ascension Day? Very right and proper; but for those places that can’t achieve a Thursday evening crowd, yesterday would have been a high festival too!

    1. kelvin Avatar

      I’ve never been in a church that didn’t keep Ascension on Ascension Day and I’m wondering why there are churches that don’t.

      Is it that the people stopped coming because it wasn’t done well or because they are too lazy to turn out or is there some other reason?

      There is a curious habit in this diocese of having joint regional services on Ascension Day in some of our regions. This has never made me think any better of our regional system.

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