Many blessings upon the Rev Cedric Blakey, the Cathedral’s Vice Provost whom I still think of as my new colleague, even though he has been here since the start of December. It is Cedric’s anniversary of priesting today, St Peter’s Day. Many congratuations to him on the anniversary.

He was preaching about it on Sunday and it is a sermon worth hearing again if you were there, or listening to if you didn’t catch it the first time.

I think that often, the kind of preaching that is the most enjoyable and fruitful, is preaching where the stories and images that relate to the preacher intermingle with both the stories and images of the biblical text in question and also those of the community amongst whom the sermon is preached. It takes a little while to find those images when you move to a new congregation. However, I got a sense of that happening, when Cedric was preaching last Sunday.

So, blessings upon Cedric today. I’m delighted he is here and I know that members of St Mary’s are appreciating his ministry hugely. One of the best blessings you can give a priest is to listen to their preaching and engage with it from your own place and think about it in the context of your own stories and images.

So, here’s last Sunday’s sermon.

Take a listen and have a ponder yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeX-mtufpYc&feature=player_embedded