Quite a busy week this is turning out to be in St Mary’s.

This morning it was off into work first thing to try to meet a photocopier engineer who was booked to provide healing and balm to the weary machine which serves us so well in our regular task of bringing God’s kingdom one step closer by printing just one more booklet at a time. In the end Mr Engineer did not arrive until later than expected, which meant him getting a little tied up in liturgical preparations.

Being in early meant that I was able to get ready more or less on time for the 9.30 Sung Mass for the Feast of St Stephen. Smoke, candles, modern plainsong and a very spirited rendition of Good King Wenceslas made for a great liturgical start for the morning. It also made me remember one of the best nights we had at the LGBT group earlier in the year when we looked at Stephen in a Bible Study. A young man who had the face of an angel, killed in the midst of prejudice, who seems to have just wanted to serve the people of God along with his mates. Stephen seemed all too familiar to us when we did that study.

A quick bit of adoring the Baby Jesus in the manger came next of course, for we must not forget that though the world has moved on to the season of Creme Eggs, Christmas does actually last for 12 days and we’ve a lot more adoring to do before we are done.

Then, as soon as that was done, it was time to get ready for Mary and Neil’s wedding, which was lovely.

Personally I do like to see a bride and groom coming down the aisle together and that was what Mary and Neil chose to do to start their celebration. They had made so many choices to make the wedding their own and it was lovely to be there with them as they celebrated their life together with families and friends.

All in all a joyous day.