Today was the third Sunday in June and our 10 am service was Mattins. The gospel for today was the story of the casting out of devils in the land of the Gaderenes, taken from St Luke's Gospel and read in the King James version. Father Stephen pointed out in his sermon that the story perfectly complemented the first reading from Isaiah. In this story, the man called legion has many  devils cast from him into a heard of swine. Father Stephen pointed out that such behaviour as shown by this man would today be considered a sign of mental illness, but in Luke's time the understanding of possession by spirits, was a well understood idea. Mental illness and spiritual unease or illness need both medical and spiritual care for the patient to recover.
The choir sang' Turn thy face from my sins ' by Thomas Attwood as the anthem.

There was coffee after the service.

We are all greatly saddened to hear of the death of our dear friend Hans Florin, there will be a memorial service for Hans on July 7th at 11 am.

On this special weekend of events to mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Second we held a special family Service of Thanksgiving at St Mary's.

The opening hymn was 'All people that on earth do dwell' This hymn was sung at the Coronation in 1953. The words by William Kethe, a Scottish 16th century Bible translator, are a metrical version in English of psalm 100. Known in the English speaking world as the Old Hundreth, the tune first appeared in the second edition of the Genevan Psalter published in 1511. We then followed the service of the family Eucharist that we normally use on the first Sunday in the month. In his Sermon Father Stephen compared and contrasted the two Elizabethan Queens,  our present Queen's years of Christian Service underlining how fitting was our Service of Thanksgiving.
Instead of the Creed, the choir sand the Te Deum in B flat by Charles Villiers Stanford. This was sung at the Coronation in 1902. Traditionally sung on occasions for rejoicing and thanksgiving this ancient Latin hymn was translated and put into the Church of England service of Matins, which is a combination of the two early morning monastic offices.
After the Peace the offertory Hymn was 'O Worship the King, all glorious above' words by Robert Grant are based on William Kethe's version of Psalm 104, one of the traditional psalms of thanks
giving and often used for royal occasions; the tune 'Hanover' is one that probably arrived in the UK with George 1 in the early 18th century.

During Communion the hymn was 'Sweet Sacrament Divine' and as the Anthem the Choir sang  'I was Glad'. The words are taken from Psalm 122 and have been one of the traditional texts associated with coronations since that of Charles II in 1661. The setting by Sir Charles Hubert H Parry was written for the Coronation of Edward VII in 1902 and was performed again at the Coronations in 1911,1937, and 1953.

After final prayers for Her Majesty we sang 'O Praise ye the Lord' the words (by The Rev Sir Henry Williams Baker) are based on Psalm 150; the tune comes from Sit Charles Hubert H Parry's anthem 'Hear my words, Ye people'. This hymn is a favourite of HM The Queen.

Following the Blessing the first 2 verses of the National Anthem were sung.
Joanna played Crown Imperial by William Walton as the voluntary. Written for the Coronation of 1937, the composer revised this orchestral march for the Coronation of our present Queen in 1953.
Many thanks to Joanna for the notes on the music.

After the Service as well as coffee wine was served, and a Loyal Toast was proposed by Father Stephen and drunk. Many people were dressed in red white and blue for the occasion.
We wish Her Majesty a very Happy 90th birthday, and long may she reign!!

This morning as our Family Service we undertook our Rogation walk. At the start of the Service Father Stephen explained that in times gone by the entire boundary of the Parish would have been walked, which is rather more than we can cope with so we confine ourselves to the immediate environs of the Church. Happily we also no longer duck the choir boys in the duck pond! another tradition that has fallen away thank goodness!.
After singing Morning has broken in the Church, we set off on a gloriously sunny morning, through the Kissing gate to the Barn. Here we heard 2 readings and said a prayer for the harvest and sang the first 2 verses of All things Bright and Beautiful. We then returned to the Church yard and processed to the far end of the extension to the gate into the field. We assembled here and again had readings and prayers  and sang another verse of the hymn to some curious but slightly startled cows who were enjoying a trough of food. We then proceeded on to the Garden of Scantlings and again on to the Vicarage Field where some horses joined the congregation for prayers and readings and more singing. And so back across the Vicarage garden into church for a closing hymn, prayer and blessing. A lovely traditional Village occasion on a perfect June day.