The flowers were beautiful after a wedding in church yesterday.



Father Stephen's sermon spoke of both the new testament and gospel readings. The first reading was about St Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Stoning was the usual form of execution at the time for the Israelites.  There were stones in abundance. Many crimes would result in stoning as the punishment. We probably all remember the poor woman being stoned for adultery (the man however got away with it). With stoning, it is impossible to say who threw the fatal stone. No one person bore the guilt.  Before his conversion on the road to Damascus, St Paul was a persecutor and after his conversion was almost stoned to death. He wrote extensively of love, the love of God in Christ Jesus. St Stephen and St Paul both faced hostility,  prayed for God to forgive their persecutors and had faith in the love of God.


The choir sang Mozart's "Ave verum corpus" as the anthem.