This morning at our 10 am Eucharist  we felt 'back to normal' after the excitement of the visit from the Bishop last week! The gospel reading from St Mathew included those words so important to us 'where ever two or three are gathered together I am with you' Father Stephen in his sermon reminded us that we are still in the Year of the Bible. He told us something of the assembling of the Bible as we now have it at the beginning of the 4th century, the test for inclusion being that the book  gave sight of the real Jesus. There were many other accounts circulating at the time, but the 4 Gospels and Acts, the Epistles and the Revelation of St John were decided on by the Holy Fathers as meeting these criteria. Worship in a community we are promised makes Jesus present with us in Word and Sacrament, although private prayer is commended to us in other parts of the Gospel. We strive to have Jesus present in our lives every day and to be guided by Him to a christian life.

The Choir sang 'A New Commandment' an anthem by Peter Nardone during the distribution of Communion.
One of the delights of having the new Rooms open is that the Sunday School were able to join us at Communion and stay with us to the end of the service. We then all repaired to the Rooms for coffee and to look at the work the Sunday School have done during the morning.

Our good friend Tom Cooper will give us a recital of Russian piano music on the afternoon of the 15th October from 3 pm followed by Tea in the Rooms. A retiring collection will be made. Tom has dedicated this concert to Alfred Lytton, who recently died, and the collection will be divided between St Wilfrid's Hospice and St Mary's. Please do come along.