Today we celebrate the feast of the Assumption, the start of St Mary's reign as the Queen of Heaven. As St Mary is our Patron Saint it is one of our patronal festivals. We were delighted to welcome Fr David Twinley as our guest preacher at our 10 am parish Eucharist. Father David is the acting Archdeacon as well as being the vicar of Arundel, and we are very pleased to have heard him preach this morning.
The Gospel for our special day was from St Luke, the glorious song of Mary, the Magnificat. In his sermon Father David explained to us how St Mary is called in the original Greek the Theotokos or bearer of God. He drew a comparison between the Old Testament theme of God  being present in the Ark of the Covenant, constructed by Moses and placed in the Temple by Solomon. Ezekiel had the vision of God leaving the temple, but He returned as his Son through the vehicle of the Theotokos, Mary the mother of God. Her openness to God's grace, to being filled with God is an example to us, we must look to God and open our hearts to be filled with the light of Christ and thus guided through our lives to join Mary and the Saints with God at the end.

Father Stephen read the Banns for 3 couples, two of whom, are to be married at St Mary's in the coming weeks, we wish them well in their new lives together. Father Stephen was the Celebrant.

James Roriston was with us again today, and he played Bach's Fugue in G minor as the Voluntary as we left for our coffee in the new rooms, under overcast skies and the beginning of much needed rain.