This morning we met at 10am for a celebration of the Eucharist. Father Stephen was the Celebrant, and for the first time since March we were able to have a small group of the choir sing part of the service. Seated at 2 m distance from each other and wearing visors and positioned in the south transept away from the rest of the congregation they were able to sing the Gloria, the responses the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei  using the setting by Dom Gregory Murray. It was lovely to hear voices singing in praise again in our church.

We were delighted to have the family of the couple who were having their Banns read with us, especially as the Grandparents of the Groom were with them, whom we know well, as the Grandfather is a former Church Warden!

So we give thanks to God for our church, and the ability to worship in it, as we pray for the control of the pandemic and the safety of every one.

 ‘THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK’ FROM THE REVEREND STEPHEN GUISE, PRIEST IN CHARGE – FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, 13 SEPTEMBER

William Blake, ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, c1799-1807, British Museum

Dear Friends

We come into church Sunday by Sunday, if we are able to, and one of the first things we do is to prepare ourselves for worship by saying the Collect for Purity, asking the Lord to cleanse our hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit, and then, almost straight away, ‘confess our sins to Almighty God’ – a similar act of preparation and repentance.

This is not the same as a detailed examination of conscience such as is made during a personal ‘confession’ to a priest, but is part of the congregation coming together for worship.  It is a recognition that, as fallen humanity, we are all in need of forgiveness, something our Gospel reading for this Sunday (Matthew 18:21-35) is all about – if we wish to be forgiven, then we likewise should forgive those who are ‘indebted to us’.

Like prayer itself, this can be done anywhere, but somehow coming to church seems to help us to focus, and gives the act gravitas and particular meaning.  The Latin hymn ‘Locus Iste’, which is quite often heard in church of the feast of dedication, recalls the story of Jacob from the book of Genesis.  Jacob is making his way to his ancestral land and goes to sleep in the open with a stone on which to rest his head.  He dreams that a ladder is set up between earth and heaven, with angels ascending and descending upon it.  When he wakes he exclaims, ‘This is none other than the house of God; this is the gateway to heaven.’  He anoints the stone he has used as a pillow and sets it up as a shrine.  Like his forefather Abraham in the narrative of the burning bush, he realises that certain places are holy because of the presence of God, and, from time immemorial, humans have established churches and places of worship which are reserved for prayer and ceremony, with the specific intention of giving the glory to God.

The current pandemic has given us a sense of deprivation as we can no longer gather in our normal way to worship together, but we can still pray and receive Holy Communion, albeit in one kind only for the time being.

It has been very gratifying to see some of our regular worshippers from the 8.00am services, as well as those who normally attend at 10.00am, coming along loyally and faithfully, devoutly receiving the host (from the Latin ‘hostias’, meaning ‘victim’, thus recalling Good Friday as well as the mystery of the Resurrection of Easter Sunday).

I’m sure that such loyalty and faithfulness will be repaid once the current crisis has passed, and that we shall appreciate all the more receiving Communion in its fullness Sunday by Sunday as soon as restrictions are lifted.

Fr Stephen

PS: Perhaps the best-known setting of ‘Locus Iste’ is by Anton Bruckner.

Romans 14:1-12

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans