Let saints on earth unite to sing
with those to glory gone,
for all the servants of our King
in earth and heaven are one.

This morning we finished our morning service with the Charles Wesley hymn from which those lines and the post title come. Michael Paterson had created a special liturgy for a memorable eucharist in which we were reminded of those who have gone before us, and encouraged by their example.

In our litany of remembrance, during which some members lit candles, over fifty of the “cloud of witnesses” were mentioned by name, and we also prayed for all who have died of Covid, for those “who have no one to remember them, and for those whose names are known to God alone. Finally we prayed for ourselves, that we may lead lives worthy of remembrance.

This second image (also used in the service sheet that you can download at this link) is a word cloud generated from the words of Matthew 5, the Gospel for the day, on which Michael reflected in his homily. One thought that your webmaster took away from this was that a distinguishing feature of ‘saints’ is that they were thankful of heart. Now that’s something to aim for every day this week! As well, of course, as reading and praying through the latest thought on COP26 from the leaflet Michael had produced and gave to everybody as they left.

You can read Michael’s short but very insightful homily at this link.