York Minster and an experience of sung Eucharist had been on the cards for morning worship today to give Emily an Aidan an idea of what there cousin Tony contributed to as a chorister at the Cathedral of Newcastle upon Tyne. But that would have meant leaving at about 8‑30 am. Needless to say we didn’t make it, and with a certain member of the family still in bed at 10 am it was a case of where we could get to in ½ hour. Clearly Epworth had to be the choice!
So at 10-45 am (thank goodness for the internet and church websites that list service times) all four of us joined the congregation at Wesley Memorial Church in Epworth. The normal congregation (and choir) was swelled by a group of American tourists, who it was good to see, and four folk from Portadown. Despite three Bishops in the Congregation the service was led by an effervescent lay-preacher from Cannock in Staffordshire who was clearly a bit of a Primitive Methodist historian. I confess that I would never have thought of using
“Nelson’s Cradle” as an illustration of how what we do affects others in a different place but it was certainly entertaining if not visible to the vast majority of the congregation!And though the sermon was short (12 minutes) the whole service was 1 hr and 12 mins in total. In some small part that was due to the visitors being asked to “bring greetings”, an idea I was introduced to in Kenya when at every service I attended I was required to do likewise.
