Praise and Worship

Post date: Jul 18, 2017 10:32:53 AM

We want to say how much we thoroughly enjoyed and benefitted from this service at St. Mary's on Sunday 2nd July. Not having been in the church for some time, we were immediately struck by how clean, fresh and welcoming it now is. Our thanks to everyone who has been involved in this transformation!

People just kept arriving, young and not-so-young and families. We know there were people there from Mellor, Balderstone, Samlesbury, Methodists and St. Gabriel's and, perhaps, more besides.

Most of the hymns and songs were contemporary and many of them were clearly familiar to some members of the congregation. Some, like the 23rd Psalm, were set to a less familiar tune. Some were joyful, others more contemplative. All had power and meaning and lovely melodies. As Rev'd Charles said, in the 18th century Charles Wesley used his God-given talents to compose hymns that we still sing and in the 21st century Stuart Townend and many others are doing exactly the same, for young and old alike, and hopefully to be part of praise and worship for many years to come.

At the end of the service, we spoke to a young couple who had seen the church door open and had just come in to see what was happening. They then said how much they had enjoyed the evening and were already looking forward to the next occasions. Their comments were echoed by so many others.

Our thanks to Charles and Cath for putting together such a happy and meaningful service. Our thanks also, on behalf of everyone, to Debbie Chadwick who so generously provided the Pimms and lemonade in celebration of this lovely occasion!

Jim and Sue