We held a special service last Sunday morning led by Pamela and Jonathan Baddeley, old friends of our church, from Baldwins Gate. Jonathan, a gifted musician, played the piano with great gusto as he does with the other instruments he plays, which include the clarinet and ukulele. They were warmly welcomed by Keith Harrison. Pam explained that their theme for the service was our late Queen Elizabeth’s Christian Faith and for her call to worship, Pam read an extract from the Queen’s Christmas message of 2002, taken from “A Life of Grace” written by Mark Greene.
The chosen hymns for the service were all hymns sung at significant services of worship, loved by our late Queen, and used on State occasions, the first by Henry Francis Lyte based on Psalm 103, “Praise my soul, the King of heaven to his feet thy tribute bring”. Pam led us in a short prayer of praise and thanksgiving and Jonathan read our morning’s bible reading from Luke, chapter ten, the parable of the good Samaritan, referred to by the Queen in her 2020 Christmas message.
Pam spoke of the Queen’s great faith by which she lived her life of service to the nation, her concern for others and her great humility and sense of humour which never left her even in her great age. Her life was a great example for others, and she was clearly loved by all around her. We sang “Lead us, heavenly Father, led us o’er the world’s tempestuous sea” sung at the Queen’s 90th Birthday Thanksgiving Service, after which Rosalind lead our prayers for others.
Our morning’s worship concluded as we sang the great hymn of Charles Wesley, loved by the late Queen, “Love, divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down” and Pam gave us the blessing to conclude an unusual but lovely service shared and appreciated by our congregation which included welcome visitors.