Annual Church Service
The Mersey Commandery held its annual church service in the Parish Church of Liverpool on 22 January 2011. The Church, Our Lady and St Nicholas with St Anne, rests on one of the most famous waterfronts in the world, and it was therefore fitting that our Chaplain, Fr John Williams MBE, TD, SChLJ, and the Rector of Liverpool, The Revd Steven Brooks, conducted the liturgy. We were delighted to be joined on the day by members of the John of Gaunt Commandery, and a number of invited guests. Mr Roger Merchant, Churchwarden of St Nicholas, was also present to assist with the proceedings.
The service included a reading from The Gospel According to St Matthew (Chapter V, verses 1-12), and the St Lazarus hymn, the words of which were written especially for the occasion by Father John. The St Nicholas Singers provided music, which included the Jubilate Deo of Thomas Wilkes, Ascendit Deo by Peter Phillips, Psalm 15, a setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams of words from Ecclesiasticus (Chapter 44), and The Blessing of Aaron (Numbers, Chapter 6, v. 24) by John Rutter).
Thanks are due to Confrere Tony Hilton, OLJ, who captured some wonderful photographs of the day, which can be seen on the St Lazarus website (see below).
Afterwards, we repaired to The Liverpool Racquet Club for lunch, which concluded with a rousing speech from Andrew Zsigmond de Lemheny KCLJ, CMLJ.
Lesley Martin-Wright DLJ, Commander
Pictures of the recent Annual Church Service, 22nd January 2011, can be found here:
http://demgreen.blogspot.com/2011/01/annual-service-for-mersey-commandery.html
