St. Joseph’s Church, Merry Hill, Wolverhampton

It’s an interesting thing but I thought I had understood what the change in worship patterns really meant. It’s not like I didn’t read all the info about it. And I should really have cottoned on when I was putting together the page on the website that shows what each service is about – the termcard page. But it wasn’t until I went to the 9am today that I find that I’ve missed a huge point – it’s the same theme as the 10.30am. And I think this is a stroke of genius. It means that those of us who often go to one can go to the other without feeling we’ve lost continuity. So today Andy Bennett gave what was almost – but not quite – the same talk at both the 9am and at the 10.30. (I know it’s not the same because I’ve just posted up the audio of his 10.30 talk and he’s made use of the extra time and the different audience to throw in a few more jokes, which is good stuff.) And I can go back to the 10.30am next week not having “lost” a week.

So then, I enjoyed today’s 9am. Not all the hymns were quite my cup of tea, but it’s a good length of service and it was great to have Holy Communion with a small number of people. And it felt genuinely intimate and He felt close. As it finished people started to arrive for the 10.30am so I didn’t feel I’d missed any of the usual church family either – perhaps my only regret is that I didn’t actually meet any of the 9am-only crew. But there’s time for that.

Pretty big thumbs-up from me, then.

* Apologies to KLF!

We continue in both the morning services to explore Nehemiah with Chapter 2 the subject of today’s talk by Andy Bennett. As usual you can listen here or pick it up on iTunes.

Andy will be pleased to know that I have, thanks to the joys of digital editing, edited him carefully so he sounds even more fluent and, well, bostin’, I suppose.

Today’s sermon was on Nehemiah 1 – Phil spoke about how Nehemiah didn’t ignore the broken walls of Jerusalem but instead saw this as a call to action. Starting with Prayer.

Listen here…or pick it up on iTunes.

Today (3rd May) was the first day of the new worship patterns and by all accounts was a great success with lots of people at the 9am service and as usual a great family crowd at the 10.30am. Here’s Phil’s talk, based on the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-29).

Don’t forget that you can pick up the podcasts from iTunes as well!