Preparations for the Abingdon Passion Play are underway and the organisers took time out to pose for a photograph. They are at the early stages and having done most of the auditions and will be starting rehearsals on January 4th 2024. The Abingdon Passion Play has been previously staged in 2013, 2016, and 2019. The passion has been shown in different ways. We look forward to 2024 and a different vision.
Breaking with tradition, Mayor Gwyneth Lewis opted for Trinity Church, the church of her chaplain, Deacon Selina Nisbett, for this year’s civic service. While the service was less formal than a full civic service, lacking the use of the Mace, it was still well attended by the town councillors. The councillors processed into the church at the beginning of the service.
The service began when the Mayor’s cadet read an advent reading, and the Mayor lit the second of the five candles on the advent crown.
The Fijian Fellowship Choir from Dalton Barracks sang two worship songs during the service.
Deacon Selina Nisbett, the Mayor’s chaplain, spoke on building a ‘highway of hope,’ drawing on the reading from Isaiah 40 by the Mayor about ‘Make straight the way for the Lord‘ . Selina encouraged the congregation to focus on their own ‘stretches’ of the path to peace. The service concluded with the National Anthem, ‘God Save the King.’
Afterwards people went through to the Conduit Centre for coffee and mince pies. This picture shows the Mayor, Deacon Selina, and one of the members of the Fijian Choir.
Five memorial stones were laid 150 years ago to mark the foundation of Trinity Church, Abingdon, and today there was a special service to celebrate.
Pictures of some of the previous ministers, and laymen, were displayed at the back of the church.
Rev. Ian Griffiths, the current Minister, led the service.
Rev. Richard Bittleston, the previous minister, played the organ.
Rev. Colin Thompson, another previous minister, wrote one of the hymns used during the service.
Ministers generally only stay for five or ten years at Trinity. Rev. Ian will have been at Trinity for ten years and will move on to pastures new next year. It was announced that he will be succeeded by Rev. Georgina, who will be the next minister at Trinity and All Saints in Abingdon.
A modern statue of St Edmund of Abingdon can be seen in the grounds of St Edmund Hall in Oxford. The statue depicts the saint sitting on a bench, with a book in his hand. St Edmund was a man of learning and humility. He was born in Abingdon in about 1175, and he studied in Oxford before becoming a respected lecturer and eventually Archbishop of Canterbury.
If you want to learn more about St Edmund of Abingdon, you could try the blog of A Clerk of Oxford: https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2017/11/st-edmund-and-abingdon.html .
To see the statue yourself, visit St Edmund Hall, Queen’s Lane (OX1 4AR), open daily 10:00-16:00 for free.