St Mary’s Wedding Festival – 7-10 June

June - named in honour of Juno, top goddess, consort of Jupiter, guardian of - marriage. In various mythologies, as Juno, Hera, Fricka, she has a far from easy ride, because hubby (Zeus, Jupiter, Wotan) is a philanderer. Today we’re facing up to the perennial desire of men to exploit their positions for – sex. And that should cause us to think again about marriage, which, since the Sixties, has been under attack. Marriage, in the west, has been on the side of women – yes – because what it replaced was the biological norm of strong men taking many women. (How many million are alleged to carry the genes of Ghengis Khan?) It helped create the equality of the sexes. It was a crucial step to creating civilized behaviour. It’s a battle of course, the relations between the sexes, not to be won once for all, but to be fought afresh in every generation. And writers and dramatists have made the most of it. Perhaps we should not regret that it /is/ a battle, fought by methods both fair and foul – it does add spice to life!

For the second weekend of June, St Mary’s is holding a ‘wedding festival’. We want to display wedding dresses (and costume generally – male as well as female?), photos and memories and orders of service, and to decorate the church with wedding ephemera and a floral abundance, which /you /the good folk of Bruton and district, will lend us. There will also be a display of vestments worn by the clergy for weddings. The 11am Eucharist on Sunday 9th will be a celebration of marriage, with suitable hymns and music, and a chance to renew your own marriage vows.

The modern Anglican Marriage Service has this collect –

God our Father, from the beginning, you have blessed creation with abundant life.

Pour out your blessings upon /Adam /and /Eve,/

that they may be joined in mutual love and companionship,

in holiness and commitment to each other.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

*A Request from Sarah Bailey*

**If you still have your wedding dress packed away in a box, locked in the attic or hanging, covered, in the wardrobe, please consider dragging it out into the light of day and letting us show it off this June.

This is a call (plea) for exhibits for a Wedding Festival at St Mary’s, Bruton, to raise funds for the church. We are planning for it to run during June – 7th – 10th and will be manned at all times.

Please consider lending your dress/outfit/ bridesmaid dress / men’s outfits too – equal opps! plus a photo or two and a paragraph or story of your wedding day to go with it. These memories are so important to all of us. (Photos are to be scanned for the Festival so no chance of your originals disappearing.)

Please, if you can help, contact Sarah at sarahlbaileytextiles@gmail.com(please don’t miss out the ‘l’ in the middle or I will miss your email) or give me a ring on 812616 and I’ll send you a simple lenders form to complete (or click here to download it). If anyone has any spare wire coat hangers I’m after those too for display purposes. These can just be left in church. Also, dummies?

Thank you – Sarah Bailey. 812616