Episodes
Today is PALM SUNDAY, the first day of a week that the Christian church calls HOLY - today we recall Jesus - riding into Jerusalem on a humble donkey - yet greeted like a king by the huge crowds cheering and shouting his praises So - how could a week that begins with so much joy and excitement - end with a sordid and painful death? But it did - and yet still we call it ‘Holy Week’ - and the worst day of all - we call it Good Friday.
But it IS a Holy Week
And Friday IS Good
And the events we’re reflecting on this morning still have the power to change lives today - if we let the story of ...
We now know that for the second year, our celebration of Easter will be different - with none of the special church services, walks of witness and other ways that we mark the feast that’s at the very heart of the Christian faith.
And although this might at first seem disappointing, it COULD also make the Easter message even more meaningful.
Because the message of Easter - the absolute core of the Christian faith - is that God sent his son Jesus Christ to live a fully human life, experiencing and understanding all the things that make up OUR lives - even to accepting an unjust and degra...
On this - Mothering Sunday - the programme looks at women - at loving relationships, and how they shape our lives.
For Margaret Tooth, Mothers Day has a double significance, and Reverend Jo Dudley, vicar of Christ Church in Laxey, speaks movingly of a truly life-changing relationship.
We also delve into the archives to hear from women who visited the Island some 15 years ago, and in so doing, made a bit of Methodist Church history at St John's. Remarkably, the organisation they represented then is still going strong - working in 71 countries and involving over three and a half millio...
Once again, we're AT YOUR SERVICE with words, thoughts and music to lift you up, whilst we're locked down. This week, we feature another Gareth Moore recording, as he sings and plays a fine male voice choir arrangement - by John Tudor Davies - of 'I hear thy welcome voice'.
We know the top priority now is to bring the Covid-19 situation under control,
but I think all of us are feeling some limitations of life at the moment.
There’s a lot we can’t do, people we can’t see, places we can’t visit.
We have time that perhaps we’re not used to,
but fewer choices as to what to do with it...
We're constantly told that "it's OK to be not OK" - yet why is there so often still a stigma attached to mental health? Why do we feel it's a sign of weakness? That we should be able to "snap out of it" .... That we don't need anyone's help .... And could going to church make things even worse, when we're told in our hymns and prayers to "rejoice in the Lord at all times" ?
On At Your Service this week, Rev'd Steve Ingrouille, Methodist Minister in the East of the Island, shares a moving account of his own experience of breakdown, and Caroline Salmon, a Methodist Local Preacher based in R...
Lent started last week, with pancakes on Shrove Tuesday followed by Ash Wednesday - and now we have 6 weeks to prepare for the great celebration of Easter. We start this week's programme by asking how we might make best use of this time - should we be be 'giving up something' and just be grumpy for the whole of Lent? - or would it be better to look on these weeks as a chance to 'spring clean' our life - to ask God's forgiveness for the things we know we could have done better - to look again at our values and attitudes, and to think more deeply about our world, and our place in it.
The...
Good morning - and happy Valentine’s Day!
Louise Whitelegg is the Island’s Christian Aid representative - she’s also a Methodist Local Preacher, and deeply committed to caring for our planet - which is why she’s calling us to a greener way of life - and on this Valentine’s Day - when so many tokens of romantic love will be exchanged - Louise is asking us to ‘go green’ and show another kind of love - love for the planet - love for our world.
She’s invited friends to join her on the programme, each of them answering her question - how do YOU share a greener kind of love?
So, alongside...
If you've ever wondered why the Mariners Services are so popular - attracting full churches wherever they are on the Island, then today's edition of At Your Service might provide some answers.
We're going back in time - some 20 years - to listen to extracts from a Mariners Service recorded in July 2000 in Trinity Methodist Church at Rosemount in Douglas - You’ll hear familiar voices of faith-filled friends who have now passed into everlasting life in God’s kingdom, and there are other voices who are perhaps not so actively involved with the Mariners nowadays - but I’m sure you’ll catch t...
This week, the Christian church celebrates the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple - also known as Candlemas - marking the day on which Mary and Joseph took the 40-day-old baby Jesus to the Temple, as required by Jewish Law. In many churches, candles are blessed on this day - symbols of the light of Christ driving out the darkness of the world - hence the name of Candlemas Day.
But what does all this say to us - 2,000 years later?
When Mary and Joseph took Jesus - their firstborn - to the Temple, they were greeted by two deeply faith-filled people - Simeon and Anna - who recognised t...
Current COVID-19 precautions on the Island mean that we cannot hold our usual National Holocaust Memorial Service - due to be held in St Mary’s Catholic Church, Douglas, this afternoon (24 January) so we begin this week’s programme by reflecting on the 2021 theme, which is ‘Be the light in the darkness’. It encourages everyone to reflect on the depths humanity can sink to, but also the ways individuals and communities resisted that darkness to ‘be the light’ before, during and after genocide. Our time of reflection includes powerful words from the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, speaking o...
Welcome to the programme that I hope will lift us up whilst we’re locked down and not able to be together in our churches, chapels and community groups.
This week, I’ve a mix of old and new!
At the start of every new year, Methodists celebrate a covenant service. Established by the father of Methodism - John Wesley - it’s an important part of the Methodist Church calendar.
But many of this year’s covenant services have been affected by the closure of our churches during lockdown, so AT YOUR SERVICE this week goes back in time - to bring you extracts from a Covenant Service, recorded i...
Our thoughts, prayers and music today come from our archive of church services recorded around the Island over the past 20 years. This morning, we're going to St George's Church in Douglas, to hear extracts from two services - a celebration of the 225th Anniversary of the Church (October 2006) and a Service of Re-Dedication following a major programme of refurbishment of the inside of the church (December 2007)
The Warrington Male Voice Choir happened to be on the Island at the time of the Anniversary Service, and lent their voices to the celebration, with conductor Russell Patterson, an...
They only appear in St Matthew's gospel, and we're not entirely sure exactly who they were ...... but we do know why they're important!
In this first edition of At Your Service for 2021, we explore the coming of the three Kings, or Wise Men, who followed a star, which led them to the child Jesus, with his parents Mary and Joseph. Louise Whitelegg, a Methodist Local Preacher who is also our IOM Christian Aid rep, is well known for her down-to-earth, practical approach to her faith - she joins us to share some thoughts on what the events of that first Christmas have to say to us, today.
T...
In this final edition of At Your Service for 2020, Bishop Peter reflects on the unique challenges presented by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic - how did we make those early decisions? and what have we learned in the months that followed? And with so much uncertainty still around us, is it truly possible to wish each other a happy New Year?
Clare Faulds has been on pilgrimage - during December she walked 45 miles from Rushen Abbey to Maughold. That's about half the distance which Mary and Joseph walked, from their home in Nazareth, to Bethlehem where the child Jesus was to be born. Bu...
Special guest author and broadcaster Pam Rhodes joins Judith for this Christmas Day edition of At Your Service. We reflect on the Christmas story, and what it offers to you today - with Bible readings by David Suchet, lots of favourite carols, and conversation with Pam Rhodes, talking about her work on Premier Christian Radio, her devotion to The Leprosy Mission where she is Vice President, as well as discussing Christmas stockings, family traditions and home made ginger beer!
The following carols are included in the programme :
Once in Royal David's City
The Angel Gabriel
The Coventry...
The Tynwald Carol Service has now become a popular fixture on the Manx calendar.
With a reputation for fine singing of popular carols, it attracts big audiences, and this year it was hosted by St George's Church in Douglas, where the Archdeacon, the Venerable Andie Brown, is not only the Vicar, but also Chaplain of the House of Keys. The Lord Bishop, the Rt Rev'd Peter Eagles, who is also a member of the Legislative Council, led a time of prayer and gave a blessing in Manx; the four Bible readings were given by the Chief Minister, the Hon Howard Quayle, the Speaker, the Hon Juan Watte...
Rev'd Sean Turner has had a long-delayed journey from his home in America, to his new home in Colby, where is has the care of nine Methodist churches around the south of the Island. But in many ways, the waiting has given him a greater awareness of what this season of Advent is all really about.
He tells his story on At Your Service this week - and alongside Monsignor John Devine, senior priest in the Roman Catholic Church on the Island, they reflect on some of the Bible verses being used during this time of preparation for Christmas.
And as usual, there's music too!
If you'd like to...
In this second week of Advent, Rev'd Alex Brown explores two Bible passages - one from the Old Testament, written by the prophet Isaiah, and one from the New Testament, from the start of Mark's gospel. They were written over 700 years apart - but what - or who - links them together?
And what might they mean for us - today?
And does that modern meaning have any connection with CHRISTMAS LIVE that's coming to Douglas on 17th December? Rev'd Alex Brown thinks it does - and he's got all the information to share in this week's programme.
Rev'd Ruth Walker is looking forward to her first...
This is the first Sunday of Advent - the four weeks which the Christian church encourages us to use to prepare for the great feast of Christmas - not in a frenzy of buying, but quietly reflecting on the birth of a baby, over two thousand years ago, who was God made man, and who died a hideous death, so that we might have everlasting life with God in Heaven. It's a free gift and it's offered to everyone.
On AT YOUR SERVICE today, Mgr John Devine, Parish Priest in Douglas, and senior Roman Catholic priest on the Island, explains why Advent is his favourite time of the year. And - because ...
The Island has a lively Interfaith Group which meets regularly to develop friendships and promote understanding between people from different faith backgrounds.
Earlier this month, to mark Interfaith Week 2020, the local Interfaith Group took part in the Buddies project which involved two people from different faiths meeting regularly to discover - through informal conversation - their differences and similarities.
On At Your Service today, we're eavesdropping on the conversations of three pairs of Interfaith Buddies - as Cat and Joanna, Deborah and Simin and Tim and Rosemary - find...
During his career, multi-talented artist Archibald Knox designed everything from silver teapots to slate gravestones and grocer’s bank cheques.
His innovative designs were in the vanguard of the Art Nouveau movement and his work continues to influence many Manx artists to this day.
But it’s an ancient prayer which inspired what is regarded by many as Knox’s greatest work. It’s a prayer which has been set to music and transformed into hymns, and is known either as The Deer’s Cry, or St Patrick’s Breastplate.
Yvonne Cresswell, who is Curator of Social History at Manx National Heritage...
A special edition of AT YOUR SERVICE for Remembrance Sunday.
A selection of true stories reveal the impact of the two World Wars on the lives of ordinary people - there's a pause for reflection on some verses from the Bible, and a time of prayer for our world.
There's music, too - I Vow To Thee My Country, Let There be Peace on Earth, and a brand new version of a popular hymn by the Military Wives Choirs.
'Abide With Me' was sung in Westminster Abbey on Armistice Day 1920, as the Unknown Warrior was laid to rest there - representing the 165,000 who died in battle, and who were either...
Exactly one year ago this week, a group of folk from the Island met up with a group from the UK, to make a ten-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, led by Rev'd Steve Ingrouille (Onchan Methodist Church) his father Rev'd Rod Ingrouille from Weston-Super-Mare and Rev'd Dawn Harrison, and Anglican Priest in ministry on Merseyside.
After a year of change and challenge, and at a time when no one could consider making the same journey, some of the pilgrims reflect on their journey - Chido Maunze, Margaret and Colin Brown, and Howard and Sandra Parkin share the memories they'll never forget. This ...
This is BIBLE SUNDAY and Andrew Ollerton of The Bible Society believes that reading and understanding the Bible really has the power to change lives, as he explain how some verses from the Old Testament have a remarkably modern message.
Author Liz Babbs encourages us to make the message come alive by imagining ourselves in stories from the Bible - and there's music from hymn writer Isaac Watts, alongside live worship from Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, and a beautiful musical setting of words from chapter 6 of St Matthew's Gospel.
There's church notice board news, too - and if you...
As nationwide Prisons Week draws to a close, Rev'd Dr DeeDee Haines shares some thoughts from her experience as a prison chaplain; Cheryl Cousins, local minister for Dalby Village and St James' church finds interesting comparisons between plants and people in her call for a fairer world, and Rev'd Alex Brown, Pioneer Minister in Douglas, takes a fresh look at what St Matthew's gospel tells us about prayer.
And there's music too - we begin with a little oasis of calm - a requested choice from young choir Libera, then some vintage folk music from Sydney Carter, new music from British gospel...
Reverend Richard Hall leads the Methodist Church on the Island; he joins us this morning to tell A Tale of Three Trees.
Reverend Jo Dudley is Vicar of Christ Church in Laxey, and the season of Harvest Thanksgiving always takes her back to schooldays and childhood memories, and Phil Craine brings us a prayer through poetry - this week his choice is from the works of R.S. Thomas - The Bright Field.
Music this week includes another great 19th century hymn tune by Arthur Sullivan - 'To Thee, O Lord, Our Hearts We Raise', a version of 'Morning Has Broken' by Aled Jones and Nell Bryden, a...
Another joyful celebration at the Cathedral yesterday, as Rev'd Ruth Walker was ordained priest by Bishop Peter -she will continue as a curate at the Cathedral, working with the Dean, The Very Rev'd Nigel Godfrey.
October 4th is the Feast of St Francis of Assisi - one of our best-loved Saints, known for his love and respect for all creation, and his desire to live a simple life - but what does the life of St Francis have say to us, nearly 800 years after his death? Deacon Keith Fournier believes it's a message we simply cannot ignore.
And Reverend Andy Fishburne, a Methodist minister in...
It's Autumn - and the season of Harvest Thanksgiving services - we've a couple of favourite harvest hymns on today's programme, along with news of several harvest celebrations and other special events where you'll be made very welcome.
Rev'd Jon Barwood and Rev'd Steven Herron were ordained as Deacons in the Church of England by Bishop Peter in the Cathedral in Peel on Saturday afternoon. We bring you a flavour of their special ordination ceremony.
Pioneer Minister in Douglas, Reverend Alex Brown, is always looking for new ways to show that the message of Jesus is as relevant and lif...
Five years ago this weekend, the Island lost one of its finest Manx men - a respected farmer - a member of the Manx Farmers Union for over 50 years and its longest serving President - a Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, Captain of his Parish for over 20 years - and a very popular presenter here on Manx Radio. You’ve probably already guessed that description could only be John Kennaugh, who died on 21st September 2015 after a short illness.
On this fifth anniversary of John’s death, we reflect on another aspect of his life which actually underpinned everything else that he did - and ...
The Bible tells us that, to build a truly loving community, we must be ready to forgive when we've been hurt by the actions of others - and that's everything from petty insults to the killing of someone we love.
This week we tackle the big questions - is it really possible to truly forgive - and why should we even try?
To find some answers we have a look at the Bible, and then go back to a remarkable conversation with retired Isle of Man Chief Constable Robin Oake, who stunned everyone when he said he forgave the killer of his son, Detective Constable Stephen Oake, who was stabbed through ...