Well, that was two firsts.

Communion by Extension (or Meals on Wheels as Pam calls it) - something of which our bishop does not approve. It was, the lay reader told me, only a second time in 40 years for him. I think this has to be a way forward: either that or we go back to the practice of regular Morning and Evening Prayer, with Eucharist only on special feasts and fasts, which rather negates what the Church of England has been doing so strenuously for the last half century in bringing our services somewhat closer to those of the Roman Catholic Church.

The other first was a Hellfire sermon. Not the full "Ye are all damn'd" of the seventeenth century, but very firm about the Day of Judgement (which he described as part and parcel of the Second Coming and Christ's Advent promise - the only one not yet fulfilled) and the dividing of the sheep and the goats. Food for thought, and a very different sermon from what I have known previously.

I won't go right back into the mists of time, but over the last 20 years our regulars have delivered:-
Lisbet - academic argument with current affairs illustrations
Ken - kindliness and forgiveness with personal anecdotes
George - carefully prepared essays on the scriptures (usually the day's gospel or epistle)
Doug - beautifully argued and presented theological dissitations
Peter - somewhat narrow Anglican doctrine with occasional diatribes against the ungodliness of modern culture.

So you see, some of us are listening and taking notice. I've even got a favourite over the years: a superb one by a visiting locum about greatness of soul, saints in the modern era and Charles Wesley, and a least favourite "The Egg Sermon" - not actually all that bad especially for a family communion attended by lots of children, just a bit wearing when delivered on Easter day in three (or more) successive years when I was in my teens.

I wish that there was more often time to have a proper discussion after the service, but either it is social chit-chat over coffee, or the priest has to rush off to another service in another village, and the opportunity does not present itself.