The Rev Jane Bradbury presided at parish communion, assisted by Canon David Miller.

The gospel reading concerning a wheat crop maliciously over-sown with weeds provided a powerful theme for lay reader Betty Booker’s sermon.

Old questions of why bad people flourish are pertinent once again, as the airliner shot down in Ukraine dominates the news. Betty said Jesus’ story showed the need not to rush to judgement or seek immediate revenge, but to wait for the “harvest” when the good and the bad may be separated, one to eternal joy and one to damnation.

Rebecca Greenough read the lesson and Maureen Grattan-Kane led the prayers, in which the persecuted Christians of Mosul and the victims of the downed airliner were remembered. The organist was Richard Berry.