DEDICATION
ON SATURDAY 15TH JULY 1910 the first portion of the new Church at Bramhall was opened … and the dedication sermon preached by the Rural Dean, the Reverend F A MacDona, Rector of Cheadle … the strong solid stone church had been built … Bramhall now had parish status, a parish church and a parish priest. A new phase of Church life was beginning.
The First 100 Years—A History of St Michael & All Angels, Bramhall, by the Reverend LM Dadson
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On Sunday 9th July 2006—96 years later—the sixth Vicar of Bramhall rejoices in another new phase of Church life beginning, and he echoes, in company with his parishioners and friends, the Prayer for the Dedication of the Temple offered by King Solomon:
Your servant is praying before You today: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place.
“Locus iste a Deo”, begins our Gradual anthem for today, “This is the Lord’s house.” The story of the Dedication of the Temple by King Solomon rooted me to the spot when I was a child. The detail of the account, in 1 Kings 8, opens with the words:
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven …
Rooted to the spot. Just 6 years old and an altar server in my home Church. I was, frequently, well nigh overwhelmed by the beauty, majesty and splendour of the Liturgy but what “rooted me to the spot” about the account of King Solomon’s prayer was, precisely, that before my eyes, centuries after the King’s offering, I had many times observed MY parish priest:
Stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the people … spreading out his hands toward heaven …
And that’s the glory and the majesty and the wonder and the joy of what we’re about. What we’re really about is the abiding, centuries old Worship of the Almighty God, the Lord of all Creation.
Stood before the altar of the LORD … spreading out OUR hands toward heaven …
Yes! This great and ancient tradition and practice makes us kinsmen and kinswomen with King Solomon, with King Jesus, with angels and archangels, with prophets and priests, and kings and queens, and rank upon rank of saints and sinners. On our festal Dedication Sunday, indeed on every Sunday, we dedicate ourselves anew—to the beauty of holiness, and we bow down and worship. For He said: “My name shall be there”. ALLELUIA!
Fr Simon Marsh
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