Blessing of the Bicycles at Great St. Mary’s Church

Great St Mary's Church

Great St Mary’s, the University Church, will once again be offering a Bicycle Blessing outside the church.

The 3rd Annual Bicycle Blessing is on Sunday, 29 September at 11am, the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, followed by Choral Mattins. We’ll be praying for cyclists,  pedestrians, and even drivers, as we celebrate cycling in Cambridge. The service is an opportunity to celebrate safe cycling in our city, as well as to remind ourselves to take care on the roads and to treat one another with patience and kindness. Cyclists are invited to bring their bikes for a blessing outside the church, and then to come inside for choral mattins at 11.15am, or to the 9.30am Communion service before hand.

The Girls’ Chamber Choir of the University Church will be singing, along with the ‘back row’ of adults, under the direction of Sam Hayes – who has written a whimsical piece of music for the bicycle blessing with references to the melody of ‘Daisy Bell’ and chord patterns from Queen’s ‘Bicycle Race.’  The text is from the Bible, in the Book of Ezekiel 1.19a, 20b: ‘And wherever the living creatures went, the wheels went with them…because the Spirit of life was in the wheels.’