Worship Material

On this page you will find podcasts recorded by Bill and Erica Young, beginning during the pandemic of 2020 while Bill was still a United Reformed Church Minister sharing the oversight of four churches in Coventry. Fresh editions were created every week from 22 March 2020 until the end of the year. Further podcasts will be added to the collection corresponding to occasions when Bill and Erica are engaged by churches to lead worship.

The most recent material, audio with a transcript, is immediately below this paragraph; scroll down for an archive of all material posted since 22 March 2020.

With effect from 22 March 2022, for licensing reasons, only the transcripts are available to download.

Mary anoints the feet of Christ (John 12.1-11) Stained glass by Eugène Moulin (1880), church of St Pierre, Dreux, France.

A script for the 29 March 2021 podcast can be found here.

The podcast team

After a crash self-taught course for Bill in using Audacity software, Bill and Erica Young produced podcasts for the North Coventry Group of United Reformed Churches from 22 March to 27 December 2020, as an offering into the online worship resources springing up during the Covid-19 emergency.

Thanks to the talents and voices of Erica Young and – often – Janet Powell this quickly ceased to be just the same old Scot droning on in the same old way. A number of other readers came to take part and we felt supported and blessed by the contributions made by all of those who were willing to record themselves reading scripture, sometimes with the assistance of other family members to get over technical hurdles.

Podcast Archive

A script for the 29 March 2021 Podcast (Monday of Holy Week 2021) can be found here.

20 July 1996 (what 24+ years of ministry can do to a man…)

A script for the 27 December podcast can be found here.

A script for the Christmas Day podcast can be found here.

Christmas arrives – or we do. Wreath by Mandy.

A script for the Christmas Eve podcast can be found here.

Candles in a time of expectancy, Advent 4 2020

A script for the 20 December podcast can be found here.

Candles in a time of hope, Advent 3 2020

A script for the 13 December podcast can be found here.

Candles in a time of looking forward, Advent 2 2020

A script for the 6 December podcast can be found here.

Candles in a time of Covid, Advent Sunday 2020

A script for the 29 November podcast can be found here.

Christ enthroned separates the sheep and goats,
sixth-century mosaic, Basilica of St Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna.

A script for the 22 November podcast can be found here.

The Parable of the Talents, 1712
by the German engraver and publisher Christoph Weigel (1654-1725)

A script for the 15 November podcast can be found here.

The Grieving Parents (1932) – by Käthe Kollwitz, representing herself with her husband Karl. Vladslo German War Cemetery, Belgium, where their son Peter is buried.

A script for the 8 November Remembrance Sunday podcast can be found here.

Material from Bill Young’s 2017 sabbatical study of remembrance can be found on our sister website revdbill.info. This includes a report ‘Aspects of Remembrance’ and photographs from a variety of sites visited.

Phylactery (Tefillin) from the 2nd to 1st Century BC. Qumran (Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls)

A script for the 1 November podcast can be found here.

‘A new commandment I give to you…’ Jesus giving the Farewell Discourse to his eleven remaining disciples after the Last Supper, from the Maestà by Duccio, c. 1310.

A script for the 25 October podcast can be found here.

they brought him a denarius… Silver denarius of the Emperor Tiberius

A script for the 18 October podcast can be found here.

Moses with the Tablets of the Law, 1659 by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

A script for the 11 October podcast can be found here.

A Russian icon, Moses the Prophet, from the Kizhi monastery. Early 18th century.

A script for the 4 October Podcast can be found here.

*Harvesters* (1905) by Anna Ancher (1859-1935)
The podcast for 27 September takes the form of a Harvest Thanksgiving

A script for the 27 September podcast can be found here.

Jesus’ parable in Matthew 20 speaks of labourers in the vineyard. This is a recent photograph of a vine in Coventry, originating from a plant grown by the late Phil Warner, one time member of Holyhead Road URC.

A script for the 20 September podcast can be found here.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul (painted 1587-1592)
Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) 1541-1614

A script for the 13 September podcast can be found here.

The Whirlwind: Ezekiel’s Vision of the Cherubim and Eyed Wheels
(Illustration to Ezekiel 1.4–28, about 1803–05) William Blake, 1757–1827

A script for the 6 September podcast can be found here.

*The Prophet Jeremiah*, part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, Rome
by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), painted 1508-1512

A script for the 30 August podcast can be found here.

Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639), *Moses saved from the waters (*National Gallery, London)
Exodus 2.5

A script for the 23 August podcast can be found here.

Jesus exorcising the Canaanite Woman’s daughter (Matthew 15.21-28)
from the illustrated manuscript Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 15th century.

A script for the 16 August podcast can be found here.

Fishing boat near Canna, Hebrides, August 2019
Matthew 15.24

A script for the 9 August podcast can be found here.

Sixth-century mosaic, Christ blesses the loaves and fish
Church of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna

A script for the 2 August podcast can be found here.

*Baking Bread (1889),* Anders Zorn (1860-1920)
Matt 13.33 *The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.*

A script for the 26 July podcast can be found here.

*Cornfield with crows* (1890)
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

A script for the 19 July podcast can be found here.

*The Parable of the Sower (1557)*
Peter Brueghel the Elder (d 1569)

A script for the 12 July podcast can be found here.

*…where does my help come from?*
Ben Nevis from Loch Linnhe. Lochaber, Scotland.

A script for the 5 July podcast can be found here.

A script for the 28 June podcast can be found here.

A script for the 21 June podcast can be found here.

Christ Blessing (The Saviour of the World), 1600; El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)
Image licensed for use by the National Galleries of Scotland.

A script for the 14 June podcast can be found here.

The Holy Trinity, 1511, woodcut by Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528)

A script for the 7 June (Trinity Sunday) podcast can be found here.

*Pentecostés* (Pentecost), 1597 by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos, 1541-1614)

A script for the 31 May podcast (‘Pentecast’) can be found here.

Acts 1.10: *They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going…*
Sun over Rum, August 2019

A script for the 24 May podcast can be found here.

Paul preaching at the Areopagus, Athens (Acts 17)
Cartoon for tapestry; Raphael (1483-1520)
(c) Victoria and Albert Museum, London; used by permission

A script for the 17 May podcast can be found here.

During the 10 May podcast you are invited to hold a stone or pebble in your hand.

A script for the 10 May podcast can be found here.

A third century image of Jesus the Good Shepherd from catacombs in Rome

A script for the 3 May podcast can be found here.

Caravaggio’s depiction of ‘The Supper at Emmaus’, 1602-3

A script for the 26 April podcast can be found here

The podcast for 19 April includes a reflection on Psalm 42.4-5

A script for the 19 April podcast can be found here.

Magdalene meeting the resurrected Christ, Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, 1835

A podcast for Easter Sunday, based on the John 20 Easter narrative.

A script for the Easter Sunday podcast can be found here.

For the Holy Saturday podcast transcript, click here.

For a transcript of prayers used in a phone-conference prayer gathering on the afternoon of Good Friday, click here.

For Good Friday’s podcast transcript, click here.

For Maundy Thursday’s podcast transcript, click here.

For Wednesday’s podcast transcript, click here.

For Tuesday’s podcast transcript, click here.

For Monday’s podcast transcript, click here.

Holy Week 2020 – a ‘Pilgrimage’

Since Holy Week 2016 our Group has used the evenings of days in Holy Week to gather for worship in each of our churches – a different one every night. While this is not possible this year we can still join for a virtual ‘pilgrimage’ online. Each of the daily recordings immediately above here includes a short reflection on part of John’s Passion narrative in chapters 12-19, with prayer and topped and tailed with music.

A palm cross such as Christians all over the world distribute and display in Holy Week

A script for this Palm Sunday podcast can be found here in pdf format.

Vellum leaf from Book of Hours, France, c1470 — Manuscript text from a vellum leaf (8cm x 10cm) taken from a French ‘Book of Hours’, c1470. The text is a guide for the reader to some texts and prayers in the Mass, including ‘De profundis’ – ‘out of the depths’, the first words of Psalm 130.

A script for this 29 March podcast can be found here.

El Greco: Christ healing the blind — El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos, 1541–1614), The Miracle of Christ Healing the Blind. Public Domain image from Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: www.metmuseum.org

A script for this 22 March podcast can be found here.

Induction of Revd Debbie Brown…

…to minister in the North Coventry Group of United Reformed Churches: Foleshill Road URC, Holyhead Road URC, Keresley URC, Potters Green URC. Debbie’s induction Service was planned for 4 April 2020; an induction was led online on that day by the Revd Steve Faber, Moderator of the West Midlands Synod, URC. A recording of the induction can be heard by playing (or downloading) this audio file.

A pdf file of the Order of Service is available here.