This sermon in commemoration of John Mere will be given in St Bene't's Church at 11.45 a.m. on Tuesday, 28 April 2026.  A Sixteenth Century Esquire Bedell and also Registrary who was a member of King's and of Corpus Christi Colleges, Mere left property in the Parish of St Bene't's, partly to endow a sermon in his memory to be given by the Vice-Chancellor or a nominee. Certain University Officers and Parish Representatives receive token payments for attending, flowers are placed on Mere's gravestone and payments are also made to the inhabitants of the Almshouses of St Anthony and St Eligius. There are subjects specified for the sermon, including the reading of scripture with respect to the obedience due to those in authority and the proper behaviour of those in authority towards those they govern, in the relief of poverty and in their proper instruction. The need to prepare for death but not to fear it other than Scripture allows, also features.

This year the preacher will be The Very Reverend Professor David Fergusson, OBE, FRSE, FBA,  Fellow-Commoner of Magdalene College, Regius Professor of Divinity and Dean of HM Chapel Royal in Scotland. Educated first at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, David Fergusson then undertook doctoral work at Oxford, writing a thesis on Realism and Idealism in Christian Interpretation with Special Reference to Bultmann. A Minister of the Church of Scotland, he held a lectureship in systematic theology at Edinburgh before a chair in the same at Aberdeen and then the Divinity Chair and the Principalship of New College at Edinburgh. He also served as Vice-Principal of the University. Since 2019 the Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland and of the Order of the Thistle, he took up the Regius Professorship of Divinity in Cambridge in 2021. Professor Fergusson has published extensively, his titles including  Reformed Humanism: Essays on Christian Doctrine, Philosophy and Church, Faith and Its Critics: A Conversation, Church, State and Civil Society, Community, Liberalism and Christian Ethics and The Cosmos and the Creator: Introduction to the Theology of Creation.

All are welcome. Matriculated members of the University community should please wear their gowns (black gowns, hoods not required). By custom Corpus Christi College kindly offer refreshment afterwards.