With only a few weeks before Easter, this is a detailed look at the services during Easter week:
Sunday 24th March – Palm Sunday
We begin our service in the Parish Centre, where we recall Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. The palm branches the crowds waved are remembered as crosses made from palm leaves are blessed and given to each person present. Many like to take one to relatives, neighbours or friends. They are kept in the home as a focal point for prayer. They serve as a reminder that the praises sung as the branches were waved that day quickly turned to shouts calling for Jesus’ crucifixion. Processing into church during our first hymn, the service ends with an extended reading of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus – as there will be some present who will not be in church until the following Sunday’s Easter celebrations.
Monday 25th and 26th March 7.00pm
Compline. This quiet, short service is one used by Monastic communities at the end of the day, as an opportunity to reflect on the events it has contained. It helps us to slow down, and to sustain the Monastic pattern of worship which formed St Mary’s in its early years.
Wednesday 27th March 10.00am
Communion. As the shadow of the cross looms ever larger, we ponder the events in the Upper Room as Jesus prepares his disciples for the horrors which will unfold.
Thursday 28th March – Maundy Thursday
Holy Communion and Foot Washing. 7.30pm. As a reminder of the act of Jesus in washing the feet of his disciples, the leader washes the feet of 12 members of the congregation. It is a call to all of us to be willing to follow the example of Jesus in serving others.
If the Son of God can perform the action of a slave, every Christian should be willing to do the most menial of tasks to help others. At the end of this service, the church is stripped of all finery and precious items as a reminder that Jesus was stripped of all he had as he faced the cross.
Because Jesus left the Upper Room where he had shared his Last Supper and made his way to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, inviting his friends to support him in that time, people are offered the opportunity to do the same.
A small ‘garden scene’ becomes a focal point and in silence and subdued light each person spends quiet time reflecting on the inner turmoil Jesus experienced.
Friday 29th March – Good Friday
At the Foot of the Cross – 2-3.00pm. Unlike previous years, we will spend the final hour of Jesus’ time on the cross focussing on the events of Good Friday. Why is such a terrible day called Good? It was accomplished for our good, and won forgiveness from God so that in his eyes we are regarded as good. During this reflective time, we will burn papers which contain words we have written asking for forgiveness. This will happen at the foot of the cross in the gardens behind the church.
Saturday 30th March
Reflective Easter Eve Service – 8.30pm. This is an ancient tradition which sets the events of Holy Week in the bigger picture of God’s works throughout history. What happened at the death and resurrection of Jesus is seen as the pivot around which history turns, its grand climatic event. The service happens once the sun has gone down and recognises that God’s actions often happen when we’re all asleep. It helps us to realise we’re not indispensable! Candles are lit, the church building is transformed from the bare, dark Good Friday setting to a theatre of resurrection. Everyone is invited to renew the promises of their baptism. A very special service!
Sunday 31st March – All-Age Communion for Easter – 10.30am
A celebration of new life, of renewed hope, of joyful singing. The water of baptism is splashed around, denoting a fresh start, and together we share in the feast at God’s table – a victory feast!! If you’re not inside the building, you’ll hear us if you’re in the area!! Children search for hidden eggs just as the disciples searched for the body of Jesus. They didn’t find what they were looking for – but the children will find plenty of symbols of new life!
The whole journey is a powerful and symbolic path which leads from fear to joy, from darkness to light, from oppression to victory. In a world where fear, darkness and oppression infect all our lives in different ways, this journey speaks into our own life’s journey and sheds its light and hope into our being. It’s not just an old story from long ago – it has a power which resonates with our life today. If you need to find that power for yourself, come along and let the journey carry you with it.