Wow! As a Benefice we offered so many opportunities for worship, prayer and reflection over Holy Week and on Easter Sunday, thanks to Geoffrey, David, Alison and Val at St. Bartholomew’s and Ali and Martin at St. James. Every service was well attended. Here are some photos and information of what took place.
Monday and Tuesday – Evening Prayer at St. Bartholomew’s, led by Geoffrey and David.
Wednesday – Stations of the Cross Service at St. Bartholomew’s: The service led by Alison and Val, started seated in a circle facing a tray of lit candles in the shape of the cross., whilst we listened to readings and prayers. We walked to each ‘station’ in turn and took turns to read a reading and prayer, and then light a small candle. The stations start with ‘Jesus is condemned to death’ and end on ‘Jesus body is laid in the tomb’, 14 in all. We finished back at the candle cross – now with translucent wax and nearly burned out.
Maundy Thursday Service and BCP Holy Communion at St. James: Ali led a reflection based on Bible Readings, music to contemplate upon and 2 reflections written by Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, from the book entitled Walking the Way of the Cross. Rev. Martin led us in a short BCP Holy Communion and we finished by standing in front of the Altar, with a cross and lit candles, as we then left in silence. Our ‘altar’ was a carpenters workbench. Hope appropriate. (Thanks Martin).
Good Friday Foot of the Cross Service at St. Bartholomew’s. Led by Alison and Val. Prior to the service there was an hour of silent personal vigil offered. The plain cross had the King of the Jews notice on in the languages of the time, plus the clothing of Jesus and barbed wire – to represent the crown of thorns.
Good Friday Reflection at St. James. Led by Ali. We again used the Carpenters Bench as a focal point and had lit candles. During the reflection of readings and prayers from Walking the Way of the Cross and times of silence and reflective music, the candles were gradually blown out. We ended our time by placing a nail at the foot of the cross or by taking it home.
Easter Sunday Holy Communion at St. Bartholomew’s. Below the beautiful image of the resurrected Jesus with Mary the Mother of Jesus, and two angels, plus the Easter garden photos. These show the true meaning of Easter and why we as Christians celebrate. There were some beautiful flower displays in church too, now Lent is over.
Easter Sunday at St. James: led by Rev Martin Lowles. We had a joint service with the folk and families from Shred. We heard the Easter story through the Bible Readings and heard Martin talk about how the ‘penny dropped’ – using a visual aid – for Mary and the other women when they saw Jesus in the tomb garden, following their surprise at seeing the tomb stone rolled away. We also had an Easter garden and lilies in remembrance of loved one who are no longer with us on earth.
If you are intrigued by what you have read on this ‘blog’ and want to know more about our churches of St. Bartholomew’s and St. James, please see the service details on our CALENDAR and come along to one of our services.