09 April 2023
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
The Triduum of Easter, which includes the services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Vigil on Holy Saturday evening were all marked at St Marys, finishing with the glorious Eucharist on Easter Sunday morning.
On Thursday evening at the Eucharist for the Last Supper, Father Chris told us that these three days can be considered to be all one service leading us through the events of the Last Supper and Good Friday through to the Resurrection on Easter Morning. Our service started out with the formal end of Lent being marked by the singing of the Gloria, with the ringing of Bells. After the Eucharist had been distributed the mood became more solomn as the altar and Church was stripped of hangings and the candles were lit in the side chapel for the Gethsemane watch.
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On Good Friday we met for a contemplative service at 2:30 in the Afternoon. This service included readings and prayers and a contemplation of the events of Jesus death on the Cross. The Choir sang 'Is it nothing to you....' Setting by John Goss, and 'God so Loved the World' setting by Somerville. At the end there was an opportunity to receive the Host reserved from yesterday's Eucharist.
On Easter Saturday evening we held our Vigil starting with the lighting of the new Pascal Candle outside the church and we then entered the dark building each carrying our own candles and responding to the acclamation 'The Light of Christ' with the response 'Thanks be to God' Father Chris then sang the Exultat, followed by readings from the Old and New Testament and a renewal of baptismal vows. The first Eucharist of Easter was then celebrated !
On Easter Sunday morning we met for our Eucharist of the Resurrection at 10 am. This service include a Baptism of three young children from the same family! A joyful occasion made even more so by the welcoming of three new Christians! The church was beautifully decorated with flowers and the Gospel according to John was read describing the events of the first encounter of Mary with Jesus. The Choir sang and anthem 'This is the Day' setting by Morley. As we left church we were offered an Easter egg by the children!
Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed Alleluia!
Acts 10:34-43
A reading from the Acts of the apostles.
Peter began to speak to those assembled in the house of Cornelius:
‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality,
but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right
is acceptable to him.
You know the message he sent to the people of Israel,
preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.
That message spread throughout Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power;
how he went about doing good
and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.
We are witnesses to all that he did
both in Judea and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
but God raised him on the third day
and allowed him to appear,
not to all the people
but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses,
and who ate and drank with him after
he rose from the dead.
He commanded us to preach to the people
and to testify that he is the one ordained by God
as judge of the living and the dead.
All the prophets testify about him
that everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’
Colossians 3:1-4
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Colossians.
If you have been raised with Christ,
seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth,
for you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
John 20:1-18
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Early on the first day of the week,
while it was still dark,
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb
and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple,
the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them,
‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,
and we do not know where they have laid him.’
Then Peter and the other disciple set out
and went towards the tomb.
The two were running together,
but the other disciple outran Peter
and reached the tomb first.
He bent down to look in
and saw the linen wrappings lying there,
but he did not go in.
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.
He saw the linen wrappings lying there,
and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head,
not lying with the linen wrappings
but rolled up in a place by itself.
Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in,
and he saw and believed;
for as yet they did not understand the scripture,
that he must rise from the dead.
Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
and she saw two angels in white,
sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying,
one at the head and the other at the feet.
They said to her,
‘Woman, why are you weeping?’
She said to them,
‘They have taken away my Lord,
and I do not know where they have laid him.’
When she had said this,
she turned round and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her,
‘Woman, why are you weeping?
For whom are you looking?’
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him,
‘Sir, if you have carried him away,
tell me where you have laid him,
and I will take him away.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her,
‘Do not hold on to me,
because I have not yet ascended to the Father.
But go to my brothers and say to them,
“I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.” ’
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
‘I have seen the Lord’;
and she told them that he had said these things to her.
