The Easter Vigil 2006

On the night of Holy Saturday, or Easter Eve, many churches follow the tradition of  holding
an Easter Vigil service, which traces in words and music the story from the Old to the New
Testament
which culminates in the death and resurrection of Christ, before the celebration of
the first communion of Easter. This year at St Faith's, this powerful and moving service also
included the confirmation,
by the Bishop of Warrington, of four young candidates.


Our pictures show the opening ceremonies of the blessing of the Paschal Candle and the lighting of the new
fire outside
church, followed by the rite of confirmation inside. After the service, the Bishop and the officiating
priests (all five of
them this year!) pose for the camera, before the Bishop greets one of the newly confirmed.

A ritual unique to St Faith's in recent years (as far as we know!) is the quaffing of champagne while watching
a firework
display launched from the vicarage garden. The final picture shows an intrepid member of the
congregation reprising her
performance on the  cymbals (the symbolic moment of the resurrection in the service
is marked by a cacophony of bells,
whistles, squeakers, loud organ music - and, for 2006, some sounding brass!
As Fr Aidan Mayoss, our visiting Holy
Week preacher declared, noone could accuse our worship of being boring!



  

 













Go to the Easter Day picture gallery

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