IMAGES OF HOLY WEEK 2015


. Palm Sunday .


For many years, we have been blessed with good weather for Palm Sunday.
This year, doubtless as part of our Lenten penance,
it was wet and cold on Palm Sunday morning,
so the planned peregrination was shelved for a quick 'donkey trot' (spot the animal in the first picture!)
for the hardy from the hall to the church, where most had stayed anyway.


     


The week has begun and the journey will continue...


. Monday of Holy Week .

The first weekday of Holy Week has for many years featured the quiet, reflective service of the Stations of the Cross.
The fourteen Stations take us from the Lady Chapel, round the church and to the Chapel of the Cross,
where the holy eucharist is celebrated. Read about the meaning of this service HERE.


   
  


 
. Maundy Thursday .

The first of the three days of the great Triduum begins with the Lady Chapel decked out as the Chapel of Repose
in the Garden of Gethsemane. At the beginning of the liturgy the holy oils, blessed by the bishop earlier today, are brought up to the altar.
After the symbolic ritual of the washing of the feet, the congregation gather round the nave altar for the central part of the eucharistic liturgy.
The candles are now lit in the Lady Chapel, and sanctuary party and people process there through the darkened church
as the liturgy draws to it close. The
altars and furnishings are stripped for Good Friday as the service ends in solemn silence.

Read Sue's Maundy Thursday sermon HERE



     
 




. Good Friday .


To hear Fr Neil Kelley's memorable rendering of the last verse of the Negro Spiritual 'Were you there?',
as performed by him at the end of several Good Friday services during his incumbency here, click HERE



. Waiting for Easter .

The morning of Holy Saturday saw the church as busy as always on this day of waiting.
The Flower People created colourful displays, and built the Easter Garden at the foot of the pulpit, while the recently installed cross,
the work of Mike Carr, was draped with the symbolic burial cloth in which Our Lord was wrapped in the tomb.
With the furnishings restored, the banners hung on high and the reredos reopened,
all was ready for the Vigil and First Eucharist of Easter that night.

  
 
 

. The Easter Vigil .

A bright Holy Saturday meant that, as we entered church, the materials for the New Fire were still in broad daylight.
Inside, the ministers waited in silence as darkness began to fall. Following the sequence of vigil readings,
we left church for the lighting ceremony, and lo! there was darkness to set off the conflagration.
Lo! also, there was a breeze, and getting the paschal candle lit and remaining alight proved somewhat tricky,
to the amusement of otherwise solemn servers, before we returned to our pews.
Inside, darkness gave way to light as the resurrection was noisily proclaimed.
Later in this lengthy and eventful service, there was the renewal of baptismal vows at the font,
and the vicar's equally traditional and extremely generous sprinkling with holy water.
Spiritual refreshment was followed by the physical, with a glass of bubbly and an easter biscuit at the back of church.

   
 
 
 
 



. Easter Sunday .

The day of resurrection was marked, as always, by the joyful celebrations of the morning Sung Eucharist
and the closing delights of the evening's choral evensong
.
The pictures (and the easter egg basket!) speak for themselves.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!


 
 
 
 
 

Photos by Chris Price