March 2010
VICAR: The Revd. Martin Fredriksen Tel: 694109
PARISH OFFICE (Mondays to Fridays 9.30am - Noon) Tel: 697641
FROM THE VICAR : This edition of the magazine only takes us up to the beginning of Holy Week, when we celebrate our Lord's Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. From then on, in addition to our regular morning and evening prayer there will be a daily Eucharist and Stations of the Cross – details of which will be in the weekly newsletter.
The main Liturgy of Holy Week takes place over three days (Latin: triduum) with appropriate pauses between. Maundy Thursday re-enacts in the Gospel our Lord's washing of the disciples' feet and then the Last Supper is celebrated. The Sacrament is 'reserved' and placed on the altar in the Lady Chapel where a watch is kept until midnight – remembering our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Good Friday has a three-hour Devotion starting at noon – to which folk may stay for as little or as long as they wish. There will be four half-hour meditations with hymns, prayers, readings and silence – followed by the Liturgy of the day at which an account of the Passion is read, the cross carried into church and Communion from the Reserved Sacrament.
The wonderful Paschal Liturgy begins at 8pm on Holy Saturday (or Easter Eve, but not as the world wants to call it 'Easter Saturday' – this should apply to the Saturday after Easter, because the first day of our week is Sunday!). The Church is in darkness and then candles are lit from the Paschal Candle – the powerful symbol of the Risen Christ. Readings tell of God's plan of redemption, baptismal promises are renewed and we go into the First Communion of Easter. This is a service at which the attendance has been steadily growing and if you have never been, you will have missed something really special!
Easter Day will have the regular services and as it falls on the first Sunday of the month, 8am will be the Book of Common Prayer, 10am the shorter Family Eucharist. We will sing Evensong at 3.30pm.
Our friends in the Orthodox Churches greeted each other on Easter Day with a salutation which we have now adopted in the West – "Alleluia! Christ is risen!" to which we respond, "He is risen indeed! Alleluia!" - but the total significance of the glory of Easter is not fully realised unless we take on board the reality of our Lord's suffering, death and burial first.
Do come and join in with us – as always, a welcome awaits you at St.John's.
Martin Fredriksen.
HOLY BAPTISM
| 7th February | Morgan Sid Williamson, Amber Paige Williamson |
| 14th February | Lily Grace Young, Noah Paul Christopher McCrow |
We welcome them into the Lord's Family
CHRISTIAN FUNERALS
| 2nd Feb | Molly Doris White | 17th Feb | Frank Walter Pittman |
| 3nd Feb | Margaret Robertson | Violet Gwendoline (Gwen) Adams | |
| 8th Feb | Stella Maud Holguette | 18th Feb | John Alfred Loveys |
| 11th Feb | Francis Cunnington (Frank) Chambers | 19th Feb | Christopher John (Chris) Brownhall |
| Margaret Mary Vincent | 24th Feb | Rita Elsie Peake | |
| 16th Feb | Elspeth Deborah Mantell | 26th Feb | Simon Matthew Caley |
May they rest in peace and rise in glory
Archived sermons :
2010 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August
2009 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2008 - January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2007 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December