News
Main feed
Our dawn service starts before the sun has risen at 6am when we light the Paschal Candle from the new Easter fire outside of the church and carry the light of Christ into the dark church. It’s worth getting up early for this magical service where we sing the first alleluia of Easter by candlelight.
Our Festival Easter Mass starts at 10.30am. Here we bless the Easter garden and renew our baptismal vows: we die with Christ and are raised by him into new life.
Our readings for both services celebrate the mystery of a God who raises the dead to life with Peter’s proclamation of the resurrection in Acts 10. 34-43 and John’s telling of the discovery of the empty tomb and the first meeting with the risen Christ, John 20:1-18.
Today we commemorate Jesus’ last supper with his disciples before his death. Our beautiful evening service at 8pm includes feet washing and ends with the stripping of the altar and silent candlelit prayer.
Our Old Testament reading, Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14, recalls the first Passover when God’s people were protected from harm to be led to freedom by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. In John’s gospel, 13:1-17, 31b – 35, it is Christ who takes the place of the sacrificial lamb. By freely choosing to give his life for us Jesus reveals God’s power is shown in forgiveness and God’s justice in love. Before his death, Christ models for us the path of vulnerability and humility as he kneels to wash his disciples feet and asks us to do the same for one another.
Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week, the annual memorial of the death and resurrection of Christ. Through our services this week we share in Christ’s journey, from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the empty tomb on Easter morning. Today begins outside the church as we echo the excitement and anticipation of Jesus’ followers joyfully waving palms as he enters Jerusalem as told in Matthew 21:1-11. Our procession, like that in the gospel, is led not by chariots and horses but by a donkey, signifying that God’s idea of leadership is not at all the same as that of the kings of the world. Once in church we turn towards the cross as the Passion gospel, Matthew 27:11-54, is read and the events of Holy Week are anticipated. This solemn passage offers us a different vision of leadership: in which the servant king pours out all that he has for the sake of the world God loves.
Both of our readings today are about finding water in a dry place. Using the metaphor of water in the desert the scriptures explore how the struggle for survival in tough times affects our relationships with God and with one another. And, offers some strategies, not just for surviving but for thriving.
In Exodus 17:1-7, when his people express their need, Moses is defensive and hostile and conflict ensues. Blame will only increase the hostility. Trust is what is needed. God responds by inviting both Moses and the people to trust one another and restore their relationship so that they might journey forward together.
The conflict explored in John 4:5-42 is the brutal and longstanding one between the Israelites and the Samaritans which has led to a complete breakdown of relationship between the two groups.
Jesus seeks to repair this relationship by first acknowledging his own vulnerability and asking for help. He extends trust towards an enemy and an outsider. Beside the well, both Jesus and the Samaritan woman confront their shared human need: they need water to live and the best way to get it is with each other.
Meeting by wells in scripture (particularly this well, which appears in the stories of Abraham, Issac and Jacob) always mark a new beginning. The new life which becomes possible when people who have been distant and different take the risk of journeying together.
The readings invite us to reflect, on how we cope when times are hard, who we blame, who we shut out; and on how we can begin to build trust where there is none, so that, together, we may not only survive but thrive.