Services

The life of the risen Christ takes root in us slowly. In our readings today we hear how it impacted those who first heard it. In Acts, 2:14a, 36-41, there is sorrow and regret. Peter explains that what

is required is the desire to change, to repent, to turn around and be prepared to start again. Yet there is something that must come before this: In Luke 24:13-35, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, must first voice their disappointment, their crushed hopes “we had hoped”, they say “that he was the one to redeem Israel”. It only when they can let go of their own hopes that they are ready to receive the altogether larger, all encompassing hope that Jesus offers them, not just for their own people, but for all God’s children.

Jesus has done his job and now the task of living the resurrection is handed over to us. We are not expected to do this on our own: both of today’s readings focus on the gift of the Holy Spirit that the risen Christ sends us. For Peter, Acts 2:14a, 22-32, this is a dramatic and powerful gift: he recalls the prophet Joel promising that the spirit will be poured out on all people: old and young, men and women, slave and free. This gift allows us to dream new dreams and envisage a new future for all god’s people. For the disciples, gathered together in fear after Christ’s death, John 20:19-31, the receipt of this gift is an altogether more gentle affair. Christ breathes the spirit on them. It begins with assuring us that we are forgiven; that the worst we can do does not have to be the last word; that even places of despair and hopelessness can be places of redemption and renewal.

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.

Family Workshop at 10am when we make hot cross buns together and build the Easter Garden.

Stations of the Cross at 12 noon when we follow Christ’s journey to the cross. 

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.