Mar 27, 20213 min
Bookings are required for all our services and events for COVID compliance
(other than for those already registered for Wednesday or Sunday services).
This weekend we have our Palm Sunday services, including the Liturgy of the Palms on Sunday morning at 10am which will begin on the driveway at 230A & B New Street, followed by a procession into the church carrying our small palm crosses and then a Choral Eucharist recalling Jesus’ ‘triumphal’ entry into Jerusalem (can you be triumphal on a donkey, or were the Gospel writers having a dig at the Roman Empire's idea of triumphal - on an elephant?).
On Tuesday evening at 7pm, we will be having a fish and chips meal ($11) following a meditation service on some of the Stations of the Cross, selected from this extraordinary carved set in the ‘Shrine of St Augustine’ in Ramsgate – a church designed by Augustus Pugin.
On Holy Wednesday, our 10.30am service will be a Celtic Eucharist for Healing, including anointing for yourself or on behalf of someone else.
On Thursday evening we will have our Maundy Thursday celebration of the institution of Holy Eucharist by Christ (as we so not celebrate Corpus Christi as a stand alone feast day). This will include a symbolic hand washing recalling that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at that Passover meal, in an act of servant hospitality. COVID restrictions prevent us have a more traditional foot-washing (*collective sigh of relief*) and the Diocesan regulations for handwashing by all of the congregation are too onerous, so Michelle and I will participate on behalf of everyone. Maundy Thursday is the first day of the three most important days of the Christian year – the ‘Triuum’ - Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day. The services on these days are thought of as continuous, so there is no final blessing until Easter Day.
On Good Friday there is the opportunity to participate in three events – the Pilgrim Walk of Witness run by the Brighton Covenant Churches at 10.30am (ending at St Andrew’s about 12 noon for hot cross buns and tea or coffee), our solemn devotional service at 2pm with beautiful music and the veneration of the cross.
On Good Friday evening at 7pm, we will experience a magnificent concert – François Couperin’s ‘Leçons de Ténèbrae’, renown as the finest work of its genre – performed by solo vocalists Tim Reynolds and Tim Watson, with Clara Shulz on cello and Calvin Bowman on our organ. This is something not to be missed.
On Saturday evening at 7pm we begin in the cloister with the new fire of Easter, the lighting of the Paschal Candle for 2021, this one decorated for us by Father Jan, and process into the darkened church by candlelight to hear the Proclamation of Easter - 'The Exsultet' - in Latin Praeconium Paschale, a lengthy sung proclamation delivered before the paschal candle and chanted for us by Joshua Erdelyi-Gotz. This leads to the renewal of our baptismal vows and the first Choral Eucharist of Easter.
Daylight savings ends on Saturday night, so don't forget to adjust your clocks back on hour or you might miss Easter Day when we have two services of Choral Eucharist at 8am (slightly shorter) and 10am (normal length).
I hope to see you at many of these fine Holy Week events.