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Commencement of Holy Week

3/29/2021

Palm Sunday Sermon
“A murderer they save, the Prince of Life they slay”: words from one of my favourite Passiontide hymns, “My song is love unknown”. As was the custom at Passover, a prisoner was released. It could have been Jesus, but the crowd called for Barabbas. Ironically, the name Barabbas in Hebrew means, “Son of the Father.” The insurrectionist was released and the real Son of the Father, Jesus, was condemned to die.
The Passion reading we have just heard from Mark’s gospel turns all conventional wisdom on its head. So does the Gospel passage we heard at the beginning of Mass. The one who is acclaimed as king enters Jerusalem in humility, riding on a donkey, as the prophet Zecharia had once prophesied.
The crowds were enthusiastic in their welcome, but we hear in the Passion reading how that same welcoming crowd ended up shouting for the blood of Jesus. Human nature is fickle. We see examples all the time in the news of people who once were the flavour of the month becoming objects of derision. Jesus was spared none of that and neither did he expect to be.
“Not to be served but to serve”, in the words of another much-loved hymn, “The servant King”. Through Holy Week we are reminded of the humility of this King. The washing of feet cannot take place this year on Maundy Thursday, but the reminder is there in the gospel. On Good Friday, we see Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate and refusing to defend himself, other than to testify to the truth.
Jesus is exalted, but on earth that exaltation would come through being lifted up on a Cross. Through the crucifixion, which was intended to be a sign of shame, we see human dignity in its purest form. In the distorted, mocking symbolism of the crown of thorns, we see kingship as it really is. Through the death of Jesus, we see the power of sin and death being overturned. The love of God conquers all things.
This week is central to our faith. We see the real purpose of the ministry of Jesus and the true nature of God. Whereas the love of human beings is fickle, the love of God is constant and unconditional. Through the outpouring of God’s love from the Cross, we can be sure that in every trial we face, God will never desert us. This week I pray that our participation in the liturgical events of Holy Week will lead us into a deeper knowledge of God’s love and a stronger desire to reflect that same love in our lives.
Father Richard

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Holy Week Services

3/24/2021

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Services will resume from Palm Sunday. We are not quite back to normal as they will still be socially distanced, without singing, AND numbers will have to be limited so please book via the Vicar or Churchwardens. The dates and times are as follows:-
Palm Sunday 9.30am St Andrews (St Peters will hold their own separate service).
Maundy Thursday 7.00pm Joint Service at St Peters.
Good Friday 2.00pm Joint Service at St Andrews.
Easter Vigil and First Mass of Easter 7.00pm Joint Service at St Peters.
Easter Sunday 9.30am St Andrews (St Peters will hold their own separate service).

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Lent 5

3/22/2021

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“Unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain, but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.”
Over the past year it seems that priests and funeral directors are not the only ones to have become familiar with the theme of death and burial. We have heard on the news on an ongoing basis about the tragic death toll from Covid. On a less tragic, but still often upsetting level, other things have fallen on the ground and died: job prospects, the special events in people’s lives, opportunities to get together with our families and friends, holidays and much more. So much seems to have been taken away and some of those things may never come back.
In the gospel today we hear about some Greeks who are eager to see Jesus. Philip and Andrew go and tell Jesus. Unexpectedly, Jesus replies with a cryptic metaphor about a wheat grain being buried in the ground, but later producing an abundance of life. Jesus is anticipating his own death and resurrection. He also wants to bring home to his disciples that if anyone really wants to see Jesus, they will see him most clearly when he is raised up on the Cross. Here we see the sacrificial love of God in all its wonder.
The image Jesus uses to speak about death and new life is one his disciples could relate to and I think we can too. At this beginning of springtime we begin to see all the new life emerging from what has lain buried in the earth. “Now the green blade riseth”, in the words of that beautiful Easter hymn. That new growth will in turn give rise to yet more life. Archbishop St Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in El Salvador in 1980 picked up on this theme:
“To each one of us Christ is saying: ‘If you want your life and mission to be fruitful as mine, do as I do. Be converted into a seed that lets itself be buried. Let yourself be killed. Do not be afraid. Those who shun suffering will remain alone. No one is more alone than the selfish. But if you give your life out of love for others, as I give mine for all, you will reap a great harvest.’”
Romero was speaking about Jesus, but his words echo through his own self-offering in the service of the poor and especially through his death. When Romero speaks about being killed, he doesn’t mean that everyone has to die a martyr. This is really a message about allowing our own vanity and selfish ambition to die, together with everything that prevents us from being fully human. This is not a message about clinging to a mortal life, but about dying to live.
For Christians, Jesus is not a remote figure who did something strange and wonderful so that when we die, we go to heaven. Instead he calls us to follow him and to serve him by giving of ourselves for the good of others. Following Jesus means taking up our cross, whatever form it takes. St Rose of Lima reminds us:
   “Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.”
   It was when he was lifted up on the Cross that Jesus would draw all people to himself. The death of Jesus was not just some tragic waste of a life or the premature end of a wonderful story. It is the key point of his life on earth. Through his death, God brings new life.
   Even out of some of the losses and tragedies of this year, we have seen signs of new beginnings. There are some inspiring examples of people giving of themselves for others. Even out of loss and sadness there are signs of new purpose and restored hope.
We don’t need to die on a cross in order to follow Jesus, because Jesus has already done this for us, so that we might live. Whatever pains we have to bear, whatever sacrifices we make, whatever we lose in life, we can be sure that we do not have to bear these things in human strength alone. When we follow Jesus, when we lay down our lives in his service, we find the grace of God enters into our lives. Through our experience of loss and of death, we find the life that lasts into eternity.
Father Richard

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Stations of the Cross

3/17/2021

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The Stations of the Cross are an ancient form of Christian devotion, inviting us on a virtual pilgrimage in Jesus’ footsteps, recalling and reflecting on key moments on his journey to the cross. The following are images of the carved stations displayed in our church depicting some of the major moments from Jesus being condemned to being placed in the tomb. After each reading, at each station, we usually respond with:-

“We adore you O Christ, and we praise you:
because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.”

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Mothering Sunday

3/14/2021

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Mothering Sunday - For all Mothers everywhere (furry ones included!)

We are now just beyond the midpoint of Lent. The traditional practice of the Church at this stage is to have a “refreshment Sunday” or, to give it its Latin name, Laetare Sunday. Laetare is the exhortation to rejoice, which we hear in the entrance antiphon to Mass on the fourth Sunday of Lent, in the words drawn from Isaiah 66:10 – “Rejoice, Jerusalem”. Just as the people of Israel were called to rejoice in the consolation and hope that God alone could give, so we too have an invitation to do the same. Perhaps we feel something of the joyful hope of returning from a long experience of exile. After a long, hard, COVID winter we approach the light and hope not only of spring but of Easter, with its message that death will not prevail and that the love of God is renewed in our lives.
Our exile has also been one from our church at this time. Mothering Sunday is popularly known as “Mother’s Day”, but it was traditionally the time when people would visit their mother church. The COVID situation has prevented that from happening for the second year running. We look forward to being in church once again, God willing, from Palm Sunday onwards.
In liturgical terms, Laetare Sunday can be marked by rose-coloured altar frontals and vestments, which again symbolise Lenten joy. It is also customary to relax the Lenten rule around this time – maybe having a nice slice of cake or a G & T - reminding ourselves that Lent is not supposed to be a season of gloom but of spiritual growth. I pray you may find your spirits lifted on this Mothering Sunday as we give thanks to God and look to the future in joyful hope.
Father Richard

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Lent 3 Extracts

3/8/2021

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Extracts from the Streamed Service
last Sunday (Lent 3)

“Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up.”
Those cryptic words of Jesus were spoken in the aftermath of an astonishing scene. The anger we see in Jesus in this extract from John’s gospel seems at odds with the image we have of a gentle and meek character. We might describe it as righteous anger. Very rarely is anger truly righteous, but here it was directed at people who were making the house of God into a place of exploitation. This doesn’t mean that Jesus would object to fundraising events in our churches, or raffles or tombola. In the Jerusalem Temple it was not a question of fundraising, but of profiteering and extracting unjust sums of money from the people who came in faith to the Temple. The sanctity of the Temple had been defiled by market values.
When a special, holy place is destroyed or badly damaged it causes great sadness. Such places are symbols that point beyond themselves, such as the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, damaged by fire almost two years ago. When churches, mosques or temples are attacked or vandalised we feel sad and angry because, although they are inanimate structures, they embody the faith of a community and are deeply meaningful. They can, of course, be rebuilt, often in a beautiful way, but it tends to take years and huge amounts of money.
We know from the things he says in the gospels that Jesus knew the Temple would not last. He may well also have known that it would be rebuilt, although none of this would be in his lifetime on earth. So the Temple authorities were confounded when Jesus said: “Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up.” The gospel writer helps us out by telling us that the sanctuary he was speaking about was his own body. We know that Jesus would be put to death and raised on the third day. But no one in the Temple on that day could have had any idea at all of what Jesus was speaking about.
If certain buildings, like the Jerusalem Temple, are special because of the faith to which they bear witness, then how much more special are the people who confess that faith? In another place in John’s gospel Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman and tells her that the time would come when the worship of God would not be confined to this or that mountain on which temples had been built. People would worship “in spirit and in truth”. In Jesus we see how the human person becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. By the grace of God, this gift of the Spirit is poured out into the lives of all who believe in him.
Just as Jesus cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem, he gives us the means by which the Temple, which is our own body, can be cleansed of all that is at enmity with God. The Holy Spirit dwelling in hearts made pure, brings to life the commandments of God that we hear of in the book of Exodus. No longer are these laws just written on a page, but they are inscribed on our hearts and are brought to life as we live as followers of Jesus.
Psalm 18, reminds us that the law of the Lord is not something to enslave us, but a law that gladdens the heart and revives the soul. The love of Christ chases out the darkness within us, so that we can be fashioned into that living temple which is the dwelling place of God in human life.
As we approach Passiontide we come to focus more closely on the Cross. This instrument of death and shame was revealed as the place where sin was overcome and the power of death destroyed. No matter how unworthy we might be, God wants us to share in the forgiveness of sins and in newness of life.
The thing that made Jesus passionate and angry was the way in which people of faith were being prevented from drawing close to the God who is Father of us all. In the kingdom of God, the values of the market should always be subordinate to our true relationship with God and with one another. God does not judge us by our success or our economic value. He calls each of us to be temples of the Holy Spirit. So let us pray that our hearts may be cleansed, and let us prepare to welcome that gift.

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Commencement of Holy Week

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Lent 5

Stations of the Cross

Mothering Sunday

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