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Easter Journal 2019

4/21/2019

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Good Friday Homily​
Today is a day to focus on the Cross.  We are used to seeing crosses everywhere worn as adornments such as earrings and necklaces.  It is hard to know how much of the true meaning of crosses and crucifixes filters through to the people who wear them.  Sometimes the symbolism of the cross is hard to miss.  For many people this was the case during the past week as images emerged of the interior of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after the fire which caused so much damage.  Above a heap of charred wood and rubble in front of the altar hung a cross which seemed to shine out amid the sadness and gloom.  It seemed to bear the message that through death and destruction there is a life and a hope that can never be vanquished.
  This is a day which even church worshippers can approach with some reluctance or even avoid altogether.  It can be experienced as “too sad” and perhaps people might question why, as believers in the Resurrection, we need to revisit the scene of Jesus’s suffering and death.  Surely this is no longer a necessary part of the Christian experience?  Well, it is true that Jesus in his death on the Cross has broken the ultimate power that sin and death might have held over us.  This does not mean that suffering and death are things of the past though.  In this world we still experience grief, betrayal, failure and in the end also death.  What we can be sure of though, is that this need not be the end of our story.
   Today we pause and focus for a while on the Cross.  The sufferings of Jesus mean that he identifies closely with us in our own trials and losses.  Our faith is not a fairy tale which comes to a happy ending, but it is deeply grounded in human experience – an experience which we share.  Jesus did not pass lightly over the experiences of suffering and death but felt these things as keenly as anyone else would.  We know that we cannot make light of human suffering.  There is no point telling someone with depression to “snap out of it”.  We cannot expect the bereaved to “just get over it”.  We have to go through these experiences when they happen, but as Christians we know that we can go through them with hope.  Through the Cross comes life-giving grace.
   Today as we venerate the Cross and kiss the feet of Jesus, we are reminded that he is with us in our trials.  From our faith in him we draw from an ever-present source of life and hope.  As I think of the image of the cross glowing in the darkness and destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral I am reminded that no matter how messy and sad life might at times seem, through Jesus we always have cause for hope and the promise of new life.  Today, let us approach the Cross with the assurance that through the death of Christ our sins are forgiven and our life restored.
Easter Sunday - Pick of the Readings
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Colossians.
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed - and he is your life - you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

 

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Diary Dates
Coffee Mornings: 
From 10.00am every Tuesday throughout the year. 

Services: 
Wed 24th Apr 9.30am Said Mass
Thur 25th Apr 9.30am Said Mass. 
Sun 28th Apr 9.30am Parish Mass.
 Advance Notice - there will be a joint Mass for the Benefice on Sunday 12th May. .

Meetings:
Annual General Parochial Church Council Wednesday 24th April.
Future Events
WW2 Brass: Thur 5th September. Themed Concert to coincide with the start of the Second World War. Will also include a pictorial presentation. More details to follow. 
Xmas Brass: Thur 12th December. Usual mix of seasonal and contemporary music.
Both concerts will feature Worsbrough Brass.
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Easter Message

4/15/2019

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Easter Message
​As we enter Jerusalem with Jesus today in our worship, we also enter into Holy Week.  Although Christmas is seen by many as the most important event of the Church’s year, it is really the events of Holy Week and Easter that make the story of Jesus complete.  For Christians, this week is the cause of our hope.  It is wonderful that God came among us in human form as Jesus, but still more wonderful that he gave his life for us and rose again for us on that first Easter morning.  As we celebrate these events, our hope is renewed and our life restored.
 
This Sunday (Palm Sunday) we echo the cry of “Hosanna” which greeted Jesus on his arrival into Jerusalem.  Next Sunday (Easter Sunday) we sing “Alleluia” as a song of praise and rejoicing.  The problem with going straight from “Hosanna” to “Alleluia” is that we miss out everything that comes in between.  For Jesus, there was no Resurrection without his experience of betrayal, denial, suffering, death and burial.  For his disciples there was no Easter joy without first of all a sense of their own weakness, loss and sorrow.  For us too, if Easter is to be anything more than just a nice story or a sentimental happy ending, then we need to join in the experiences, through our worship, of that first Holy Week.
 
The readings at Mass during the week tell of how the celebrity worship of Jesus fell apart.  After all, Jesus had never come to be a hero figure.  Not only did the crowds dwindle, but even his closest followers and friends fell away, as we see with the betrayal by Judas and the denial by Peter.  If his disciples found it hard to understand the example of humble service which he gave them on Maundy Thursday, there were others who were actively hostile.  But Jesus shared supper with his disciples, telling them to “do this in memory of me”.  He then began his agonising wait in the Garden of Gethsemene.
 
Good Friday saw these events come to a head as Jesus was arrested, condemned, scourged and crucified with only a tiny number of faithful followers beside him, other than two thieves on crosses at either side.  Life and hope seemed to have gone and on Holy Saturday there was just an empty space.  The church is stripped of all adornments during these sacred days to remind us of that sense of loss and emptiness and to invite us to share in it.
 
The Easter joy only seems to make sense when we have shared the events that led up to it.  We then realise that Jesus was not betrayed, deserted and condemned by “bad” people, but by ordinary people just like us.  These were people who did not understand, who were afraid and who just went along with the crowd.  But just as they were offered forgiveness and a new beginning, so are we.  Their sadness and emptiness was replaced by an indescribable joy.  Whatever mess we have made of our lives or however bitter we might feel about the past, once we take the message of Easter to heart, then we have an undying hope and sense of newness.  Then it makes sense to sing: “Alleluia!”
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Holy Week Services
Mon 15th April Mass - St Andrew's at 12 noon.
Tues 16th April Mass - St Peter's at 7.30pm.
Wed 17th April Chrism Mass - St Catherine's at 12 noon.
Maundy Thursday Mass of the Lords Supper and Watch - St Peter's at 8.00pm.
Good Friday Liturgy of the Lords Passion and Death - St Andrew's at 3.00pm
Sat 20th April Vigil and First Mass of Easter - St Peters at 8.00pm
Easter Sunday Masses at the usual times in both churches.
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News Update 11th April 2019 Easter Services

4/11/2019

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Diary Dates
Coffee Mornings: 
From 10.00am every Tuesday throughout April. 

Services: 
Sun 14th April PALM SUNDAY Joint Benefice Mass held at St Peter's at 10.30am.. 
Holy Week
Mon 15th April Mass - St Andrew's at 12 noon.
Tues 16th April Mass - St Peter's at 7.30pm.
Wed 17th April Chrism Mass - St Catherine's at 12 noon.
Maundy Thursday Mass of the Lords Supper and Watch - St Peter's at 8.00pm.
Good Friday Liturgy of the Lords Passion and Death - St Andrew's at 3.00pm
Sat 20th April Vigil and First Mass of Easter - St Peters at 8.00pm
Easter Sunday Masses at the usual times in both churches.

Meetings:
Advance Notice - Annual General Parochial Church Council Wednesday 24th April.
Future Events
Concerts
aWW2 Brass: Thur 5th September. Themed Concert to coincide with the start of the Second World War. Will also include a pictorial presentation. More details to follow. 
Xmas Brass: Thur 12th December. Usual mix of seasonal and contemporary music.
Both concerts will feature Worsbrough Brass.
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