Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 8am Morning Prayer

From earliest times, Christians gathered at regular hours during each day and night to respond to God’s word with praise on behalf of all creation and with intercession for the salvation of the world. By the fourth century, if not earlier, morning and evening had emerged as the pre-eminent hours for the offering of this sacrifice of praise. They have remained so ever since, and now you’re invited to join Rev’d Emma for Morning Prayer on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays at 8am to take part in this privilege and duty which belongs to all God’s priestly people. The side door (along Knoyle Road) will be open by 7:55am & we’ll gather in the Choir Stalls to pray. The heating will not be on so please wrap up warmly!

Morning Prayer lasts about 20 minutes, a few hard copies will be available or you can download an app to your smartphone: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer/daily-prayer-app-and-podcast

From earliest times, Christians gathered at regular hours during each day and night to respond to God’s word with praise on behalf of all creation and with intercession for the salvation of the world. By the fourth century, if not earlier, morning and evening had emerged as the pre-eminent hours for the offering of this sacrifice of praise.

The side door (along Knoyle Road) will be open & we’ll gather in the Choir Stalls to pray. The heating will not be on so please wrap up warmly!

Evening Prayer lasts about 20 minutes, a few hard copies will be available or you can download an app to your smartphone: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer/daily-prayer-app-and-podcast

From earliest times, Christians gathered at regular hours during each day and night to respond to God’s word with praise on behalf of all creation and with intercession for the salvation of the world. By the fourth century, if not earlier, morning and evening had emerged as the pre-eminent hours for the offering of this sacrifice of praise.

The side door (along Knoyle Road) will be open by 7:55am & we’ll gather in the Choir Stalls to pray. The heating will not be on so please wrap up warmly!

Morning Prayer lasts about 20 minutes, a few hard copies will be available or you can download an app to your smartphone: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer/daily-prayer-app-and-podcast

Maundy Thursday (from mandatum, ‘commandment’, because of the use of John 13.34 in the Antiphon) contains a rich complex of themes: humble Christian service expressed through Christ’s washing of his disciples’ feet, the institution of the Eucharist, the perfection of Christ’s loving obedience through the agony of Gethsemane.

After keeping vigil (‘Could you not watch with me one hour?’) Thursday passes into Good Friday.

It is a widespread custom for there not to be a celebration of the Eucharist on Good Friday, but for the consecrated bread and wine remaining from the Maundy Thursday Eucharist to be given in communion. The church remains stripped of all decoration.

From earliest times Christians have gathered through the night of Easter to recall the story of God’s saving work, from creation through to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, the Easter Liturgy is not merely a presentation of God’s work. It is meant to be a real experience of new life for the worshipper, a passing from darkness to light which offers hope to all the faithful. It is therefore important that the preparation is prayerful and thorough.

The Easter Vigil marks the end of the emptiness of Holy Saturday, and leads into the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The singing of the Exsultet, the ancient hymn of triumph and rejoicing, links this night of our Christian redemption to the Passover night of Israel’s redemption out of Egypt. Christian baptism is a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, a dying to sin in order to be reborn in him, and the Easter Vigil was from early Christian times a preferred occasion for baptism. It is fittingly a time when those who are already Christians may repeat with renewed commitment the promises of their own baptism, and strengthen their sense of incorporation into the royal and priestly ministry of the whole people of God. The Easter Gospel is proclaimed with all the joy and splendour that the church can find.