Holy Week and Easter

Services for Holy Week and Easter:

• Palm Sunday 25th March: Gather in the Hall at 9:00 am. We will walk round he church to celebrate Christ's entry into Jerusalem. The Passion narrative will be dramatised during our Eucharist. Don't forget the clocks go on one hour.
• Passover Supper 28th March: Come and join in with a Passover meal at 7:00 pm in the Hall.
• Maundy Thursday 29th March: Holy Communion at 8:00 pm with washing of feet, stripping the altar and Vigil, ending with Compline at 11:50.
• Good Friday 30th March: Coffee and hot cross buns in the Hall at 9:00 am, followed by Walk fo Witness to Putrley town centre at 9:15. The Good Friday liturgy is from 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm.
• Easter Eve 31st March: Communion service of the New Light at St. Swithun's at 10:00 pm.
• Easter Day 1st April: Sunrise service at the Playing Fields, Higher Drive at 6:30 am, led by Rev'd Fiona. Said Communion at 8:00 am, and Easter Eucharist at 9:15, followed by an Easter Egg hunt.

An Easter Message from the Vicar:

Dear Friends,

I have been thinking recently that rather than New Year’s resolutions we should have Easter Resolutions.

Our journey during the season of Lent has led us through Passiontide and Holy Week, culminating with the Crucifixion on Good Friday. But our journey does not end there: Easter brings a new dawn and a new day, and a new beginning, our sins forgiven. What better time is there than Easter to make resolutions.

These resolutions should realign our lives with Christ as individuals, and as communities of faith.

The early disciples were changed from a frightened and disillusioned group, to men who stood up against the authorities, and eventually gave their lives for what they believed – for what they knew to be true – which is that Jesus came back to life.

New life for Christ led to new life for his disciples, new starts that make our recent changes to become a united benefice seem quite trivial. We are beginning a new way of being a church, working together more, learning from each other, and sharing good practice. As the vicar of the new Benefice of Purley St Marks and St Swithun I pray we will have the courage to open our minds, our hearts, and our spirits to what God wants to give us this Easter.

Life in all its fullness is ours in Christ.

Sadly, not everyone will receive it. Anyone of us can go through the motions, greeting one another perhaps with gifts of chocolate, or whatever else has been spurned in Lent, and go back to old dead ways - or we can reach out with empty hands, with nothing to give, asking only that we may receive what He wants to give. We know the story so well.

Remember that the Easter story is only just beginning for us.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter. I hope you get to eat some Easter eggs – but not too many of course. I hope you enjoy some quality time with family and friends.

Most of all, I hope you spend some time thinking about the real meaning of Easter., and I hope you spend some time thinking about the possibilities of a new life for yourself, and our new Benefice starting now and continuing into eternity.

Have a blessed and happy Easter.

Your Vicar

Rev’d Fiona

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