Holy Week and Easter 2020

We shall not be able to meet this year for our Holy Week & Easter services.  I am of course saying Morning & Evening Prayer at home daily and the Litany on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays plus the Ante-Communion on these specially sacred days of Holy Week & Easter with their key bible readings.  If you want to do the same, you can find all you need in your own Books of Common Prayer, Common Worship books or online resources on the Church of England webpage.  You could also use the Alternative Service Books which you might have at home although we longer use them in church.

 

Please let me know if you have prayer requests, if you need any help or if you know anyone who does need help.

 

The May magazine will be published online http://cuxtonandhalling.org.uk/ and by email only on Saturday 11^th. Please send any contributions by 8.30 am that morning.

 

Here are some resources I am putting together for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday & Easter Day, what we would have done together and might now do at home alone or just with our families but in a spirit of belonging, as members one of another, of our own local congregations and of the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here in earth and indeed as one with the Church triumphant in heaven.

 

The Church's one foundation

Is Jesus Christ her Lord;

She is His new creation

By water and the Word:

From heav'n He came and sought her

To be His holy Bride;

With His own blood He bought her,

And for her life He died.

 

Elect from every nation,

Yet one o'er all the earth,

Her charter of salvation,

One Lord, one faith, one birth;

One holy Name she blesses,

Partakes one holy food,

And to one hope she presses,

With every grace endued.

 

Though with a scornful wonder

Men see her saw opprest,

By schisms rent asunder,

By heresies distrest,

Yet saints their watch are keeping,

Their cry goes up, “How long?”

And soon the night of weeping

Shall be the morn of song.

 

Mid toil and tribulation,

And tumult of her war,

She waits the consummation

Of peace for evermore

Till, with the vision glorious,

Her longing eyes are blest,

And the great Church victorious

Shall be the Church at rest.

 

Yet she on earth hath union

With God the Three in One,

And mystic sweet communion

With those whose rest is won:

O happy ones and holy!

Lord, give us grace that we,

Like them, the meek and lowly,

On high may dwell with Thee.

Maundy Thursday:

We should  have celebrated Holy Communion at St John’s at 9.30 am.  These would have been the readings.  I Corinthians 11 vv 17-34  & Luke 23 vv 1-49.  The thoughts are of how wonderful it is that Jesus loved us so much that He died for us on the Cross, that He instituted this Holy Sacrament in remembrance of Him so that we should experience His grace in our lives today and receive Him as the Bread of life nourishing us with His love as we make our way through this world to the eternal home in Heaven which He purchased for us by His Blood.  Maundy comes from the Latin novum mandatum, a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you.  We share this love in the fellowship of Holy Communion and as we go about our daily lives in the world.

 

At Cuxton, we should have re-enacted a Passover Supper.  Our Lord’s Last Supper was a passover meal which He had longed to share with His disciples before His Death.  At that meal, He consecrated Himself as high priest and sacrificial victim and He consecrated His Church to continue the work which God the Father had given Him to perform on earth – to bring in the Kingdom of God.  He set us an example by humbly washing His disciples feet.  He endowed us with the Holy Spirit.  He commissioned us to follow in His footsteps.

 

Passover commemorates the fact that God set the children of Israel free from slavery in Egypt.  The angel of death passed over the houses where the blood of the passover lamb had been applied to the door posts.  God brought His people through the waters of the Red Sea to Mt Sinai where the Old Testament was sealed with the blood of sacrificial animals.  Israel would be the people of God, holy because God is holy.  God gave Moses the Law in which the people would walk as God’s people.  God fed them with manna (what they called the bread of heaven) in the wilderness.  He brought water for them to drink from the rock.  He led them by the Pillar of Fire & Smoke.  He protected them from their enemies.  He judged and punished their sins.  He forgave them for their faithlessness and brought them into the Promised Land.

 

Our Christian experience is that God saves us from slavery to sin and the fear of death.  The Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, keeps us safe from Satan and death.  God brings us through the waters of Baptism.  He makes with us a New Testament in the Blood of Christ.  He gives us His perfect Law of love by which to live our every day lives.  He feeds us on Christ the Bread of Life.  We drink of Jesus the Water of Life.  He guides us and protects on the journey of our lives.  He judges us for our sins and forgives us.  At last He will bring us home to the Promised Heaven.

 

Good Friday:

This was the order of service planned for the Family Service at Cuxton at 10.00 am.  By all means, read the readings and sing the hymns at home.

 

A&M Hymn 142: Hail to the Lord’s Anointed

I Samuel 16^1-13 p287

SoF Hymn 390: Meekness & Majesty

I Samuel 17^1-16 p288

A&M Hymn 59: Sing My Tongue the Glorious Battle

I Samuel 17^17-31 p288

A&M Hymn 58: The Royal Banners Forward Go

I Samuel 17^32-40 p289

A&M Hymn 61: Ride on, Ride on in Majesty

I Samuel 17^41-51 p289

A&M Hymn 137: There is a Green Hill Far Away

Revelation 12^1-12 p1241

SoF Hymn 8: All Hail the Lamb

Luke 23^26-43 p1060, Luke 23^44-47 p1060

A&M Hymn 63: My Song is Love Unknown

Prayers

SoF Hymn 120: From Heaven You Came

Grace.

 

 

The theme on this year of the 75^th anniversary of VE Day is David and Goliath.  Through faith in God, the young shepherd boy found the resources to defeat and destroy the arrogant Philistine giant.  We all admire David and what he achieved.  However, David did not in the end defeat the power of the Evil One.  It was Jesus Who did that and Jesus didn’t defeat evil by killing His enemies.  On the contrary, Jesus gave up His life for His enemies, so that we should not perish but have eternal life.  Jesus did not resist evil with evil.  He overcame evil with good, by love, the more excellent way.

 

This is the order we intended to use for the Three Hour Devotion at Halling.

 

12.00

Hymn 104 All Ye Who Seek for Sure Relief

Romans 1 vv 1-7 p1128

Psalm 1

ADDRESS

Silence

 

12.20

Hymn 210 Rock of Ages

Romans 1 vv 18-32 p1128

Psalm 19

ADDRESS

Silence

 

12.40

Hymn 107 Glory be to Jesus

Roman 3 vv 21-31 p1131

Psalm 14

ADDRESS

Silence

 

1.00

Hymn 102 My Song is Love Unknown

Romans 5 vv 1-11 p1132

Psalm 42

ADDRESS

Silence

 

1.20

Hymn 349 Just as I am

Romans 5 vv 12-21 p1132

Psalm 43

ADDRESS

Silence

 

1.40

Hymn 108 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Romans 6 vv 1-14 p1132

Psalm 84

ADDRESS

Silence

 

2.00

Hymn 207 Son of God, Eternal Saviour

Romans 6 vv 15-23 p1133

Psalm 116

ADDRESS

Silence

 

2.20

Hymn 214 There is A Green Hill Far Away

Romans 8 vv 1-17 p1134

Psalm 34

ADDRESS

Silence

 

2.40

Hymn 290 Through All the Changing Scenes of Life

Romans 8 vv 28-39 p1135

Psalm 48

ADDRESS

Silence

 

OUR Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.

 

Hymn 185 Praise to the Holiest

3.00

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.  Amen.

 

We have been having readings from St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans for some weeks and a number of people have found them hard to understand.  The underlying theme of this meditation is that God does everything necessary in Christ (especially in His Death on the Cross) to bring us home, to live as His children in His Kingdom.

 

Easter Day:

Easter without Holy Communion is inconceivable, yet we cannot meet.  So this is what we are going to do.  People all over the country have been asked to sing two Easter hymns on their doorsteps at 10.00.  At 10.15, I shall celebrate Holy Communion in the Rectory, physically alone.  We can all celebrate together, however, in spirit wherever we are.  The order of service will be what we usually use on Sundays – Common Worship Order 1 p168 or https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/holy-communion#mm7c2 I’ll put a sermon on my webpage.  The readings and hymns are below.  I intend to do this at this time every Sunday until we can all be together again.

 

 

Our personal preparation is the same as it is whenever we come to Holy Communion.  (Indeed it is the same as what we should pray for every day.  As Christians, we are called always to live in a state of grace.)

 

Attend to God.  Worship Him.  Adore Him.  Praise Him.  Open your heart to Him.

 

Thank God for all He has done.  The General Thanksgiving is good to use every day.  We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.  But also be specific.  Thank God for what He has done particularly for you today, this week, whenever.  Thank God for the people you love.

 

Consider how you have let God down and ask His forgiveness for your sins.  Ask Him to help you to become more the person He wants you to be.  Forgive anyone who has harmed you.  Try to make it up to them if you have harmed other people.  Be reconciled to God and to other people.  Trust in His mercy, not in your own strength.  Don’t dwell on past sins which you have already confessed.  You are forgiven.

Consider what to ask God for in your prayers, the help you need, blessings you seek for yourself and other people, prayers for family, friends and neighbours, prayers for the Church and for the world.

 

Open your heart to hear Him speak to you – especially in the readings and the sermon and in silence.

 

 

12th April Easter Day

9.30 Holy Communion

Jeremiah 31 vv 1-6 p791 Acts 10 vv 34-43 p1104 Colossians 3 vv 1-4 p1184 Matthew 28 vv 1-10 p1000

A&M Easter Anthems p805 81 At the Lamb’s High Feast Gloria in Excelsis Deo 459 Give me Joy 73 Ye Choirs 75 The Day of Resurrection 428 Thine Be the Glory 80 Alleluia Alleluia