Festivals
Every Sunday Eucharist is a festival, a celebration of ‘sharing the feast of life’. But — in common with most churches — we also celebrate special occasions:
- those of special significance to individuals — baptism, confirmation, birthdays*, marriage and the blessing of relationships
- those of special significance to the Christian community (see below).
*No, we don't have special birthday services! But we do try to remember people’s birthdays, sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to them and perhaps share some birthday cake over coffee.
The Christian year
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We follow the pattern of the Christian year, with its seasons and special festivals, its liturgical colours and themes. There is a rhythm to spiritual life that fits in with the natural rhythms of secular life, the annual cycles of winter and summer, sowing and harvest, and the familiar weekly and monthly cycles. |
Special days
In addition to the major festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, we celebrate some of the traditional saints’ days, mostly ‘transferred’ to the nearest Sunday — and especially All Saints, which is our own special festival (‘Hallows’ is an old word for ‘Saints’). We sometimes celebrate modern saints too, like Martin Luther King, and days with contemporary themes such as Homelessness Sunday.
When a festival falls on a weekday, we may mark it by a special service, but it’s best to contact us to find out if and when the service is to be held. For example, we have had special Eucharists for Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent), Epiphany and Ascension Day, and on or near the feast of All Souls we hold a service of remembrance for those who have died, with readings, music and the lighting of candles (click here for an image of the flyer).
Christmas
In the shops and on television ‘Christmas’ has been happening for ages, but we keep Advent as our season of expectation and start the Christmas season on Christmas Eve with a midnight mass (starting at about 11.30 pm). Somehow this feels much less pressured. Christmas Day is followed by St Stephen (Boxing Day), then by Epiphany, and Candlemas rounds off our celebration of the birth of Jesus.
Follow the links below for details (when available) of this year’s (and last year’s) Advent and Christmas services and events.
Lent
Lent is traditionally a ‘penitential season’ — a time for reflection in preparation for Holy Week and Easter.
Holy Week and Easter
From Palm Sunday we follow Jesus in his journey to the cross and beyond. The Stations of the Cross follow the journey of Christ from betrayal to execution and death, and in our reflections on this journey we focus on those who face crucifixion today: remembering that Christ stands crucified with all ‘broken and unremembered victims of tyranny and sin’ down the ages. On Maundy Thursday we have a meal [picture], making clear the strong link between the Jewish Passover and the Christian Eucharist, and we wash each other’s feet [picture]; afterwards we strip the church and maintain a vigil. A solemn service on Good Friday commemorates Christ’s crucifixion and death, at which we venerate the power of vulnerability shown in the cross.
Late on the night of Holy Saturday, or at dawn on Easter Sunday morning, we hold our Easter Vigil. A rich liturgical event to greet the risen Christ, the vigil begins around a lighted fire, telling the story of salvation found in Scripture, followed by the lighting and marking of the Easter Candle. We make a procession into the main body of the darkened church that becomes lit as we reaffirm our baptismal vows and proclaim Christ’s resurrection; the service closes with an Easter Hymn.
Follow the links below for details (when available) of this year’s (and last year’s) Holy Week and Easter services and events.
Other faith communities
We try to be aware of the festivals of other faiths, helped by a multifaith spiral calendar of festivals (Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Rastafarian, Shinto, Sikh, Taoist and Zoroastrian) which is up on the wall in church. We would welcome invitations to any of these festivals, just as we ourselves gladly welcome visitors of other faiths to our special celebrations as well as to our regular worship.