Dear friends,
This is usually one of our most active weeks as a church family, where we spend time together remembering with gratitude Jesus’ great sacrifice on the cross, and celebrating with immense joy his resurrection from the dead. While we won’t be able to be physically together for Easter this year, we are still planning to engage with Holy Week whole heartedly! This post outlines what we’re hoping to do for Easter Sunday.
Dawn Service – Every year a number of us meet down at Southlake at dawn to mark the resurrection. Sunrise is at 6:15am this year, so I will be sending some material round for a brief act of celebration in time for those who want to get up early and shout Hallelujah!
Easter Worship – We hope that you’ll join us for worship at 10:30am again. The sermon this week will be interactive! Once you have read/watched the Bible reading, there will be some questions for us to think about. You can move over to the new discussion channel on Slack to chat in (#easter – will go live on Saturday), or you can discuss them with your families. After this there will be a short homily from me.
As I mentioned last week, the national Church has asked us not to share a ‘digital’ Holy Communion at Easter. Instead, our prayers on Sunday will include a time of thanksgiving for our unity as a Church (both local and worldwide) with the risen Jesus. As a way to still share a meal together, our worship will end with a special grace that I hope everyone will say before they eat their lunch. This way we can remember each other as forgiven brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of what we’re eating!
Messy Church – Easter Sunday 2020 will mark the 10th anniversary of Messy Church beginning at St James’. This is an exciting and special milestone for our church! I am hugely grateful to Linda and all those who help her every month, and we praise God for blessing so many families through it. We’ll still be marking the anniversary from home with crafts, cooking, activities, a treasure hunt and celebration – Linda will be uploading the full details of what’s happening to our website shortly, or alternatively you can connect with Messy Church through the Facebook page: facebook.com/groups/361246617305469/
Because of Jesus we are a family of God – forgiven, loved, and called to live in peace. I am so grateful to have you all as my church family, and I look forward to declaring “He is risen! Hallelujah!” with you all on Sunday.
With love,
Laurence