Notes from St. Mary’s
Happy Easter! Let me explain...
Some of you may be old enough to remember when there were 12 days of Christmas. That was the time from Christmas to the Feast of Epiphany (the wise men’s visit). Now we tend to do all our celebrating in the run up to Christmas and take the tree down on Boxing Day because it’s been up since Halloween. But historically December was the time of waiting then Christmas happened then all the celebrating happened for 12 days. Christmas was supposed to be a 12-day party.
Ok, but why am I telling you this…? Because Easter, according to the church, is a bigger deal than Christmas. Nowadays Easter is a long weekend, some gardening and maybe a pub lunch. It seems this year we even skipped the easter egg. But according to the church Easter lasts, not 12 days but 7 weeks. Easter is supposed to be a 7-week long party!
Now most of us don’t associate church with parties, and I am stretching it a bit but by giving Easter 7 weeks to celebrate we are supposed to see the difference in scale of importance. Easter after all is the high point of the Christian year.
Back in the Middle Ages, the festivals of the church shaped our lives in significant ways. They were in essence times of licensed fun in an otherwise harsh and difficult time. Feasting and community gathering were significant, and the church played host to these times of revelry. While we might want to set some boundaries, I would love it if St Mary’s could be a place where, as a community we come together and celebrate. But in a small church it’s hard to play the host all the time and I can’t organize everything (arguably I can’t organize a drinking party in a brewery).
Easter is over halfway through but in the coming months at church we will be having a Lambing Service (hopefully with our friends at Barley Chapel) as we give thanks for the new life we see around us and support our farmers; our Rushbearing celebration which we hope will be enjoyed by many; as well as in the late summer a Heritage Weekend and welcome many to St Mary’s and share something of its past and present. I hope that these events can be real celebrations that involve everyone with food, drink, music and fun. If you want to know more or get involved, please contact me on the details below.
And why do I want to celebrate so much? Well, I believe Jesus really did rise from the dead and because he did, we can have hope peace and purpose. His death and resurrection demonstrate God’s love for us and that is worth celebrating.