In line with the government announcement on 20 March 2020 of the closure of public venues, the planned services for Mothering Sunday (22 March) were cancelled. A service of Holy Communion was recorded by the Rector and Curate, and published online so that parishioners might participate in an act of Spiritual Communion.
On 26 March 2020, the full lockdown came into force.
Revd Stephen recorded this simple service of Night Prayer which can be used on any day. It proved to be one of the most listened-to services on the website. The hymn Before the Ending of the Day is sung by the choir of The King’s School; the recording was used with permission from the choir leader, whom Stephen knew.
Two services were provided for this Fifth Sunday in Lent, which marks the start of Passiontide: one of Morning Prayer and the other Evening Prayer.
Dear friends in Christ.
We are now journeying through the second week of the extraordinary and unprecedented social restrictions that have been imposed upon us, as our nation joins with the rest of the world, and struggles to reverse the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For some, this has been a positive time. A time of re-evaluation and a time for realigning priorities. Others have taken advantage of their enforced social isolation to get some job done. For those who are housebound through age or infirmity, there may not seem to be much of a difference at all. And for some, these days are already dragging and feeling like some sort of imprisonment.
However you are coping with the government’s restrictions on our lives, you need to be reassured that you are not alone. There are many, many others who feel exactly the same as you are feeling right now.
Unusually for a time of crisis, the decision was taken to close down not only public worship, but our churches and churchyards as well. This has been a cause of upset and confusion for some, while others have realised the act of social responsibility involved in this difficult decision. The church is leading from the front. Instead of encouraging us to claim some sort of exception, we are being encouraged to deepen our lenten observances by rethinking just what it means, to be a Christian.
To be a Christian is to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ. To be a member of a church is to express our Christian faith by joining together in fellowship and community. At the moment, that fellowship and community has been taken away from us. And we are having to rethink how we can be nourished and supported in our faith.
On Sunday, the church begins its journey through Holy Week. In years past, we would have been gathering to record the moment when the crowds welcome Jesus into Jerusalem with shouts of Hosanna. From that triumphant moment, we would have quickly turned towards Maundy Thursday, and the events in the upper room during what we know as the Last Supper.
At that momentous event, we witnessed Judas leaving the company of the disciples to betray Jesus. We see Jesus get down on his knees and model love and service by washing the feet of his disciples. We join in Jesus’ institution of Holy Communion, and we hear him telling us all to do this in remembrance of me.
From the upper room we journey with Jesus to his time of agony in the garden of Gethsemane. When I went on my Holy Land pilgrimage at the end of 2018, I recalled the moment when one of our guides pointed to two olive trees, and told us that the root stock of those trees is over 2000 years old. They were there when Jesus knelt in prayer on that night.
After the events of Maundy Thursday we travel the road to the cross. We come to know the desolation of Jesus hanging and dying an ignominious and excruciating death for us.
Then we are in limbo, the limbo of Holy Saturday. We sit with his disciples, and we wait for the moment of resurrection.
All of this journey begins on Sunday. But for the first time in any of our lifetimes, we will not have the opportunity to physically gather and experience the journey in a spirit of fellowship and community.
Of course, there is no way round the restrictions that have been imposed upon us. But that does not mean that we cannot support each other in prayer and Christian love.
We can still read our Bibles. This is a great time to quietly and slowly read through one of the gospels. Why not start with Luke?
We can still pray. Even doing no more than reciting the Lord’s Prayer is something that will bring us into fellowship with every other Christian in the world.
We can still spend time reflecting on just what Christ’s journey to the cross and beyond means for each and every one of us.
To help you in your journey of faith through this most holy of liturgical seasons, we have created a new website. Just look up corbyglenchurches.uk. On that website, there is a simple service of daily prayer. There are also sermons and other reflections and messages. There is also a growing library of audio recordings to help you in your devotions and to provide you with the certainty that your church community is still there. And that it is still there for you.
However, you are using this time of distancing and isolation, I would urge you to remember that we are all in God’s loving embrace.
This is a challenging time. But it is also a God-given time.
It is a time when we can look forward in optimism.
Or it is a time when we can choose the pessimistic route of just counting down the days until the moment when we can go back to exactly the same patterns of behaviour, exactly the same attitudes, exactly the same feelings of self-interest, that represent our isolation from the God who gave everything for us.
Over the coming days and weeks, we are going to continue to be tested. Isolation, even from those nearest and dearest to us, will go on.
Let us join with our church leaders in showing that we take our responsibility to lead and to care, and to love in Christ’s name seriously.
Let us pray that through the way we live out the coming days, the light of Christ may shine into the darkness that can at times, seem all-enveloping.
So let us pray in union with Christ that those amongst whom we live might come to feel the warmth of God’s touch.
And let us pray for one another and for ourselves, that we might stand firm in our calling and our resolution, to bring the fellowship, the community, and the spirit of Christ to life, today and every day.
Wishing you all every blessing.
Revd Stephen