General Chat

We had a lovely service today. And we do tend to belt out "he is risen indeed" Cynthia. No English reserve in the Welsh valleys:-)

Only a few there (about 20) which was disappointing. But three were missing because they couldn't get their lift. They are elderly and one of the stewards picks them up in his car. But someone had parked across his garage and he couldn't locate the person. So he had to walk to chapel and had the job of phoning the 3 elderly ladies to tell them why they couldn't be picked up. So disappointing for them - and for us.

Service ended at 3.30 and four of us were still chatting at 4.15. About predestination, of all things. Makes a change from chatting about the weather, which has been absolutely perfect today. Quite cold (about 6C) but bright sunshine all day :-D :-D

Think our 50 days of Eastertide may be very special this year. Said a little prayer for a friend who is having a major operation next week - feel sure she will be ok.

Happy Easter to you all. <3

Tinged with a little sadness (on my part ) it would have been mum and dads 72nd WA today.

It's so lovely to see other friends dropping in in such a pleasant way.



<3 <3 <3


Dermot, the tune for Lord of the Dance was on Classic fm last night as I was driving. I was singing along merrily......... :-D



Good service this morning.....and we were encouraged to be louder in our "He is risen indeed, Alleluia" 's. :-D Such is the British reserve that we tend to whisper it rather than proclaim it!!


Hope you all have a lovely, lovely day. <3 <3

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter.

Love, Sallie.x

A very happy Easter to all :-)

What lovely posts to read.
Dermot. Many thanks for that. Sydney Carter is well known to me, but did not know he was the author of "Lord of the Dance". He wrote the hymn "One more step along the world I go" and only died 8 years ago. Never met him, but one of my Christian friends and his late wife used to know him very well.

We chose "One more step" as a hymn last week (Palm Sunday) and my friend said "Oh, dear old Polly" - which apparently was his nickname. Lovely man

A Happy Easter to all of you. :-)

Lord Of The Dance (Sydney Carter).

I danced in the morning when the world was young
I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun
I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth

Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he

I danced for the scribes and the Pharisees
They wouldn't dance, they wouldn't follow me
I danced for the fishermen James and John
They came with me so the dance went on

Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame
The holy people said it was a shame
They ripped, they stripped, they hung me high
Left me there on the cross to die

Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he

I danced on a Friday when the world turned black
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back
They buried my body, they thought I was gone
But I am the dance, and the dance goes on

Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he

They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the life that will never, never die
I'll live in you if you'll live in me
I am the Lord of the dance, said he

Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he.

Happy Easter to you all.

Emma :-)

A Happy Easter to those of Faith <3

St John Chapter 20 (World English Bible):

But Mary (Magdalene) was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. They told her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”

She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned and said to him, “Rhabbouni!” which is to say, “Teacher!”

Jesus said to her, “Don’t touch me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

Comment: Mary Magdalene went to the empty tomb on that first Sunday when it was still dark. She was the first person to realise WHY it was empty. Therefore Mary Magdalene became the apostle to the apostles that first day. The first to realise why we give eggs, roll eggs and eat eggs today. It is new life. She understood that death needed no longer to be the enemy of mankind.

And it is why Christians celebrate every Sunday. It is why Sunday is the start of the Christian week.

He is risen indeed.

A very happy Easter to all of those who contribute to this thread and those who enjoy reading it. :-) :-) :-)

He IS risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!!!


A very happy Easter to you all.


<3

Holy Saturday. The most holy of nights.

We held a short vigil service to celebrate the resurrection. Very quiet with readings and prayers. We were given candles which were lit from the paschal candle during the service and the light was passed round. We renewed our baptism vows.

Tomorrow we celebrate in a more exuberant way........ :-D :-D

Have just returned from the Good Friday service and am a bit disappointed if truth be told :-(


Our vicar is off sick due to having a cataract operation and the organist and Lay Reader put the service together. It was okay to a point but consisted almost entirely of music from Stainer's Crucifixion.

I know it's a wonderful piece of music etc and the choir did magnificently well but, they didn't include any traditional hymns like 'There is a green hill far away' etc. and there wasn't any time for personal contemplation. In fact, far too 'busy' for such a solemn service. :-(

Same as Cynthia, we had a 2pm service today. Three members of our congregation read passages from John 18 and John 19 and then said a few heartfelt words about what the passage meant to them. Very homegrown, very natural, very moving.

As we approached 3pm, all the lights were turned off and the candles were extinguished and we sat in silence and relative darkness looking at the large Cross at the front of the chapel. He did that for me.

Dermot thank you for posting that. A lot of food for thought.

Dermot, we double posted. :-)


Thank you so much for that posting. As Emma has said, it's extremely appropriate for you to post it today and I'm very grateful that you have.


It brought some new thoughts to mind about all the people Jesus had healed/fed/helped, not coming forward to help Him in His hour of need.


Humble thanks to you.

Tremendous post, Dermot.

I just regret that for so many years of my life I approached the merits of Jesus in a similar way to Pontius Pilate. That is, "Jesus, you seem a good and honest man but you will not delude me into giving up my career, my Governor's palace or my Roman gods to follow your austere lifestyle".

"My conscience tells me I do some bad things, but I enjoy them rather and have no intention of giving any of them up" :-(

Dermot thank you. I feel it very appropriate for you to post today.

Happy Easter to you all.

Emma

At my previous church, the vicar used to wash the feet of three people. They were usually folk who had been confirmed that year.

It was done very simply with no fuss but was extremely moving to watch.


For the last two years at my present church, we have had hand-washing. We simply moved to the front of church, dipped our fingers into a bowl held by a member of the congregation and had them dried by another.

It was explained that foot-washing was normal in the culture of biblical times because of the dusty roads and servants would wash your feet before you ate your meal.

In our culture today, hand hygiene is very much to the fore and we are encouraged to wash our hands before meals. Just a slight variation on the same theme.

We are having our Good Friday service at 2pm.