Skip to content

Special services mark Lent and Easter at St. Alban’s church

All are welcome at services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday
32171017_web1_230323-ACC-St-Albans-update-Easter_2
Special Easter services are being held at St. Alban’s Anglican Church in Ashcroft. (Photo credit: Linnaea Mallette/Public Domain Pictures)

By The Rev. Linda LaGroix

We are rapidly approaching my one-year anniversary as the priest here at St. Alban’s. It has been a wonderful year of getting to know so many people and also experiencing the moving of God’s Spirit through the community as we love, care for, and support each other.

We are now in the time in the church’s year called Lent, where we take quiet time to reflect upon our relationship with God, our Creator, through prayer, study, and in nature that is awakening around us. Already I can see the influence of the sun on each one I meet: we are arising from our winter sleep and again moving about in community.

Lent is a preparation time for us to once again stop and rest in the quiet of Maundy Thursday (service on April 6 at 6 p.m.); Good Friday (service on April 7 at 3 p.m.); and Easter Day (service on April 9 at 10 a.m.). The Rev. Angus Muir will be having an Easter Saturday service of New Light in the evening in Lytton (more info to come).

Each of these days holds a special promise for us who recognize Jesus as God’s Son who came to live on Earth with us and show us how much God loves and cares for us. Maundy Thursday, the night when Jesus was arrested as a rebel and an outspoken rabbi or teacher, is the Thursday before Easter. Christians remember it as the day of the Last Supper, when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and established the ceremony known as the Eucharist or the Last Supper. At our service we will wash either hands or feet as a reminder of our baptism.

The Maundy Thursday time of celebration leads into the evening when Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane. From Gethsemane, Jesus is tried by both the Roman and the Jewish leaders and charged with blasphemy (using God’s name in a disrespectful manner), with a sentence of death by crucifixion.

On Good Friday we visit again this scene of Jesus’ crucifixion, dwelling on who is present and what their responses are to their beloved leader and teacher’s death, ranging from denial by Peter to the love Jesus shows to one of the criminals hanging with him and to his mother, Mary, whom he entrusts into John’s precious keeping. We hear of Jesus dying and being placed in a borrowed tomb for His burial. We leave the church in a quiet, respectful silence.

The Easter Sunday celebration reflects the empty tomb: Jesus is Risen! Alleluia! When Jesus’ disciples come to the tomb to ensure that He is properly prepared for burial, they find that the stone that had blocked the entrance on Friday after Jesus was placed there has been moved to the open position. They are afraid that someone has stolen Jesus’ body, until He appears in His risen form to give them peace that He has beaten death and is alive again! He truly is the long-awaited Messiah, Saviour of God’s people.

You are most welcome to attend any or all of the services, and I will also answer any questions regarding this pivotal point in our Christian journey.



editorial@accjournal.ca

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter