Easter at Wiverton in the Vale
On Maundy Thursday, a ‘Last Supper’ was held at a beautifully-decorated St Andrew’s Church in Langar. Participants washed each others’ hands before enjoying a simple Mediterranean-style meal followed by partaking of bread and wine.
Good Friday saw the combination of a modern ‘Passion Play’ and the now traditional pilgrimage. The morning started with the trial of Jesus at St Giles’ Church, Cropwell Bishop. The forecast showery weather didn’t materialise but there followed a muddy trek across the fields to Colston Bassett, where walkers were joined by others for a picnic lunch. The drama continued at St John the Divine with Simon of Cyrene taking up the cross of Jesus. The final leg of the walk to Langar was firmer underfoot and blessed with sunshine. In St Andrew’s Church, the enactment culminated in the sombre crucifixion of Christ as the rain began to fall outside. Afterwards, participants were offered hot cold cross buns before leaving the church in bright sunshine again
Good Friday Miracle
This image was seen on Good Friday on one of the new floor tiles in St Giles. It definitely wasn’t there during cleaning on Maundy Thursday. It’s not man-made, so must be heaven-sent!
Later in the day, another ‘miracle’ of creation gave rise to beautiful light at St Mary’s, as can be seen in the beautiful photos by Sam below.
At dawn on Easter morning, a bleary-eyed group of around 40 gathered at St Mary’s ruined church in Colston Bassett for an early Easter celebration which included a baptism as we welcomed Sam into the fellowship. Regrettably, there was too much mist around to fully appreciate the sunrise, but as Revd David reminded us, “We might not be able to see it, but we still believe it is there”. The service was followed by a delicious and hearty breakfast in the Village Hall, prepared and served by members of the Colston Bassett Home Team.
Later on Easter morning, a second service at a packed St Giles was enjoyed by many and drew the following response from one of the congregation:
On Easter Sunday I usually leave my visitors to have a lie-in while I sneak off to church. I wasn’t sneaking anywhere this year. Something special is happening in our parish and I wanted my family to experience it. Judging by the buzz in a packed St Giles’ Church on Sunday morning, many others felt the same. Over the past few weeks we’ve been Open to Question, delved into the psalms, prayed together on retreat, enraptured our children with stories, crafts and informal services and re-enacted the Last Supper and the trial and crucifixion of Jesus in a way that has brought home the events of Holy Week like never before. How joyful then to watch the queue for Easter Holy Communion outlast the tape of accompanying music, and to celebrate the resurrection with friends old and new and with the family I would normally have left sleeping.
Sue M