Good Friday tenebrae

The photo is of the stained glass in Craigmillar Park church where the last of the early morning services, followed by breakfast, have been held. These have been taking place under the auspices of Newington Churches Together. The brief services have been led on respective days by the Episcopalian, Methodist, Roman Catholic Churches, the Church of Scotland and, today, the Salvation Army.

I had to forego breakfast as our bathroom fitter was coming to sort out a problem. I then went to help friends move stored plants in tubs to their new house. That got my steps up and came with coffee and hot cross buns.

Back home at lunchtime I enjoyed the sunny weather in the garden and after dinner went to a well attended tenebrae service at our own church.

It was a moving tranquil service. Tenebrae comes from the Latin for "darkness") and the service involves the gradual extinguishing of candles. It was tranquil at least until the "strepitus" after all the candles went out. This was a loud bang as, in this case, a large bible was slammed shut.