Easter Saturday

As regular readers might guess from my photo of flowers, I was over at Sainsbury’s in the morning for grocery shopping, and to top up with cash and petrol. Now it’s not every day that one might spot a Bishop in the toilet rolls aisle of a supermarket, but I did indeed catch sight of the Bishop of Colchester there. I thought it tactful not to go over for a chat, and anyway I had caught up with him only last Sunday at a special Palm Sunday event in St Luke’s.

In the afternoon I laundered the bedclothes and got ready for the evening’s Easter Vigil and Service of Light. I was on Acolyte duty and also did one of the readings, which was from the Book of Exodus about the crossing of the Red Sea. After the vigil, we moved outside to light the Easter bonfire which was blessed, and then the newly marked Paschal candle was lit from that. Those of us wearing robes thankfully managed not to set fire to ourselves or inhale too much smoke from the fire. As it was quite windy, we all went back inside to light the candles carried by the congregation with the Easter flame. We then processed into the darkened church, stopping three times for the priest to proclaim “The light of Christ”, and for all to respond “Thanks be to God”. Then the joyful moment when all the lights in the church came on, and we Acolytes lit all the altar candles, and also the two sanctuary candles. These won’t be extinguished until the evening of Maundy Thursday next year when the sanctuary will once again be stripped in readiness for Good Friday.

In contrast to the silence we kept on leaving the church last Thursday, we left on this evening wishing one another a happy Easter.