Dear Friends
Alleluia. Christ is risen!
It was wonderful to see so may people at church on Sunday morning, the church was full. Thank you to everybody who worked so hard to make Holy Week and Easter Day possible. flowers, music, sacristy, readers sidespeople,and servers everybody did their bit. It would be good to see 200+ people in church every Sunday morning – or am I just being a bit greedy.
There are lots of things happening at St Nicholas.
On Sunday 22 April at 6pm I will be In Conversation with Sister Jennifer. I’m sure it will be fascinating to hear talk about her life, faith and how she came to run so successfully our local convent and nursing home.
On Saturday 12 May at 7.30pm Utsav Lal who is a professional concert pianist based in Boston, U.S. and son of a parishioner, is giving a free concert of meditative music in church. God indeed works in mysterious ways. I was sat in church one Sunday evening during Lent after Stations of the Cross listening to some Bach. It occurred to me that sometimes worship does not need words, music is enough of an offering. The question I was contemplating was how do we organise an act of worship that does not need words. The following morning Utsav’s mother called me and asked if her son could give a concert in church “Where words leave off, music begins”!
The following weekend 18-20 May is our festival of flowers and music. Please watch this space. We need lots of help. The weekend ends with a service of Songs of Praise at 6pm on Sunday 20th April. We will be singing 8 of our most popular hymns. If you would like submit a request please take a form from the back of church, tell us your favourite hymn and why it means so much to you.
Simon
Dear Friends
It was good to journey through Holy Week accompanied by a few loyal members of our congregation who attended our services every evening, and to enter into the experience of the Triduum again at St Nicholas. I was not in church for the 10.30 service on Easter Day as I was covering in Chelsea for a fellow priest who had been admitted to hospital awaiting surgery. So to those who were not present at the Vigil, may I wish you all a very happy and blessed Easter: Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!
On the 50th anniversary of the murder of Martin Luther King I am reminded of his words which are as relevant today in this Easter season as they were when he first spoke them:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness,
Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate,
Only love can do that.
With every blessing
Mother Eileen