A wonderful Easter Service in St Mary's Church...
We held our Easter Service, gathering as a school in St Mary’s Church to consider why the resurrection is such wonderful news. It was great to be reminded of the Easter story through some wonderful hymns (See What A Morning & Thine Be The Glory) alongside taking time to ponder god’s word and pray.
First up: I must apologise for some rather cruel deception. In advance of the service, I hid in the North Tower and briefed the Headmaster to start the service, which he duly did. After our Head Boy, Luke gave the Bible reading about the women who first heard the surprising news that Jesus had risen, I burst out of the North Tower into the midst of the pupils, causing quite a few Priory House girls to literally jump out of their seats! But the point is: the resurrection was truly surprising to those who first encountered it. Dead people don’t normally come back to life - yet Jesus Christ did! So, what’s it all about? To consider that, we looked at a few verses from 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In them, the Apostle Paul tells early Christians that Jesus’ resurrection means so many brilliant things: It means our preaching is powerful, our witness is real, our faith is in someone who can help us, we really are forgiven, and we have an eternal hope to look forward to! Take the resurrection away and we lose all those wonderful things. To illustrate this, we had five boxes (marked with: preaching, witness, faith, forgiveness, and hope) stacked on top of a giant box marked ‘The Resurrection of Jesus’. Surprise, surprise, when the giant resurrection box was taken away, all the others fell down! The resurrection of Jesus really does matter - it’s wonderful news for us all. Thus, it’s my hope and prayer that this Easter, we’d be those who trust in Jesus’ resurrection.
Rev’d George Beverly - Chaplain