Alleuia! Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Easter Day MALMESBURY ABBEY
HOSPITALITY THAT INVITES PEOPLE CLOSER STABILITY THAT DRAWS PEOPLE DEEPER CREATIVITY THAT LIFTS PEOPLE HIGHER
Vicar’s blog: God crossing the road Last week I had the very unusual experience of being rung up by a reporter from The Sun. She was very pleasant and had my phone number because of the Malmesbury Abbey skateboarding events we run each February. I was asked to write an Easter message for 3 million Sun readers. It would be good, she said, if I included the meaning of Easter, something about the local community, skateboarding and maybe make some of Jesus teaching relevant to young people—in 200 words, maybe 300. As well as writing this I had a photographer come a take my picture, for about an hour. (Apparently he struggled to find that good side.) Anyway, I think this might be a first for the vicar of Malmesbury Abbey, so in case you missed it, it’s printed below in the version I submitted. Happy Easter. ‘Life doesn’t always work. People lie, relationships fail, jobs disappear, bills get left unpaid, family get sick. We all get that, young and old. So if Easter means anything at all, it must mean something about that, about reality. It
can’t be just a bunch of songs in an old building - although I like the songs, and the building I work in is awesome. Jesus tells a story about a man, the Good Samaritan, who crossed the road to help a badly beaten up stranger. And on our better days we’d probably give it a go too, because people matter. But the bigger picture is this: Easter means that God crosses the road towards us when we’re beaten up. When life doesn’t work. Each year in February we put a skatepark in Malmesbury Abbey. Yes, a 21st century load of noise and wheels in a 12th century Abbey. We don’t do it because we think the world would be a better place if everybody skateboarded – that would be one slightly weird world. We do it because nobody can afford a holiday in the February half term, and because we want to cross the road to young people and families in our community and say Easter means something. God looks at the mistakes and struggles of our lives and says the story doesn’t have to end there, with the despair of Good Friday. There is hope on Easter Day, because where there was death, now there’s life. And if God can conquer death, God can conquer anything. Easter means God is crossing the road.’
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Abbey Diary THIS SUNDAY: EASTER DAY 6am Dawn Service 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion with Bishop Lee Rayfield 4pm Easter Celebration & Easter Egg Hunt 6.30pm Choral Evensong MON 21st No Morning Prayer TUES 22nd No Morning Prayer WED 23rd 9am Morning Prayer 10.30am Holy Communion THURS 24th 9am Morning Prayer 10.30am Time for Chat 4pm Evening Prayer 7pm Choir Practice FRI 24th 9am Morning Prayer SAT 26th 9am Morning Prayer 10am Healing in the Streets NEXT SUNDAY: VISION SUNDAY 10.30am Coffee 11am Festival Communion 12.30pm Picnic Lunch 1.30pm Annual meeting 2.30pm Closing Prayer June 3rd June 20/22 July 2nd July 15th July 28/29 Aug 3rd Sep 13th Oct 17/18
Glory! Church Weekend Away Music for Autism WOMAD at the Abbey Holiday at Home New Wine Archbishop in Malmesbury BBC History Weekend
John 20:1-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!’ 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped round Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. 11
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’14 At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ 16 Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’). 17 Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Additional Reading: Acts 10:34-43 34
Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. 39
‘We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’
small group resource + 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Read the John 20 passage twice with a short time of silent reflection in the middle. How does the passage make you feel? Which text, word, verse or action particularly stands out to you? What does Jesus being alive mean for your next door neighbour? Mary said ‘I have seen the Lord.’ How might we deepen our own spiritual journey so that experience ‘seeing Jesus?’
daily readings MONDAY Psalm 111 1 Cor 15:1-11
TUESDAY Psalm 112 1 Cor 15:12-19
WEDNESDAY Psalm 113 1 Cor 15:20-28
THURSDAY Psalm 114 1 Cor 15:29-34
FRIDAY Psalm 115 1 Cor 15:35-50
10 years This Easter Day, Neill will be celebrating exactly 10 years as vicar of Malmesbury Abbey. At our 10.30am service of Holy Communion, Bishop Lee will be saying a short prayer for Neill as the next 10 years begins(!) Later on Easter Day, at 8pm after Choral Evensong, Neill, Marilyn and the girls will be at the Whole Hog for a celebratory glass together. All, in party mood, are very welcome to come along.
Sunday afternoon stewards Sunday Stewards are urgently needed for the Third Sunday of every month from 2 pm to 4 pm. If you feel you have a heart for welcome and love the Abbey, please let Linda Weston or Diana Crowe know as soon as possible.
Friday e-Mailing If you would like to receive an e-mail every Friday from the Parish Office, with a link to this News Sheet online and other additional notices and links, please contact Sandie Brown at office@malmesburyabbey.com.
Electoral Roll The Electoral Roll of Malmesbury Abbey is the formal list we keep of all those adults who consider the Abbey to be their normal place of worship. Those on the Electoral Roll can vote in our annual elections for churchwardens and church council members, and they are also eligible to stand for election themselves. We are currently updating the list, which is also useful communications data for us, and would really want to encourage everybody who isn’t on the Electoral Roll to fill in a form at the Abbey this Sunday. If you are reading this while away on holiday and would like to be added to the roll, please e-mail Sandie, office@malmesburyabbey.com, and we’ll make a note and catch up with the paperwork on your return. Many thanks.
Noticeboard Baptism in September 2014 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will be with us in Malmesbury on Saturday 13th September at 4pm for an outdoor celebration with baptisms in the river. Anybody who is interested in being baptised, or reaffirming an earlier baptism, is asked to e-mail neill@malmebsuryabbey.com at this time to register an interest. Registration forms will be available shortly and the Pilgrim course, which will be the preparation for the baptism, will take place at 8pm on July 7, 14, 21, 28 and September 1 & 8. Neill will be leading this with Lee Barnes who is coordinating candidates for the North Wilts Deanery.
CafĂŠ Closure in Easter Week The abbey CafĂŠ is closed Monday to Wednesday of Easter Week, reopening on Thursday 24th April at 9am as usual.
May 4th May 11th May 18th May 25th June 1st June 8th June 15th
Revelation 1:1-11 Revelation 1:12-19 Revelation 2 &3 Revelation 2 &3 Revelation 4&5 Revelation 6&7 Revelation 8&9
The Last Word on Scripture The Last Word on Christ The Last Word on the Church (1) The Last Word on the Church (2) The Last Word on Worship The Last Word on Evil The Last Word on Prayer
The Last Word Revelation at Malmesbury Abbey
Contact ABBEY OFFICE Mon &Tues (9.30am-12noon) Weds, Thurs ,Fri, (9.30am-2.30pm) 01666 826666 www.malmesburyabbey.com sandie@malmesburyabbey.com Staff members can be contacted by name@malmesburyabbey.com NORMAL CAFÉ HOURS Monday 21st—Wednesday 23rd CLOSED Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 9am-4.30pm Sunday: Closed all day clare@malmesburyabbey.com
Vision Sunday/AGM Our annual Vision Sunday and Annual General Meeting will take place on Sunday April 27th. After coffee together from 10.30am there will be a Festival Communion at 11am, including children’s activities, a picnic lunch together, hopefully outside, and then the formal Annual Meeting takes place from 1.30pm-2.30pm. During that meeting we will be electing our two Abbey churchwardens for the year ahead, and also seeking to elect 4 people to both our Deanery Synod and PCC, and 3 others to our PCC. These a crucial roles in the spiritual oversight of the Abbey so please talk to Neill if you are interested in serving for 3 years on this important decision making body for our church. The agenda and a variety of ministry reports are available at the back of the abbey from Palm Sunday or to read on issuu.com/malmesburyabbey
12th CENTURY BEAUTY 21st CENTURY CHURCH