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The Resurrection of the Lord - Easter Day

With sunrise on Sunday morning, the Easter Vigil passes into Easter Day itself. This is the day of Jesus’ resurrection and the most precious and joyful day in the whole Christian Year

THE EASTER MASS

In most churches the Eucharist is obligatory on Easter Day and the Easter service is traditionally an extremely happy occasion when Mass is celebrated in a spirit of great gladness. At last, after the solemn weeks of Lent; ministers and priests put on their most splendid white or gold vestments - the dazzling colours of the sun. The church is once more filled with the scent and colour of flowers. Bright altar cloths are spread over the altar, and paintings, sculptures and crosses are uncovered once again. To further symbolize the resurrection it is customary for priest and congregation to pray standing up on Easter Day, and not to kneel down. This is a sign that we are risen with Christ and that it is toojoyful a day to be bent low.

EASTER LAUGHTER

But if the morning Eucharist is celebrated with gladness, the evening service is traditionally celebrated with nothing short of glee. In England, throughout the Middle Ages and up until the eighteenth century, it was the custom for the priest or minister to fill his evening sermon with jokes and stories to make the people roar with laughter after the long seriousness of Lent and the sorrow of Holy Week. And it is not just people who are happy on Easter Day, for legend has it that the sun itself jumps for joy three times to celebrate the resurrection as it rises on Easter morning. Not surprisingly perhaps, these jumps are hard to detect and are supposedly best observed indirectly, by watching the sunrise reflected in a pail of water or a window.

BONNETS, PROMENADES AND PARDONS

There are many popular customs associaced with Easter Ðay. Paraded in their clean white robes, the catechumens were not the only ones to wear new clothes at Easter. For centuries, people have put on a new outfit on Easter Day and the custom of wearing a new Easter bonnet was but the tip of an iceberg. New drésses, trousers, coats, jackets and shoes were always the norm for those who could afford them on Easter Day.

Having gone to the expense of buying or making these new clothes, it made sense to show them off. The Easter walk or promenade when people paraded their new outfits through the fields or town was traditionally a great event on Easter Day. Like other great feasts it was always customary to hold open house on Easter Day and to visit and be visited by one’s relacives and neighbours. The Easter bells are also a resounding feature of Easter Day. They would often ring all day to celebrate the end of the fast and the joy of Easter. Today’s ringing however, is more measured. 
Because of Pilate’s release of Barabbas in the gospel account of Jesus’ trial, and the mercy Jesus himself showed to the good thief who was crucified beside him, Easter Day is also a traditional time for amnesties and pardons. In many countries, the release of non-dangerous criminals is often announced at Easter. In many national and interriational peace negotiations, political prisoners have also been released at Easter.

EGGS, LAMB AND EASTER BUNNIES

The most common Easter customs which survive today are the ones concerned with food. Indeed, these have probably always been the most popular. For after the long days of the Lenten fast, Easter Day and Easter Week is a time of great feasting.

Easter eggs are the most famous Easter food. In pre Christian festivals of the spring equinox, eggs were always a symbol of spring. The sight of a living creature emerging from a still, apparently inert object was always cherished as a graphic example of the miracle of new life. In Christian times, this wonderful symbol was eagerly taken up and Christianized. The enclosed shell of the egg came to remind people of the sealed tomb from which the risen Christ, like the new chick, emerged triumphant. From early in Christian history, eggs were painted and given as gifts on Easter Day. Red is a favourite colour of such painted eggs to symbolize the blood of Christ. Many traditional Easter games have also grown up involving eggs. Easter egg hunts and egg rolling are still the most popular today. In the USA, the President still has an egg-rolling competition on the White House lawn every Easter.

Easter lamb and Easter ham are two other favourite foods of the Easter feast. Lamb is the traditional food of the Jewish feast of Passover and is what Jesus would have eaten with his disciples at the Last Supper. Because of his own passover sacrifice for us, Jesus is often referred to as the Lamb of God or the Paschal Lamb. Lamb is therefore the centrepiece of the Easter feast. And in Christian mythology a lamb is regarded as the supreme symbol of innocence and an especially sacred animal. Because it is such a holy animal, it has always been believed that a lamb is the one shape which the Devil can never take to disguise himself. It is still considered good luck to see a lamb in the fields on Easter Day Ham is another great feasting food in many parts of the world in cultures where the pig has been a traditional symbol of good luck. And in Europe and Irelandspecial Easter bread is also bakèd for the Easter feast.

The Easter bunny - who, an improbable legend has it,lays the Easter eggs - is another ‘feature of popular Easter culture in Europe and the USA where the fields are filled with newborn rabbits at this time. The rabbit itself has never acquired a particularly Christian significance. Its place in Easter legend stems from when the hare was regarded as a sacred animal in pre-Christian times and played
an important role in springtime festivals.

THE SUMMIT OF THE YEAR

Easter Day is the summit of the Christian Year Knowledge of Christ’s esurrection is the highest point of Christian experience from where faith views the horizon of God’s purpose clearly for the first time. The fact that Christ is risen shows that God will never leave us, but that He is always with us, making a new thing from the midst of conflict, sufferirig and death. And Easter also tells us that we will always be with God. For just as Christ is risen, so too can we expect to be risen with him to the eternal life of which he spoke on earth.

A view from the other side of the tracks

Faith is an odd thing, at times a comfort, at others a tribulation, but always a challenge that sometimes compels a change of direction. Thus it was, Epiphany found us entering St. James with great trepidation. To someone brought up to believe that Catholics were dangerous people with a tendency to leave barrels of gun powder under Parliament, this was not an easy thing to do. Initial impressions of a church with statuary, murals and myriad candles did little to dispel the fear of having strayed into something beyond our comprehension.

The Mass started, the congregation made their responses in loud enthusiastic voices, traditional hymns stirred the heart, the Church filled with clouds of incense. A very formal service, but one that carried the whole congregation along and left a wonderful sense of communion. After the Mass reached a joyous conclusion, we joined in the Angelus as though nothing could be more usual for us than to say Hail Mary. To me this had always seemed something akin to pantheism and therefore wrong. This distorted view is hardly surprising, when even Anglican Bishops have suggested that it is not necessary to believe in the virgin birth.

"Smells and bells" may be an anathema to some people but I recall a poster outside of the Friends Meeting House that simply said "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water"; it prompted me to go inside.

The last few weeks have come as something of a revelation, to explode the myths and dispel the bogeyman lurking behind every image. In short, to understand and marvel at the good and honest motives that lay behind the teaching of the early church. It is rather like being a small
child again and being thrilled by a classroom full of illustrations, posters, maps, display cases, nature tables and objects that are full of life, interest and learning.

How sad it now seems to see a Church where this has all been swept away by violent fanatical intolerance. Images of Prophets, Saints and Martyrs, the fall of man to the coming of Christ and the Resurrection replaced by cold grey marble funerary slabs honouring the memory of some long dead gentlefolk, leaving only a vestige to the Glory of God in His own house. It seems that the whole direction of the Anglican church has been one of discarding. A throw-away-age, that inevitably leads to schism and failure. Even its Bishops publicly reject the Bible in preference for the Koran. It is hardly surprising that Church attendance is in decline. It simply will not do to blame this all on "secular society."

Now the "New Church of England" like its current political mentors, seems ready to jettison its doctrine, to adopt to a new ultra-cool image and to resort to the media spin doctor in a misguided attempt to stem the tide. Will that restore the Anglican Church ? How can we pretend to believe in Ecumenism whilst running as fast as possible in the other direction from other Christians?

Mr C Watson

Editor's note:  The above article was subscribed by a member of our congregation who, with his family, started worshipping at S. James at the beginning of last year.

Annual Report of the PCC for 1998

Background
S James' PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent, Father Ian Grieves, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the suite of church buildings at S James'.

Membership
Members of the PCC are either ex officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. During the year the following served as members of the PCC:

    Incumbent:    Father Ian Grieves (Chairman)
    Churchwardens:    Mr J Bowman
                                Mr B Hunt (Lay Vice Chairman)
       
    Representative of the General Synod:
            Mrs A Williams

    Representatives of the Deanery Synod:
        Mr G Webster
        Mr R Hall     (until March 1998)
        Mr L Barras     (until March 1998)
        Mr A Hugo     (from April 1998)
        Mr D Warren     (from April 1998)

    Elected Members:
        Mrs A Williams    (Secretary)
        Mr T White    (Treasurer)
        Mr A Way    (until March 1998)
        Mr T Kelsey
        Mrs L Hannant            
        Mr A Hugo    (until March 1998) (cont’d. over >>)
        Mr D Tiffany   
        Miss S Moore
        Mrs K Hoggard
        Mrs D Barrass    (until March 1998)
        Mr H Alderson    (from April 1998)
        Mrs O Kitching    (from April 1998)
        Mrs H Smith    (from April 1998)
        Mr S Byrne    (from April 1998)

Committees:
The PCC operates through a Standing Committee which can meet between full meetings of the PCC. It is the only committee required by law. It has power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings subject to any direction given by the Church Council.

Church Attendance:
There are 150 parishioners on the Church Electoral Roll, 67 of whom are resident within the parish. The Electoral Roll was completely revised in 1998 when Mr David Warren became Electoral Roll Officer and preparatory to the Annual Parish Meeting in April 1998.

The average weekly (Sunday to Saturday) number of communicants during 1998 was 208. This is not the total number of people attending S James in any week, but only those who receive Holy Communion. The average weekly church attendance figure would be much greater than 208.

Church Quinquennial Inspection:
The last quinquennial inspection of S James' Church was carried out in accordance with the Inspection of Churches Measure 1955, in July 1995 by the church architect, Mr John Burroughs, BA, B Arch. His report was received by the PCC in 1995. Immediate works needing completion: renewal of guttering, except south side of nave - scheduled for Spring 1999.

The Vicarage Quinquennial Inspection:
The last quinquennial inspection of S James' Vicarage was carried out in accordance with the Repair of Benefice Buildings Measure 1972, in November 1995 by the Diocesan Surveyor, Mr David Renton, ARICS. His report was received by the Diocesan Parsonages Committee and all recommended work was carried out.
The Vicarage is well maintained and in good condition.

Review of the Year:
The full PCC met 11 times during 1998 with an average attendance of 80%. The Standing Committee met on one occasion to finalise some urgent repairs to the guttering on the south side of the nave and on the south transept of the church.

There were discussions in the PCC regarding church roof repairs, re-wiring of the church hall, the church murals, the church guttering and the restoration of the paths around the church.

The PCC appointed Mr Alan Todd of Darlington as church architect.

As always, the worship of Almighty God was our priority in 1998. A full liturgical year was observed. Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, the May Festival and S James' Day were all well attended and great occasions. The Mass was said every day in S James' church in 1998.

The Bishop of Beverley was our preacher for Holy Week and Easter Sunday.

Father Michael Wilson, Assistant Priest at S James from 1979 to 1998, died on 19th October 1998, after an illness of eight months. He was 59. The Bishop of Beverley presided at his Funeral Mass assisted by 22 priests.

The parish magazine has a circulation of over 300.

The fund raising, social events and outings were all supported and enjoyed.
       
The church, church hall and grounds were maintained by a group of conscientious and faithful workers.

During the year 32 individuals were baptised, 1 young person was presented for confirmation, there were 3 weddings and 38 funerals were conducted through the ministry of S James.

The school, nursery, nursing homes within the parish were visited regularly during the year. The needy, sick and dying were given pastoral care.