Lent starts on 10th of this month
……… and that means it’s all change at the altar!
Have you ever wondered why we have different colours for different seasons? Until the Presentation of Christ we have been in White for Christmas/Epiphany; for a short period, only 10 days this year (and with a White Sunday morning on 7th for Confirmation) we will be in ‘Ordinary time’ and so Green, always green in ordinary time, whenever it occurs; on Ash Wednesday we move into our Lenten array. On Passion Sunday, 13th March, we move into Purple for Passiontide, then Red for Palm Sunday and Holy Week. Maundy Thursday is White after which the altar is stripped and left bare till Easter, though the Good Friday vestments are Red. Not many saints’ days fall in Lent but there is Joseph on 19th March and sometimes the Annunciation (25th March) though this year it’s been moved because that’s Good Friday – both those would be White if we were keeping them eucharistically. Finally, having gone through all our altar frontals except Black (Requiems) we come back to White for Easter. (If we had a pink (Rose) set we could fit in another change and use that for Mothering Sunday). Whoever decided on the use of liturgical colours to mark the seasons, it wasn’t a sacristan!
Stations of the Cross……
This year we’ll be praying the Stations on a Tuesday after Evening Prayer, a time we hope might make it possible for more people to attend.1 The pictures, as always, have been done by members of the congregation but we’ll be doing something slightly different this year. It’s not every vicar who would embrace the idea of inviting anyone with any pretensions to artistic ability to paint a station and then having them displayed as a focus for prayer but Father Stephen agreed the plan in, I think, 2011, and we’ve done it ever since. Over that time we’ve built up around 30 pictures and in tribute to his confidence in us we’re going to display them all this year.
…….and other Art
Of course HPC has a tradition of art works that goes back to Victorian wall paintings, now covered or removed, and a painting of the crucifixion over the side chapel altar where now we have Donald Towner’s Christ with Mary and John (the chapel is actually dedicated to St Mary and St John although we tend to call it a Lady Chapel). From time to time other paintings have hung there, starting with Sergei Chepik’s Golgotha in around 1996/7 (I’m sure someone will correct me about the date – I know it was painted in 1996 and hung in the Catto Gallery before coming to the church.) Since then we’ve been fortunate to have a series of paintings by Alf Lohr and one by Raphael Zimmerman. So far no sculpture but I’ve always thought the arch where we put the second Christmas tree would be an ideal place…….
Second Wednesdays
Three of us spent an enjoyable afternoon in January sorting through old newspaper cuttings, wondering why some of them had been kept, reading odd snippets about the parish and, on my part anyway, filling in one gap in my knowledge of former church personnel. I always wondered who succeeded George Aitken (organist from 1895-1942) before Martindale Sidwell arrived (organist from 1945-1992) and now I know: Gilbert Stacey. I don’t know much about him but on 28th November 1948 he was directing the Elysian Players on the Light Programme (remember that?). This month our Second Wednesday will be ‘Knit and Natter’ (sounds so much better than ‘Stitch and Bitch’ (!) but includes sewing or anything you want to bring to do) so do join us any time between1pm and 5pm. Tea and Coffee provided.
Voluntary Rate
Every year we send an invitation to every household in the parish to help us maintain our building by voluntary donation based on the council tax band of their property. This brings in a useful sum for the Fabric Fund 2 as well as giving us the opportunity to publicise our forthcoming services and events and to say generally ‘We’re here, why not visit us?’ The mailing involves some 4,500 letters and leaflets which are all prepared by Maggie Willmer but which all have to be put in envelopes and delivered.
And that’s where you come in. Putting the letters in the envelopes takes several hours in itself so we invite as many of you as possible to come to the church on Saturday 27th February – the more people we have the shorter the time it takes. We start at 10am and usually finish mid-afternoon. It’s more fun than it sounds – we chat, we stop for coffee, we have an amazingly good lunch provided by Elizabeth Beesley and her team and we experience the satisfaction of a job well done! But if you’re not free on 27th don’t think you can’t help with the fundraising because after that they all have to be delivered! It could be fun, or it could be a Lenten penance but either way, please do help us get them out.
Erratum
The Children’s Society was omitted from the list of charities supported by the parish in last month’s magazine – apologies for that. We also support Traidcraft, as you’ll see from the Big Brew article further on in this issue, but in a slightly different way because we buy their products rather than collecting and donating to their work.
February
Judy East