Subject: Holy Week & Easter at the University Church

 

A Dazzling Darkness


by the Revd Dr William Lamb


“And it was night.”


These words come from St. John’s Gospel – and it’s worth pondering on these words this evening as we participate in this prelude to the Church’s longest day - the Triduum, those three days Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday that merge into one.


“And it was night.” These words mark a decisive shift on John’s narrative. They follow the prediction by Jesus of his death and betrayal. Jesus has just told Judas ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ Judas immediately leaves the room. And then John says "And it was night.” Most of the story of the Passion which will unfold in the next few days happens during the hours of darkness. The Last Supper, the agony in Gethsemane, the trials before the chief priests and Pilate – all these things occur in the bewildering and chaotic hours of darkness. John sets the scene for the passion narrative to unfold amidst the shadows of the night.


But just as Judas leaves the room, John records that Jesus says these words: ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.’ The words ‘glory’ and ‘glorification’ have special significance in John’s Gospel. It has a particular resonance in the Old Testament as a word which suggests the presence and the reality of God. To see the glory of God is to discover the reality of God. And for John, the place where Christians discover the reality of God is not in the kind of place where one might expect to find it. The reality of God is discovered among dark shadows in the disfigured body of a man on a cross. ‘Glory’ and ‘glorification’ point to the cross and resurrection. That is the place where God’s glory is revealed. As St. Paul puts it “We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he is our salvation, our life and our resurrection. In him, we are saved and made free.’


Please come and join in the Triduum at St Mary’s this year. I hope you will join me in welcoming the Revd Canon Dr Jeremy Morris as our Holy Week preacher, and I hope you will join us in celebrating the joy of the resurrection on Easter Day.


 

This is Holy Week. For the first time in two years, we will be able to offer the full range of Holy Week services. We hope that you will come and participate in this high point of the church’s liturgical year. We welcome the Revd Dr Jeremy Morris as our Holy Week preacher. Jeremy was a contemporary of the Vicar at Westcott House. He is a theologian and church historian. He has recently published A People’s Church: A History of the Church of England.

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Notices


CHURCH CLEANING

16th April – 10am in Church

On Holy Saturday, we will be busy preparing the church for Easter Day. If you can lend half an hour or more to help make sure the church is looking at its best ready for Easter, now the dust from the nave roof project has settled, please do drop in.


ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

24th April – 12pm in Old Library

The APCM is an opportunity for all who are on the electoral roll to reflect on the past year of life at St Mary’s and to vote on important matters and appointments for the year ahead, including the election of church officers such as wardens and PCC members. It will take place after the service on 24th April and all who are on the electoral roll are warmly encouraged to attend.


NEW TO ST MARY’S? If you are new to St Mary’s and have started coming to services in the last six months or so, we may not have your contact details. If you would like to find out more about what is going on at the University Church, please email admin@universitychurch.ox.ac.uk with your name, address and telephone number and ask for your name to be added to the Parish Directory. This directory is used only by parish staff but it enables us to get in touch with you as the need arises.

St Mary's Church, High Street, OX1 4BJ, Oxford, United Kingdom

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