Events
Sunday 10th April
Collation of the Archdeacon of Northumberland
Canon Geof Miller, currently a canon at the Cathedral with a range of diocesan responsibilities will be collated &c at Archdeacon of Northumberland at Evensong. Anybody wishing to attend should mention it to the Vicar.
Sunday 17th April
Deanery Evensong
Following the success (in terms of attendance) of last year’s deanery evensong, the event will happen again this year in the Church of the Holy Spirit, Denton at 4pm. We will doubtless send a posse. There will be Solemn Evensong and Benediction here at 6.30pm as usual.
Sunday, 1st May
SS Philip & James
Sung Mass at 10.30am
This is one of our (many!) patronal festivals. The PCCs have agreed that there will be one, sung Mass followed by lunch in the Vicarage. Please make every effort to attend this event to ensure a fulsomeness to our celebrations.
Wednesday, 4th May
Joining of Mothers’ Union Branches
Service at 2pm
This will be a service to mark the formal joining together of the two branches of the Mothers’ Union here. This move ensures that we eradicate duplication and also seek the advantages that the two branches working full together can bring.
We shall be inviting various people from the Mothers’ Union across the diocese and other friends of the parishes; there will be a reception in the Vicarage after the service.
Thursday, 5th May
Ascension Day
Procession and High Mass at 7.30pm
Ascension Day commemorates the events recorded in Acts 1: 6 – 11. Other accounts in the New Testament record the Ascension as occurring on the evening of the Resurrection. Traditionally, the event is located on the Mount of Olives. The Ascension of Christ marked the end of the Resurrection appearances and, indeed, of Christ’s earthly ministry. Now exalted to His place in Heaven, He can exercise his ubiquitous ministry.
There is evidence that the feast was celebrated by parts of the Church from the fourth century. Before the reforms, it marked the end of Eastertide, with Ascensiontide covering the days until Pentecost Sunday. Now, however, the great fifty days of Eastertide are considered as one with Ascension Day an event along the way.
Sunday, 15th May
Pentecost Sunday
Sung Mass at 9am; Procession and High Mass at 10.30am; Solemn Evensong and Benediction at 4pm
Pentecost, as the name suggests, is the fiftieth day after Easter Day. In Jewish reckoning, it is the fiftieth day after Passover and was the feast on which the first fruits of the harvest were offered. For Christians, it commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit, recorded in Acts 2: 1ff. It also marks the end of the great fifty days of the Easter celebrations; it is the third festival of the ecclesiastical calendar.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is associated with all occasions of Christian commitment (Baptism, Confirmation, Ordination) and so, at the beginning of the High Mass, we gather around the font to renew our commitment to our vocation.
Sunday, 22nd May
Trinity Sunday
Sung Mass at 9am; High Mass at 10.30am; Solemn Evensong and Benediction at 6.30pm
Trinity Sunday emerged as the Octave (= eighth) day of a week of celebration following Pentecost Sunday. It gradually developed an identity of its own and, as we all know, the Book of Common Prayer numbered the Sundays of Ordinary Time “after Trinity”. Nowadays, it has been put back in its place a little.
Two particular features mark Trinity Sunday this year. First, the Very Revd Richard Eyre, formerly Dean of Exeter (during your Vicar’s undergraduate days), will be preaching at the High Mass. Secondly, at Benediction we sing the Athanasian Creed, which is its annual outing.
The Athanasian Creed
This document is a little backwater of Catholic tradition, now largely abandoned, though its recitation is still prescribed on various days in the Book of Common Prayer. We generally have two creedal statements – the Nicene Creed, used at Mass and ordinations and the Apostles’ Creed used at Baptisms, Confirmations and the daily office. The Athanasian Creed, which was actually not written by S Athanasius, is rarely used by anyone much nowadays and was never adopted by the Church in the East. The faint of heart become anxious about all the cursing of heresy; but for those of us who are past playing squash, it is good for dissolving the frustrations of life.
Wednesday, 25th May
Corpus Christi
High Mass, Procession and Benediction at 7.30pm
Corpus Christi (= the Body of Christ) is the feast that celebrates and gives thanks for God’s gift of the Mass to the Church. Although the “anniversary” of that institution is Maundy Thursday, we have other things on our mind on that day … or we should have.
The Mass stands as an element of the Church and her life in its own right and its mystery is deep beyond the perceptions of any one person. It is both the manifestation of the Church and the means of her strengthening; it provides a visible meeting between the Church on earth and the celestial realms.
The actual day of Corpus Christi is Thursday, but we keep it on the eve so that we can invite other people without taking them from their own parish celebrations. On Thursday, we join with S Paul’s Whitley Bay for their Mass (7.30pm).
Lent Sermons
The Vicar has been asked to provide a text of his Lenten sermons on the development of Eucharistic doctrine. If you would like a copy, please ask.
Benediction
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament provides an opportunity, as it were, to push the pause button between the end of the Eucharistic Prayer and Holy Communion, so that we can lay our devotion and intercession before the Sacramental Presence of Christ. The service concludes with the blessing of Christ, present in the Host.
The Reserved Sacrament
At Mass on Sunday, Hosts are “reserved” in the tabernacle primarily for the Communion of those who are prevented, by reason of ill-health, from being present at the Liturgy. Traditionally, people genuflect to Christ’s Sacramental Presence in the tabernacle as they pass in front of it and on entering and leaving the Church. It would be good if we could make sure that we try and maintain this practice – it doesn’t take long!!
Home page: http://stmatthewsnewcastle.org.uk/