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St.
Luke's Church and Parish Centre |
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Advent to Easter |
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The Church year starts with Advent. (The First
Sunday of Advent is usually at the end of November or early December) The
pictures on this page highlight some of the key events at St. Luke's from
Advent up to Easter. |
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Advent Sunday, 30th November 2008 was an incredible day for St. Luke's with the ordination of our assistant curate, Steve Sheridan, as priest. The picture left shows Bishop Wallace ordaining Fr. Steve (kneeling centre) with our vicar, Fr. James, (standing right). |
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Epiphany
On the Saturday night before Epiphany there was a Parish Party in the main hall. |
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Candlemas is celebrated on 2nd February
and the congregation bring candles to be blessed for use at home during the
year.
In 2007 we were joined by Stone Cross School Choir
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St. Luke's staged three performances of their Pantomime "Babes in the Wood with Robin Hood" in February 2009.
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Holy Week before Easter
The Blessed Sacrament Chapel becomes the "Garden of Gethsemane" during Holy Week. |
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One of the Good Friday services is
"Stations of the Cross".
The Church is stripped bare and pictures of each stage of Christ's Passion are displayed on the walls at each station. |
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Easter |
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The
Easter Vigil service starts at 5.15 in the morning with a fire lit outside the
Church before sunrise.
From this fire the Pascal Candle is lit and the flame carried inside the Church for a series of readings and psalms by candlelight in the west end of the Nave. |
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At the end of the vigil readings the Church is flooded with light and the candle is taken to the font which is filled with water and blessed by dipping the candle in the font. The service continues with the First Mass of the Resurrection. |
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Parish Easter Breakfast When the Easter Vigil service is over the congregation sit down to a cooked breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, beans, hash browns, toast etc.) in the Parish Centre Hall.
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The Parish Retreat.
An annual retreat is usually held at the Ashburnham Payer Centre where day visitors join the weekenders for a series of bible readings, meditations, music, projected images and prayer. In May 2009 a five day retreat was held in Bruges. |
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