Join the Church of England on Easter Sunday 9:00am service with the Archbishop of Canterbury
On Easter Day the service will be led by Archbishop of Canterbury, with Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin reflecting on stories of how churches are stepping up to the challenge of Coronavirus in Canterbury Diocese, and Theodore (aged 10) leading the prayers. This broadcast will also be available on the Church of England’s website and Facebook page at 9am each Sunday and Easter Day can also be heard from 8.10am on BBC Radio 4.
Click through for a link to the Church of England on-line Church which can be found here (or from the front page or from the prayer resources page here)
Click this link to the Church of England on-line Church
Update 11th April -- As a preview for the service:-
The Most Rev Justin Welby will be joined by the Bishop of Dover, The Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, who will read the Gospel as well as his wife Caroline, who will read from the Book of Acts. Bishop Rose will also share how churches in the Diocese of Canterbury are enabling prayer and worship while congregations are unable to gather in church buildings. Theodore Levings, a ten-year-old member of All Saints church in Canterbury will lead prayers. In common with clergy and people across the Church of England, each were recorded at home to observe physical distancing.
The Archbishop’s sermon will highlight the astonishing courage of those on the front lines of the battle against Covid-19. “After so much suffering, so much heroism from key workers and the NHS,” he will say, “we cannot be content to go back to what was before as if all is normal. There needs to be a resurrection of our common life.”
Following familiar elements from an Easter service, including popular Easter hymns such as Jesus Christ is Risen Today, to mark the resurrection of Jesus, the Archbishop will give his address and respond to the current uncertainty and acknowledge that, “So many people right across the country are anxious about employment, food, are isolated from loved ones and feel that the future looks dark. People right across the globe feel the same uncertainty, fear, despair and isolation. But you are not alone.”
The Archbishop, who would normally preside before a congregation of around 1,500 at Eucharist in Canterbury Cathedral on Easter morning, will go on to root the hope for the UK and the world in the events of the first Easter, two thousand years ago in Jerusalem. “In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have a hope that is surer than stone; than any architecture,” he will say. “Even in the dark days of this Easter we can feed on hope. We can dream of what our country and our world will look like after the pandemic.”
The service, which marks the biggest festival in the Christian calendar, will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 4, this Sunday 12th April. It will be available to watch on the Church of England’s Facebook page and website from 9am.
The service will finish with a large national virtual congregation singing Thine be the Glory, submitted by BBC Radio listeners in advance.
You will also find the Church of England Holy Week Schedule here, a summary of which is below:-
Daily and weekly services
Building on the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of York’s weekly broadcasts which have engaged a large audience, the Palm Sunday broadcast will be recorded by the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, and the Archdeacon of Manchester, Ven Karen Lund, with Lucy Hargraves from St Peter’s Church in Bolton leading prayers, all from their own homes. Watch on our Facebook page.
On Easter Day the service will be led by Archbishop of Canterbury, with Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin reflecting on stories of how churches are stepping up to the challenge of Coronavirus in Canterbury Diocese, and Theo (aged 10) leading the prayers. This broadcast will also be available on the Church of England’s website and Facebook page at 9am each Sunday and Easter Day can also be heard from 8.10am on BBC Radio 4.
The Church will continue to share audio of Prayer During the Day and Night Prayer, which many thousands of people listen to on a regular basis. Christians can join in these services by downloading the free Time to Pray app from Church House Publishing.
Stations of the Cross
Recorded in 2019 by the Archbishop and Archdeacon of Canterbury, with prayers led by Rev Isabelle Hamley, a series of five podcasts will take people on the Holy Week journey by exploring and reflecting on five of the biblical Stations of the Cross. Links to listen to the audio will be shared through the Church’s social media accounts and on the website in the coming days.