St Mary's Church, Dymock
925th anniversary Year
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| Experience Easter |
| This year Dymock had six displays arranged around the church telling the account of Easter. The first symbolised the events of Palm Sunday, when we celebrate how the people greeted Jesus as their saviour when he rode into Jerusalem. (Return to top) | |
| 1 Hope And Dreams - Palm Sunday |
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| The people of Israel were dreaming of a time when they would be free from the Roman soldiers who had occupied their country and now ruled their lives. They were hoping for another leader like their greatest, King David, someone chosen by God to help them overthrow their enemies. The Hebrew word for chosen one is 'Messiah', so they were hoping for a Messiah. (Return to top)
When Jesus came into Jerusalem, the crowd was excited and restless. Many had heard of Jesus' teaching about God and about the miracles he was doing, so they thought he was the Messiah. As Jesus rode into the city on a young donkey the people cheered and praised God shouting, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord." (Return to top) People began to throw their cloaks on the ground to pave his way, and to wave palm leaves, which was what they did for people of great worth. Their hearts were full of expectation. (Return to top) But the religious leaders grumbled about Jesus, because they didn't think he was the Messiah and were afraid that he was undermining their authority. But he told them, "I tell you that if the people keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting" (Luke 19:28-40). (Return to top) |
 'The way' leads to the cross |
| 2 A New Commandment - Servant King | |
| Later, Jesus and his disciples were in an upper room where they had gone to celebrate the important Jewish Festival of 'Pesach', which recalls the 'Passover', when death had passed over the Jewish households and spared the people as they escaped from exile and slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12). (Return to top)
Israel is a hot, dry land and at that time most people travelled on foot, so it was the custom to welcome visitors by washing their dusty feet. Normally a household servant did this. When Jesus invited his disciples to supper in the upper room, they were surprised by what happened. (Return to top) Jesus rose from the table, took off his outer garment, and tied a towel around his waist. Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel round his waist…. When he had finished washing their feet, he returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done for you. |
 A New Commandment - Serve One Another |
| 3 The Last Supper - Remember Me | |
| The Service of Holy Communion (sometimes called Eucharist*) is the time when Christians come together to share bread and wine and to remember Jesus, as he instructed us to do when he shared his last meal with his friends. (Return to top)
When the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table with the disciples. He said to them, "I have wanted so much to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer.... Then Jesus took a cup of wine, gave thanks to God, and said, Take this and share it among yourselves.... Then he took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me." (Luke 22:14-19). (Return to top) (*Eucharist is a Greek word that means ‘Thanksgiving’ and refers to the ‘Great Prayer of Thanksgiving’ when the priest gives thanks to God and blesses the bread and wine during the Service). (Return to top) |
 The Last Supper - 'Remember Me' |
| 4 Alone (Garden of Gethsemane) | |
| After the meal, Jesus went with his disciples to a garden just outside the city called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Grief and anguish came over him and he said to them, "The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch with me." (Return to top)
He went a little further on, threw himself face downwards on the ground, and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want." Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, "How is it that you three were not able to keep watch with me even for one hour?" (Return to top) He went away and prayed for a second and third time, each time returning and finding them asleep again. The last time he said, "Get up, let us go. Look, here is the man who is betraying me." |
 Alone in the Garden of Gethsemane |
| 5 Crucifixion - Sharing Our Sorrows | |
| The religious leaders took Jesus away, where he was falsely accused and tortured before they handed him over to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate. "Pilate's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's palace, and the whole company gathered round him. They stripped off his clothes and put a scarlet robe on him. Then they made a crown of thorny branches and placed it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand; they knelt before him and mocked him. (Return to top)
Long live the King of the Jews!" they said. "They spat on him and took the stick and hit him over the head. When they had finished mocking him, they took the robe off and led him out to crucify him. (Return to top) They came to a place called Golgotha, which means 'The place of the skull'. There.... they crucified him and then divided his clothes among them by throwing dice.... Above his head they put a written notice of the accusation against him: "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." At 3 pm, Jesus died. (Matthew 27:27-37). (Return to top) At that moment, the curtain hanging in the Temple to separate the ‘Holy of Holies’ from the people was torn apart. The Holy of Holies was where they thought God dwelt. No one was allowed there except the high priest, and he only once a year after great formality. The curtain was torn because Jesus had restored our relationship with God, so we are no longer separated from him. (Return to top) Because it was so close to the start of the Sabbath, when no work can be done, the body couldn't be properly prepared for burial, so they took down the body of Jesus from the cross and placed it in a nearby tomb hewn from solid rock, and rolled a heavy stone across the entrance. Pilate had Roman guards placed at the entrance. (Return to top) |
 No greater love. Dying that we might all be saved |
| 6 Resurrection | |
| Angels* proclaimed the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, and after his death on the cross it was also an angel who told the women who had come to prepare his body for burial that he was alive again.
After the Sabbath, as Sunday morning was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. Suddenly there was a violent earthquake; an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid that they trembled and became like dead men. The angel spoke to the women. “You must not be afraid,” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has been raised, just as he said. Come here and see the place where he was lying. Go quickly now, and tell his disciples, He has been raised from death, and now he is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him.” Remember what I have told you. (Matthew 28:1-7). (Return to top) *'Angelos' is the Greek word for 'Messenger' - Angels are God's messengers! |
 Jesus' Tomb was empty because he had risen from the dead |