The Gospel readings in the season of Easter concentrate on the resurrection stories. Last week we had the story of doubting Thomas, this week the Road to Emmaus.

In all the appearances of the Risen Lord there is this strange inability to recognise him. He is seen by Mary Magdalene, and she thinks he is the gardener. In Sunday’s reading from St Luke, Cleopas and companion think he is a fellow traveller. Interestingly, St John has Mary of Cleopas present at the crucifixion, and identifies her as the sister of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. This has led some to speculate that what we have here is Cleopas and his wife, who were his relatives. However, St Luke seems to make it clear that the two were acquainted with Jesus and should have recognised him; yet did not. It was only in the breaking of the bread they finally saw him and recognised him.

This is the human blindness: to fail to see Jesus. He walks with us and teaches us, but we fail to see him as he truly is. St John has Mary recognising him when he calls her name; here St Luke has them recognising him in the breaking of the bread, a sacramental dimension. The Gospels are teaching us to learn to see Our Lord in new and different ways, to hear him call to us and to see Our Lord in the communion we take. 

As Christians we are continually challenged to see Jesus in the face of what seems to be the ordinary or even tragedy. By now we have been unable to gather and celebrate in our churches for several weeks: Passion, Palm, Easter and Low Sundays have passed by with our doors shut to the street. This time of enforced solitude helps us to ask the question: where do we see Jesus now? How is Our Lord speaking to us at this time? What do we miss about our gathering around the broken bread, to see the presence of Our Lord there?

Last week I recorded the feast of the Annotine Easter. This is the day one year past the last Easter. At Easter in particular, the early church administered the rite of baptism and confirmation, the giving of new life to candidates who had prepared themselves over the period of Lent. Then, at the Vigil service, they were baptised and received the new robes of white to symbolise their new life in Christ. One week later on the Saturday, they returned the white robes, so the day was known in Latin as in albis depositis or in albis deponendis (of removal of the white garments). Later the description in albis was applied also to the following Sunday, the octave day of Easter, Low Sunday. A year later their baptism was commemorated on the birthday, so to speak, of the last Easter, and that date is the Annotine Easter. So, on that date, we still pray for all those baptised or confirmed during the past year.

Every year there is a special Anglican Church Calendar printed. Next year’s will also feature our beautiful church. It is a recognition of the outstanding beauty of our parish church and the generations of care that have created and maintained it.

Finances are a difficult subject at this time, and my thanks for the support we have received. The diocese has applied for the Jobkeeper payment, and we should know soon if that is successful. The Archbishop believes we should be able to receive these payments. If so, that will help a lot.

One of the traditions we have here at St George’s is a restrained use of the organ over Lent as part of our penitential way. Hence, we never play the organ after the mass at 9.30. It’s always so much fun to hear the great postludes again in Eastertide, one of my favourites is Widor’s Toccata. Here is a lovely version from the Community of Jesus, an ecumenical Benedictine monastic Christian community located near Rock Harbor, in Orleans, Massachusetts, USA. Enjoy the music and the lovely pictures of the community.

God bless

Fr Scott 

Online Resources

First things first – there is a St Corona!  A first century martyr, she is venerated in Bavaria and Austria as the patron saint of treasure hunters and is invoked in times of epidemics and contagious diseases. I’m assured by the internet that her name is purely coincidental! https://zenit.org/articles/library-in-alexandria-egypt-offers-online-lessons-on-st-corona/

Last week we suggested that we’ll focus on mission and aid activities in PNG and the Solomon Islands.  We’ll still do that, but today we’ll take a detour and look at the Barnabas Fund.  Barnabas is a global organisation that provides ‘hope and aid for the persecuted church’ and assists Christians in non-Christian majority countries.  Of very real interest is Barnabas’ proactive role regarding the Covid 19 epidemic – this puts them ahead of many other agencies, and is the reason why we’ve chosen them today. 

Please note that when we review mission and aid organisations that we’re not recommending donations – instead it’s about exploring the Church in the world, and then allowing the reader to think about their own priorities.  There’s a lot of agencies out there looking for funds!

The Barnabas website is at https://barnabasfund.org.  Barnabas assists the persecuted Church by:

• directing funds only to Christians, although they may indirectly help others;

• sending funds, not people;
• sending funds to existing structures (e.g. local churches or Christian organisations); and
• using the money to fund projects which have been developed by local Christians in their own communities.

This is same basis on which St George’s donates to the Diocese of Aipo Rongo in PNG or through our parishioners in the Solomon Islands.  It’s very efficient, but the risk is – how do we know the money has been spent properly? For our small offerings it’s about relationships and trust, but for the larger organisations it comes down to their governance structures.  I was surprised to find little about these on the Barnabas webpage, but the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission reports that donations are managed through the Barnabas International Project Committee in the UK and otherwise highlights no issues.

Here are some Covid 19 relevant reports from Barnabas.

• Barnabas is working through an Africa wide network of theological colleges to identify need and distribute assistance: https://barnabasfund.org/coronavirus.
• Boko Haram takes advantage of the Covid 19 lockdowns in West Africa: https://news.barnabasfund.org/Boko-Haram-leader-declares-coronavirus-product-of-evil-mocks-health-measures-as-attacks-step-up-in-West-Africa-under-Covid-19-curfews/.
• Similarly, there have been proposed attacks in Egypt: https://news.barnabasfund.org/Islamist-terrorists–plotting-Covid-19-coronavirus-curfew-attack-on-Christians-shot-dead-by-Egypt-police/

In addition, please take a look at the reports on the African locust plague that St George’s has been praying for.

If you’re having any difficulty accessing these resources, please contact Tim Hender at timothy.hender@mac.com.

At the end of every high mass on Sunday, we stand and face the Walsingham shrine, to say the angelus, the devotions to Our Lady. At Easter we sing instead the Easter version, called the Regina Caeli, its name in Latin. It goes

Joy to you, O Queen of Heaven. Alleluia!

He whom you were meet to bear. Alleluia!

As He promised has arisen. Alleluia!

Pour for us to God your prayer. Alleluia!

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.

For the Lord is risen indeed, alleluia.

Let us pray:

O GOD, who has given joy to the whole world through the resurrection of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, grant that through the prayers of his Virgin Mother Mary we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Never say the stories of the Church are not relevant. The legend from the 13^th C, of this devotion, attributes it to St Gregory the Great from the 6^th C – he was the pope who sent St Augustine, our first Archbishop of Canterbury, on his mission to England. In 590 a plague was decimating the population of Rome. In those days the Church, instead of locking the churches and hiding, used to have public penitential processions asking for God’s mercy. Gregory ordered that a newly arrived icon of Mary, said to been painted by St Luke, be carried in the procession. As it was being carried across the river Tiber, angels were heard singing the first three lines of this anthem, calling on Mary to rejoice because her son had risen. Gregory then completed the last line on the spot, and at that moment the Archangel Gabriel appeared above the mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian nearby and sheathed his sword, a sign that the plague was ended. A chapel was then built on the monument, which was renamed Castel Sant’ Angelo, and that monument still exists. 

Well, the famous icon still exists as well, it is called the Salus Populi Romani and the present pope, Francis, had it on display as he gave his blessing to the city and world recently, over the sadly empty space in front of St Peter’s. History has a way of echoing through time.

So, it’s very appropriate indeed that we sing this hymn at this time. We use it at the moment every day at noon at the shrine by the door of the church as we pray for those in need, and ask the protection of Our Lord and the prayers of Our Lady at this difficult time. I am glad we have this public space to do this: our little witness to the world of the continuing place of prayer.

This Sunday is also called Low Sunday. It’s often a bit of a holiday for the church choir and servers, who just want a break after all the hard work over Easter. Sundays are often named after the special pieces of music for the day, usually the first music sung as the clergy entered, the introit, but this name comes from the sequence, the music sung before the gospel. The sequence for this day is in Latin Laudes Salvatatori, “Praise to Our Saviour”, and the Laudes was corrupted in English into Low, giving us the name of the Sunday.

Sad news on the parish front: Steve Scovell died on Thursday 16 April. He had been unwell for a while, and battling with cancer. Steve and Val lived in the present hall, when it was still a house, in Fr Willoughby’s time and have had a lifelong connection with our parish. We pray for the repose of his soul, and his widow Val and family. Pray particularly for Tom, in England, who has been infected.

Some people have asked me if we are going to try streaming any services. It’s not a technology I’m good at, but I will if there is enough interest, perhaps for a compline one night. Let me know.

This Thursday will also be the feast of our patron saint, St George. We usually have a lovely lunch together on the Sunday following this: but not this year. In earlier times people used to wear red roses for this day to our church, a custom that was a little difficult to fulfil as roses are usually a little hard to come by in April. However, the gardens are simply lovely at the moment and the roses are plentiful! I have included at the top of this issue one of the earliest photos we have of our beautiful statue of St George from around 1920. The face is particularly beautiful.

One of the hymns I love singing for St George’s Day, “For All the Saints,” was written by the Bishop of Wakefield, William Walsham How in 1864. How turned down many great Anglo Catholic parishes, such as All Saints Margaret Street, the great London Church, to remain working in poor parishes. The hymn was popularised particularly in the famous English Hymnal, in 1906 with a new setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It has been described as one of the finest hymn tunes of the 20th century. Here is a YouTube recording from King’s College, Cambridge for those who want to hear it. Enjoy.

For all the saints, who from their labours rest,

Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,

Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;

Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;

Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,

Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,

And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!

We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;

Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,

Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,

And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west;

Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;

Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;

The saints triumphant rise in bright array;

The King of glory passes on His way.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,

Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,

Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:

Alleluia, Alleluia!

God bless

Fr Scott 

We all know the date of Christmas, but who can tell straight away the date of Easter?

The reason is simple. Christmas is a solar festival, and we follow the solar calendar, with its 365 days per year. But Easter is a lunar festival, it is based on the full moon around the autumn equinox, and that just fries our brains trying to work it out.

Christmas is also the time when we celebrate a joyful event, we give each other presents and relax into summer. 

Easter, well, that’s tougher. It centres on Good Friday, which is hardly a happy story: betrayal, show trials, torture and death for Jesus.

There is a reflection on life there. Our good times are more often planned, often months ahead. The party is organised, the food and grog ordered, the guests invited.

Tragedy is an unexpected guest. We don’t plan a day for death, pain, cancer or pandemics. 

Good Friday and Easter are always unexpected, we can’t easily work out when they will occur. It’s the same for the difficult times in our lives, unexpected.

But Easter is not only the pain and death of Good Friday, it is the joy of Easter and new life. The best joy is highlighted by surprise – we enjoy because we know the cost, we have endured the pain and disappointment.

As we battle these dark weeks of uncertainty, we remember that Easter is the joy of resurrection, of change unexpected. Darkness passes, new life awaits. Jesus rose from death and lives.

But as a liturgical church, we pray through our liturgies to share the experience of these times. The notes for our Easter Vigil tell us:

The Easter Vigil marks the end of the emptiness of Holy Saturday, and leads into the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The singing of the Exsultet, the ancient hymn of triumph and rejoicing, links this night of our Christian redemption to the Passover night of Israel’s redemption out of Egypt. Christian baptism is a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, a dying to sin in order to be reborn in him, and the Easter Vigil was from early Christian times a preferred occasion for baptism. It is fittingly a time when those who are already Christians may repeat with renewed commitment the promises of their own baptism, and strengthen their sense of incorporation into the royal and priestly ministry of the whole people of God. The Easter Gospel is proclaimed with all the joy and splendour that the church can find.

All the resources of the church – music, flowers, bells, colours – are used to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. The ‘Alleluia’, which has been silent throughout Lent, returns.

This year we will not be able to have the masses of the day and communion. I invite you all to make what we call a spiritual communion, to reflect on our sins and failure, to ask for God’s forgiveness, then to ask for his presence from afar. One popular prayer for this is:

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

I have started the habit of giving you a hymn for the week: I do miss our music here at St George’s. We are blessed with a choir, and we are blessed with a great inheritance of music, including the many wonderful chants. I shall miss this year particularly the wonderful planctus chant of the passion reading on Good Friday, with its falling notes at the end of each sentence, and the great chant of the exsultet at the Easter vigil. One of my favourite Easter hymns is “Thine Be the Glory.” Its magnificent tune was written by George Frederic Handel in 1747, it was intended for use in his Joshua oratorio; however, it was so popular that Handel reused for his Judas Maccabaeus. Ludwig Van Beethoven composed twelve variations on it for both piano and cello.

In 1884, Edmond Budry used Handel’s tune and wrote words for them, which he titled “A Toi la Gloire.” He was inspired to write it after the death of his first wife. The hymn was first translated from French into English by Richard B. Hoyle in 1923 Do enjoy it.

1 Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son:

endless is the vict’ry thou o’er death hast won;

angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,

kept the folded grave-clothes where thy body lay.

Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;

endless is the vict’ry thou o’er death hast won.

2 Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;

lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;

let the church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing,

for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting. [Refrain]

3 No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life;

life is naught without thee: aid us in our strife;

make us more than conqu’rors, thro’ thy deathless love:

bring us safe thro’ Jordan to thy home above. [Refrain]

God bless

Fr Scott 

Good Friday: 10 April, 2020

In my last Plague Rag I asked you to consider that worship defines who we are as Christians. We worship to pray, and prayer allows us to enter into the heart of God’s being. The second of the great liturgies of this time is that of Good Friday. It is introduced with these words:

IN THE STARKNESS of the liturgy on this day, we are enabled to enter more deeply into the mystery of the finished work of Christ, his death and resurrection, and to be faced more clearly and realistically with the challenge of the crucified Lord in the world today.

The Celebration of Good Friday includes four main parts:

THE LITURGY OF THE WORD

We listen to the words of Scripture and strive to understand the true meaning of Christ’s suffering and the mind that was in him.

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE CROSS

We give our devotions to the cross as a symbol of his triumph.

THE SOLEMN PRAYERS

We pray with his Spirit for the needs of the whole world.

THE COMMUNION

The sacrament that we have adored since yesterday is consumed, and the sacramental presence ends in the church.

The heart of this liturgy has always been the proclamation or veneration of the Cross. The Cross is at the heart of our lives: it is the crucible that takes death and abandonment into life and hope. Our churches are dominated by crosses; especially the great crucifix of the suffering Christ. I always love the crucifix we place above the altar at this time, with the lighting throwing shadows suggesting the crosses of the two thieves on each side.

This year we cannot share this moment of abandonment together. We cannot share touching and kissing the crucifix. We are abandoned and alone in a different way.

It is important that we share that abandonment. If we only sing for joy we can never taste its sweetness, for joy can only be appreciated with the shadows of grief.

I invite you this year to take a crucifix at home and join in the solemn prayers of the veneration. I have included this part of the liturgy for your use.

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE CROSS

A wooden cross is brought into the church. As the cross is carried in, the procession will stop three times and the following will be sung 

Behold the wood of the Cross whereon was hung the world’s 

salvation.

O Come, let us worship.

You are invited to approach the cross and make your personal devotion to it at the altar rails after the third station.

A suitable devotion is holding the foot of the cross and making a prayer, or kissing it.

During the devotions the choir will sing the reproaches, in this or another version, and also other anthems.

It is important to remember that the reproaches are to be understood as applying to the present Church, and we are to hear the reproaches as directed to our own hardness of heart and failure of discipleship. 

My people, what have I done to you

How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you out of Egypt, 

from slavery to freedom, 

but you led your Saviour to the cross.

Holy is God! 

Holy and strong! 

Holy immortal One, have mercy on us!

For forty years I led you 

safely through the desert.

I fed you with manna from heaven,

and brought you to a land of plenty; but you led your Saviour to the cross.

Holy is God! 

Holy and strong! 

Holy immortal One, have mercy on us!

What more could I have done for you. 

I planted you as my fairest vine, 

but you yielded only bitterness: 

when I was thirsty you gave me vinegar to drink, 

and you pierced your Saviour with a lance.

Holy is God! 

Holy and strong! 

Holy immortal One, have mercy on us!

For your sake I scourged your captors 

and their firstborn sons, 

but you brought your scourges down on me.

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you from slavery to freedom 

and drowned your captors in the sea, 

but you handed me over to your high priests. 

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I opened the sea before you, 

but you opened my side with a spear.

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you on your way in a pillar of cloud, 

but you led me to Pilate’s court. 

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I bore you up with manna in the desert, 

but you struck me down and scourged me. 

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I gave you saving water from the rock, 

but you gave me gall and vinegar to drink. 

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me!

For you I struck down the kings of Canaan. 

but you struck my head with a reed. 

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I gave you a royal sceptre, 

but you gave me a crown of thorns.

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I raised you to the height of majesty, 

but you have raised me high on a cross. 

My people, what have I done to you? 
How have I offended you? Answer me! 

God bless

Fr Scott 

Online Resources – Holy Week and Easter Services

Did you have the chance to view any of last week’s recommendations?  Please let us know if you have anything to share.  For Holy Week we’ve added another review for streamed and recorded services, this time from the UK.  For Easter, we’ll have several apps for the daily office for you to try!

1.         Diocese of Chichester

The Diocese of Chichester in the Church of England is presenting a full suite of live and recorded services for Holy Week and the Triduum.  The schedule is at https://www.chichester.anglican.org/documents/holy-week-program/, but as they are eight-and-a-half hours behind us you might prefer the recorded versions! Streamed services are at https://www.chichester.anglican.org/liveservices/ and you’ll see a button at the bottom for the recorded services.

2          Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney

Christ Church St Laurence’s Triduum streamed services are listed at https://ccsl.org.au/this-week/. Don’t forget that Sydney is half an hour ahead of us! After streaming, recordings will be at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCavcqdkKYxbcLzLQXJ7svBQ

3.         Church of the Good Shepherd, Kotara (Newcastle)

Please don’t forget Father Zeb at the following link!

Where: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChzdNzD4mEpVA9tAUu2MQ3A/videos

If you’re having any difficulty accessing these resources, please contact Tim Hender at timothy.hender@mac.com.

This Week

10 Friday                                                                                                                         GOOD FRIDAY

                         12.00 noon    Angelus & Rosary

11 Saturday                                                                                                                 HOLY SATURDAY

                         12.00 noon    Angelus

12 Sunday                                                                                                                                    EASTER

                         12.00 noon    Angelus

Collect:

Let us pray.

ALMIGHTY FATHER, look with mercy on this your family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to be betrayed and given up into the hands of sinners and to suffer death upon the cross; who is alive and glorified with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First reading                                                                                                              Isaiah 52:13–53:12

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.

See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Just as there were many who were astonished at him—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals— so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely, he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice, he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Psalm                                                                                                                                           31:1-18

1 To you, Lord, have I come for shel-ter:

         let me never be put to shame.

2 O deliver me in your right-eousness:

         incline your ear to me and be swift to save me.

3 Be for me a rock of refuge, a fortress to de-fend me:

         for you are my high rock and my stronghold.

4 Lead me and guide me for your name’s sake:

         bring me out of the net that they have secretly laid for me| for you are my strength.

5 Into your hands I commit my spi-rit:

         you will redeem me O Lord God of truth.

6 I hate those that clutch vain i-dols:

         but my trust is in the Lord.

7 I will rejoice and be glad in your loving-kind-ness:

         for you have looked on my distress | and known me in ad-versity.

8 You have not given me over to the power of the en-emy:

         you have set my feet where I may walk at liberty.

9 Have mercy upon me O Lord, for I am in trou-ble:

         my eye wastes away for grief | my throat also and my inward parts.

10 For my life wears out in sorrow, and my years with sigh-ing:

         my strength fails me in my affliction | and my bones are consumed.

11 I am become the scorn of all my e-nemies:

         and my neighbours wag their heads in de-rision.

12 I am a thing of horror to my friends:

         and those that see me in the street shrink from me.

13 I am forgotten like one dead and out of mind:

         I have become like a bro-ken vessel.

14 For I hear the whispering of ma-ny:

         and fear is on ev’ry side;

15 While they plot together a-gainst me:

         and scheme to take a-way my life.

16 But in you, Lord, have I put my trust:

         I have said ‘You are my God.’

17 All my days are in your hand:

         O deliver me from the power of my enemies | and from my

                             per-se-cutors.

18 Make your face to shine upon your ser-vant:

         and save me for your mercy’s sake.

Second reading                                                                                                    Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews.

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

Hear the word of the Lord,

The Passion Reading                                                                                                     John 18:28–19:42

THE ANGELUS IS SAID IN THE GARDENS EVERY DAY FROM TUESDAY TO SUNDAY AT 12 NOON

We enter this week the most holy time of our Church’s year: Holy Week.

This is the time of Our Lord’s betrayal, and his friends forsake him. This is the time he dies alone on the cross, with thieves, the Marys and John the Beloved Disciple at this side.

This is the time he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Never have we felt this cry so strongly.

Our lives are changed, we live behind our doors.

But we live as Christians. We believe and trust in Our God.

We are told, time and time again, that we must self-isolate. But there is another phrase for this: we can embrace the solitude. We can see this as a time for reflection, of being with the Lord. Of making this a profound Holy Week when we share his last few days and follow him to the throne of abandonment, the Cross.

In better times we would share the start of this week with Palm Sunday, when we would join in his entry into Jerusalem. On the other side of the city at this time, Pilate would enter in great triumph as Rome’s envoy, on a mighty horse and shining soldiers. Our Lord’s entry is a parody of this, on a donkey, mocking the powers of the world. But political powers do not have a sense of humour, and they would turn on him and arrest him this week.

We are invited this week to see that the political powers of this world are as passing as Pilate. Our world is to follow the Lord, to share his loneliness at this time. In our solitude, deprived even of the comfort of the mass, we can follow and laugh at the fear of the world. We are not afraid, no matter how alone we feel.

So I ask you all as we enter this last week, what of the inner journey each of us is called to make from death to life? Today would be a good day to pause for a moment and consider where we are. How have prayer, fasting and almsgiving characterised our Lent so far? Do we need to reassess what we are doing or not doing in the light of our present circumstances? One of the great temptations of Lent, as of the Christian life in general, is what we call Elijah Sickness. Just as Elijah was tempted to sit down under a tree and give up, so are we. We begin well, then we become distracted, bored or weary. We still have one last week to go till Easter, but Our Lord will be with us every step of the way. Be encouraged!

On the news front no one in the parish has fallen ill from the virus. Sadly, owing to the need for self-isolation, I cannot bring the sacrament to people at home anymore. The new banner “Do Not Be Afraid” is now on Goodwood Road.

Finances are difficult here at the parish at the moment with no plate – please consider direct debit to the church: the bank account details are “Church of St George The Martyr” BSB 105033 Account No 151992640. Please try and continue to financially support our parish at this difficult time.

St George’s also reaches to those further afield. From the Solomons I heard this week from Coleridge Sua. There all the schools are closed but the churches are still open at least. Charleen is in the islands, only Reece and Coleridge are in Honiara. There are ferries from Honiara still taking trips to islands repatriating families and students to their villages. It is a mass repatriation, as people are panicking that they might get infected. I have asked him about the school costs, and he says that he owes school fees for Charleen of $300 and Reece of $540. Jennifer is working in Vanuatu in a hospital at the moment, but the hospital is running out of equipment such as cord and episiotomy scissors. From Bishop Nathan in Mount Hagen in PNG I heard that there is a curfew there and the businesses and even the churches are closed, and he does not think they will be open for Easter. He is grateful for the Lenten offering we have sent. As a parish we must try and continue our Lenten offering to help the church there.

People have also been asking me on what they can do at home if they can’t go to church. One easy way is to follow the Office, the daily prayers of the church. To this end I have attached the form of compline for this week. Compline is the last office of the day, the one you can say before you go to bed. We usually have St George’s open during Holy Week to allow a few of us to gather to say and sing it. It’s dramatic in the dark, with the great rood illuminated in the gloom. Alas this year it is bereft of people, but we can join in saying it at home.

One of the great hymns of this time is “The Royal Banners Forward Go.” It’s used as an office hymn, that is a hymn we sing or say at the daily offices. In the old English rite, the Sarum rite, it was also used as a processional, with special banners being carried with the processional cross, and the words are very apt for this. Do enjoy it.

The royal banners forward go,

the cross shines forth in mystic glow;

where he in flesh, our flesh who made,

our sentence bore, our ransom paid.

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,

life’s torrent rushing from his side,

to wash us in that precious flood,

where mingled water flowed, and blood.

Fulfilled is all that David told

in true prophetic song of old,

amidst the nations, God, saith he,

hath reigned and triumphed from the tree.

O tree of beauty, tree of light!

O tree with royal purple dight!

Elect on whose triumphal breast

those holy limbs should find their rest.

Upon its arms, like balance true,

he weighed the price for sinners due,

the price which none but he could pay,

and spoiled the spoiler of his prey.

O cross, our one reliance, hail!

So may this Passiontide avail

to give fresh merit to the saint,

and pardon to the penitent.

To thee, eternal Three in One,

let homage meet by all be done:

whom by the cross thou dost restore,

preserve and govern evermore. Amen.

Words: Vexilla Regis by Venantius Fortunatus, 569; trans. John Mason Neale, 1851.

I will send out a special reflection for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter to help you at this time.

God bless

Fr Scott