Lent, Holy Week & Easter 2026

Entering Lent

Lent is a sacred and searching season in the life of the Church beginning on Ash Wednesday – forty days that invite us to pause, to reflect honestly on our lives, and to turn our hearts again towards God. It echoes the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, facing temptation and choosing faithfulness, before beginning his ministry. In that wilderness, we see all that is deeply human: struggle, vulnerability, and trust. Lent invites us to enter that space with Christ.

Across the Christian world, and here in our own community, this season is kept as a time of prayer, honesty, and renewal. Lent is not about religious perfection; it is about making space: space to notice where we have grown distant from God or one another, space to receive forgiveness, and space to rediscover hope.

Christians have traditionally marked Lent through prayer, generosity, and self-denial, to clear away distractions so that we can see more clearly the love revealed in Jesus Christ. The journey leads us towards Holy Week, where we stand at the foot of the Cross and witness both the cost of love and the depth of God’s mercy. And it leads beyond the Cross to Easter morning, when death does not have the final word.

Our Lent programme offers ways to enter this journey together. Alongside our regular worship, in our Lent course Finding Jesus in Matthew and related activities, we will discover how the Gospel reveals who Christ is and who we are called to become.

ASH WEDNESDAY – Holy Trinity
10am & 6pm- Eucharist and Imposition of Ashes

Holy Week: Entering the Mystery

As our Lenten journey draws us towards its culmination, Holy Week invites us to enter more fully into the mystery at the heart of our faith. Holy Week draws us into the mystery of God’s redeeming love. We observe it through the Church’s traditional pattern of worship, walking step by step with Christ in his Passion. “Take up your cross and follow me,” the Saviour calls to each of us.

Some pass Good Friday as though it were just another day; others hurry on to Easter. Yet the path to resurrection passes through Gethsemane’s anguish and Golgotha’s suffering. There are no shortcuts to resurrection.

By God’s grace, when we remain with Christ – watching, praying, and standing at the foot of the Cross – our hearts are reshaped. We glimpse the depth of divine love poured out for the life of the world.

It was not nails that held Jesus fast upon the Cross, but love: steadfast, self-giving, and without limit.

Holy Week stands at the centre of the Christian year.
We warmly invite you to join as many services as you are able and, through them, be renewed and strengthened in your discipleship.

PALM SUNDAY – 29 March
The Entry into Jerusalem 9.30am – Sung Eucharist

We recall Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, greeted by crowds bearing palms and shouting Hosanna. Those able are invited to gather at Church Street or at the church gates and process into the church alongside the donkey, echoing that first procession.

During the Eucharist, the Passion according to St Matthew will be proclaimed dramatically. We begin our meditation on the events that led to Christ’s trial and crucifixion and are invited to follow him more closely in heart and mind.

HOLY MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY – 30, 31 March, 1 April
In the Shadow of the Cross
6.00pm – Compline
Short devotional addresses each evening explore a moment of the Passion:

Monday – The Gift of Love
A costly offering at Bethany. Fragrance poured out. Love given in preparation.

Tuesday – The Fragility of Discipleship
Confident promises and the warning of denial. Loyalty is tested; the shadow deepens.

Wednesday – The Price of Betrayal
The Passion is set irrevocably in motion.

MAUNDY THURSDAY – 2 April
The Eucharist of the Last Supper
7.30pm – Sung Eucharist

Feet washed in humble service. Self poured out for friends. The altar is stripped; the vigil begins – watching with Christ in Gethsemane.

The word maundy comes from the Latin mandatum: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.” According to St John, these were the last words of Jesus at the Last Supper. Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet revealed the nature of divine love: self-giving, costly, and without reserve. He gave them, and us, an example to follow.

At the end of the Eucharist, the sacrament is carried in solemn procession to the Altar of Repose, adorned with greenery, symbolic of the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray with his disciples. The lights of the church are gradually dimmed, as the choir sings a psalm of lament, and the sanctuary is stripped, echoing the desolation that came upon Christ.

A vigil of prayer continues until 10.00pm, in response to Christ’s plea: “Watch and pray with me.” All are welcome to remain, if they are able. The watch concludes with the gospel account of Judas’ betrayal.

GOOD FRIDAY – 3 April
The Last Hour
2.00pm – The Last Hour

The Passion is proclaimed. A wooden cross is carried into the church, sparse and uncompromising. The Solemn Intercessions follow – among the Church’s oldest prayers, bringing the world’s needs before God.

We stand at the foot of the Cross in sorrow and penitence. Holy Communion may be received from the sacrament consecrated on Maundy Thursday, in remembrance of Christ’s death.

Eternal God,
in the Cross of Jesus we see the cost of our sin
and the depth of your love.
Grant that in humble faith and reverent hope,
we may lay at his feet all that we have and all that we are;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

HOLY SATURDAY – 4 April, Easter Eve
Easter Crafts: a morning to remember for children and families as we make our way to Easter Day, retelling the story of Holy Week and Easter, making Easter cards and sheep to take home.

Easter Eve is a day of waiting. The body of Christ rests. The promise of resurrection is held in stillness.

We end this day of quiet reflection, as the Church waits – poised between the shout of “Crucify” and the song of “Alleluia.”

EASTER DAY – 5 April
Jesus Christ is Risen Today!
8.00am – Holy Communion with the lighting of the Paschal Candle
9.30am – Sung Eucharist

Dawn breaks at the empty tomb. Mary meets the risen Lord. The great Easter candle is lit – Christ, Alpha and Omega, present here and now.

In the early centuries, Baptism and Easter were closely linked. Throughout Lent, candidates prepared for baptism; and at Easter the whole Church rejoiced in Christ’s victory.

The Gospel recounts the women coming to the tomb at dawn. Mary Magdalene, weeping, mistakes the risen Lord for the gardener – until he speaks her name. Grief turns to joy; new creation begins.

The Paschal Candle symbolises Christ, risen from the darkness of the grave. Marked with the Cross, Alpha and Omega, the year’s date, and with five grains or pins of incense recalling the wounds of Christ, it proclaims: Jesus, the crucified Lord of the ages, is present here and now.

God of glory,
by raising your Son you have shattered the chains of death and hell; fill your Church with faith and living hope,
for a new day has dawned
and the way of life stands open
in our risen Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hope is born when we see the world through the lens of Christ our crucified and risen Lord. May he renew us with grace this Holy Week and Easter, that we may be bearers of God’s hope and joy to all. We are Easter people, and alleluia is our song!