A Holy Week we will never forget

By The Dean of Norwich, The Very Revd Jane Hedges - 03 April 2020

For all of us, this is going to be a Holy Week we will never forget. It is almost unthinkable that we are unable to be in our churches and cathedrals in this the most sacred week of the Christian year. However, we stand with the rest of our nation and with people throughout the world as we try to play our part in slowing down the spread of the Coronavirus, thereby trying to help save lives.

We can’t this year join in a Palm Sunday procession through the streets of Norwich, gather for a Eucharist and address on the first three nights of the week, celebrate the Chrism Eucharist and re-make our ordination vows with our Bishops and clergy from all over the diocese on Maundy Thursday, or on Maundy Thursday evening remember the Last Supper and perform a foot washing. There will be no experiencing the desolation of a dark and bare Cathedral dominated by a simple wooden cross on Good Friday or meeting with friends to enjoy hot crossed buns and there will be no huge congregations in the Cathedral on Easter Day shouting their alleluias and experiencing the wonderful music from our choir and organ.

There will be none of that and yet we can still walk with Jesus through this week as we read, reflect, pray and worship in our own homes – doing so in fellowship with thousands of other Christians who are doing the same.

There are many resources available to help us do this and on our new Norwich Cathedral Services YouTube Channel you will discover several podcasts to take you through the special days of this week. There is also a sense in which we will all be able to enter more deeply into Christ’s loneliness and desolation if we are travelling with him alone, rather than in the physical company of others.

The present crisis faced by our world is making all of us think more deeply about the meaning of life and death and helping us to appreciate more fully the things which are of real value to us – community spirit, kindness, generosity and service.

As we approach Easter our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all who are suffering at this time; with those who are sick and with those who have been bereaved.

We also hold in our prayers all who are caring for the sick and dying in our hospitals, hospices and nursing homes, those who are providing essential services, our government and their advisers, and all who are in positions of leadership and authority across our world.

It’s been wonderful to experience the initiative to join with neighbours in clapping at 8pm on Thursday evenings, first of all NHS staff and then all who are helping others.

This Holy Week we also invite you to pause and pray at 3pm on Good Friday, and remember that this is the day Christ gave up his life in his love for the world. 

Almighty Father,

look with mercy upon this your family

for which our Lord Jesus Christ

was content to be betrayed

and was 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.

May Christ who bore our sins on the cross, set us free to serve him with joy.

So, we pray that as we try to walk with Christ the way of the cross and share something of his suffering, we may know that he walks alongside those suffering now, and longs to bring hope and resurrection life to them, to us and to the whole world.

This comes with the love and prayers of the Chapter. May you all know Christ’s blessing this Holy Week and Easter.

Click here to visit the new Norwich Cathedral Services YouTube Channel