Thankyou to Jane for this …
Our Lady & St. Edmund’s Church, and the Church in Abingdon, hosted an event on Abingdon’s Market Place, from 10 am to 1 pm to commemorate Maundy Thursday and the start of Eastertime.
Jane says “It was a great morning for the shoe cleaning and we had lots of lovely people passing who came over to have their shoes cleaned, a refreshment and a chat!”
Beautiful sunny weather added to the lovely morning.
At Trinity the annual Church in Abingdon Lent Lectures came to an end on Monday. The church has been reconfigured for Experience Easter this week and so the lecture took place on the Labyrinth.
Will Donaldson gave the lectures based on his book about the Beatitudes: Living differently to make a difference. Will Donaldson is the chaplain at St Edmund Hall in Oxford. St Edmund Hall was named after St Edmund of Abingdon, and Will has also written a book about St Edmund of Abingdon called The Servant Heart. The front cover shows the statue of St Edmund in the grounds of St Edmund Hall.
Lots of school children will be going to Trinity this week for Experience Easter – a series of workshops, specially developed by Trinity Learning to allow KS2 students to follow The Easter Story in a meaningful way. This will be the tenth year of Experience Easter.
In ten days time on 6th April 2019 the Abingdon Passion Play is happening. There will be other activities, including an Easter Egg Hunt, before the main performance at 2pm.
Just over a week ago the builder handed back the keys to Abingdon Baptist Church after an extensive re-ordering of the interior.
Last Sunday church members returned to worship there, and today (9th February 2019) there was a special re-dedication service.
The church building downstairs was packed, and the large balcony almost full of people.
On the civic side there was the Mayor of Abingdon, Chairman of the Vale, and Councillors, two of whom are church members.
There were ministers and people from other Abingdon churches, and past baptist ministers including Revd. David Fleming who now serves in Luton. David Fleming spoke about the early vision of reordering the church. Revd. Dr Paul Goodliff, and the present minister, Revd. Steve Millard, then described how the plans had come together and been carried out.
To re-dedicate the church, and give an address, was Revd. Lynn Green – General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. She remembered being a student minister at Abingdon Baptist Church around 1992-3. She said a church could be like the Tardis in Doctor Who. It may look old fashioned and irrelevant on the outside, but inside it was bigger and so much more amazing.
Back in 2015 the outside of the church was painted from sky blue to the grey colour required by English Heritage. Solid doors were replaced with glass doors to make the building more open.
The church then closed in 2018, and builders brought a digger to dig out the old floor and baptism pool.
During that process some old bones were discovered. The police were interested until they turned out to be 200-year-old Abingdon baptists. They were reburied after an archaeological investigation.
The church building has been made into a space that can be used for future generations, and the community. The floor and the stage, and baptism pool were remade. Walls were made good so the big crack is gone. Pews were replaced with more comfortable flexible seats. There are some cinema style seats in the balcony – the best seats in the house. The interior is now bright and light. Lots of new cables have been laid to allow the latest and future technologies.
After the re-dedication service, tea and coffee and cakes were served.
Abingdon Baptist Church (ABC) are on their travels while their church building is being revamped. Most Sundays they meet at Carswell School but on one Sunday a month they join with Trinity. This morning was such a Sunday and coincided with the Harvest service and Parade Service.
Donations to the harvest this year go to Asylum Welcome (for Trinity) and The Abingdon Food Bank (for ABC).
There were also some excellent flower displays all round the church done by people from Trinity and ABC.
The church and balcony were full because the parade service brought uniformed groups from both churches together with parents.
The young people took a lot of the service with readings and prayers and various activities. At one stage they trailed a rope, down the aisle, and up the stairs to the balcony so that everybody was connected either with the rope or with each other. This was to illustrate Jesus saying, ‘I am the vine. You are the branches.’