At St Helens Church this afternoon there was a rehearsal.

Mendelssohn’s Elijah, will be performed tonight by the Cranford Choral Society and the Southern Sinfonia.

Last week I went to St Helen’s for a Sunday morning service, and Jane Baun, Associate Priest, spoke on the story shown in the river facing windows – all created in the 1890s. Each tells a different story of Jesus after the resurrection.

In particular she spoke on the story where Jesus appeared to the disciples when they had been fishing, and end up cooking them fish for breakfast.

Jane will be leading tours of the church as part of The Hope within us week which happens in a months time. There will be lots of events, and at the end of the week former Arch Bishop Rowan Williams will lead a morning service. Details are on the Hope within us page.

Anybody entering or leaving Abingdon from the Vineyard will have seen a banner outside Our Lady and St Edmund Church, for the Year of Mercy.

Yesterday a man was adding new flowers to the floral arch over the door. He told me that the church had been selected as a place of pilgrimage for the year of Mercy.

Pope Francis opened a similar door at the Vatican at the start of the Holy Year in December 2015. And said a similar door may be opened at any shrine frequented by large groups of pilgrims.

Accordingly, the Bishop or Portsmouth opened a Door of Mercy at St John’s Cathedral, Portsmouth. A Door of Mercy was also opened at Our Lady & St Edmund of Abingdon Church. Throughout the year, the faithful are encouraged to go on pilgrimage to either or both churches.

Daffodils have had a very long season —– stretching back to the start of January. Spring is now here and the late daffodils, over the other side of the River Thames from St Helens Church, are in bloom.

The parish of Abingdon-on-Thames have a full Easter programme – starting off with the Palm Sunday services: one at St M, one at St H, and then one at St N.

Yesterday the Abingdon Vineyard Church had their annual Easter Party in the Park with Easter Egg Hunt, egg and spoon races, face painting and kids v adults tug-a-war. They meet usually at Preston Road Community Centre, and this morning have an informal kind of worship with Easter Crafts from 10:30am to 12 noon. It is described as ‘a chance for mums and dads to chill out over coffee while the kids enjoy themselves.’

At Trinity Church this morning, the children put together bunches of flowers to give to their mothers, and to other ladies in the church. I’m sure a lot of other churches do something similar on Mothers Day.

Mothering Sunday began as a religious event in the 16th century. The word “motherhood” referred to “Mother Church”, the main church or cathedral in an area. On the fourth Sunday of Lent, people would have returned to the special services at their Mother Church.

Some people may still return to what they consider their Mother Church for Mothering Sunday. But most of us would struggle to now what is our Mother Church.

Mothers Day has become a day for showing thankfulness to Mothers. One day can never be enough for that.