The period of Lent, Holy Week and Easter marks the busiest and most important time of the year for Christians. Over thirty services will take place at Salisbury Cathedral over the course of seven days from Palm Sunday on April 13 to Easter Day on April 20.
Lent begins on Wednesday, March 5 this year with Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the 40 days of Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness. During this time there will be a range of services, lunches and talks for people to reflect, contemplate and join in worship.
The Lent Talks course returns this year, with the theme The Beauty of Holiness: Praying the Psalms. Talks will begin weekly on Monday, March 10 until the final talk on Tuesday, April 15, with each talk ending with a range of different choirs including the Farrant Singers, Sarum Voices and the Salisbury Cathedral Chamber Choir.
Friday, April 4 will see the return of the popular Easter Garden outside the Visitor Entrance into the Cloisters. The vision of Hampshire-based and award-winning horticultural designer Andy McIndoe, the Mediterranean plants will draw visitors back to the landscape and story of Jesus.
Salisbury Cathedral Easter Service (Image: Finnbarr Webster) Special services will include the processional service of the Eucharist on Palm Sunday on April 13 which will see both Cathedral Choirs and clergy process from Choristers Green in the Close to the West Front, and into the Cathedral, recalling the procession of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey.
A particular highlight of Holy Week is the dramatic and evocative Sarum Tenebrae: Service of Shadows on Monday, April 14, which sees the service lit with candles that are gradually extinguished, finishing in total darkness with a ‘thunderclap’ sound symbolizing the earthquake that followed Jesus’ death.
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Families can enjoy Easter-themed crafts and storytelling on Saturday, April 5 where you can make an Easter card, hear stories of Easter or go on a reflective Easter trail around the Cathedral which will run until May 6.
Salisbury Cathedral, Sarum Tenebrae: A Service of Shadows (Image: Finnbarr Webster) Easter Day services will begin at 4 am with the Easter Vigil and Readings, which will move outside for the ‘sun arising in the East’, when a fire will be lit, and a single candle will be lit from it. The 10.30 am service will see the Easter Garden blessed and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus and the empty tomb.
The Revd Anna Macham, Canon Precentor, said: “The events of Holy Week and Easter are a turning point in our faith and a turning point in human history. In this most important week of the Christian year, the Church invites us to take part in them ourselves and to be changed by the experience.
“With special events, services and activities for children and adults both in Holy Week and in the weeks leading up to it, there are plenty of opportunities for everyone to get involved. We warmly welcome you to join us.”
