Holy Week

I don't judge all Christians momb, and my faith was preserved, but I lost all respect for and confidence in formalised religion and those who represent it.

Many years later I considered returning to the church, and visited my parish priest to talk through my feelings and wishes. Rather than giving me any sort of welcome back to the fold, he instead was very harsh and unforgiving about the lost years when I hadn't attended church. Needless to say his attitude drove me away again.

I have every respect for the many people, of all faiths or none, who lead good lives, are kind to one another, who do good quietly without expecting recognition or glory. But I have no time for religious dogma and authority.

It is a chance for my dear very hard working children to have a break, wind down, spend time together as a family and come and visit us ancients. All wonderful.

I love Easter. As a child I went to church & we had a mix of NE England traditions mixed with Middle Eastern ones: eggs,cakes,special meals,songs etc etc. I try to keep up as much of the family traditions as I can but now use this featival time to celebrate the start of the new growth /spring/fertility etc. rather than the Christian festival.

We have a large collection of eggs that the children decorated over many years. I pick a branch, put it in a pot and the children hang these eggs on their "Easter Tree" - they love it.

Easter to me has the good things of Christmas but without the razzmatazz! Families coming together, but without the emotional baggage of Christmas, Easter eggs for the children,but none of the commercial pressure, ideally signs of rebirth and hope for the future.
I too used to find the Easter ceremonies moving, and I do miss that, maybe I will just have a little nostalgic wallow in Stainer's Crucifixion .
"Fling wide the gates!"

Gosh - I hate Stainer's Crucifixion. I am not a Christian, but I think the nature of the music trivialises its subject matter. But each to his own!

Annie - you must not let some of the posts on Gnet make you feel sad. That's an order!

Although I rarely attend any church, I am a believer.

As a child my mum used to take me to the Stations of the Cross which I found very moving. Also I love the smell of incense and bells.

At stressful times in my life I go into church and light a candle and say my prayers. Also on hols I venture into unknown churches and spend a little time quietly contemplating.

I often feel tearful in church, don't know why.

Totally irrelevant in our home but we accept it is important to many.

My suggestion was a real one, as Easter approaches let everyone ( including anniebach) be a little nicer to people on here.
Other people get upset btw not just the left wingers on the forum, as recent threads show.
Easter is a wonderful family time as well,a chance to heal rifts.

I remember it very much in the context of my Catholic childhood starting with Ash Wednesday at the beginning of lent when the smudge like cross administered by the priest would be left on our foreheads. The culmination of the Easter Period lead up of Holy Week, the solemnity of the period in contrast to Christmas. I did love having the palm crosses but as Good Friday drew nearer it was as if a dark cloud had descended, we had a rather long service which incorporated Stations of the Cross. My parents took it very seriously, I do remember finding it incredibly stifling as a child. Fish instead of meat was always synonymous with Fridays per se, but this had to be strictly observed on Good Friday. I still find it an incredibly sad day. Aside from the Easter egg aspect, the dark cloud lifted on Easter Sunday.

For the second year running, I'm having to have our family Easter celebration - egg hunt for the toddlers and all - on Good Friday. Because of work patterns and other family commitments, this is the only day we can do it. It feels so wrong to be celebrating on such a sad day. I would much rather keep it as a day of reflection, and enjoy Easter Sunday to the full. I have started to collect a few tasteful (I hope) Easter decorations, and we will have a small twig tree with coloured eggshells.

I grew up going to church and singing in the choir. I always loved Holy Week and Easter Sunday was the highlight of the year so full of hopefulness. Where I live there is a magnificent Church full of history and well supported at the entre of the town and its community. I won't be going to church however as the current incumbent is very modern and spends much of his time dressed up in various costumes taken from children's culture- we had Darth Vader on Christmas Day. I can't bear to see him and what he might do to Easter. I shall hope to hear or see a traditional C of E service on radio or TV. Easter is a lovely time and I look forward to it and hope that everyone can celebrate it in the way they love best. I've got family coming for the weekend so that makes me happy.

Oh - the stations of the cross. When I was little I went to a school run by nuns and all around the chapel walls were huge bas reliefs of the stations of the cross - I was terrified and horrified and hated every second of being in there. I dreaded morning chapel and twice in Wednesdays. Thankfully my parents took me away from there.

Many years ago they performed the Passion Play in our town; it was very moving.

Indinana your priest/vicar sounds like the one who baptised one of my DDs . We all received a rant about hell and damnation.

I find listening to Bach's St John Passion, or anything similar, stirs up great emotions within me probably taking me back to the Easters of my childhood when we did all the Holy Week stuff culminating in the celebration of Easter Sunday. Over the years for one reason or another my faith, such as it was, has evaporated but I do find my 'religion' in music and love nothing better than sitting in a great cathedral or church being transported to heaven knows where by glorious choral sounds.

I'm another one who found the stations of the cross utterly revolting and terrifying. Barbaric, even. Which of course the torture and crucifixion in the story are. I suppose frightening people is part of the religious thing about having power over them though.

Ressurrection is a nice idea and it occurs every year in various ways in Nature.

Likewise re music, marmight, especially many of the Bach cantatas.

For those who have given up on established church, there is nothing wrong with home groups, or starting one.

Yes, I too found the long drawn out process of dwelling on Christ's agony at each station utterly terrifying and horrifying, particularly as a young child. I think my mother tried to lighten it a bit by saying savage acts were consigned to history. Wrong!

One of my son's came home from his C of E primary aged about 7, saying that they had been learning about the Good Friday, describing the crown of thorns being put on to Jesus's head and being nailed to the cross as "rather unpleasant" Master of under statement

The parish priest makes all the difference to a church. We had one a few years back who brought the church back to life and filled it - he was very charismatic and preached some inspiring sermons, but also threw himself into local life, played rugby, joined a pub quiz team. He antagonised some because of his high church ways, but most of us loved the incense, occasional Latin, stations of the cross, confession if we wanted it, and so on. He suggested all the women dig out their hats for the Easter Sunday service and we all did. He moved on and we're back to the more usual very pleasant but low-key vicar. Attendance is half what it was and you could nod off during the service.

sons not son's

It's the regeneration thing that makes Easter for me ( as thatbags commented earlier.) Everything coming to life again, which is why of course the early church chose this time of year to celebrate.
We have a very happy family day, siblings make an effort to get on with each other and grandchildren roar about hunting for choccy eggs and rabbits in the garden, we make an effort to get the garden looking Springlike with flowers in pots and colourful bunting put up.I prefer it to Christmas Day.

It will be a nice break for all my family from routine and enable them to get together and be nice to each other. Church doesn't come into it in our family but for many its a time for reflection , each to their own.

For me, the three hours given to him on Good Friday is so insignificant compared to the fact he gave his life for me.

Nellimoser, yes I am a member of the Church in Wales but also like to attend the Quakers meeting house.

Indiana, the priest wasn't Christ, pity he forgot the parables of the lost sheep and the rejoicing of the return of the prodigal son, you should have been hugged , Christ didn't turn you away X

Luckygirl, yes I know and will strive to obey your order

thatbags, the seven stations are not barbaric, Christ was helped to carry his cross , he met his mother, his tears were wiped from his face , the last hours of his life and he was not deserted by all.

My sadness on Good Friday is partly caused by thinking of his suffering then and we are still crucifying him now yet he will never leave us or stop loving us , everyone of us , the love that passeth all understanding

I always liked to visit the garden centre on Easter Sunday but not this year, no wheels

AB - I know Veronica wiped Jesus' face, and Simon of Cyreni, if I remember rightly helped carry the cross, but how agonizing for anyone's mother to see these horrors inflicted on their son. No he was not alone, but died a slow agonizing death, having been brutalised in the most barbaric way, so I beg to differ, the Stations are barbaric. My memories of being brought up a Catholic is, possibly at that time, not so much now, they did like to dwell on gruesome deaths, martyrs were much revered and held up as an example. Not always good for young children, leaves some traumatised imo.