Easter Service at my local church (St Marys, Mirfield)

Bebi

Yes, I went to church today. Mum really wanted to go and no-one else wanted to go with her so I thought why not. Plus I wanted to see inside the local church, and figured after the service I could have a nose.

It was actually quite nice. The last time I went to church other than the normal christening/marriage/funeral trips was when I was a young teenager. Myself and some of my brothers went to a midnight mass one Christmas with mum. St Marys has a female vicar, and a very healthy congregation; the church was literally full.

We were all given taper candles to hold during the first part of the service, these were lit as the procession walked up the aisle towards the front with the main candles. The service started with a dark haired woman speaking, so imagine my surprise when she was stood at the front with the candle raised and another womans voice took over, I was sat there thinking “ventriloquism?!?” for a second and trying to work out how she could be talking without moving her lips, then I spotted the vicar coming up the aisle Smilie_PDT

The sermon was of course about Easter. The vicar brought up some newly confirmed youngsters to hold props and join in with the sermon. There was also a reaffirmation of baptism vows, the vicar walked the aisles afterwards with a bowl of water and flicked it over the congregation – it made me jump as it hit me right in the middle of the forehead. There was even a “touchy-feely” part, while the peace was said we all turned to the people around us and shook hands/hugged. I wasn’t so keen on that part, being quite shy around strangers, but I must admit it was really nice to feel welcomed by so many people. That was the general feeling I got – of being very welcome.

Oh yes and I was also blessed during the communion. Mum’s been confirmed but I haven’t, and she didn’t feel confident enough to take communion so we both knelt at a side rail and the vicar blessed us. That was actually a lot more intimate than I expected, mum said so too. As the vicar invited people to come for communion the gentleman behind us asked if we were going, I explained I hadn’t been confirmed and mum said not this time (uhoh… there’s going to be a next time… LOL) so he explained we could go up for a blessing rather than communion if we wished. We weren’t entirely sure what to do so a lady from another pew came and kindly explained the procedure to us. The vicar asked us our names in turn and said a few words of thanks for coming before blessing us. There were so many people taking communion (and a few more being blessed) that the choir sang the communion anthem through twice, mum said she was really impressed to see so many people obviously taking their faith so seriously. I wasn’t really able to comment either way as I don’t really have experience of general services, so I wouldn’t know how many normally went for communion.

Around halfway through my night of insomnia caught up with me and I started having a yawning attack… Now this wouldn’t have been too bad as I managed to mask it during the singing, but the tears that were forming (my eyes always water badly when I yawn) were drawing glances, I’m sure they were thinking I was overcome by emotion and it was very hard to keep a straight face right then. There was also a rather touching part where the organist played happy birthday, we wondered what was happening at first (the first bars sounded like it was about to break into “oh I do like to be beside the seaside” LOL) but then the vicar brought out a lovely chocolate champagne bottle shaped Easter egg with the birthday girl’s name hand iced on it. She was 97 years old today.
Smilie_PDT

After it was all finished me and mum went round and had a good look at the inside as there were loads of people hanging around by the door. All the windows are stained and in very good condition. The Lady Chapel was really pretty – there’s a gilt painting on the altar there and it’s so lovely when it catches the light. In the Lady Chapel there are also some things of historical interest, a Saxon carving thought to be from a gravestone dating from the 11th century, and a stone plaque commemorating those who died in the plague. I wasn’t sure if photographs were allowed in the church so I left my camera at home, but I did see some others with cameras after the service so next time I go I’ll take mine along and get some decent photos.

As we were leaving the vicar was at the door and was saying goodbye to everyone who’d come, which I thought was nice. She obviously cares about her congregation to put this amount of personalisation to her services. Don’t worry, I’ve not been “had by the God Squad”, although I did find it fascinating and thoroughly enjoyed myself, which I wasn’t really expecting.

All in all I thoroughly recommend attending your local church service, even if you're not religious. There's such a feeling of warmth and companionship that it really brightens your day.

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