April and May have disapp
eared and important church festivals for St Mark’s Church have finished for another year too.
In mid-April the church was resplendent for our Easter services. After the lack of decoration during Lent which culminated in the stripping of the altar after the Maundy Thursday service and the removal of crosses and candlesticks, it was wonderful to enter the church on Easter morning and see the beautiful display of flowers everywhere; I always think that as well as being a feast for the eyes, the smell of the lilies and spring flowers is quite magical too; it’s a pleasure to worship there.
Our lovely flower ladies, Lindsey, Wendy, Carol, and Barbara, worked hard on the Saturday to put everything into place for Easter Day, if any of you visited the church during the Easter period, you must have seen how hard they’d worked, and their beautiful floral creations. It was lovely to hear the delighted comments from visitors to the village who came specially to see the church.
The Sunday after Easter was St Mark’s Patronal Day when we celebrate the life of our patron saint. Traditionally we welcome worshippers from St Margaret’s and St Mary’s churches in Buxted to a combined thanksgiving service for the life of St Mark the Evangelist. We are gradually getting back to some sort of normal after the pandemic and it was good to see everyone altogether once again. The Rector posed a question for the children present; how many of St Mark’s symbols could they see in the church? The symbol for St Mark is of winged lion, the most famous place this is seen is over the entrance to St Mark’s Basilica in Venice where his body reputedly lies. Next time you walk around St Mark’s, outside and inside, see if you can spot the winged lions, they are not as big as the one in Venice, but they are there.
It was lovely to see some of the children from St Mark’s School in both congregations during the Easter period and at the Patronal service. School assemblies on a Friday morning resumed after the holidays and we always welcome families to our early Sunday morning worship, especially the All-Age services. The children are encouraged to get involved and take an active role, often reading the epistle, sometimes helping to prepare the communion table, welcoming the congregation at the door, taking the collection and, a favourite, snuffing out the candles at the end of the service. When they help in the service like this, they often receive praise in school and are rewarded with a Head Teacher’s award. May this lovely tradition continue because the children are the future of our church and of the village.
Janet Tourell, Deputy Church Warden
Sunday, 5th June, Parish Communion (Pentecost) Sunday, 12th June, Parish Communion (Trinity Sunday)
Sunday,19th June, Parish Communion Sunday, 26th June, Parish Communion