Creative ways to worship and join in from home
Peter Stanford lists the Easter services, concerts, plays and even flash mobs on television, radio and online
With churches closed, this Holy Week like no other has become, in the words of Pope Francis, “a time for inventing and for creativity”. While communal acts of worship lie at the very heart of all religions, this Easter – because of the global pandemic – there are plenty of ways to join a community of believers besides standing alongside them in the pews.
Television
On television this Easter Sunday, for instance, BBC One will be broadcasting a pre‑recorded Sunday Worship from Bangor Cathedral in Wales at 11.25am. On Saturday evening, on BBC Two at 7pm, choral music will come from Cambridge in Easter from King’s.
Radio
There is even more choice on radio. At 3pm, just when services would start in churches at the hour of Jesus’s crucifixion, BBC Radio 4’s Good Friday Meditation offers reflections on how artists have approached Calvary, with contributors including Neil Macgregor, the former head of the British Museum.
Later, over on BBC Radio 2 at 7pm, At the Foot of the Cross brings together music, poetry, readings and a retelling of the crucifixion story by Frank Cottrell‑boyce, the award‑ winning screenwriter.
In Sunday Worship (Easter Sunday, BBC Radio 4, 8.10am), Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will share an intimate family communion service from the kitchen at Lambeth Palace, where he is currently under lockdown with his family.
Over on all the BBC’S 39 local radio stations at 8am, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, will lead a service of prayers. And on BBC Radio 3 at 3pm, Choral Evensong will repeat an episode recorded in happier times at Norwich Cathedral at Easter in 2017.
Online
Many parish churches up and down the country, as well as the great cathedrals, have been live‑streaming their Holy Week services, including Stations of the Cross, and, today, the traditional Maundy Thursday service. Details will be available on individual churches’ websites, or from the Church of England website (churchofengland.org).
For those who want to feel part of a bigger national, or even international group, the Vatican is live‑streaming its build‑up to Easter on Youtube (youtube.com/vatican). Westminster Abbey has a podcast (westminster‑ abbey.org/podcast), and St Paul’s Cathedral is offering a range of resources for Holy Week (stpauls. co.uk/lent‑and‑easter).
And if, in such fast‑changing times, the traditional rituals of mainstream denominations don’t do it for you, some newer organisations that have been successful in drawing large congregations, especially of younger worshippers, have rousing alternatives on offer. Hillsong, the Australian‑based, now global mega‑church – whose high‑profile supporters range from Justin Bieber to Bono – will be streaming its annual theatrical performance, The King of Heaven, incorporating hip‑hop music and dance into a modern retelling of the story of Jesus, at 11am on Sunday (hillsong.com/uk).
Those who, since 2010, have been attending the annual free‑to‑ view Good Friday performance in Trafalgar Square, London, of The Passion of Jesus, by the 100‑strong cast of the Wintershall Players, a contemporary revival of the medieval tradition of mystery plays, need not despair. Between noon and 3pm on Good Friday, the company will be sharing clips from their rehearsals for this year's planned performance, postponed because of Covid‑19, interspersed with film from last year’s triumph that took place before an audience of 20,000. Tune in at facebook.com/wintershallplay.
In much the same spirit, Chester Cathedral (chestercathedral.com) will stream the 2018 production of its celebrated Mystery Plays that retell Bible stories and are usually staged once every five years. Tune in at 10.30am on Good Friday.
Taking Pope Francis at his word on the need to be inventive, a nationwide Hymn Flash Mob is being organised for those who in other circumstances would have been in the congregation this Easter. Worshippers have been invited to record themselves singing three specific hymns and these results will be mixed to create an online “Choir of the Nation” video, which will be shared on Easter Sunday on the Twitter feed of St Paul's Cathedral (twitter.com/stpaulslondon).
If you are not sufficiently confident about the quality of your own singing voice to join in, then Olly Knight, the Christian singer‑songwriter, will be live‑streaming a series of songs for his local church on Easter Sunday at 10am on the Youtube channel of the City Church Canterbury (thecitychurch. org.uk/thankful‑hearts).
For those with more classical tastes in church music, Andrea Bocelli, the Italian opera singer, will broadcast a solo concert at Milan Cathedral, including Ave
Maria and Sancta ancta Maria at 6pm UK time on Easter Sunday. Go to his Youtube channel (youtube.com/ andreabocelli).
Those hankering for more reflective moments over Easter should tune into Mark Dowd as he hosts a special edition of the Things s Unseen podcast on the face of God (thingsunseen.co.uk/ podcasts/the‑face‑ of‑god).
Other options for those who like a thoughtful Easter include what is variously referred to as the Liturgy of the Hours, the Divine Office or the Breviary. It carries readers day‑ by‑day through Easter (and the whole year) with readings, prayers, psalms and hymns. Its roots lie in the monastic movement, but it is a popular devotion, especially in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Various versions are available online. As an alternative, the theatre critic Mark Lawson, in this week’s Easter edition of the Catholic weekly The Tablet, suggests reading August Strindberg’s little‑performed 1901 play Easter, with its three acts spanning Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the eve of Easter Day. The e‑book is available to download free via Project Gutenberg ( gutenberg.org).
The Last Supper, of course, took place on the Jewish Passover. This important festival in the Jewish calendar began yesterday evening and will continue until next Thursday. Its emphasis on family and shared ritual meals of traditional dishes has proved challenging, with strained supply chains in supermarkets and delicatessens.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis responded by relaxing rules around purchasing certain kosher items. Some families gathered for last night’s seder – or meal – via Zoom, the video streaming service. Usually such use of technology would break Passover rules, but the Chief Rabbi has made an exception, which surely counts as a benign inventiveness in such difficult circumstances.