A BLAZE lit at the entrance of a Wokingham church, early on Easter morning, was not cause for alarm.
The flames came from a brazier lit as part of a dawn service at St Paul’s Church.
A crowd of worshippers gathered with the choir in semi-darkness to remember the scene at the Garden of Gesthemene in Jerusalem when Jesus’s friends crept at dawn to the tomb at dawn to prepare his body, and found an empty grave.
As part of the service the church’s Paschal candle was blessed and lit.
The large, white candle will be used in services and special services throughout the year.
After the blessing, it was taken into the church, and followed by worshippers who lit candles and passed on the flame from person to person.
St Paul’s Rector, Rev’d Canon Richard Lamey, said: “There is something truly inspiring about gathering around a bonfire in the churchyard in the darkness before the dawn, to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
Then we light the Easter candle and stand in the dark church and sing that Christ is risen, the single candle flame the only light source in the whole building.
“It feels at once immediate and urgent and exciting – and also deeply timeless – always true and always new.”
The large, white Easter candle will be used in services and special services throughout the year.
Once it was blessed, worshippers lit their own candles from it and passed on the flame from person to person to represent the light of the world.
St Paul’s Church meets for the first of its Easter Day services every year at dawn.
The first service is timed so that on a sunny Easter morning, light floods through the East window when a sung mass, The Gloria, is sung.
For more information about the church, visit: www.spauls.co.uk
