Lent, Holy Week and Easter 2023
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Seeking God: Sharing Faith : Serving Halifax
Lent, Holy Week and
Easter 2023
Contents
1. Introduction p2
2. Lent p3
3. Prayer in Lent p4
a. Daily Offices p4
b. Minster Quiet Day p4
4. Sunday Sermon Series p5
5. Music in the Minster p6
6. Minster Lent Books p8
7. The Vicar’s Lenten Journey p10
8. Lent Film Discussion Group p11
9. Stewardship Campaign p13
10. Reconciliation of a Penitent p14
11. Visiting Pilgrim p14
12. Holy Week Programme p15
1
Introduction
Last December the Minster welcomed some 14,000 people
through its doors, as people came together to celebrate the
Festival of Christmas. Driven by the economy and
commercialism, the world tends to regard Christmas as the most
important Festival of the Christian Year, yet as Christians, we
know that the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter, is of
equal importance, if not substantially more!
The Minster has a wonderful and large Christmas Programme,
with Carol Services, Midnight Mass, concerts and events, not
forgetting the Christmas Tree Festival. This year of 2023, in the
year of our 14th anniversary as a Minster with a Benedictine
foundation, we are looking to beef up our Programme through
Lent, Holy Week, and our celebration of Easter. Contained in
this booklet, you will hopefully find something for everyone,
times for quiet reflection, a good book to read, some excellent
music, and a series of thought-provoking sermons on the theme
of Stewardship, as we review our time, talents, and financial
support to the Minster.
Holy Week will be led by Jens-Peter Bentzin, a Lutheran Pastor
and deputy Superintendent (bishop) from our twin town of
Aachen in Germany and brings an international dimension to
our celebration. As in previous year’s I shall be using Lent to
spend time in the shoes of others, listening, watching, learning,
to how God is already at work through many Lay People in their
world of work, and in the service of others, to make the world a
better place for the often most vulnerable. How can the Church
2
be an advocate for the Nation if it doesn’t immerse itself in the
working lives of ordinary people? How can the Incarnation be
made a reality if the Church doesn’t engage with the world that
God has given us?
Lent
Lent literally means Spring and comes in the year when the days
suddenly get longer, and last some forty days and nights, as the
famous hymn reminds us. During these days, we join Jesus in
the Wilderness, spending extra time with God, as we grow both
individually and corporately in holiness, deepening our faith, and
stripping bare, all that holds us back from following Jesus, and
letting go of the baggage we have emotionally collected since last
year. Here the Minster offers you a range of activities in which
you can either enter into, or simply ignore.
Canon Hilary Barber
3Prayer during the Weeks of Lent
Daily offices
These services are known as The Daily Offices and are one of
the great legacies of the Benedictine tradition. They punctuate
and structure each day with prayer, and you are invited to come
and go as time and your business will allow. It’s a chance to
simply spend extra time with God, to hear his Word, and be
nourished for daily living with the Sacrament of Holy
Communion.
Monday to Friday
9am – 9.30am Morning Prayer
12.30pm - 1pm Said Eucharist
4pm – 4.30pm Evening Prayer
Tuesdays during Lent
8.20pm - 8.40pm Sung Candle lit Night Prayer (Compline)
Minster Quiet Day
4 April 12.30-4pm
This is one of those days when to book some annual leave and
have a wonderful spiritual day in the Minster as you prepare to
celebrate Easter. Time to be literally quiet, space just to be, lunch
provided, with small chunks of spiritual nuggets through the
day.
4Sunday Sermon Series
This year the theme is that of Hope: Hope for the Church,
Hope for the World, Hope for our Nation, and finally, Hope for
Society. If the Church doesn’t have a theology of Hope, then
we’ve lost the plot and its time to pack our bags and go home.
Yet since those very first days of the Church coming together
following the resurrection of Jesus, there has been a profound
prophetic call to speak truth to power, to bring light into the
darkness of the world, and acknowledge a righteous anger and
seek healing and wholeness for the whole of the created Order.
Following the struggles of Brexit in our own land and across
Europe, and the Climate Crises that surrounds our planet, now
is the time for the Church to speak out on a theme of Hope.
5Music in the Minster
Those who sing pray twice – words taken from St Augustine. Music
is one of the most important parts of the Minster’s life. Music
enables worship to soar heavenwards and is one of the sources of
inspiration that brings people to faith. Here children and adults
learn to sing and to lead the worship of the Church, whilst
others come to listen, and to be spiritually uplifted by what they
see and hear.
Plainsong
During Lent the music of our worship changes from the
developed harmonies of intricate Mass Settings and Anglican
Chant, to the simplicity and beauty of monastic plainsong.
Plainsong Kyries replace harmonic Gloria’s, and the whole
community joins in the singing of Orbis Factor, the simple and
effective Mass Setting used on Sundays throughout Lent,
including the singing of The Litany on Sundays replacing the
Prayers of Intercession, and the sung Lord’s Prayer, to a setting
by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
6Programme
Passion Sunday 26th March 4pm:
A Meditation in Words and Music
Scripture and Poetry accompanied with music for
Passiontide:
Insanne et vane curae – Joseph Haydn
God so loved the world - Stainer
Litany to the Holy Spirit - Peter Hurford
Greater Love – John Ireland
Ex ore Innocentium – John Ireland
If ye love me - Thomas Tallis
Drop drop slow tears – Orlando Gibbons
Palm Sunday 2nd April 4pm: Stainer’s Oratorio
‘The Crucifixion’ 4pm
Thom Meredith – Bass
Sean Montgomery - Organ
Directed by Hilary Barber
This is a Come and Sing event.
Singers (£5 donation) should register via Eventbrite and
either bring their own music or music will be supplied. –
Rehearsal from 2pm
Maundy Thursday, April 6th: Organ Recital 1pm
Adam Field from Selwyn College Cambridge has selected
a variety of reflective pieces exploring Passiontide and
Holy Week.
7Minster Lent Books
Sometimes it’s really difficult to get to Church during Lent,
especially if your working full time, either at home or elsewhere.
A book to read might be your only chance of doing something
extra for God, and the Minster Shop will display a number of
books to be Ordered for you to read:
Failure: What Jesus Said About Sin, Mistakes and
Messing Stuff Up
By Rt Revd Dr Emma Ineson
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2023
In 2019, Emma Ineson wrote about
ambition and what it means for Christians
to be successful. And then there was a global
pandemic . . . Suddenly failure began to feel
very much more familiar than success.
But what is failure? What did Jesus think of it? What did he say
about sin, mistakes and generally mucking things up? At the start
of this wonderfully humorous and encouraging book - which
will end at the cross - it's suggested that our tendency to lump all
kinds of failure together could be a bit unhelpful. A more
nuanced understanding of what sort of failure we're dealing with
might just allow us to make friends with it and respond more
appropriately. This idea leads us 'Towards an (Imperfect)
Theology of Failure', based on key Christian thinking, and
Emma poses the question of whether sin is an individual or
corporate thing. Looking at the church, we consider, what is
8God's purpose for it? And in the light of key concerns such as
safeguarding and racial justice, how might we re-examine
concepts of success and recognize and measure failure?
As the book draws to an end, we are reminded of our calling to
live life to the full, to take risks despite our fears. We are bound
sometimes to fail! Yet gazing at Jesus - who looked like the
greatest failure of all - we may discern in the heartache,
vulnerability and humility of failure, the glory of the cross.
Mr God this is Anna
By Fynn
This a book that can be enjoyed by older
children and adults alike. It charts the
story of Anna who at four years old was
found by Fynn in London's fog-shrouded
docks. He took her back to his mother's
home, and from that first moment, their
times together were filled with delight
and discovery. Together they explore pre-war London with all
its colourful characters. Anna had an astonishing ability to ask--
and to answer--life's largest questions. Her total openness and
honesty amazed all who knew her. She seemed to understand
with uncanny certainty the purpose of being, the essence of
feeling, the beauty of love. This book is a refreshing and quirky
read with some deep insight into the nature of God, life and how
to live a life of faith.
9The Vicar’s Lenten Journey
As in previous year’s I shall spend a day a week in the shoes of a
fellow pilgrim, listening to what they say, watching what they
do, and learning about how God is already actively at work
through their vocation to serve others in their professional lives.
This year I will spend time with people whose vocation is all
about media and communication:
Ian White – Senior Presenter for ITV Calendar
Andrew Edwards – Senior Presenter for BBC Radio
Leeds
Chris Tate – Diocesan Director of Communications for
the Diocese of Leeds
Reg Wilhelm - Communications Adviser at NHS
England
10Lent Film Discussion Group
Mondays in Lent
6.30-9.30 film and discussion,
hot drink and bring and share film snacks
Venue: Snowflake Media Office Causey Hall.
This year our lent course is a film feast, each week we will watch
a film and then discuss the issues it raises. We have endeavoured
to choose a mixture of styles from the serious to the more light-
heated, all have thought provoking themes to reflect upon
during our Lenten journey towards Holy Week and Easter.
Monday 27th February
The Theory of Everything is a 2014 biographical romantic
drama film directed by James Marsh. Set at the University of
Cambridge, it details the life of the theoretical physicist Stephen
Hawking which sparks conversation around relationships, illness
and faith.
Monday 6th March
As Good as it Gets is a 1997 American romantic comedy-
drama. The film stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic bigoted,
and obsessive compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single
mother with a chronically ill son, and Greg Kinnear as an artist
who is gay. It charts their unlikely friendship and their effects of
this upon their lives.
11Monday 13th March
God on Trial is a 2008 British television play written by Frank
Cottrell-Boyce, starring Antony Sher, Rupert Graves and Jack
Shepherd. The play takes place in Auschwitz during World War
II. The Jewish prisoners put God on trial in absentia in response
to their suffering. It explores questions relating to the problem of
evil, justice and redemption.
Monday 20th March
Of Gods and Men is a 2010 French drama film directed
by Xavier Beauvois, starring Lambert Wilson and Michael
Lonsdale. It centres on a true story that happened in
the monastery of Tibhirine, where nine Cistercian monks lived
in harmony with the largely Muslim population of Algeria.
Monday 27th March
Under the Tuscan Sun is a 2003 American romantic comedy-
drama written, produced, and directed by Audrey Wells and
starring Diane Lane. The film is about a recently divorced writer
who buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim, hoping it will lead to a
change in her life. Frances begins her adventure with the help of
a variety of interesting characters and unusual but gentle souls.
The film documents the growth of community and the
redemptive nature of love. Largely a tale of a peaceful situation
between local Christians and Muslims before becoming a lethal
one due to external forces played out in the Algerian Civil War.
The film explores decision making in the complexity of inter-
faith relations and changing circumstances. It also explores the
nature of Christian mission and witness.
12Stewardship Campaign
This year we shall use Lent as a community to revisit the time,
talents, and money we give to support the work of the Minster.
It’s some 5 years since we reviewed our stewardship to the
Minster, and now we are coming out of the experience of the
Pandemic, and there is a greater sense of normality to our lives,
now is a good time to reflect on how we support the Minster
going forward with all the gifts we have from God, and ensure
that we are wise stewards in our corporate responsibility for the
good health of the Minster in the future.
Reconciliation of a Penitent
This short pastoral service is offered on the Tuesday and
Wednesday of Holy Week. It’s an opportunity for people to
come and meet with one to one with a priest to pastorally share
some of the burdens people can carry, and to seek God’s help as
we prepare to meet with a risen Lord on Easter Day. Places can
be booked anonymously at the Welcome Desk.
13Visiting Pilgrim
For the last 12 years during Holy Week the Minster has invited a
Priest to come and preach on the final few days of Holy Week:
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Day. This year
Pastor Jens-Peter Bentzin Deputy Superintendent of the
Lutheran Diocese of Aachen, and Vicar of Monchau in the Eifel
Region of Germany, comes to lead us and share something of
the Passion Gospel and the hope to be found in the resurrection
of Jesus from the dead. Aachen is the twin town of Halifax.
14Holy Week Programme
Palm Sunday
2 April
10.30am Sung Eucharist with the Blessing of Palms,
Procession with Donkey, and Reading of the
Passion
Please note this service begins in The Woolshops outside
Marks and Spencer’s
4pm Stainer’s Oratorio: The Crucifixion.
2pm rehearsal for those wishing to join the choir for this
‘Come & Sing’ performance
Monday of Holy Week
3 April
9am Morning Prayer
12.30pm Eucharist
4pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Eucharist with Homily: The Lecturer
15Tuesday of Holy Week
4 April
9am Morning Prayer
11am–4.30pm Minster Quiet Day
Please book via Eventbrite
12.30pm Eucharist
2pm Reconciliation of a Penitent
4pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Eucharist with Homily: The Curate
Wednesday of Holy Week
5 April
9am Morning Prayer
12.30pm Eucharist
2pm Reconciliation of a Penitent
4pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm Eucharist with Homily: The Vicar
Maundy Thursday
6 April
9am Morning Prayer
11am The Chrism Mass at Wakefield Cathedral
The Clergy of the Diocese and Laity gather around the Bishop as he blesses the
Holy Oils for the coming year, and the Clergy renew their Ordination Vows.
Each Parish then brings oil back with them for the coming year: the oil of
baptism, confirmation, and for the sick and dying.
161pm Thursday @ One – Music for Passiontide & Holy
Week, played by Adam Field. Light lunches from
12.15pm
4pm Evening Prayer
7.30pm The Maundy Eucharist and the Vigil
This Service includes the Foot washing ceremonies, the Stripping of the Altars,
and a Vigil at the Altar of Repose until Midnight.
President: The Lecturer
Preacher: The Visiting Pilgrim Pastor Jens-Peter
Bentzin
Music: Wash me thoroughly – Samuel Wesley
Ave verum – Edward Elgar
Good Friday
7 April
9am Morning Prayer
1.30 – 3pm The Good Friday Liturgy
President: The Curate
Preacher: The Visiting Pilgrim
Pastor Jens-Peter Bentzin
Music sung by The Minster
Chamber Choir:
The Passion – Victoria
The Reproaches - Sanders
Crux Fidelis – John of Portugal
4pm Evening Prayer
17Easter Eve
8 April
7pm The Easter Vigil with the Lighting of the New
Fire and the Exultet
President: The Area Dean of Halifax
The Revd Robb Sutherland
Preacher: The Archdeacon of Halifax
The Ven Bill Braviner
Easter Day
9 April
10.30am Sung Eucharist for Easter Day
President: The Vicar Canon Hilary Barber
Preacher: Pastor Jens-Peter Bentzin
Music performed by the Minster Choir with organ
and brass
This Joyful Eastertide - Henry Wood
Little Organ Mass - Joseph Haydn
The Easter Song of Praise – Richard Shepherd
4pm Evensong
Introit: This Joyful Eastertide - Henry Wood
Responses: Tordoff
Psalm 150: Stanford
Canticles: Stanford in Bb
Anthem: The Easter Song of Praise – Richard
Shepherd
18Details of all events can be seen on the Minster website.
www.halifaxminster.org.uk
email: admin@halifaxminster.org.uk
Minster Office: Causey Hall, HALIFAX, HX1 1QR Phone: 01422 355436
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