Bradford and Leeds week - St. Christopher's (Maundy Thursday)

Maundy Thursday evening there was a service at one of the churches on the estate, the Anglican church St Christopher’s. We started off with a meal, lamb stew (we were thinking about Passover so it was the obvious choice...), which allowed me to meet some of the locals, and a very pleasant bunch too. We heard a few Bible readings amongst this, and then were invited to take a piece of paper and write down a list of things we wanted to get rid of in our life. Going outside, we got into groups and constructed a cross out of two sticks and some nails, nailed our lists to the cross and put them on a bonfire in the Church garden. Moving inside we had a time of worship (which included half way through a song the room being filled with a piercingly high and loud noise, followed by the whole room in silence staring at the girl sitting near the sound desk and one woman just saying “which one did you press, which one?”).

This was a really great time just to sit and reflect on the things I want to get rid of in my life. However my list always seems to be the same, full of things I say I want to get rid of but clearly never really try. I say I want to be punctual, decisive, spending more time with God praying and studying the Bible, but I don’t actually do it. If I want to be a dying Christian and take up my cross, I’ve just got to get on with it. If I hold on to these things then Christ won’t take them away. I need to cling to Christ and the cross, not to my past.