The 'Stations of the Cross' are a series of pictures or sculptures which depict the events of Good Friday from Jesus's appearance before Pilate to his entombment. On Good Friday we gather as a church and stand before each of the fourteen stations in turn for a brief reading, prayers and reflection.

More often than not, we follow the Stations on Good Friday with the springtime sun shining through the church windows and birds singing in the garden; inevitably, we understand the Crucifixion in the light of the Resurrection that we know will follow. The very dark image above, part of a painting by Nicolas Poussin, responds to an important detail of the Gospel accounts: 'From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land' (Matthew 27. 45); it imagines a present reality in which there is no certain future, to be contrasted, when the time comes, with the joy of the Resurrection.

Family Communion for Easter Day: celebrant the Revd Tola Badejo
First reading: Acts 10.34-43
Gospel: Mark 16.1-8

Easter is of course a time of great celebration. and we might wonder why so many paintings of the Resurrection reflect more complex emotions. Perhaps the difference between Easter and Christmas is that whereas we can all understand the birth of a child, and the joy and responsibility that brings, Easter confronts us with something beyond our understanding.

Family Communion for the Second Sunday pf Easter: celebrant the Revd Tola Badejo.

First reading: Acts 5. 27 – 32
Gospel: John 20.19 – 31

Today's first reading begins in the middle of a story. Peter and the other apostles, who had been imprisoned for preaching about Jesus, had miraculously escaped; they have just been brought before the religious council for a second time, to be tried again for their continued disobedience. Peter defends them with courage and assurance, and after the end of today's passage the Pharisee Gamaliel persuades the council to let them go. His argument is straightforward: if the apostles are wrong, and Jesus is not the Messiah, their campaign will fail without any need to persecute them; if they are right, they should not be persecuted.

The connection between the first reading and the gospel is 'evidence'. For Gamaliel, the truth will be revealed by people's response to the apostles. The story of 'doubting' Thomas is more complex; like all of us, he needs to ground his belief in a personal encounter with Jesus, and to pass it on to 'those who have not seen' by the evidence of his own life and faith.