The benefice newsletter for April 2026 is now available to view or download here.
This week is Holy Week – days of profound mystery in which human hope, fickleness, insecurity, arrogance, and cruelty play out against divine silence, pain, patience, justice, and love.
The ancient cross at Bewcastle is one of the earliest Christian monuments in Britain, dating from the early 700s. It is also one of the most important Anglo-Saxon monuments in northern Europe. Its rich carvings express a deep theology of Christ’s redemption of the whole of creation, and also includes hints of the life of Cuthbert.
On Good Friday at 4pm (3pm GMT, or the ‘9th hour’, the hour of Jesus’ death [Mat 27:46]) we will have our Liturgy of the Rood (‘rood’ is Old English for ‘cross’). This is a 30-minute service of meditation held outdoors around the Bewcastle Cross using Anglo-Saxon prayers from the same period as the Cross. As part of this, we listen to a reading of the Anglo-Saxon poem, The Dream of the Rood, which was either written with the Bewcastle and Ruthwell crosses in mind, or they were created as expressions of the poem (the runes of the poem are carved onto the Ruthwell Cross, Bewcastle’s sister). We then have an opportunity to venerate the cross (or not) in any way that people feel comfortable (touching, kissing, bowing, kneeling, sitting etc). The service finishes in silence. Everyone is welcome to attend, and please feel free to bring a chair if you would like to sit for the service. If the weather is inclement the service will be held in the church.
On Easter morning at 6am we will gather again around the Bewcastle Cross, this time to greet our risen Lord using acclamations, prayers and readings, again from the Anglo-Saxon period contemporaneous with the Cross. We finish with Easter eggs and hot chocolate.
At 10am on Easter morning, we have our main Easter celebration at St Mary, Stapleton. This begins with the Service of Light around a fire pit outside the church where we light our Paschal candles for each of our four churches for the first time since Lent. After moving inside, we renew out baptismal vows (and get sprinkled with water), and celebrate our first Holy Communion together since Lent began.
You are warmly invited to all or any of these events, especially if you don’t normally attend church services.
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