Holy Week and Easter 2015

We have had Bishop Michael with us right through Holy Week from Palm ‘Friday’ (we celebrate Palm Sunday on Friday as Sunday is a working day) to Easter Day and it has been a special time. The children presented The Tale of Three Trees on the Friday very effectively and movingly – it tells the story of three trees that had dreams to contain great riches, to be powerful and to reach to the heavens. The first is chopped down and becomes an animal feeding trough in which Jesus is put following his birth; the second is made into a boat from which Jesus calms the storm; the third is made into the cross; each dream was fulfilled, but not in the way any expected. We began the service both on Friday and Sunday evening by processing round the cathedral with our palms.

Following the service the BACC members attending had a photo with Bishop Michael to update a rather ancient one that has been in the porch for several years.

On Sunday morning three girls from a public school in Isa Town, one doing a project on religious tolerance in Bahrain came to interview me and to experience the worship of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They were amazed as they saw them pray and said “that’s how Muslims pray”. And I suggested to them that it was probably from Christians from a similar tradition from whom Muslims learnt to pray.