What the '˜good' in Good Friday means

Have you been watching Mary Berry's Easter Feast on the TV over the last couple of weeks?
FEAST Mary Berry shares the secret to her hot cross buns in her Easter Feast special 		        Picture: BBC/Shine TV/Craig HarmanFEAST Mary Berry shares the secret to her hot cross buns in her Easter Feast special 		        Picture: BBC/Shine TV/Craig Harman
FEAST Mary Berry shares the secret to her hot cross buns in her Easter Feast special Picture: BBC/Shine TV/Craig Harman

As someone who is passionate about food – baking as well as eating it – I enjoyed the opportunity to discover new recipes that I’d like to try out when I get the chance.

There was a variety of sweet and savoury dishes including Alban Buns – from where the hot cross buns we eat today are thought to have originated – Simnel cake, a baked sea bass with tomato and citrus salsa and a traditional Polish cake called babka.

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As well as being a mouth-watering watch, the programme also explored the significance of these different foods to the Christian faith.

Take the hot cross bun, for example: the white cross piped across the top of it reminds us of Jesus’s death on a cross on the very first Good Friday.

It sounds a bit strange to call a day on which someone died ‘good’ doesn’t it, surely ‘sad’ or ‘bad’ might be more appropriate?

But as Christians, what we are remembering on Good Friday is the amazing act of self-sacrifice that Jesus made in dying for all human beings and so the word ‘good’ signifies his action and what happened as a result of his death was certainly ‘good’.

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Just three days later on Easter Sunday, he rose again to new life. That’s why eggs have become a symbol of Easter – they signify new life and hope.

In Cosham, Drayton and Farlington over the next few days we will be marking Good Friday and then celebrating Easter Sunday and you’re very welcome to join us.

We start tomorrow, with services in St Andrew’s Church at 9am and the Church of the Resurrection at 9.30am followed by a walk of witness along Havant Road to Cosham High Street.

At 11.15am we will meet with people from other churches in the area outside Tesco for a dramatic retelling of the Good Friday story and then we will be giving out hot cross buns.

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And on Easter Sunday, there will be a dawn service at 6am at St Andrew’s Church followed by breakfast. There will be further services at 8am at St Andrew’s, 9.30am at the Church of the Resurrection and 11.15am at St Andrew’s.

Do come and join us if you are able. I wish you a very happy Easter.

Church of the Resurrection, Penrhyn Ave, Drayton PO6 3AP

farlingtonparish.co.uk

facebook.com/farlingtonparishuk

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