Service for the Nation

Sunday Service for the nation comes from Wakefield Cathedral and is a family affair!

The Church of England’s virtual Sunday service for the nation will this week come from Wakefield Cathedral with special family worship from the home of the Canon Precentor and her four children.

The service for Low Sunday – the second Sunday of Easter – was recorded in the living room and the garden of the home of the Cathedral’s Canon Precentor, the Revd Canon Leah Vasey Saunders– and is a family affair with every member of the household taking part. It explores what they have learned about faith through the challenges of living in lock-down.

It is the latest in a series of national “Church online” services from the Church of England since the closure of church buildings last month in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Leah said: “It is such a privilege to be asked to do this. All the children wanted to take part, and we wanted to show how it is possible to be disciples together as a family in lockdown.”

She is assisted by her husband Mark, Academic Tutor at St Hild College, and their children Miriam, 9, Elias, 12, Jude, 14 and Reuben, 16 – who all play a part in the service.

“We’re locked inside our homes, not able to go to God’s home, the church, where we expect to meet and see God – and it is fitting that on Low Sunday Jesus appears in a home amongst disciples and that’s how they learn he is resurrected.

“We just wanted to explore the idea that faith is everyday, and everywhere, “ she added.

This week’s service includes hymns from the choirs of Wakefield Cathedral and St Martin-in-the-Fields church in London as well as the Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir.

The service will premiere on the Church of England’s Facebook and YouTube pages at 9am on Sunday and can also be viewed through the Church of England website.