Holy Trinity Anglican Church will host Father, forgive them: The Stations of the Cross Fridays in Lent beginning Friday, March 7 at 11:30am at 298 Main Street in Blackville.

A light lunch and fellowship will follow. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Guest Speakers:

• March 7 – The Rev’d Vaden Sutherland: Pastor of Lyttleton Pentecostal Church (PAOC)
• March 14 – The Rev’d Fr  Neil Osiowy: Rector of Ludlow & Blissfield
• March 21 – Canon Paul Ranson: Vicar of Sussex, St Mark’s & Waterford
• March 28 – The Rev’d Thomas Nisbett: Rector of Newcastle, Nelson & Hardwicke
• April 4 – The Rev’d Allbertine LeBlanc: Pastor of Voice of Hope Ministries
• April 11 – Nancy Stephens: Parish of Douglas & Naswaaksis, NB Anglican Columnist, former parishioner

As in previous years, there will again be a “Holy Hour” of silent prayer and meditation before the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar offered in the Church from 10:00am until 11:00am each week, to which all are welcome.

For more information, call 506-843-6022.

More information from the Anglican Parish of Derby and Blackville

Stations of the Cross 2025 Anglican Parish of Derby & Blackville

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” – Luke 23:34

This utterance of Jesus from the Cross is one of the ‘Seven Last Words from the Cross’. It comes after the preceding night’s trials and torture, leading through the streets of Jerusalem, along the Via Dolorosa – “the Way of Sorrows” – to Calvary. 

In his 1951 Good Friday addresses on the Seven Last Words at the Three-Hour Service, entitled “Power of God”, Dom Gregory Dix describes this moment thus:

 “Then comes what was probably physically the most painful moment of the Passion. The prisoners are thrown down backwards on their crosses and nailed to them. Usually at a Roman crucifixion it took two or three executioners to hold a man down on the cross while this was done… We cannot imagine any such struggle in His case. Yet He was fully human. He must have winced, perhaps He groaned, for God made for Himself no reservations against human pain when He was made man…There is nothing superhuman about Him…He admitted the full onset of human suffering and surrendered Himself to it. He lies down on His cross; He stretches out His hands and His feet. He had nothing to do at this point but to lie and suffer physically…

After the nailing is completed, there is a moment later an agonizing wrench to every nerve and limb of His body as the Cross is raised and dropped into its socket, the hole dug to receive it. At that moment the nails take part of the weight of His body and the wounds are torn apart. It is somewhere at this stage of the Crucifixion – either at the nailing on the ground, or when standing the Cross upright – that the physical agony is at its keenest; not yet has the exhaustion of approaching death mercifully dulled its piercing point. It is now that He utters His first word from the Cross: ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’…But even while the sinner is striking at God’s very face, God’s love is still poured out on him, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’”

Hours later, the worst spiritual suffering comes with the cry of abandonment on the Cross, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”

Jesus came to take upon himself ‘the sins of the whole world’. As St Paul says in one of the Prayer Book’s ‘Comfortable Words’: “This is a true saying, and worthy of all to be received, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’” 1st Timothy 1:15, BCP, p. 78

Jesus came and died to reconcile us to God and to one another. Forgiveness was his whole mission. He also commands us to forgive others with the forgiveness he bestows on us.

This year on Lenten Fridays at 11:30 AM, from March 7 to April 11, we will gather at Holy Trinity Church, Blackville to observe the Fourteen Stations of the Cross. Each week we will hear a different speaker reflect on the Passion of Our Saviour in light of this year’s theme: “Father, forgive them”.

Following the service we will join in the basement hall to eat a simple Lenten lunch and enjoy fellowship with our speakers and each other.

As in previous years, there will again be a “Holy Hour” of silent prayer and meditation before the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar offered in the Church from 10AM-11AM each week, to which all are welcome.

This year’s speaker schedule:

• March 7 – The Rev’d Vaden Sutherland: Pastor of Lyttleton Pentecostal Church (PAOC)
• March 14 – The Rev’d Fr  Neil Osiowy: Rector of Ludlow & Blissfield
• March 21 – Canon Paul Ranson: Vicar of Sussex, St Mark’s & Waterford
• March 28 – The Rev’d Thomas Nisbett: Rector of Newcastle, Nelson & Hardwicke
• April 4 – The Rev’d Allbertine LeBlanc: Pastor of Voice of Hope Ministries
• April 11 – Nancy Stephens: Parish of Douglas & Naswaaksis, NB Anglican Columnist, former parishioner

Come and join us as we follow our Saviour along the Way of the Cross.