CHRISTIANS across south-east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are primed to celebrate Easter from their own homes. But the message of Jesus rising from the dead will lose none of its impact.

Clergy have been broadcasting their services digitally for the past three Sundays - initially from church buildings and then for the past two weeks from their own homes. Hundreds of extra worshippers have joined regular congregation members, tuning in via Facebook Live and Youtube.

On Good Friday, clergy will lead services of reflection and meditation as they recall Jesus's death on the cross. Then on Easter Sunday, churches will celebrate his resurrection from the dead with songs, readings, sermons and Communion – all broadcast live from clergy homes.

The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Christopher Foster, will invite 100 of his clergy to join him for a Zoom video conference on Maundy Thursday (April 9) to renew their vows as ministers. This usually happens in Portsmouth Cathedral each year on Maundy Thursday, but this year will happen digitally, with clergy in their homes and the bishop in his house. The service will also be live-streamed on the Portsmouth Diocese channel on Youtube from 11am.

On Good Friday, he has asked former headteacher and diocesan schools adviser Sue Bowen to lead a workshop for children online at 9:30am. She’ll be broadcasting from her garden and kitchen, helping children to think about making their own crosses and reflecting on what Jesus’s crucifixion means for them. That’s also on the Portsmouth Diocese Youtube channel. Church of England schools across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight that are looking after the children of key workers on Good Friday have been invited to tune in,

The bishop will then lead an Easter Sunday celebration from his own home at 9am, broadcast live on the Diocese of Portsmouth’s Facebook page and Portsmouth Cathedral’s Facebook page. Joining him from their own home will be James Cuthbert, aged 14, and his brothers George, 12, and David, 10, from Portsmouth Cathedral Choir (pictured above). They’ll sing Jesus Christ is Risen Today as worshippers remember the life-changing impact of Jesus’s resurrection.

Clergy from Portsmouth Cathedral are also offering a series of digital services over the Easter weekend. Their all-age service will be broadcast live on the cathedral’s Facebook page at 10am on Good Friday, during which children will be invited to use everyday items from around the house to help them think about the significance of the cross. It will be followed by a series of meditations between 12noon and 3pm – the hours between which it is traditionally thought Jesus hung on the cross.

After sharing the broadcast with the bishop on Easter Sunday morning, they’ll live-stream an Easter service at 5:30pm with an address by the Dean of Portsmouth, the Very Rev Anthony Cane. He has also been leading a series of talks online each evening during Holy Week to reflect on the events leading up to Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Clergy from St Faiths Church, Lee-on-Solent, have been offering a daily refection on their Youtube page every day during Holy Week, looking at the big questions of life and death in the context of the coronavirus outbreak - and have also been watching the BBC’s The Passion together and discussing it online. On Easter Sunday, the vicar, the Rev Paul Chamberlain, will host a dawn service from 6am on the church’s Youtube channel, with other services following later in the morning.

Clergy from St Wilfrid’s Church, Cowplain, have also been offering daily reflections via video at 11am each morning this week on the church Facebook page. And they’ll continue with their live Sunday morning services with an Easter Sunday celebration at 11am this Sunday (April 12).

Worshippers from St Jude’s Church in Southsea have been asked to record video footage of themselves each saying part of the service to be broadcast on Easter Sunday at 10:30am. Their contributions will be edited together and then broadcast on Facebook, Youtube and the church’s website as they celebrate Jesus’s resurrection together. Clergy are encouraging worshippers to place posters in their windows saying “Jesus is Risen”.

St Jude’s, St Wilfrid’s and St Faith’s are just three of dozens of churches across the diocese that have been broadcasting services live during the coronavirus lockdown. Many more are listed on www.portsmouth.anglican.org/streaming.

Others have found different ways to share their faith and build community while church buildings are closed. Worshippers at St Francis Church, Leigh Park, celebrated Palm Sunday (April 5) by drawing a cross on the palms of their hands as a sign of their commitment to prayer and love. It was an echo of the palm branches that were waved as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on that first Palm Sunday - worshippers were able to add photos of their ‘palms’ to the church's Facebook page.

And at Newport Minster, the director of music will host his fourth “Hymns on the Piano” request hour tomorrow (April 9) from his home. Anyone can write in and ask for a hymn to be played from 3:30pm to 4:30pm and he’ll live-stream his performances on the minster’s Youtube channel.

For details of other events over the Easter weekend click here.