Author Archives: St Peter's Church, Church Langton, Leicestershire

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About St Peter's Church, Church Langton, Leicestershire

St Peter's church is set in the village of Church Langton, in south Leicestershire, near to the town of Market Harborough. Worship is Church of England (Anglican). St Peter's is one of the churches forming the Benefice of the Langtons and Shangton in the Diocese of Leicester. St Peter's serves three villages, Church Langton, West Langton and East Langton and has friends and visitors from all over. We love to meet new people and visitors. Everyone is welcome! Contact us on info@churchlangton.org.uk and follow our story on www.churchlangton.org.uk

Easter Worship – Good Friday

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Services for Good Friday take place throughout the day at our churches in the Launde Deanery Community – See all the details here:

Launde Deanery Full service pattern for Easter

Good Friday and Easter Sunday

Two services at St Peter’s Church this Easter and a family service for children at Thorpe Langton on Sunday 12th April, as some of our families are away over the holidays. Everyone welcome.

  • Good Friday Reflection, 2pm – 3pm and
  • Easter Sunday 5th April 11.00am

Good Friday

Good Friday is the most sombre and saddest day of the Christian calendar. We remember Jesus’s death upon the Cross; the most brutal end to life we could imagine. We remember his sacrifice, his promises and kindness to the prisoner crucified with him and the awful moment we all feel at times, that God, his father abandoned him in his greatest hour of need.

Why is it Called Good Friday?

This strange name for something so horrendous seems almost cruel in its irony. The reason for this paradox perhaps, lies in the evolution of our language and the way words change their meaning over time. The word ‘good’ in older times also meant ‘pious’ and reflected personal behaviour. In other words, ‘being good’. So ‘Good Friday’ was a day to observe, pray, fast and remember the death of Jesus. To be ‘good’ on that Friday and behave appropriately, as we would when a loved-one dies, seems more understandable in that context.

The real reason why Good Friday is ‘Good’

‘Good Friday’ though has always been about hope in the worst of times. The word, ‘good’ is used for this day, because Jesus’s dreadful death was not the end. In fact, it was the beginning. Jesus’s suffering and death on his cross was the last sacrifice. Everyone who comes to him will find salvation and love.

The most beautiful gift of love and new life, which can be described with only one word…GOOD

Good Friday for children

Traditionally, in the UK, Good Friday is marked by eating hot cross buns – a lovey soft bread flavoured with cinnamon and marked with crosses, served hot and oozing with butter! A super treat after six weeks of restraint during Lent. Hot cross buns are on sale everywhere and throughout the year, but to enjoy one on Good Friday is a real treat.

Making an Easter Garden

Making an Easter Garden, or drawing or painting one is a lovely Good Friday activity. These miniature gardens are made simply on a plant pot tray, with a little plant pot disguised as the tomb, with a cloth inside and a stone cover. This stone comes off on Easter Sunday. The surrounding tray is filled with little plants or grass to represent the hill and topped with the three crosses, of Jesus and the two men crucified alongside him.

More details can be found here

Good Friday activities

The Church of England has a really useful guide online called Good Friday Fact File which you might enjoy reading

Three Crosses on the hillside a drawing by Maxine Dodd artist in pen and ink on white paper - The three crosses and hanging figures are seen in silhouette with a large white sun behind - the figures of Mary and John are suggested below Jesus in the centre
Three crosses on the hillside, pen and ink drawing by Maxine Dodd

Easter Worship – Maundy Thursday

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Services for Maundy Thursday take place throughout the day at our churches in the Launde Deanery Community – See all the details here:

Launde Deanery Full service pattern for Easter

Good Friday and Easter Sunday

Two services at St Peter’s Church this Easter and a family service for children at Thorpe Langton on Sunday 12th April, as some of our families are away over the holidays. Everyone welcome.

  • Good Friday Reflection, 2pm – 3pm and
  • Easter Sunday 5th April 11.00am

Maundy Thursday

This day marks the events which lead up to Jesus’ death by crucifixion. We remember his last meal with his closest friends, his agony at prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, preparing for the inevitable torture and death which was to come; his betrayal by Judas and the long hours overnight after his arrest and the denial of him by Peter as the cockerel crowed at dawn. It is a harrowing story, recounted in the four gospels and never easy to read.

What happens at services on Maundy Thursday?

The name, ‘Maundy’, comes from the Latin mandatum (commandment), recalling John 13:34, “Love one another as I have loved you”.

Typically, services are Holy Communion services, where we remember the Last Supper, where Jesus explained to his disciples what was going to happen. He told them that the bread and wine were his body and blood, shed for everyone.

He told them how important it is to serve and care for each other and washed their feet. Many services continue this practice for penitents today.

Finally, services finish with a solemn task of stripping the altar, so the church is bare and stark to remember his death on the cross the next day

Maundy Thursday in the UK

Traditionally, in the UK, the reigning monarch distributes ‘Maundy Money’ as a gift of alms to the elderly. These little pouches of silver coins acknowledge service and dedication by the recipient. We were delighted when a resident of our village received this special gift from the late Queen Elizabeth II when she celebrated Maundy Thursday at Leicester Cathedral in 2017. The recipient’s name was put forward for her long service to St Peter’s and now in her 90s, still attends church regularly. A very much loved and well deserving recipient of the most special gift.

Read about Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Leicester Cathedral

The Church of England has a really useful guide online called Maundy Thursday Fact File which you might enjoy reading

Ink and wash sketch of a foot being washed over a bowl, held by a gentle hand, by Maxine Dodd artist. The image shows the foot dripping with water over a bowl, in shades of teal blue
A gentle hand washes a foot, by Maxine Dodd

Looking forward to Holy Week and Easter

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The Launde Deanery service will be at Hallaton church at 11am, Sunday 29th March 2026

EVERYONE WELCOME

Palm Sunday

The season of Lent is almost over, as this weekend we reflect upon and remember Jesus’s last week before his death upon the cross. This weekend, Christians celebrate Palm Sunday and remember Jesus’s arrival to Jerusalem on a donkey; his way strewn in palm branches by the people, singing ‘Hosanna’. Traditionally, in churches all over the world, crosses made from the fronds of palms are given to children and adults to carry with them. Next year, any left over are burnt and the ashes mixed with scented oil. This paste is used by priests to mark the heads of penitents at the start of Lent – and the cycle of Lent and Easter starts again.

More about Palm Sunday

The Church of England has a really useful guide online called Palm Sunday Fact File which you might enjoy reading

Learn more
Photo by Maxine Dodd of a collection of seven Palm Sunday crosses, against a black background. The crosses are handmade from fronds of real palm trees, used by the people to greet Jesus as he arrived in Jerusalem at the start of Holy Week.
Traditional Palm Crosses by Maxine Dodd