Good Friday pictures

We had a marvellous Good Friday morning Messy Church with over 35 children - a riot of paint, glue and glitter. Thank you to all who helped. (and to Tanya for most of the pictures - the blurry ones are mine!)
A quick gear change transformed the church into a still oasis of reflection (no chance of that when the children were there!) with various focuses for prayer around the building, most of which will stay up through the Easter weekend. These included an invitation to think about what you saw when you looked in the mirror, and how you felt about it; Jesus' death and resurrection held up a mirror to those around him making them see themselves more clearly or in different ways. Then there was a display which explored caterpillars and butterflies, symbols of transformation and resurrection; what changes do we need to see in ourselves and our world? Material linked to the story of the penitent thief helped us things about the things we have done wrong and how we deal with them. This also included prayer requests from young men in Rochester Young Offenders Institute, gathered for us by their chaplain. Finally there was a display inviting us to think about tears, those we shed and those we are unable to shed, why we shed them and God's response to them. These displays were enhanced by contributions from the children in the morning, some of which you can see in the pictures.