And the walls came tumbling down!

No, it’s not about decay and demolition. It’s a story of how worship in the parish of Maindee is breaking free from the constraints of a building.

At the Easter Vigil service in St John’s there was the baptism of baby Alexander. Nothing unusual in that perhaps - except that two of his three Godparents were in Los Angeles! The internet was used to provide a two-way web link with the couple, Liz and Eric, so that they could watch and take part in the service. They responded together with parents, Steve and Gillian, and godparent Anne, to renew their baptismal promises and affirm their faith, although there was a delay of several seconds before we heard them.

Liz and Eric’s response when they heard what was going to happen was “Wow, Godparenting in the 21st century!”

This service followed a joint service with a difference. It always seems difficult to persuade different congregations to join together for one service, but on Maundy Thursday we achieved this. The congregations of St John’s and St Matthew’s churches took part in one act of worship although they remained in their own church buildings.

A radio link between the two buildings allowed us to use large projection screens in each church to display what was happening. The service was shared so that the OT lesson was read by someone in St Matthew’s Church, the NT lesson from someone in St John’s, and so on. There were two priests in each of the churches and the great thanksgiving and consecration of the elements took place in both, a simultaneous concelebration. This was displayed using a split screen showing all four celebrants together.

The congregations had not known what to expect and were surprised by the service, comments included “It was absolutely fantastic” and “it felt as though we were one church”.

Revd David Neale