Southwell Minster will be at the heart of the nation’s worship, as the Easter Day service will broadcast live from the Cathedral on BBC One and iPlayer, for the most important Christian festival of the year.
The service will be led by the Dean, the Very Revd Nicola Sullivan, and will include the Easter sermon of the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, the Rt Revd Paul Williams. The service will also showcase the famous Cathedral Choir.
The BBC will be in Southwell for most of Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, working with the Minster team to make sure that everything is in place to make the service a perfect celebration of Easter.
Every year, the Easter Day Eucharist is the culmination of a whole week of special services, recalling the last week of Jesus’ life, his death on Good Friday, and then his Resurrection on Easter Day. The week’s services will all go ahead as usual, but with an extra special televised celebration on Easter Day.
All are warmly invited to come to the service, which transmits from 10.00am on Sunday 9 April. Congregation attending this service are asked to be seated by 9.30am. This will then allow a pre-broadcast briefing and notices to be given, as well as providing an opportunity for everyone to sing through some selected verses of the hymns beforehand. There will be provision for young children in the State Chamber, and our Easter Egg hunt in the Walled Garden follows the service as usual.
The Very Revd Nicola Sullivan, Dean of Southwell, said: ‘This will be an incredibly special Easter for us at the Minster. Easter – with its message of new life and hope – is the centre of the Christian faith; and we can’t wait to share our celebrations with people across the country.’
Full details of the Minster’s programme for Holy Week and Easter can be found at www.southwellminster.org/easter2023/