Our Holy Week Preacher 2025 - The Very Revd Jane Hedges
In the addresses throughout the week, with the help of music by Dieterich Buxtehude, Membra Jesu Nostri, we will reflect upon the Body of Christ. We shall together think about the feet, knees and hands of Jesus on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Maundy Thursday as we celebrate the Institution of the Eucharist, we shall explore what it means to receive Christ’s Body and Blood. On Good Friday our focus will be on the broken heart of Jesus and on Easter Day as we proclaim that Christ is Risen, we will ask ourselves what it means to come face to face with Jesus in our daily lives.
About The Very Revd Jane Hedges
I am very much looking forward to spending Holy Week with you at Portsmouth Cathedral and in many ways, it will feel for me like coming home!
I grew up in the Portsmouth diocese attending St John’s Locks Heath where I sang in the choir as a child and later became as Altar Server. I felt a call to ministry at the age of seventeen at the time when women could not be priests, but with the encouragement of the Revd Bruce Carpenter, our vicar, I was recommended to train as a Deaconess and after completing a degree and post graduate training at Durham, returned to the Diocese to serve at Holy Trinity & St Columba Fareham.
Ministry has taken me to various parts of the country over the past forty-five years, including Southampton, Honiton, Westminster, Norwich, Canterbury and Newcastle. However, a particularly precious time for me and my family was our eight years at Portsmouth Cathedral from 1993 -2001, when I served as Canon Pastor, and during which time women were ordained priests. Chris and I made many life-long friends during those years and our two boys, who were babies when we arrived, later both became choristers with David Price.
Chris and I are now enjoying retirement in Northumberland, where we particularly love walking on the wonderful beaches with our dog Benson. However, it will be great to be beside the sea in Portsmouth in April and to travel with you all through Holy Week.
In the addresses throughout the week, with the help of music by Dieterich Buxtehude, Membra Jesu Nostri, we will reflect upon the Body of Christ. We shall together think about the feet, knees and hands of Jesus on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Maundy Thursday as we celebrate the Institution of the Eucharist, we shall explore what it means to receive Christ’s Body and Blood. On Good Friday our focus will be on the broken heart of Jesus and on Easter Day as we proclaim that Christ is Risen, we will ask ourselves what it means to come face to face with Jesus in our daily lives.