Preparing for Easter this year is such a joy! Knowing that for the first time in three years we will gather again to raise the roof with Hallelujahs and brass instruments, the organ soaring with corporate congregational singing, the beauty of lilies and the faces of friends to behold.
Having preached two Easter sermons in an empty Sanctuary with a few worship leaders and no participants in a space that was largely unadorned, I will never take the treasured rhythms of Easter morning worship for granted. I won’t even sarcastically moan about the C and E’s – the Christmas and Easter folks who never show up otherwise. All comers are welcome; all church members, visitors, friends and strangers will be received and greeted in joy.
After a long two years of distancing, and amid senseless and tragic violence unleashed in the world, we gather to celebrate that death does not have the final word. The pandemic did its level best to rob life from us, but it could not extinguish our trust in God to bring new life out of death. Extending far beyond our Easter morning finery, we know the promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a new reality, and yet it will feel renewed this year of years.
Join us for worship at sunrise outside on the lawn at 6:30 a.m., or in the Sanctuary at 9:30 or 11:00 a.m. If you are unable or uncomfortable with coming to church, the 9:30 service will be livestreamed and available during and after that hour of worship.
Whatever else will happen when we encounter the good news of Easter this coming Sunday, the church itself will feel resurrected. What joy!
