Alleluia - Christ is risen!
On this Easter Sunday we celebrate the gift of new life - the gift of eternal life.
I love Easter - I love the celebration, the services, the egg hunts, I love all of it. I love it because this is the heart of what I believe - Jesus gave his all for us, and then destroyed the power of death so that we might live, and live eternally with him.
So it is time to celebrate. In a few minutes we will have the first of four services on this easter morn. We will watch the light shatter the darkness and come face to face with the risen Lord. We will sing and pray, experiencing the amazing love of this God who created everything - the God who knows us and loves us so much that he was willing to die so that we could live.
And we will go out into the world, back to our homes, schools, and palces of work, with the easter promise resounding in our hearts.
For Christ is risen - He is risen indeed. Alleluia
2 comments:
I have been attending the sunrise Easter service for as long as I can remember. Somehow, after the bleak and somber Good Friday, it is necessary to accompany Mary Magdelene to the tomb as the dawn breaks.
It would seem to me that some needed step was skipped if I came in to Easter services at 8:00, the lights already on, and the black curtain already opened. I have a need to be there when those things happen. It's all part of the drama which brings the resurrection of Christ more vividly to my mind.
This Easter Sunday was fabulous. I heard the 6:30 sermon given by Pastor E and the 8:00 sermon given by Pastor J; each service different and both triumphant.
One of my favorite things about Easter is the music, and specifically the playing of the trumpet accompanying the choir's anthems. We are just LOUD and it feels good to shout, "He is Risen, Indeed!" It feels good to say to the Sunday Schoolers, "I want you to shout as loud as you can 'Alleluiah!' and to have them actually DO IT.
We are a new church on Easter, refilled with the hope of eternal life. Let us work to carry this feeling through our church and out into our community, the whole year through.
I loved the 6:30 service and seeing the black curtains part to show the Lord is risen. I was so emotionally moved by the Tenebrae Service but that sadness was replaced with pure joy on Sunday morning seeing the altar bright and full of life.
I think everyone should experience the stripping of the altar and the Tenebrae Service along with the early sunrise service to see all that the Lord has gone through for us. And, as a reminder that He brings joy and light to our lives each day, not just on Easter morning.
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