The Easter Spirit at Peoples

During the week that precedes Easter there are many opportunities for members of the church and visitors to experience the spirit that is at the heart of our beliefs in God through his son, Jesus Christ. The Sunday preceding Easter, Palm Sunday, provides the opportunity to experience triumph as we experience the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The crowds that greeted Jesus were perhaps surprised that he entered the city riding a donkey and not a stallion as they may have expected. On Thursday several members of the church and visitors gathered in the semi-darkness of the sanctuary for a message given by Pastor Tom following the passage, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” With the Cross already draped with a black cloth and a crown of thorns the mood was quite different from that of the previous Sunday. When the service was over we all left silently, left to contemplate the meaning of the events that preceded Good Friday. The Good Friday evening service followed a telling of the events that led up to Jesus death on the Cross. Pastor Tom read the story according to Matthew in Chapters 26 and 27. Reference was also made to Isaiah 53:2-9. With each reading another candle in the candelabra was extinguished and for a time the Christ candle was removed, to be restored at the end of the story as the story of Resurrection becomes the climax. For a second night those of us who were present departed from the sanctuary in silence.

 

Easter Sunday began with a gathering of the faithful at Fisherman’s Point just east of Willard Beach. Some of us arrived in advance of the announced time of 6:15 AM as the sun would actually rise about 5:50 AM. Pastor Tom led the gathering that included many from Peoples but included a number of folks that were there from beyond the walls of Peoples. It was a glorious morning and as the sun rose the rays of that body seemed to form a cross.

 

All attendees were invited to go to Ellis Hall at Peoples for breakfast. A number of members instead of attending the Sunrise Service had arrived early to prepare the breakfast meal for an unknown number of breakfasters. Chris, Brad Chuck, Joanne, Danielle, Kathy and Sally were all there to provide the nourishing meal that we all enjoyed.  Several tables had been set up and folks were encouraged to sit with others in order to share their lives and experiences with folks they may have known or were meeting for the first time.

 

At 10AM the Easter service was held in the Sanctuary. The service began with the Bell Choir playing two magnificent pieces. Many members of families that are often scattered on other Sundays were in attendance at this service. The children and adults were inspired and entertained by Harry and Humphrey, two of Pastor Tom’s favorite friends. Tom’s wife, Kelly,  did assist in the service as the Lay Speaker, a position she has taken for the month of April.

 After Harry and Humphrey were finished their story and Pastor Tom closed the children’s portion of the service with a community prayer with the children, they were dismissed and went downstairs for an Easter egg hunt. Some of the older children had in previous weeks been involved with a Lego project building a display that was available for all to see in the back of the church. The children had built the temple as well as the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

The choir sang an inspirational anthem, the congregation sang hymns appropriate to the day and the pastor gave a meaningful and uplifting sermon. Easter is often more meaningful when one stops long enough on the way out of the sanctuary to gaze at the three stained glass windows that grace the back of the church. Often we may simply pass under the three windows and take them for granted, but perhaps as Christians those three windows should be the most spiritually meaningful to all of us as Christ was crucified, resurrected and arose to heaven to be one with his/our Father.