Easter Sunday!

What a rush! Easter Sunday is like non-stop celebration--because that's what it should be. The morning began at 4:30am when my alarm went off. From there I awoke and prepared for church. I made a trip to Wal-Mar to pick up a couple last minuet items needed for the puppet show.

I arrived at church to set up the puppet show area. I was going to use a piece of drywall as the puppet show wall but it was too heavy to move upstairs. I then oppted to stringing up a tablecloth hung on twine between two windows. It was heavy for the twine so I rigged up a support pole (a handle from a snow shovel) in the middle by using safety pins to keep it in place.

Our B-E-A-U-tiful flower display the alter guild does such a marvelous job.

Yes those are ALL real, tulips, daffodils, lilies, and birch trees.

Choir arrived to rehearse at 6:45am. We ran through our Easter Cantata complete with brass accompaniment.

The first service was smaller in attendance than I was expecting since back home sunrise was always the big service but here it was the smaller of the two. Throughout the service the brass added triumphant sound on several of the hymn songs. It gave me goosebumps.

After the first service I went downstairs to enjoy a fantastic Easter Breakfast prepared by the men of the congregation. This is a tradition that has been going on for 25+ years. It was neat to see the men armed with spatulas, aprons, and grills. Sausage, pancakes, eggs, and fruit was the menu. It was delicious.

We love our men!

More pancakes

We had a great turn out!

I got to sit with a variety of people some new some old. I love talking to new people the social butterfly in me is always interested. I got to build a really neat relationship with a family I had never met before and found out they just moved here on military and were glad to find such a welcoming congregation for Easter. I could tell the Holy Spirit was with me because conversation came easy and when we finished I had a little happy dance in my heart (I don't know how else to explain it).

After breakfast was second service. Second service began with a bang as the bagpipes opened with Amazing Grace. It gave me chills and even brought a tear to my eye. Not sure if it was the atmosphere, the realization that my time here on internship is coming to a close, the fact that Gary was back with the pipers after heart surgery, or the power of being surrounded in community with so many other fellow believers in Christ. It was probably a combination of all of the above but it was simply awe-inspiring.

Bagpipes!

Full house-love it

The service was my favorite. As much as I like contemporary there is something so comforting about the traditional service. "This is the Feast of victory for our God" is one of my favorite songs--and it's part of the liturgy. There is something within all of us that seeks tradition. Maybe it's a connection to the past, a familiar memory of a special time that brings us comfort in our often turbulent lives. Maybe it's a link to our communal history, a sense of union with those who came before us. But there's some deep desire to connect with our past, to continue our traditions and for me I received that today.

"Jesus Christ is Risen Today", "Now All the Vault of heaven Resounds", "Crown Him with Many Crowns"...these are the songs, the songs I love. With added brass to them it is extremely powerful and speaks in a way that words alone cannot. It speaks to my heart, to something internal, the joy that Christ has Risen! It was one of those moments when I could feel the complete presence of Jesus Christ so strongly that chills ran down my spine, my heart skipped a beat, and I was washed in perfect peace.

After second service it was time for the annual Puppet Show and Easter Egg Hunt. The week previous the youth had helped assemble the eggs. We had so many eggs we did not have enough time to hide them. I called upon the Stoltenberg family to help in-between me teaching each of the three kids their guitar lessons. We hid 350 eggs around the church basement.

Puppet show

The puppet show was based on the Resurrection Eggs . It was a funny yet compelling story of the journey to the cross that Jesus traveled for the payment of our sins. I think the kids really enjoyed it, and their parents too.

For the little guys it was their very first Easter Egg Hunt

Got one

So the couch is kinda covered in lots of eggs

They caught on...digging in the cushions 

Showing off their treasure

counting them up...

Following the puppet show the kids split up by age groups and went to their respective areas in search of Easter Eggs. Each egg was complete with a Bible verse and of course candy.