musings
EVERY YEAR WHEN HOLY WEEK APPROACHES, I look forward to "Resurrection Sunday" and look backward at the same time to my most memorable Easter service. It was while I was a student at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY.
I was a part of a student cabinet of the Wesleyan Foundation. We were charged with planning and implementing an Easter Sunrise Service. We wanted to be creative and offer a unique and yet, inspirational experience. Fortunately, Kentucky in April offers some beautiful weather, so someone suggested that we have an outdoor service at 8:30 A.M.--you know, the old traditional "Sunrise Service," though the sun would have risen well before that time.
What really made it unique, aside from being outside was the idea that we hold it in the cemetery! And so we did. The turnout was more than we expected. The setting was suberb---right there admist the tombstones, to remind us of the Risen Christ--the Second Adam who would one day shout from the heavens for the bodies of believers to "come up thither."
As I recall, we hauled an amplification system to the graveyard, along with a portable organ, and about 100 folding chairs. And someone even played the trumpet. We had singing, a sermon, some Scripture readings---the whole ball of wax! It was a phenomenal experience.
I always wondered what the neighbors thought about it.
Can you see now how it would be memorable? Not only for the setting, but for the sense of God's real presence as we contemplated the great event that will assuredly transpire some day. You see, Resurrection Day is not only a time to look backward, but a time to look forward as well. It meant the death of death and the birth of life everlasting.
EVERY YEAR WHEN HOLY WEEK APPROACHES, I look forward to "Resurrection Sunday" and look backward at the same time to my most memorable Easter service. It was while I was a student at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY.
I was a part of a student cabinet of the Wesleyan Foundation. We were charged with planning and implementing an Easter Sunrise Service. We wanted to be creative and offer a unique and yet, inspirational experience. Fortunately, Kentucky in April offers some beautiful weather, so someone suggested that we have an outdoor service at 8:30 A.M.--you know, the old traditional "Sunrise Service," though the sun would have risen well before that time.
What really made it unique, aside from being outside was the idea that we hold it in the cemetery! And so we did. The turnout was more than we expected. The setting was suberb---right there admist the tombstones, to remind us of the Risen Christ--the Second Adam who would one day shout from the heavens for the bodies of believers to "come up thither."
As I recall, we hauled an amplification system to the graveyard, along with a portable organ, and about 100 folding chairs. And someone even played the trumpet. We had singing, a sermon, some Scripture readings---the whole ball of wax! It was a phenomenal experience.
I always wondered what the neighbors thought about it.
Can you see now how it would be memorable? Not only for the setting, but for the sense of God's real presence as we contemplated the great event that will assuredly transpire some day. You see, Resurrection Day is not only a time to look backward, but a time to look forward as well. It meant the death of death and the birth of life everlasting.
posted by kazookid | 10:30 AM
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