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It
was dark outside as we woke up and began getting ready for church. It was
exciting to get up on Easter because we were going to sunrise service.
After I was ready to go, I peeked into the kitchen and there were the four
coffee cups on the kitchen table awaiting our return. Each cup had a
different color of liquid in it. There was red, green, yellow and blue.
In a pan next to the coffee cups were the eggs that Mama had boiled the
night before. It was Easter morning and part of the fun for the day was
to color eggs. Mama made up her own colors with water, vinegar, and food
coloring. We used a waxy crayon to write names or designs on the eggs
because the dye wouldn’t stick where the wax was marked on the eggs so
there was no end to the creations we could make, but first, we would go to
sunrise service.
We
attended church regularly from the time that I could remember but Easter
Sunday was different. There was something special about getting up before
the sunrise. The air was crisp and as the sky slowly became a little
lighter, the birds began to chirp as if to announce the forthcoming
sunrise.
We
made our way down the gravel road to the church that was only a block from
our house. As we walked, I could hear the gravel crunching beneath my
feet and I tried to walk ever so carefully so I wouldn’t get dust or marks
on my new white shoes that I thought were almost too pretty to wear.
I
was excited to get to church because my cousin, Suzanne, and I had a part
in the Easter program. We had a duet to sing together. We had rehearsed
the program many times and we wanted to do our best.
There were more people than usual on Easter Sunday. There was an
atmosphere of expectancy as people were seated and the music began to
play. Suzanne and I took our places on the piano side of the church on
the front pew. The pastor spoke a few words of welcome and then the
program began.
The choir sang “In the Garden”, “The Old Rugged Cross” and “There Is a
Fountain” as narration was interspersed between songs. Everything was
going just as we had practiced and then the moment came, it was the
scripture that was our cue: “Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.” As soon as the
scripture was finished Suzanne and I began to sing the old spiritual,
“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” and I knew in my heart even
as a child that in some mysterious way, I was there and that the Lord paid
a debt He did not owe because I owed a debt I couldn’t pay.
When our duet ended,
the narrator began reading the words: “Now upon
the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women came unto
the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and, behold,
there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from
heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon
it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the
angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye
seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he
said.”
At the very moment
that the narration ended, the choir broke into the joyful song “Christ the
Lord is Risen today, Al – le – lu – ia!”
Afterward, everyone
began filing out of the church to leave and as I looked up I saw that the
sun had risen as it streamed through the front door.
I remember running
down the gravel road toward home after that sunrise service. In my
excitement, I had forgotten all about being careful not to mess up my new
white shoes. I wondered if the women that found the empty tomb thought
about their shoes. Then I wondered what became of the no longer needed
spices that they had carried to the tomb. I guessed the women probably
forgot all about them because how can you think about your shoes or spices
when you have just seen an earthquake, an empty tomb, and a powerful angel
saying, “He is risen!”
The program was over
but Easter continued on that day. I went home to color Easter eggs with
my brother and take turns hiding them and finding them. That was the year
that Mama drew a picture of the cross and the empty tomb in the icing on a
cake. She rarely had time for things like that but it was a special day,
it was Easter and the message that filled our thoughts was, “He is risen!”
This Easter I will
again attend sunrise service. As the sun rises in the sky, I will once
more be reminded, “He is risen!”
It is an awesome
thought to know that the same God who created the sunrise loves us and
wants to live in our hearts.
May the SON rise in
your heart this Easter.
By
Pamela Perry
Blaine
© March 12,
2008
Pamela lives in Missouri and
writes "Pam's Corner" for her local newspaper. Many stories have been
published in magazines, newspapers, and books.
She is church pianist and has a CD of songs she has written. Her goal is
to write to encourage and to preserve family history for her children.
Pam’s website:
http://www.blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm
pamyblaine@blaines.us
)
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( ?.·? (?.·? ?.·?
`·-»Pam
"Security is not the absence of danger,
but the presence of God"
My Website:
http://www.blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm
e-mail:
pamyblaine@blaines.us
"NO ONE IS USELESS IN THIS WORLD
WHO LIGHTENS THE BURDEN OF ANYONE ELSE"
(Charles Dickens)
http://www.greatcom.org/laws/englishkgp/default.htm
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