Easter Sunrise Worship Service at 6:30 a.m. at the Garden Pavilion, Meadowbrook Park, Urbana (off of Race Street).
Easter Worship Service at 9:30 a.m.
Service in the sanctuary with special music and a brass quartet.
Childcare is available for infants through preschool age, downstairs in Rooms 4 and 5 for morning service.
From the Pastor/Head of Staff
“Easter Morn,” by He Qi of Nanjing, China.
Sunday is our great, high, holy day of celebration. And to celebrate properly, we feast. Hot Cross Buns. Easter Eggs. Ham and rolls and potatoes. Asparagus and lamb and wine. You won’t find peeps in my house, but some love them. We gather with friends and family to celebrate God’s love, God’s grace, new life. True to the long traditions of portraying the Resurrection, He Qi does not show us Jesus. We see the usual suspects. One of the Mary’s, head in hand with what? Worry? Shock? “How can this be?” Two guards, both asleep. And then the figure in white. Jesus? After all, there is the halo. No. Notice the wings. This is the angel. And the angel’s hand is raised, not in condemnation, as if to say, “Why did you abandon your Lord?” The hand is raised in blessing. Jesus has been raised! And the best news: He is not angry with the disciples, or with us. Our imperfection, our brokenness, our dis-ease has been assumed by Jesus and healed, redeemed. On Easter Sunday, we celebrate, all of us, just as the great preacher of the Early Church, John Chrysostum encouraged: “Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness.” Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!
Blessings,
David