Happy Easter to everyone!
John and I went to church this morning in a small village that will remain nameless to protect the innocent. The church is an evangelical one that was recommended by my work colleagues. So far, so good. We arrived in plenty of time, parked in the v. small parking lot, and headed in to the service, after being greeted in the parking lot with shouts of "Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!!" Still going well.
Thought something was slightly amiss when we couldn't find any order-of-worship programs, but figured we'd be enlightened later, and made our way to some seats. By about 10:30, the place was packed with people. The minister (I think) came out and welcomed us, and said that this would be a service for everyone, with things for children and adults. We sang a few praise songs (rock band, anyone?), watched a clip from a claymation version of "The Passion" and then they launched in to a skit about getting in to heaven. Then it was time for the children's songs- the one with a chorus about how "God's love is fab" sent me into a spiral of homesickness and missing Redeemer. The sermon involved several card tricks and a discussion of the Pagan festival of Oestar, but no real mention of Easter itself. The minister announced that the service would conclude with a Praise Party, which involved lots of balloons and jumping up and down.
John and I were so worn out by this that we retreated at the first opportunity...no coffee hour for us. Unfortunately, the throngs that had arrived after us had parked us in, so we decided to go for a walk around the village. Half an hour later, we were STILL parked in, so we braved our way back inside to find out if the car could be moved, where John ran into one of his work colleagues. Apparently this was a 'family' service and slightly more wild than usual. "They don't always have balloons."
We're going to keep looking for a church, I think.
1 comment:
Wow. That's fairly intense... you don't see balloons much at church in Larchmont. But I did hear a funny joke I thought you'd like. A guest priest started his sermon with it at the 11:00 mass.
So, St. Peter goes to the other Apostles on Easter afternoon and says, "Brothers, I have good news, and I have bad news." The Apostles, who have had enough bad news over the past week, ask Peter for the good news first. "The good news," says Peter, "is that Christ, our Lord, has risen from the grave!" "Well, that's wonderful!" exclaim the Apostles. "That news gives us hope, and we can steel ourselves against the bad news. Jesus has risen, so tell us, Brother Peter, what bad news could possibly follow?" Peter responds "He wants to talk to us about last Friday."
Happy Easter! :-D
-Lizzie
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