A blessed Easter- for all?

[ContraMundum]

Easter this year for me was blessed. Church attendance was up (apparently all over the world too! Praise God!) , unity was evident across denominational bounds, the Vatican sounded good this year, I'm happy, my football team won and I have a chance to start a new work in my ministry.

How was yours?

[annaapple]

I was deeply touched by the Easter Vigil I attended on the saturday night. I was doing creche on Sunday morning so I missed the specially expanded choir and by all accounts wonderful music. The weather was good. Overall I feel I have a deeper understanding of the different elements of Holy Week.

It was a good Easter.

[Italian8oy]

I felt a little lost this easter, not sure why but usually easter is a special time for me.... but this year, i did not get actively involved in the mass and holy week.

[Simon_Templar]

I didn't get as involved in Lent and Holy Week as I wanted to this year. Allowed lack of discipline and 'cares of this life' to get in the way.

However, Easter itself was a blessed day.

[Tomoz]

I felt a little lost this easter, not sure why but usually easter is a special time for me.... but this year, i did not get actively involved in the mass and holy week.

Hi! that's a shame - but welcome to CF and Scripture-Tradition-Reason!!

I had a lovely Holy Week and Easter - our Good Friday service was very moving I thought, and our Easter services saw quite a few new people come along, which is really great. And we had some wonderful sermons too!
The only unblessed element was on Easter Sunday - I was hiding easter eggs for the church kids to have an easter egg hunt after the service, and I was a little bit over-enthusiastic in my scattering and running around and managed to slam straight into a wall - and get an impressive gash on my forehead in the process!!
I was a bit embarrased so I told everyone that I was so moved by the service that I was having crown-of-thorns stigmata. Nobody bought it.

[pmcleanj]

I felt a little lost this easter, not sure why but usually easter is a special time for me.... but this year, i did not get actively involved in the mass and holy week.
That's too bad! Easter, like most of the High Holy Days where there are extra services, is always a little -- complicated -- for our family, because of our mix of churchmanship and our ambiguous relationship with my parish (or, I should say, with "one of my parishes", which tends to explain the nature of the ambiguity, :D).

On Thursday Dean stayed home to greet our open-house guests, I went to the Maundy at Saint Stephen's (which did not have an Agape supper this year), and my godfather took my two daughters to his parish (which did have an Agape supper) because one of their playmates would be there and come to the open-house afterward. We could have gone to the Lutheran congregation where we worship on Sundays since they decided they would actually do the Maundy this year, but I wanted a true sacramental liturgy for memorializing the Institution of the Lord's Supper -- and I needed to maintain my tenuous connection with my local parish (my other Anglican/Episcopal parish being not only in a different province/state, but in a different country :cool: !!!) The open-house thing wasn't for Maundy Thursday; we do that as a regular gathering on the first Thursday of every month. My godfather loved having three children to worship with, and I didn't much mind being alone, but it did make it odd. And the new priest at Saint Stephen's has done a lot to resolve our alienation from the parish, but it's still always interesting to worship there.

Then Friday we went to the Way of the Cross at Emmanuel, our Lutheran parish. At least we were all together for that one. The Stations were projected onto an overhead screen by the H.O.P.*, so that the congregation could remain static in their seats for the liturgy:doh:. That was in the morning, so I had time afterward to set the hot-cross buns to rise, and head (alone) to the Cathedral for the two-hour Tre-Oro:doh: :doh: (Duo-Oro? Doh-Oro?), since Saint Stephen's liturgy for Good Friday was an ordinary Holy Communion service but without the consecration. The music at the Cathedral was as always, stunning: traditional low-church Merbecke sung by a vested, trained high-church choir. I do love our broad tent!

Holy Saturday, we worshipped together again at Saint Stephen's. Rachel managed to connect with Father Brian and make arrangements for her confirmation classes, which has been an issue. Since our Sunday worship is at a largely non-sacramental church, she can't be confirmed out of that congregation; but most priests are of two minds about sponsoring a confirmation candidate who worships somewhere else. Bless Father Brian for understanding the situation keeping us connected!

And then we were up for the 8:00 a.m. Sunrise service at Emmanuel, the parish breakfast, and the Sunday morning service -- where Dean plays in the worship band and I give the Children's lesson and my children's choir was singing, so that was the one service that we absolutely couldn't miss. The choir was wonderful: they are all unchurched children who come only for the voice training, and I think this may have only been their third or fourth time in a church. They focussed beautifully and kept in time and on tune, they were loud enough to be heard, and they only forgot a couple words out of three rather complicated verses!

Anyway, there's fifty great days of Easter coming, so no matter how intense or unintense your Easter Day and Holy Week were, it's really the long-term engagement and growth that matters. If your Easter Day was lower-key than usual, you can make up for it by increasing your engagement for the remaining six or seven Sundays of the Easter season.

*H.O.P.="Holy Overhead Projector", one more alternative to the B.C.P., the B.A.S., the L.B.W., the A.B.S, or W.O.V )

[Torah613]

My Pesach/Holy Week/Easter was truly amazing.

I didn't get to go to the Maundy Thursday Mass, because the whole family was down for Pesach and that was the one day I was able to spend with them. It was really wonderful, a lot of bridges were mended.

On Good Friday, I went to the Veneration of the Cross with Communion and the Stations at the Episcopal Church in my old hometown (which I still think of as my Parish--it was the only parish that welcomed me and allowed me to grow as a Christian).

Saturday night, I went to the Vigil Mass at the same church and late that night had desserts and coffee with the family (it was hilarious watching the goyisha side of hte family try to figure out the leaven-free desserts) before drivng back up to where I live now and facing a 14 hour shift on Easter Sunday.

Jo

[higgs2]

Easter was fabulous. A beautiful, sunny day. Fantastic service, with a full church. Thoughtful and uplifting sermon. Hymns were played a bit dirge-like, but you can't have everything.

The world's best egg hunt afterwards in the church yard with about 25 kids ages 1.5 to 17. (In a congregation of 93 including kids, that's a lot.) Mimosas and champage for the adults while we soaked up the sun and showed off our bonnets.

And then an afternoon at home with good friends and their kids hiding eggs over and over and over in the yard and the adults laughing and enjoying life on the deck.

Ham. Strawberries and pineapple. Those yummy rolls dusted with flour you can get in big bags at the bakery.

Christ is risen indeed! :)
Alleluia

[longhair75]

My Lenten observances have given me some perspective on changes I needed to make in my life. I found it very fulfilling and approached Easter sunday with a sense of renewal. We had a lovely Easter. We attended services, went out to breakfast afterwards and then home to quiet, family time. I served roast chicken with the usual trimmings for dinner, and Sunflower made a nice cheesecake for dessert.