How was your Easter celebration?  Did it feel like Easter as you celebrated alone together?

Tom and I had a very nice Easter.  After several people asked, I put together a short worship service for the volunteers here in the park and some of the staff.  There were nine people all together, so it was still a gathering of less than 10.  We walked down to the fort, which looks a little like a tomb.  We sang a couple of Easter hymns.  “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” written by Charles Wesley is my favorite Easter hymn.  It felt appropriate to sing it standing by the place where he once preached when he served on St. Simon’s Island.

We had special music presented by the Lindemans.  Ellen read the Easter message from the Gospel of Matthew.  We read a Psalm together, and I gave a short message, using Colossians 3 as my text.  Leave the earthly things in the tomb.  On this resurrection day, Christ calls us to new life in him.  We prayed for our loved ones and for one another.

The service was very nice and it felt good to worship with others, even if we couldn’t hug and greet each other closely.  For half an hour we were alone together in the park.

The Easter bunny made a surprise visit early Easter morning.  I don’t think the Easter bunny has ever visited me before!  When we opened our door, we found two cups with eggs, jelly beans, and chocolate!  It was a very thoughtful gesture from fellow volunteers Denise and Bob that really added joy to my day.

I ate all the jelly beans as I watched a worship service online.  Although I had a lot of choices in services to watch, I settled on my favorite active preacher, Rev. Karen Graham.  Her church, Lakeside United Methodist, has been doing online services for a long time.  But now, instead of recording the service live, Karen and her worship team record the services on Thursdays.  It was a lovely service and Karen’s sermon, “The Yes and No of Easter” was wonderful.

After watching her service, I watched bits and pieces of several other services.  I watched to my brother and sister-in-law “lead” a hymn sing at their church, Grove City United Methodist.  I cooked a special dinner (anytime I actually cook is special).  Then I called my parents and called John.

Tom and I watched Ben-Hur, one of the Christian epic movies from the 1950’s.  It is always good, even if it is four hours long!  But it was raining outside so there wasn’t much to do.

And that was our alone together Easter.  It was a good day and we got to touch base with lots of people we love.  It was a good reminder that, because of Christ’s resurrection, we are never really alone.