Easter worship in the graveyard

As I mentioned, the folks of Trinity tried something new this year to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, worshiping in the Concord Cemetery for their Easter sunrise service.

As the bulletin said, "We gather this morning in the place of death to celebrate God's gift of life eternal. The grave does not get this last word!"





The opening reading was perfect: Elijah and the valley of dry bones from Ezekiel 37.

We had some time to wander around the cemetery for quiet contemplation among the graves. Many folks, of course, have family and friends buried here. I don't, but I happen to find cemeteries fascinating, so I just kept an eye out for anything interesting.

Here are the oldest dates I found: John and Adeline Chase, born in 1795 and 1798, respectively.








We also had a "roll call of our beloved departed," a time when each of us just named one or two loved ones who have gone before us to eternal life and were on our minds that day.

We read the resurrection story from Matthew's gospel, prayed, and sang a few songs with guitar accompaniment. Most attendees of the sunrise service later attend 9:00 worship as well, so Pastor Chris gave a short meditation rather than the same sermon twice.





There were about 70 people there for this grand experiment on a chilly morning...not bad for a congregation whose average worship attendance is 80-something. I think it was twice as many as Pastor Chris expected!

It was a powerful way to come together and proclaim Christ's victory over death! And apparently it even made the local paper.





After this early worship, many of us returned to the church, where the ladies were cooking up a breakfast feast. And a clever message greeted us from the sign, as usual.