AUBURN - While churches across Cayuga County and the rest of the world celebrated Easter Sunday in their own ways, First United Methodist Church on South Street, might well have beaten many others for the earliest service.
Jill Connor / The Citizen
The Rev. Dana Horrell gives one of the parishioners attending the sunrise service at First United Methodist Church a light from his candle as part of as ancient tradition of Easter.
The Rev. Dana Horrell gives one of the parishioners attending the sunrise service at First United Methodist Church a light from his candle as part of as ancient tradition of Easter.
With a still very full moon in the western sky and the morning star shining down brightly, several dozen people gathered to celebrate a sunrise service. the Rev. Dana Horrell, of Trinity United Methodist, said that the two congregations may be merging into one and that this service, which he presided over, was a step toward that goal.
Worshippers first gathered outside the church around a small fire from which the Christ candle was lit, then the other prayer candles were lit, creating a procession of light entering the church.
Horrell said that this tradition stretches back to the earliest days of celebrating Easter.
“They used to celebrate through the night,” Horrell said. “From sun down to sun up they would gather and pray and read the scriptures from creation to redemption and have baptisms. We've taken the idea of the same kind of service and we've compressed it a little bit, but the idea is the same.”
And with Easter this year falling in daylight savings time and the earliest it has been on the calendar in recent memory, the timing of the sunrise service couldn't have been better.
“It is really nice,” Horrell said. “We were able to start outside and move inside. We were able to have the fire, symbolic of the fire they used to have when they would celebrate all night, and the sun rose about halfway through the service. I think there is a great symbolism there that worked out really well.”
The early service not only offered the beauty of the setting moon and the first rays of the rising sun, but also a feeling of solemnity that drew many visitors to the church.
“It was good,” Cassie Bianco said. “I haven't been to too many services like this. It was really good, I liked it very much.”
Following the service was a pancake breakfast to help the two congregations' youth groups raise funds for various trips and other endeavors.
And despite the early hour, many of the youth group members were on hand to take part in the service and help work the breakfast.
“It is fun,” Ashley Quick, 13, said. “You get to see everybody and we get to do something to help raise funds for our trip, so that is fun too.”
Worshippers first gathered outside the church around a small fire from which the Christ candle was lit, then the other prayer candles were lit, creating a procession of light entering the church.
Horrell said that this tradition stretches back to the earliest days of celebrating Easter.
“They used to celebrate through the night,” Horrell said. “From sun down to sun up they would gather and pray and read the scriptures from creation to redemption and have baptisms. We've taken the idea of the same kind of service and we've compressed it a little bit, but the idea is the same.”
And with Easter this year falling in daylight savings time and the earliest it has been on the calendar in recent memory, the timing of the sunrise service couldn't have been better.
“It is really nice,” Horrell said. “We were able to start outside and move inside. We were able to have the fire, symbolic of the fire they used to have when they would celebrate all night, and the sun rose about halfway through the service. I think there is a great symbolism there that worked out really well.”
The early service not only offered the beauty of the setting moon and the first rays of the rising sun, but also a feeling of solemnity that drew many visitors to the church.
“It was good,” Cassie Bianco said. “I haven't been to too many services like this. It was really good, I liked it very much.”
Following the service was a pancake breakfast to help the two congregations' youth groups raise funds for various trips and other endeavors.
And despite the early hour, many of the youth group members were on hand to take part in the service and help work the breakfast.
“It is fun,” Ashley Quick, 13, said. “You get to see everybody and we get to do something to help raise funds for our trip, so that is fun too.”
The Citizens' Say
There are 2 comment(s)
karl L wrote on Mar 24, 2008 2:16 PM:
...........probably not! "
Farmer's Gal wrote on Mar 24, 2008 11:24 AM: