I love the way our church celebrates Easter.  I can’t believe that before last year, I had never come across this before, but as far as I know, none of the other churches I have attended has consistently arranged their services this way.

We started with the Sunrise Service at 6:30.  No Lord’s Supper, but still a great celebration of the Resurrection. Beautiful, celebratory music, the traditional Scripture readings, a wonderful sermon, and, of course, the return of the Alleluias.

After that service, we went downstairs for our church’s Easter breakfast.  It was delicious–biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage, and, my children’s favorite, doughnuts in a variety of flavors.  It was a nice time of relaxation and fellowship.

Following breakfast, we went back to the sanctuary for the second service of the morning.  This is the part that is new to me, and genius, in my opinion.  It’s a completely different service.  Different music (still beautiful), some selections by the choir, different sermon, different Bible readings, and the best part, the Lord’s Supper.  A completely different experience from the first service, which makes it totally worth it to stick around and attend both services (even with four small children!).  Between the two services, I got to sing all my favorite Easter hymns:  At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Christ Our Lord is Risen Today, I Know That My Redeemer Lives.

There was a Sunday School egg hunt after the second service that we didn’t get to stay for–too many tired children–but hopefully next year that will also be a part of our Easter celebration.  The way our church schedules everything on Easter makes you want to show up at six in the morning, and stay until everyone has left, which is just about the highest compliment I can pay any congregation.  I can’t think of any way I’d rather celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection than spending the morning at church, with my family, and with our church family.

Our day at home was equally perfect.  Everyone took a nap (no small feat around here!), including us parents, while the baseball game played in the background (and the Cards won!).  We had a nice, lazy, fun day together, which is good on any Sunday, but especially nice on Easter.

We also had a very nice, traditional Easter dinner.  Ham, cheesy potatoes, roasted carrots, and, for dessert, s’mores pie, which was the biggest hit of the meal–we had a chocolate covered Moose before it was all said and done.  Now we’re winding down by watching the Easter Beagle–what would a holiday be without Snoopy?

A beautiful Easter–He is Risen indeed!  Alleluia!