Easter

Easter

This year’s Easter celebration was extra special for us.  We were so glad to be with new friends at the East End Methodist Church.  The service was filled with music, pantomime, dance, lots of children and youth involvement.  And since the church is part of this year’s adventure, and since Admiral K. (Kidney) Stone sent us traveling for Christmas, we thought we’d share a few pics and videos.

For weeks, the leaders had been promoting Easter as “Hat Day”.  Everyone, women and men, were encouraged to wear a hat.  Most did, including some of the men and boys.

The organist/pianist music director and wearer of a great hat!

Our friend Wendell, who sits with Dave on the "old guy's bench"
at the gas station next door to the marina

The sanctuary was filled with lots and lots of palm branches and flowers.  Not lilies, but a full bouquet of colors.  A former pastor had started the tradition of an Easter Garden.  And it took over the chancel.

In front of the chancel was the Mercy Tree.  On Good Friday, the cross had stood bare and during the service, worshippers hammered nails in it.  So it stood as the service was about to begin. 

When the choir entered , they sang and danced to Caribbean rhythms with the help of a steel drummer.  She’s married to the Fire Marshall of the island, is working on her PhD, writes speeches for government officials, and is self-taught on the steel drum.

As worshippers entered the sanctuary, they were given flowers, freshly picked from the church’s trees and garden.  We held these until the beginning of the service when everyone came forward to hang their flower onto the cross and complete the Mercy Tree.

The young children’s choir, The Little Gems,  offered a musical piece. Worthy is the Lamb, with pantomime.  Afterwards they recited the 150^th Psalm, each child giving one line she or he had memorized (including "Praise God with the steel pan!").

The youth group presented a dance interpretation of “Break Every Chain” that was startlingly powerful.

The pastor, Helen Malalieu Maurose, preached on Mary seeking, seeing, and sharing the Good News.  She asked if we were going to share or simply “go home”.    A celebration of communion, a version of the Lord’s Prayer sung to the tune of Kum Bah Yah, and several traditional Easter hymns.

Services here are normally two hours long.  Easter was three hours, and after communion, the pastor left at a few minutes before 11 to go to her second three-hour service at the Long Look Methodist Church about fifteen minutes away.  It was a wonderful day to be in fellowship with the Christian community here.

Rev. Helen Malalieu Maurose, who after promoting Hat Day, complained she didn't have one...
The organist found her this beauty!

And no, there are no cushions on these wooden pews.  That doesn’t keep some of us from occasionally nodding off, momentarily of course.

Happy Easter

Fair Winds

Calm Seas

Dave