Finally, finally. After all the grief, all the torment of the week preceding, now we celebrate. I love to attend the Sunrise Service. While the Easter Celebration Service sounds off with victorious trumpets and joyful singing, the Sunrise Service is just a little different. We start outside. We are silent, still subdued, like the women making their way to the tomb to ready Christ's body for proper burial. The sun is not yet up. The morning is quiet and chill. The Paschal Candle is not lit.
But.
He is not there. The Christ Candle is given flame as we hear, again, the words of the angels: Why do you look for the living among the dead?
We proceed into the darkened church, our own small candles lit from the flame on the Christ Candle. The songs start out quiet but filled with wondering hope. And they grow in sound as the sun comes up and the church brightens, filling with light. Each hymn is more joyful, more triumphant than the last.
"Awake My Heart With Gladness"
"The Strife Is O'er, the Battle Done"
"Christ the Lord Is Risen Today"
"I Know That My Redeemer Lives"
"He's Risen, He's Risen"
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
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