A Truly Blessed Easter Sunday

[Note: Pope Francis died early Monday, a day after he delivered an Easter Sunday service to thousands gathered at the Vatican. Afflicted with a life-long lung condition, Francis had spent 38 days in hospital with a severe bout of pneumonia starting in mid-February, but was able to spend his final days at his Vatican home. He was 88 years old. We wish him a peaceful rest in his afterlife.]

Easter Sunday was a wonderful day in our home, since we were able to spend it entirely with our nuclear family, all of whom live close around us. We spent the afternoon talking and laughing together after having watched our young teen granddaughters coach our 2-year-old granddaughter around the joy of her first Easter Egg hunt. There are few experiences in life quite like it for any child, and I feel truly blessed to have lived see it once more.

That all came following church, another of life’s blessings. This was the first time my wife and I have attended the non-denominational church our daughter and her family have been attending for the last few years. It was an interesting experience for Terri and me, who were raised in traditional Methodist and Presbyterian churches, respectively.

I went in with certain expectations of what the service might be like; obviously, not much like the standard Presbyterian fare. Some of those expectations were confirmed - a lot of modern music to which the very large congregation stood and clapped along, no hymnals, no bibles (it’s a BYOB - bring your own bible - church), no printed program, no Gloria Patri, no Apostle’s Creed, no Lord’s Prayer, no doxology, and, get this, no passing of the plate or other appeals for money.

Naturally, the church has its own proprietary app, because everything has its own app in this modern world now, right? So, there were several appeals to download that so you can learn more about the church, what it does, and how to get involved. No doubt the app also provides several ways for one to donate money, which is fine: Churches are businesses, after all. If they don’t attract donations, they don’t survive. The Catholic Church stood for centuries as the largest business entity on the face of the earth, and no doubt still ranks high on the list.

The service we attended was the 3rd of the day, with, as near as I could estimate, 700 in the sanctuary and another 100 or so in the overflow seating in the lobby. Our daughter had warned us this place was a hot ticket on Sundays, so we arrived 20 minutes before the service began, which, trust me, was just in time to be seated together.

The service itself was simple, yet meaningful: 20 minutes of modern music provided by a live band made up of 7 happy and smiling people and a big screen behind them offering the lyrics to the songs being sung so folks could sing along. That was followed by an inspirational 25-minute sermon delivered by one of the most effective preachers I’ve had the pleasure of hearing, consisting of a pitch-perfect Easter message, all of which I’m glad to admit I do truly believe. Then came another 10 minutes of post-sermon music from the same band designed to send everyone happily on their way.

Combine that with some wonderful fellowship both before and after on a beautiful Easter day, with all the family in tow, and I left knowing how truly blessed I really am and have always been. I also realized how long it has been since I left a church service feeling this way. I may have found a new home.

I hope you all feel similarly blessed.

The politics will resume tomorrow.

That is all.