Only slightly chilly this morning at 61ยบ in Georgia. When I went out to get the paper, the sky was just beginning to show, but the clouds were going to prevent local sunrise services from seeing the sun. No matter, I was still reminded of a Meriden, NH Easter Sunrise Service way back in the day.
Ours was always held on a hill a couple of hundred yards behind the church. We'd park at the church and walk up a lane past what is now known as Monroe House and out onto a hilly hayfield. It'd not be daylight yet, but the sky would be beginning to glow as the sun seemed to wait for us before popping over the mountain east of town.
On the Easter Sunrise that I remembered this morning, we'd been blessed with a 10 inch snowfall over the night, but when we left home, the sky was bright with stars. The roads were all plowed, but that lane was never plowed, so we waded through 10 inches of fresh snow to gather around the top of that meadow.
As the Congregation gathered, old and young, the minister, Norman Farnum, by far the most pious Congregational preacher I've ever known and not a young man himself, stood in front of us and began describing that day so many years ago when Jesus had been resurrected.
As the sun began peeping over the mountain, Mr Farnum asked us to refer to the handout for the words of all six stanzas to "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," but for the first stanza, at least, we sang from memory. What Congregationalist doesn't know those words?
Walking back to the church was easier because the path had been trampled pretty well earlier and because we knew of the resurrection.
Oh, yeah, the fresh homemade doughnuts and hot chocolate or coffee that awaited us in a parsonage probably had an impact on how we felt, too.
