Easter Day

April 20, 2014May 18, 2014 Chris

Easter had its particular challenges this year. It began with the Sunrise service in the American Mission Hospital car park, an ecumenical service organized by the National Evangelical Church. It is wonderful to see so many gathering together for worship before work so early in the morning, but what is to us the familiar Easter acclamation: Christ is risen! meets with a disappointingly muted response He is risen indeed, Alleluia!, which only shows how traditions are different.

I moved on to the first gathering of our new St Christopher’s Tamil congregation in the Cathedral at 7.00am and what a good start that was with nearly sixty of all ages gathering for a Communion Service followed by breakfast. I missed the breakfast in order to be at Awali for 9.30am and then back for a packed cathedral at 11.30am which followed an Easter egg hunt in the Deanery garden at 11.00am. As the Ethiopian Orthodox community were also celebrating Easter, meeting in the Alun Morris Hall as they usually do, unusually on the same day as us this year, the car park was buzzing with people, but thankfully mostly coming and going at different times so there was not too much chaos. Easter Day concluded on Sunday evening at 6.15pm with a final Communion Service. Simon Phillips preached and gave a very clear and accessible presentation of the evidence for the Resurrection.