Eric Reece
Years ago, I asked my congregation what time they wanted to have Easter sunrise service.
They responded, “6 a.m.”
Folks got up early in the Caney Fork community and since this was the only service that day, they could go back to bed. I had to travel to the next service on the circuit.
On Easter morning, it was pitch black when I started worship promptly at 6 a.m. As I started preaching, I kept waiting for the sunrise and it wasn’t cooperating. I thought the sun would never come up, but thankfully the biscuits were ready and we ate breakfast just as the sun rose.
Since that day, I always find out when the sun will rise on Easter morning. This year, the sun rises on Easter at 7:22 a.m.
Traditionally, the church held Easter vigils on Holy Saturday, with readings from the Old and New Testaments. New converts to the faith were baptized on Easter morning at sunrise. In 1732, a group of young men of the Moravian Church in Saxony gathered on Easter morning in the graveyard to sing hymns. The next year, the congregation joined in. As the Moravian missionaries traveled the world, Easter Sunrise services became a tradition in many areas.
This is true of the American South, where the Salem Moravian Church held a Sunrise service in Winston-Salem in 1772. Since then, it has become a community event with as many as 6,000 attending, singing hymns of resurrection accompanied by a brass band.
My first sunrise service on West Fort Hill was a memorable one. The fire was blazing as we gathered outside to pray, celebrate and sing. We sang “In the Garden” and as we started the refrain, the donkeys in the field below joined us. They sang the hymn with us, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own, And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known” (C. Austin Miles). It was a joyful time and we talk about it often.
I was reminded of the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem and witnessed the birth of our savior in the manger. I thought of the donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It is fitting for their descendants to join the joyous song on Easter morning.
This year – because of the road construction – the sunrise service held at Stecoah Gap will be held at Stecoah Baptist Church at 7 a.m., March 31, followed by breakfast. On West Fort Hill, sunrise service will be at Robbinsville United Methodist Church at 7 a.m., followed by breakfast.
Unfortunately, the donkeys have another engagement and will not be able to join us.
All the Gospels share the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus and his victory over sin and death. As Mary was the first to see and hear the resurrected Lord he told her to go and tell, “I am alive, I have risen from the dead.”
From that first Easter, the church gathers every Easter and shouts. “He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!”
Eric Reece is the faith columnist for The Graham Star. He is pastor of Robbinsville United Methodist Church and can be reached via email, ereece@wnccumc.net.