The Morning After

   The picture on the front page of the Brunswick News this morning showed part of the crowd who  gathered Easter Sunday morning, yesterday, for the sunrise service.

   Now the day was not like my picture from a few months back. First of all there was no sunrise yesterday that could be seen here. Sure, the sun did come up, but our sky was filled with grey clouds resulting in a misty rain at times. Not a suitable day for the service, perhaps, but the people were there anyway.

   I thought this morning of all the folks who, not only got up early to go to the pier area yesterday, but who filled other places of worship, celebrating the events of that Resurrection morning years ago. Easter is a day like no other in the Christian calendar, and all manner of people make it a point to be in church on that day, even if they don't go regularly.

   Our church was packed for both services with over a 1,000 people in each one, and others, not able to find a seat in the sanctuary, were scattered around the periphery, watching on closed circuit TV. I'm sure other churches saw the same thing.

   What was it like this morning for all those that worshipped yesterday, on that most holy of Holy Days? I'm sure those lives ran the gamut from deep piety to ho hum, just another day. I hope there had been more of the former than the latter, but then I think about my own reaction to the Day.

   Knowing that it is so easy to get caught up in all the stuff that goes on before Easter, I determined that I would spend more time this year in just thinking and meditating on the events that transpired in Jesus and the disciples lives in the days preceding Easter. I thought that I could guard that Day and make it special for worship and praise.

   I needed to be at church early Sunday morning. We were using a new system for coffee, and I needed to learn what to do so to be able to take care of it in the weeks following. I also needed to count offerings and make the deposit in the night depository. With much help I managed to get the coffee ready, and take care of the money in a timely manner. I did manage to hear some of the music and part of the sermon, although that viewing took place on a TV out in the atrium, not in the sanctuary itself. It was good but not like being in the same room with 1000 others in worship.

   Thinking back, it seemed that the "tyranny of the urgent" took precedence in those hours. In my morning after, I could be glad that I had spent the time in the days before Easter to focus some on the meaning and importance of that early time in history, but I really wanted to look back on Sunday worship as being special for me.

   I know that God used all the services around the world for His glory and that many people were touched by Him with the message of Easter.

   What of the morning after for those man and women in Jerusalem, long ago, and what about us today?

   Easter is not just another day....was it this time around?