The last service of Easter Day, when we hear the evening story of the journey to Emmaus, when two bewildered, grieving friends, making their way back from Jerusalem, are met by a stranger who is apparently the only one in all Jerusalem who hasn’t heard what happened … The celebration of Easter continues for fifty days, concluding June 8 with the fiery tongues of Pentecost.

We proclaim the triumph song of resurrection in our Easter celebration, with bright colors, flowers, exuberant singing, and celebration. Upon arrival at the church we bedeck the wire cross with bright cut flowers, sign of our hope and faith. Following the service, the children are invited to an Easter egg hunt, and to chase one another with cascarones, brightly painted egg-shells stuffed with (biodegradable) confetti

This service begins in dark and in quiet. We light new fire, and illumined by candlelight, we recount the story of salvation revealed in ancient scripture, proclaiming that the God who in the Hebrew scriptures is revealed as the maker and ruler of all creation is the same God disclosed to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Anointed One. 

This is a brief prayer service in the middle of the day, when the body of Jesus is lying in the tomb. In some ancient Christian traditions, this apparently silent day is when Jesus descended to the realm of the dead and proclaimed good news, breaking the bonds of death. 

The day is marked by great solemnity, devotion, self-examination, and prayer. The liturgy invites the congregation even deeper into that mystery. The traditional passion gospel and prayers have been modified in recognition of the ways our own sacred texts have historically been used as an instrument of terror for the Jewish people.

This service marks the institution of the Lord’s supper, the last meal that Jesus shared with his friends before he was arrested, tried and executed. In keeping with that commandment of love, and in imitation of the example set by Jesus, we share the option of washing one another’s feet. At the conclusion of the service, the altar may be completely stripped of all its furnishings, all the church decorations removed, leaving behind only a simple table with the sacrament reserved from the Eucharist, covered in a veil, and lit with a candle.

Easter Egg Hunt following this service.