Easter - 2008

In preparation for Good Friday, all adornment was removed from the Sanctuary at the end of our Maundy Thursday Service (with the exception of the urns and branches. The first two panels below show the table decorations for our Maundy Thursday Agape Meal and the arrangement of a footwashing station for the sanctuary service (respectively); the final panel shows the Good Friday sanctuary at the conclusion of the service.

Special arrangements were made for the Easter Vigil. A fire was lit beside the parking lot for the gathering and initial Liturgy of Light; it was used to light the Paschal Candle, whose flame was transferred to indivdual beeswax candles which lit the way for procession to the Fellowship Hall. Here the vigil continued with a Liturgy of Word. Youth, adults, and affirmers presented Bible readings illustrated with creative props. At the conclusion, the group filed to the sanctuary along a "path of water" to conclude with Liturgies of Water and Eucharist.

New this year, is a vigil scroll depicting stories from the Liturgy of the Word. Over a period of months, our youth envisioned, designed, and created this remarkable addition!

For Easter morning, the chancel was adorned with lilies propped on different-sized cardboard boxes. The large boxes were the same ones in which the lilies were delivered. White sheets were draped over the boxes. The new chancel palms were placed behind the cross for backgound color and to remind us of the palms of the preceding Sunday. To accent this central display, we again used our pulley system to raise floor-to-ceiling strips of gold satin and gauze at both sides of the chancel. This theme was reinforced by adding a gold satin runner over the white linen cloth covering the Table. The completing touch was placing gold Alleluia! banners around the sanctuary above the sanctuary wainscoting.