Week 13 - East Woods Presbyterian Church

eastwoodspres.org/home

First off, it is hard to believe that we are one quarter of the way done with this year, 25% done with our church visit project. Just Saturday we were saying to each other "can you believe we have made it 13 weeks?" Then it hit us, we used to do it every week, year in and year out, without even thinking about it. Nothing momentous, no accolades, just did it. We had a good chuckle over that. Maybe when we settle back in as "regular attenders" somewhere we should take a handful of weekends each year and continue our visitations.

So it was Easter Sunday this weekend and in honor of that we thought we would get outside of our normal and try East Woods Presbyterian. Both of us grew up in churches that put on quite an Easter production each year, complete with a full choral cantata. Laurie in particular attended Rose City Presbyterian as a child and has fond memories of their Easter services. Well a lot has changed over the last 35-40 years and, of course, no two churches are exactly alike. Now, as a rule, on are our visitations we make an effort not to have any expectations of what we will experience. This week we did build up a little bit of an expectation and in all fairness to EWP it was based primarily on childhood memories. To be clear, EWP is a vibrant community with a multi-talented pastor. Our unmet expectation is no reflection of their ministry.

The service was a blend of traditional and contemporary. The corporate music was lead by six instrumentalist and 2-3 vocalists. Scripture reading was provided by one of the women of the congregation, an original Easter poem, "Three Days," was read by another lady, and an 11 voice, eight instrument, group performed the song "Glory" with the pastor as lead vocalist. Definitely a change from what we have become accustomed to.

The auditorium seats about 175 and is well lit, with plenty of natural light. Like with other churches this size even the back row is not too far from the speaker. We were at the second of three Easter services, and while lightly attended, it was a mix of ages with mostly middle-age and up. As is typical on Easter the 11 o'clock service was probably the more heavily attended. We were welcomed by several people but didn't have the opportunity for any extended conversations. Throughout the service attention was drawn to several community service opportunities that members are involved in, Lunch Buddies at a local elementary school, cards for local veterans and overseas service members, prayer shawls for people needing encouragement, as well as working to end housing and food insecurity locally.

In keeping with the Easter theme the pastor's message was based on Luke 24:1-12 and focused on the question asked of the women who went to the tomb to finish the burial process, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" First we looked at it as a rhetorical question, not one that is meant to be answered but rather challenge the listener to consider a different way of understanding the events that have unfolded. Then we looked at the corrective nature of the question. They had been told by Jesus himself that he would break the power of death and rise again, so why were they looking for him in a place for dead people if he is among the living? Finally we looked at the question as inspiration. Because of Christ's victory over death it holds no power over us. Our ministry is with the living. Unlike the tagline in The Walking Dead (yes, he actually used a Walking Dead analogy in a sermon) "Fight the dead. Fear the living," as believers we have no concern for the dead and are called to love the living.

While our childhood expectations of Easter pomp and circumstance were unmet our need for words of encouragement and challenge were met. Besides, who knew that there were theological implications to The Walking Dead.

More importantly as the Easter "Call to Worship" proclaims:

One:  Hallelujah! Christ is risen!

All:   Christ is risen indeed!

One:  Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:

All:   who has restored Jesus from death to life.

One:  Praise the Spirit and power of God:

All:   who has restored us and given us hope.

One:  Hallelujah! Christ is risen!

All:   He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!