Churches search for new spin on age-old Easter story

By Adelle M. Banks

Religion News Service

The Ascension of Jesus is portrayed by a recent cast of First Baptist Church Atlanta, which presents a musical production on the two weekends before Easter each year.

Religion News Service photo courtesy of First Baptist Church Atlanta

RNS

This year, when First Baptist Church Atlanta stages its annual Easter production at the Atlanta Civic Center, Jesus won't raise Lazarus from the dead. But he will heal a paralytic.

"We always have different miracles," said John Glover, who produces the program for the two weekends before Easter. "The raising of Lazarus is one of our most popular ones. We're just not doing that this year."

In the push of tradition and the pull of keeping things fresh, preachers, children's ministers and church staffers like Glover find both excitement and challenges in retelling the Easter story year after year.

There's lots of material to pick and choose from. Some elements are mainstays, such as flying angels and Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus in Glover's program. Others, including Jesus' various miracles, come and go.

This year's production includes the scene of Jesus calming the seas, back by popular demand. Glover has found that some people get upset when anyone - literally or figuratively - rocks the boat.

"Every once in a while I leave that out, just to see what happens, and every time we get letters and cards," Glover said. "`Where's the boat? I brought my friend just to see the boat.'"

Clergy, especially, can find themselves facing unspoken pressure from larger-than-normal crowds - many of them in church just once a year - who expect the Easter sermon will be the year's best.

"A great deal of planning goes into getting ready for Easter Sunday, recognizing that it's the biggest crowd, it's an opportunity to place the gospel in front of people who won't otherwise hear it," said Michael Duduit, editor of Preaching magazine, who considers it "one of the great preaching days of the year."

"Most churches that I know of take Easter very seriously. They plan well for it. They want it to be a meaningful worship service and not ... just for the new people but for the members."

With so many aspects of Jesus' life on display in church pulpits and on fellowship hall stages, some church staffers choose to focus on one aspect of the Easter story, especially when working with children.

For the last two years at (note: Under construction page) First Church of God in Kokomo, Ind., the "Resurrection Angel" has made an appearance in a fellowship hall decorated with white linen tablecloths and twinkling lights.

"I have a man that puts on a white tuxedo and big feathered wings and brings in this megaphone and just absolutely captivates the kids," said Tina Houser, the church's minister of children and the author of the new book "Building Children's Ministry."

"He talks about how the women come" to Jesus' tomb, she said. "And gets to tell them, 'He's not here. He's risen.'"

With adults as well as children, church workers bear a heavy responsibility for presenting Easter in a memorable and meaningful way, ministry experts say.

"If we failed on that Sunday, then we might want to go back to the drawing board and figure this out because this is a very important Sunday in Christendom," said Judy Comstock, executive director of the Colorado-based International Network for Children's Ministry.

"But for children's ministry leaders, it's an exciting day for us because of the opportunity to share, really, the heart of the message that we have."

Efforts to involve adults require just as much thought and preparation.

Jin S. Kim, pastor of Church of All Nations in Minneapolis, said he works to make the holiday personal for each member of his multicultural congregation.

"The culture and ethos of our congregation is that we personally have to testify to how we ourselves have suffered and been tempted and been crucified with Christ," said Kim, whose church is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). "The question is, what is Good Friday in each of us, in our own lives, and therefore what is Easter for each of us?"

At Scottsdale Congregational United Church of Christ in Arizona, Eric Elnes intends to condense the celebration of key moments of Holy Week into a 12-hour festival called the "Uprising" that will begin at about 6:30 p.m. on the Saturday before Easter.

"We're going to experience all these energies - apathy, anger, angst and awe - all within one 12-hour period," said Elnes, the church's senior pastor.

The observance will begin with a few hours marking Maundy Thursday, featuring a potluck feast and foot washing by dancers. In the next three hours, representing Good Friday, church members will burn planks of wood and aluminum nails. In the hours marking Holy Saturday, there will be re-enactments of stories of faith, such as the parting of the Red Sea and Jesus meeting the woman at the well. Finally, to celebrate Easter Sunday in the last three hours, water will be poured on the bonfire, creating plumes of steam to symbolize the Resurrection.

Elnes said he hopes the chain of events will "bring Easter alive," making it meaningful beyond the 12 hours, or the duration of Holy Week.

"The idea is that you might just go through this experience and emerge slightly changed in some way," he said, adding the festival is "not just trying to make Easter new, but literally making Christianity new."