Yellow PagesEaster draws believers to beach
On a frigid morning, church music rang from the Greenwich Point Park beach as the last of the Easter worshipers arrived, toting their beach chairs and blankets yesterday.
The First Congregational Church's Easter Sunrise Service drew about 100 people, many arriving in the dark of the pre-dawn. But by the time the choir in their blue gowns began singing 'Easter is Here,' the darkness began lifting. And at just before 7 a.m. as the Rev. Daniel B. England was well into his homily titled 'Sunrise Surprise,' the sun rising well above the horizon had some worshipers putting on their sunglasses.
'How brave you are,' England told the crowd. 'I'm very glad that you've come.'
In his sermon, the interim associate pastor recognized that some of the worshippers gathered yesterday were not regular churchgoers, but in fact people who 'are here out of a sense of tradition.'
'I am interested in people who hang around the fringes of faith,' England said. 'Jesus talked about these people all the time A< He talks an awful lot of people who don't have faith. He talks an awful lot about lost sleep.'
England preached that by dying and then rising on Easter, Jesus had a message for all people, not just the faithful.
'As the sun has risen, so too you give us the promise of your rising,' England said. 'Because of your glorious resurrection, we have hope born in us and we give you thanks.'
While worshippers were bundled from head to toe, choir members, such as William Speer, 17, of Old Greenwich, didn't have the luxury of wearing gloves because he had to use his fingers to turn the pages of the music sheets.
'By the end, you get numb and you get used to it,' he said, adding he is a veteran of the Easter service.
The service is popular among parishioners and residents, including Patricia Schantz, 59, of Old Greenwich, who belongs to St. Saviour Church but comes to the beach service every Easter.
'There's something about it that's fresh, raw and new starting Easter in the dark and having the sun come,' she said. 'If you believe in the resurrection, it kind of works for you.'
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