Each year, on Western Easter, the Cairo Christian Fellowship come into the Garden at the Villas in Maadi for their Sunrise Easter Worship. (They all celebrate Orthodox or Eastern Easter the following week with their home churches, whether Coptic or Catholic).
The Garden is the ideal atmosphere for a sunrise service--it's shaded, serene, and beautiful. We began by singing, "In the Garden" (Click here to have Mahalia Jackson sing it for you) -- and you could hear the birds singing, there was still dew on the grass and flowers. We continued with several other Easter favorites, and then I shared a brief meditation from John 20:11-18 focusing on Mary's private time with the risen Savior in the garden. Then, we allowed everyone to just separate throughout the garden to take their time to just to pray, reflect, or read Scripture on their own for as long as they needed.
After awhile, one by one, they crossed the garden to the grape arbor where we had brunch set up for everyone to enjoy--and everyone stayed to enjoy the meal and the fellowship together. There was a lot of laughing, story-telling, and calorie consumption :) It was a good morning.
Now, it's a few hours rest before we head downtown for the Easter Cantata and Benevolence Offering--we'll post details and pics from that soon, as well.
Here are a few pictures from our Easter morning...
The Garden is the ideal atmosphere for a sunrise service--it's shaded, serene, and beautiful. We began by singing, "In the Garden" (Click here to have Mahalia Jackson sing it for you) -- and you could hear the birds singing, there was still dew on the grass and flowers. We continued with several other Easter favorites, and then I shared a brief meditation from John 20:11-18 focusing on Mary's private time with the risen Savior in the garden. Then, we allowed everyone to just separate throughout the garden to take their time to just to pray, reflect, or read Scripture on their own for as long as they needed.
After awhile, one by one, they crossed the garden to the grape arbor where we had brunch set up for everyone to enjoy--and everyone stayed to enjoy the meal and the fellowship together. There was a lot of laughing, story-telling, and calorie consumption :) It was a good morning.
Now, it's a few hours rest before we head downtown for the Easter Cantata and Benevolence Offering--we'll post details and pics from that soon, as well.
Here are a few pictures from our Easter morning...
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| Titus and Zeke are learning from Hoda how to make crosses and donkeys and other Easter ornaments from weaving palm leaves. |
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