Brock Gwaltney
John Love Hallie Mason Kyler Miller Elisabeth Werries
(MUSIC PRELUDE…John and Brock… “Closer Walk”?)
ELISABETH: Easter. It’s hard to figure.
KYLER: You see, our calendar is based on the cycle of the sun, but Easter is called a “movable feast.”
HALLIE: What does that mean?
KYLER: That means it moves.
JOHN: So figure this out. In 325 A.D. the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox. HALLIE: What did he just say? KYLER: From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. BROCK: I’m lost. JOHN: Easter is delayed by 1 week if the full moon is on Sunday, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover. ELISABETH: Somebody help me. KYLER: But some Christians celebrate Easter on the day of the full moon, 14 days into the month. HALLIE: I have no idea what you just said.
JOHN: It gets worse. It also depends on where you live in the world.
HALLIE: I live my dad’s house outside of Jacksonville.
KYLER: Then we’ll keep it simple. Today is Easter, okay? Either you believe it, or you don’t.
ELISABETH: Okay. I got that part. So sunrise service. All I know is that it’s too darned early in the morning to sing.
BROCK: You’re not gonna believe this one.
HALLIE: Try me.
BROCK: Okay. . the first sunrise service was performed by bachelors only.
HALLIE: You’re making that up.
BROCK: I’m in church. I can’t do that. It was 1732 in Upper Lusitania.
HALLIE: Where?
KYLER: Germany.
HALLIE: I knew that.
BROCK: After an all-night prayer vigil the unmarried men of the community would go to the town graveyard, and. . .
ELISABETH: Wait a minute. A cemetery?
BROCK: Pay attention. You’ll learn something. They went to a cemetery and sang hymns to the risen savior. The people liked it so much that the next year they all followed them to the cemetery and that’s how sunrise service began. Either you believe it, or you don’t.
ELISABETH: I thought it was begun by irritating mothers.
JOHN: Wrong. In the South many churches still hold their sunrise services in a graveyard.
HALLIE: We should try that in Arenzville. Getting up this early kills me.
JOHN: At this moment in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, they’re celebrating our country’s oldest sunrise service. They’ve been doing it 244 years. Six thousand people with a brass band of over 500 people.
ELISABETH: Now that would throw Don Rhoads into a fit if we had that many show up this morning.
KYLER: Thousands are gathered at the Lincoln Memorial this morning. . .
BROCK: . . . and the largest is at Stone Mountain Georgia. The park opened at 4 a.m. this morning and you get to ride a ski lift to the top.
HALLIE: Cool!
ELISABETH: In England they “clip the church” on Easter morning.
HALLIE: They do what?
ELISABETH: They clip the church. The whole congregation makes a circle around the church, holds hands and sings.
HALLIE: And that’s called clipping?
ELISABETH: Clipping is an old English word that means “embracing.” You embrace your church.
HALLIE: So why do we call it Easter?
KYLER: It was named after an ancient goddess.
JOHN: That’s not too cool.
KYLER: Most of the world calls today “Pascha.”
HALLIE: Pascha?
KYLER: That means Christ.
HALLIE: The guys in the back room are fixing Pascha sausage?
BROCK: It’s probably Oscar Meyer.
ELISABETH: I am so totally confused.
HALLIE: I wonder what it was like when Jesus’s disciples celebrated Easter.
JOHN: Well, actually they didn’t. It was another two hundred years before Easter came about.
HALLIE: So Matthew, Mark and Luke didn’t celebrate Easter?
ELISABETH: They got to sleep in.
KYLER: So . . . the whole world is celebrating Easter this morning?
JOHN: Not quite. The Quakers believe that every day is the Lord’s Day so they don’t celebrate it. . . and in the 17th century we arrested them for that.
ELISABETH: That’s crude.
JOHN: And for a long time the Presbyterians and Congregationalists didn’t celebrate it. They thought it was too much like the Catholic Church.
BROCK: Hey, let’s not be dissing the Catholics. My mother’s out there.
HALLIE: So what’d they do on Easter morning?
JOHN: They slept in too, I guess. . . but they celebrate it now.
BROCK: We sincerely apologize to any visiting Catholics in our audience this morning.
ELISABETH: There was no celebration of Easter when the Pilgrims came to America. Anything that resembled a “celebration” was banned. Of course they didn’t celebrate birthdays or Christmas, either.
HALLIE: Pilgrim kids didn’t have birthday parties?
ELISABETH: Too showy.
HALLIE: Bummer. Next Thanksgiving in school I’m going to be an Indian.
KYLER: You mean when we used to act out the Pilgrim story on Thanksgiving. . .?
BROCK: You shouldn’t have been smiling.
HALLIE: So who. . .?
BROCK: The Germans. . . like the people who founded Arenzville, were the first to bring our Easter traditions.
ELISABETH: That’s nice.
HALLIE: Easter and Burgoo. Thanks, Germans.
BROCK: Yeah.
HALLIE: So where’d we get the Easter Bunny?
JOHN: Mesopotamia.
HALLIE: Where?
JOHN: Iraq and Syria.
HALLIE: I knew that.
ELISABETH: You did?
HALLIE: Not really.
JOHN: The Easter egg symbolized the empty tomb. . . they’d dye chicken eggs.
KYLER: This was before Cadburys.
JOHN: Yeah. Now they do it all over the world
BROCK: . . . except in Australia.
HALLIE: I am getting. . .like. . so totally confused.
BROCK: Rabbits are considered pests down there . . . I mean, they’re all over the place and they don’t want them associated with Christ.
ELISABETH: So who brings the Easter eggs in Australia?
JOHN: The Easter Bilby.
HALLIE: The what?
JOHN: The Easter Bilby. It’s a marsupial.
HALLIE: I had an uncle who was a marsupial.
JOHN: I think you’re confused.
HALLIE: No. Wait a minute. I meant “Marine.”
JOHN: That’s better. You see, they really hate bunnies in Australia, so in 1968 a little girl wrote a story called, “Billy the Aussie Easter Bilby,” and it became so popular that they started selling chocolate Bilbies at Easter.
KYLER: But what’s a Bilby?
JOHN: It looks like sort of a big rat.
ELISABETH: They have rats in their Easter baskets?
HALLIE: Henry would like that.
JOHN: And in Switzerland a cuckoo delivers the Easter eggs.
HALLIE: You mean like the bird, cuckoo, or like my Mom?
KYLER: Be nice, Hallie.
ELISABETH: And in Germany they’re delivered by the Easter Fox. You believe it or you don’t.
HALLIE: I cannot tell you how confused I am.
BROCK: So what do you do if you get confused in church?
KYLER: You put in some music.
ELISABETH: Good idea! When Robert Robinson was five years old his father died and the boy was left with his grandfather. However, his granddad wouldn’t claim the boy since the boy’s mother was such a common person. Young Robert went to London, studied the Bible and joined the Methodist Church. . . then 260 years ago he wrote this song.
(John plays “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing”)
KYLER: Nice job, John.
JOHN: Thanks.
HALLIE: John’s my hero.
JOHN: Thanks, Hallie.
ELISABETH: You think we could get back on the subject of Easter?
JOHN: I don’t know. I kind of like this.
ELISABETH: John!
JOHN: You’ve got good taste, Hallie.
HALLIE: Okay, there’s still one thing that bothers me. . . about the Easter Bunny. Bunnies don’t lay eggs.
KYLER: Okay, you remember that the word Easter comes from an ancient goddess named Eostre. According to legend, Eostre found a bird dying from the cold and turned it into a bunny so its fur would keep it warm.
HALLIE: That’s ridiculous.
KYLER: You asked the question. But the rabbit still laid eggs like a bird.
ELISABETH: I got up early this morning just to hear this?
KYLER: . . .and the bunny painted its eggs as a gift to Eostre.
ELISABETH: That is so sweet.
HALLIE: That is so dumb.
BROCK: The Orthodox Church has this story. . after Christ’s resurrection, Mary Magdalene, who was the first person to see Jesus after the resurrection. . was holding a plain egg in front of the Emperor to explain Christ rising from the dead. He said,
JOHN: “Jesus rising from the dead is about as likely as that egg turning red. . “
BROCK: . . .and while he was still speaking, the egg turned red.
HALLIE: I like that story better.
KYLER: Okay, but chocolate eggs? That was one special bunny.
ELISABETH: In Germany the most common thing to give up for Lent was chocolate, so it was a special treat for the kids on Easter morning.
HALLIE: So where to the little marshmallow Peeps come in?
ELISABETH: They were invented in Bethlehem.
HALLIE: Bethlehem. How sweet!
ELISABETH: A candy company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
HALLIE: Oh.
JOHN: Want to know the world’s largest Easter egg?
ELISABETH: This is the weirdest sunrise service I’ve ever been to. Go ahead. I have a feeling you’re going to tell us.
JOHN: It was over 25 feet high and weighed over 8000 pounds. . all chocolate and marshmallow.
BROCK: You know, people are staring at us. This is supposed to be a religious service. We’d better do another song just to keep things on track.
HALLIE: Ladies and gentlemen. . . . Elisabeth Werries..
(Elisabeth’s song)
HALLIE: Hey, John?
JOHN: Yes, Hallie?
HALLIE: I changed my mind. Elisabeth’s my hero now.
KYLER: I love it.
JOHN: Just read your script, Kyler.
HALLIE: Sorry.
JOHN: That’s okay.
KYLER: Hey guys, I think I smell the eggs burning. Let’s get on with it.
ELISABETH: So. . .bunnies. . .chocolate. . .sunrise services. . .
HALLIE: I’m really sorry.
JOHN: No really. That’s okay. My mom still loves me.
KYLER: Guys!
JOHN & HALLIE: Okay!
ELISABETH: So. . .bunnies. . .chocolate. . .sunrise services. . . the smell of breakfast coming up out of the fellowship hall.
BROCK: The traditions, the Easter dresses, the baskets of jellybeans. .
ELISABETH: The things we’ve added. . . the traditions we’ve invented.
BROCK: All well and good, but they’re all based around one simple event. .
KYLER: Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher.
HALLIE: And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.
JOHN: You believe it or you don’t.
KYLER: His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.
HALLIE: And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.
ELISABETH: But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.”
JOHN: And you believe it. . .
BROCK: . . .or you don’t. JOHN: Unless Easter is personal. . . unless it happens in your heart. . .then it’s . . well, it’s Easter bunnies and pretty dresses.
ELISABETH: Personal. . .
HALLIE: Personal. . .
BROCK: Bea Plunkett, standing up right back there in the last pew, having suffered through more tragedies than any of us could imagine, and saying, “I just want to praise God this morning for the blessings He’s given me.” Bea believed it. .
ELISABETH: How about you?
JOHN: Clyde and Helen Ginder sitting right over there . . . Clyde coming home from some of the most dangerous fighter-plane missions of World War II, once having the tail shot of his plane then safely landing, then raising a family of fine children out on their farm and giving all glory to God. Clyde and Helen believed it.
KYLER: Either you believe it. . .
HALLIE: Or you don’t. . .
ELISABETH: Marge Bartholomew sitting right back there, faithfully writing down every request for prayer on the back of her bulletin, then spending the week praying for all of us. Showing she believed by her devotion to prayer. . .
JOHN: Gene Farmer, waking his granddaughters every Sunday and filling that row right back there, always on hand to serve God by toting tables, fixing windows, moving furniture and frying bacon. . . showing he believed by his actions.
HALLIE: How about you?
ELISABETH: A farm wife and a nurse, Teresa’s husband died at an early age, and since all her life she’d felt a call from the Lord, she decided to do something about it. She began gathering medical supplies in her basement, then her bedrooms, then expanded to an abandoned grocery store in Jacksonville. She’s now completed 24 mission trips to South Korea, Haiti. .
HALLIE: . . Brazil, Uganda, Egypt. .
KYLER: . . . Honduras, Romania and Nicaragua....
BROCK: . . .Now in a 4000 square foot in a Jacksonville warehouse with no paid staff.
JOHN: Teresa Schroeder believes. .
KYLER: Mart and Adelle Burrus had a heart for kids. .
HALLIE: Lots of kids. .
ELISABETH: Lots and lots of kids. .
BROCK: That seed they planted in this church many decades ago continues to grow . .
HALLIE: God’s Kids. . .
JOHN: You want to see the miracle of Easter? Park your car out in front of the church around 3 o’clock each day and watch the kids of every denomination and no denomination jump off the bus and run down here to hear the story of Christ. .
KYLER: . . .to watch Randy try to get their attention
HALLIE: . . .listen to Connie and Marian to remind them to stop running
ELISABETH: . . .listen to Elaine shout, “Y’all need to sit down and be quiet!”
JOHN: . . . and see hundreds of kids take their first steps on their journey to heaven. . .
BROCK: . . . Thirty-seven years of laughter, of love, of cookies and games and prayer.
HALLIE: . . .Thirty-seven years of Jesus.
JOHN: . . . It was a long-ago meeting of the church trustees and God’s Kids was just beginning. One of the members noticed a scratch on the woodwork caused by a pair of little feet. Mart Burrus took a long draw on his pipe and said, “Yeah. Ain’t that fine?”
ELISABETH: You believe it or you don’t.
HALLIE: Mart and Adelle believed.
ELISABETH: So Margaret said, “God called me to be a medical missionary when I was 11 years old.”
BROCK: Her sixth-grade teacher had her write a paper on what she wanted to be when she grew up.
HALLIE: “But I was afraid. I wrote ‘teacher’ and I became a teacher.”
KYLER: She had two young daughters, and then her thirty-year old farmer husband died of a sudden heart attack. A visiting minister named Jack Haley came to her church and Christ filled her heart once again.
HALLIE: “I went back to school and became a medical professional. . first to Kenya training native nurses. . “
JOHN: Then to Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union.
BROCK: Her daughters went to college. She began helping the Russians start small businesses, started Bible studies. . .
KYLER: Then she returned to Kenya where she teaches missionaries to speak Swahili. . .
ELISABETH: Margaret Farnsworth has stood in this pulpit many times, telling of God’s call on her life.
HALLIE: Margaret believes.
JOHN: Of course if you don’t believe it, you have good company.
KYLER: It was early on Sunday morning when Jesus rose from the dead, and the first person who saw Him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom He had cast out seven demons.
HALLIE: She went and found the disciples, who were grieving and weeping.
ELISABETH: But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen Him, they didn't believe her.
JOHN: Sometimes the proof is right in front of us and we completely miss it.
ELISABETH: Afterward He appeared to two who were walking from Jerusalem into the country, but they didn't recognize Him at first because He had changed His appearance.
KYLER: When they realized who He was, they rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.
JOHN: Even if the proof is right in front of us. . .
ELISABETH: Still later He appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together.
KYLER: He rebuked them for their unbelief - their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
JOHN: The young man was born in 1770 and from the start he was hard to handle.
ELISABETH: His teachers found him impossible to get along with.
HALLIE: He was stubborn. He’d purposely come to meals late and he didn’t care how he dressed.
JOHN: And then he discovered music. . . He said, “God is closer to me than all others I know. . “
ELISABETH: He said, “Music is the bridge between man and God. . “
KYLER: And in 1810, he wrote to a friend, “I have no friend. I must live by myself. I know, however, that God is nearer to me than anyone.”
JOHN: And his name was . . .Beethoven.
(Brock’s Music. . Beethoven)
HALLIE: Hey Brock.
JOHN: Oh no, here we go again.
BROCK: Yeah, Hallie?
HALLIE: I’ve got a new hero.
BROCK: Thanks, Hallie.
HALLIE: Uh. . . I mean. . you know. . . Jesus.
BROCK: That’s cool.
JOHN: Brock, I think we’re out of the contest.
HALLIE: "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. . . “
JOHN: Either you believe it. . .
KYLER: “Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved.”
JOHN: Or. . .
KYLER: I believe. . .
ELISABETH: I believe. . .
BROCK: I believe.
HALLIE: I believe!
JOHN: And now. . .I believe it’s time for breakfast!