By Tavon N. Thomasson
Special to the AFRO
tthomasson@afro.com
This year, while some Black churches are keeping the traditions that have long defined annual Easter celebrations, others are coming up with new ways to honor the special time of year with family and community engagement.
Church leaders said the core message of Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday remains unchanged, centered on worship and the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection. However, many congregations are rethinking how they carry that message to the next generation.
From service projects and family-centered events to home-based gatherings, churches are finding new ways to connect with people without losing sight of Easter’s traditions or meaning.
At New Macedonia Baptist Church in Southeast Washington D.C., Rev. Therm James Jr. said churches can introduce new events without watering down the heart of the message, because of who it’s centered on.
“For us, it’s simple how we look at ministry: The message never changes because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and evermore, but our methods must change,” said Rev. James Jr.
That philosophy is shaping New Macedonia Baptist Church’s Easter weekend plans this year.
Alongside its annual Resurrection Life celebration, during which the church gives away games and prizes to students from both the church and the community. The church is also launching “Serving Saturday,” a new effort that replaces the traditional observance of “Silent Saturday,” when Jesus is understood to have remained in the grave.
“For Serving Saturday, we are using seven different sites throughout the entire 7th Ward and some also in the 8th Ward, and we are having seven places for people to serve,” Rev. James Jr. said. “We are trying to get a volunteer pool of 700 people.”
“Our pastor, Patrick Jonnathan Walker, came up with this wonderful idea, and as the team, we are trying to [carry] out this vision. We’re not just having something fun on-site for our families and community, but going off-site and serving those in our community. We’re excited about all this taking place on that resurrection weekend,” he continued.
Metropolitan Baptist Church in Largo, Md, is also blending old traditions with a fresh approach this Easter season, according to Rev. George Parks Jr. The church will continue with its classic 6 a.m. sunrise service at its main campus for “major traditionalists,” but its 10 a.m. Resurrection Sunday worship will be held at Fairmont Heights High School this year after outgrowing its current space.
The service will still feature the familiar elements many worshippers expect, but it will also include dramatic presentations, dance and a family-centered touch.
“We will be providing a special gift for everyone who comes,” said Rev. Parks Jr. “We will be providing family photos before and after worship, so we’re inviting individuals to take advantage of worship as a family.”
Andrea Evans, a church member at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, said her congregation uses this time of year to do work that is deeply distinctive. Beyond longstanding Easter traditions like an Easter play and multiple worship services, the church centers Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) around an initiative called “Kingdom Everywhere.”
“Kingdom Everywhere is a community building exercise, where different people in our church sign up to open up their home on a Sunday to invite church members [or] neighbors,” said Evans.
The initiative creates a space for those present to watch service together.
“We take communion together and then we have a meal afterwards and discuss the sermon,” said Evans.
According to Evans, the initiative is rooted in her pastor’s vision for “Kingdom Community,” which focuses on the idea that faith grows and discipleship happens through meaningful connection with others. She said this initiative has given her the opportunity to connect with her neighbors from the church.
“It’s really a unique opportunity to spread the gospel and do what they did back in the early church in the Bible,” said Evans. “They went from house to house, and really built communities and studied the Bible and God’s teaching. That’s the premise – to get back to what community really means and just seeing people on Sunday morning.”
“Kingdom Everywhere is not just an event to have an event. It’s a catalyst to push us into kingdom communities,” she continued.
While the methods may differ from church to church, leaders are all in agreement that the meaning of Easter remains at the center of it all. From sunrise services to dramatic presentations and neighborhood gatherings, each activity is ultimately meant to point people back to the story of Christ’s resurrection after his brutal death.
The Rev. William Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, said “Easter Sunday, or ‘Resurrection Sunday,’ still resonates with people because they want to hear the story even though they already know the ending.”
“They still come back each year, but what’s really the key to Easter Sunday is that during the first one, no one knew the ending. The women at the tomb hoped that Jesus would rise from the dead, but they didn’t know,” Lamar told the AFRO. “We still don’t know if we’ll find life in the shadow of the tomb or in our lives. White evangelicals have reduced it to the rising of one man, but the key is that in Christ, death is not the final message.”
“Death wears many disguises. Death seeks to rob us of our hope,” he continued. “If we are willing to fight with God– and God is fighting death– then we understand that He is in the business of overcoming death.”