Easter Vigil Holy Week April 2006

Out of the Darkness.

Easter Vigil is not a service I celebrated until I began worshipping at Creator and, after attending one, I was immediately hooked.

The tradition of telling stories of God’s promise and deliverance is powerful. The folks at Creator mix joyous music with acting and skits that might best be described as inspired silliness.

Donn was the Assisting Minister and chanted the processional verse, “The light of Christ”. The response of “Thanks be to God!” set one of the many moods of the service.

The “Story of Creation” was acted out by members of the congregation who would improvise something on the spot. For instance, Al Miller played darkness,, and as he moved he came up with using the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars to make himself known as “dark”.

The “Story of the Flood” involved the whole congregation in something like a party game where we tried to sort ourselves into correct groups based on cutout pieces we were given before the service. The Sunday school children also sang songs about God’s goodness.

The High School youth performed “The Story of the Exodus. Taylor, Tory, McKenna, Laura and Abby all participated with Larry Sink as an adult volunteer. Their dialogue was witty and the story charmed us.

The room fills with joy as the performance of Kelly's song "Out Of The Darkness" fills our hearts while the sanctuary, is transformed from somberness into light. Earlier Old Testament stories were shared together with songs. This year Pastor Dayle tried to have people tell personal Creator stories. Toni Hartung talked about the meals that Creator members prepared for her family when their daughter was in the hospital. The stories that I know, that have impressed or stayed with me, I will try to post here.