Easter at Wayside, April 12, 2009

Here are some photographs from Gina Cook, Farrel Eaves, and from Pastor St. John, which show part of Wayside's Easter celebrations on April 12, 2009. We are reminded that our celebration as Christians is not the Easter of the world, with chocolate rabbits, and peeps, and Easter eggs; but rather we remember the resurrection from the dead of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Tom and Gina Cook invited Wayside to meet at their home, which is on the East side of Signal Mountain. Their spacious deck is a wonderful place from which to see the sunrise, and to meditate on the Son of God, coming back from death, and out of the tomb...

There were about 50 or 60 people at the Sunrise Worship Service. Pastor St. John led the singing, and preached from Philippians 2:5-11. The service began at 7 AM, and the sun came up at 7:12 AM. It was beautiful!

• 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
• 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
• 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
• 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!
• 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
• 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
• 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

After the Sunrise Service we gathered at Wayside for a delicious breakfast. Our "chief cooks and bottle washers" were Roy and Mary Carol Combs, Ray and Sandy Cherry, and Larry Mick (the "grit man from New Jersey").

There was plenty of gravy and grits to go around! (Larry Mick made the grits.)

And scrambled eggs, and ham, and sausage and biscuits!

The good news and the bad news! First the BAD NEWS!!
The bowl of gravy got knocked on the floor, and had to be cleaned up! Here are Hunter Swink with his "gravy shovel," and DeDe Young on the floor wiping up the mess.

THE GOOD NEWS!!! The bowel of gravy was nearly empty already, because breakfast was OVER, and everyone had eaten their fill! Thank you, Lord!

Here are some miscellaneous photos of the fellowship hall where we had breakfast...

Don Young and his son (and wife) from St. Louis enjoyed the playground with their children.

When breakfast was over, people acted like busy beavers, and put all the chairs and tables away in the storage closet, washed up the dishes, and so on! Thanks for all the hard work, everyone! Here are some dish washers hard at work!

After breakfast we all went home and took a nap, and skipped Sunday School, and then gathered back at Wayside for our 11 AM Worship Service. Here are some sanctuary photos, which show our Easter lilies. After the worship service people took the lilies to shut-ins and others who were not able to worship at the Easter service.

Our organist Fern Eaves is the master of our pipe organ, and we enjoyed singing all the old traditional Easter hymns: "Up From the Grave He Arose!" "Christ the Lord is Risen Today!" "I Serve A Risen Savior!" "Because He Lives," and others.

We hope you enjoyed this little presentation about Easter 2009 at Wayside. May the Lord bless and keep you, and always remember....