"I want to go to an Easter sunrise service!" demanded Amy. Hmm. Easter sunrise services (where one has a service outdoors to catch the sunrise) haven't really caught on yet in Arequipa. Okay. We can have our own. There is a 'Mirador' (a lookout point on top of a mountain) about 3 miles from our house, so yesterday, on my run, I went to check it out to see if one could drive up it and park someplace close to the top. It looked good. Next, how would we decide if Amy was feeling able to go without everyone waking up early? Here's the plan: If Mom is alert enough to go, I'll get her dressed and loaded into the truck and I'll wake everyone else up at 5:15 am. If I don't wake you up, I decided not to go, so you can sleep in. But at 4:50 am, Amy was awake, so I got her ready and we went. At the top of the mountain I asked the kids, "Why do they have Easter Sunrise Services?" "To feel spiritual!" "To assuage guilt!" (I have no idea where my kids get their cynical side!) "Probably for some. But for others it is a chance to imagine the women going to the tomb on Easter morning in the dark and learning the world-changing news that awaited them." Instead of preaching about the first Easter, we read from Luke as I didn't think there was any way to improve on the original story. Then we waited until the first beams of sunlight came through a small valley in a nearby mountain. I had never seen a sunrise from a place where there was such an instantaneous change from predawn to 'flaming with light'. It reminded me of Wesley's hymn, "And can it be that I should Gain" when he writes:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Happy Easter from the Georges!
