Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994 TAG: 9404030013
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It was not necessarily a coincidence that [the Resurrection of Christ] happened at this time of year," Archer said last week, reflecting on the Easter holidays.
Everyone "loves to see spring come," Archer said, but for Christians there is "more reason for the season."
The blooming flowers, budding trees and sprouting grass are all symbols of the new life promised by Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, he said.
"We love to get out and ride around in our cars with the windows down and the breeze blowing in," said Archer, the head usher at Huntington Court United Methodist Church.
For him, Easter is the source of the liberating spirit of the season - a spirit experienced through its warm breezes, dazzling colors and fresh scents.
Though most of Christianity shifted its day of worship to Sunday as a weekly commemoration of the Resurrection soon after the time of Christ, this particular Sunday continues to stand above the rest.
It becomes more important as a focus of worship each year for Kevin and Robin Stokes.
As the parents of two school-age sons, Robin Stokes said, "You know what God went through - to give up his son."
The Stokeses - members at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church - said they spend more time in reflection about their faith and talking with their sons about it at this time of year.
Their story is one being repeated across the country as young adults with children flock to churches. By all accounts, more people will be in churches today than any other Sunday of the year.
And in the United States - arguably the most religious nation on Earth - that can translate into big numbers.
A recent U.S. News and World Report survey on Americans' religious attitudes closely mirrors previous findings of professed piety.
More than 90 percent of Americans say they believe in God or a "universal spirit." Three-quarters of the population sees God as "a heavenly father who can be reached by prayers," rather than an impersonal creator or an idea.
Forty-six percent of Americans describe themselves as "born-again."
Eighty percent say the Bible is the inspired word of God, though only about one-third of the nation's citizens say it should be "taken literally, word for word."
Sixty percent say they attend church or synagogue regularly, but 80 percent say one can be a good Christian or Jew without attending communal worship.
That last finding - combined with indications that Americans remain fiercely independent people who resist being told what to do or think - may help explain the attendance bust that will be measured next Sunday.
Still, for many churchgoers, the habit of worship comes from a lifetime of faithful attendance.
Catharine Parker, who is in her second decade of living at Friendship Manor retirement community, has been a member of Huntington Court United Methodist Church since 1948, when she married a man who was a member there.
She was "brought up to attend services" by her parents in West Virginia.
The minister in that Baptist church "railed against dancing and card-playing" all the time, Parker said. "I liked to dance," so she resisted joining a church until she was 21 - when she became an Episcopalian.
She may have disagreed with the condemnation of dancing, but that didn't affect the heart of her faith.
"I always enjoyed Easter services," she said.
Though she has heard it scores of times, she is still moved by the story of Jesus' Crucifixion, "so cruelly strung up on that cross," and uplifted by her belief in his Resurrection.
Many of those behind the pulpit find renewal in Easter every year as well.
"Sometimes there is actually a little letdown" on Easter Monday, knowing the emotional and spiritual high of the biggest church day of the year is past, said the Rev. Bill Ross, pastor of Vinton Baptist Church.
The joy of the holiday is so intense, though, that it even colors people's memory of it.
"I'm sure there must have been Easters when there was snow on the ground or it was rainy and cold, but we don't remember those," Ross said. Instead, in memory, Easter "is always sunny and bright, and the flowers are always blooming."
But that's the Easter story, he said:
"There is always a happy ending - there is hope."
by CNB