THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 17, 1995 TAG: 9504170037
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
``This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
So people did rejoice, in the spirit of Psalm 118, all across Hampton Roads on Easter Sunday. It began at first light, as residents attended traditional sunrise services to celebrate with song and meditation.
Throughout the day, the joy grew, with prayer at church services, with children's laughter at Easter egg hunts and with conversation as family and friends broke bread together.
There was prayer at 6:30 a.m. aboard the aircraft carrier America, where about 1,100 worshipers gathered in a hangar usually reserved for fighter planes. The carrier, in port at the Norfolk Naval Station, is scheduled to deploy in August.
The service, which was open to the public and drew people of all faiths, featured music by the choir from First Baptist Church of Norfolk and members of the Atlantic Fleet Band.
``What is it about the words, `He is risen,' that affects us the way it does?'' asked Rear Adm. A. Byron Holderby Jr. as he began his sermon.
He talked of Christ's healing power through the fable of a rag peddler, who travels through a city helping those who are injured or in despair. From each person he meets on his journey, the rag man takes a cloth stained with tears or blood. In exchange, he gives them a new cloth.
He takes on their sorrows and their wounds, until he reaches a city dump, where he dies and is reborn.
Cmdr. Gordon K. Scheible, the carrier's command chaplain, picked up the theme in his benediction. ``Keep us ever mindful of the joy which is ours because of Christ's resurrection, that we never cease to sing your praises, both with our lips and with our lives,'' he said. ``May the Father bless us with a vision of a world renewed in hope.''
The congregation joined the choir to bounce hallelujahs off the cavernous walls, and some stayed afterward for a morning snack of doughnuts, fruit and juice.
Many said it was worth rising to a 5 a.m. alarm to worship in the unusual setting. ``We haven't gone to a sunrise service in a long time,'' said Virginia Keisel, of Norfolk, who came with her husband and three children. ``I'm not sure they've woken up enough to be excited.''
Her youngest, 6-year-old Andy, was quietly staring in all directions. ``Pretty cool,'' he said happily.
The carrier thrilled people of all ages. Norris T. Hitchens, 78, who came from Seaford, Del., to spend Easter with his daughter, was full of praise.
``I hardly know words to describe it! Massive,'' he said. ``It's really something to see that many people believing in something.''
A smaller group of believers, at Bethany Freewill Baptist Church in Norfolk, tried out a new celebration to replace the Easter egg hunt, a tradition that is not tied to the Christian meaning of the holiday.
Instead of colored eggs, pastor Larry Davis gave his 80-member congregation helium-filled balloons, with messages tied to the end of the strings. The messages were Gospel tracts, and requested that the balloons' finders send letters to the church. The church plans to make a map of places where the balloons are discovered.
``It is as evangelist and missionary as you could ever do,'' Davis said. ``It proclaims the message of Christ to anyone who finds it.''
To the kids, who barely managed to hold tight to the balloons until Davis finished his countdown, it was pure fun. ``I'm gonna let it go,'' said bow-tied William Harris, 4. ``It's about Jesus.''
``When you release the balloons, it's like Jesus rising from the grave,'' said 12-year-old Amanda Sittig.
Even the adults couldn't resist the chance to send a message of hope soaring into the sky. ``I think it's wonderful,'' said Kaye Carter, 40. ``It gives everyone the opportunity to join in. It gives everyone the chance to know the Lord and know he's there for us.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
PAUL AIKEN
Staff
Caleb Cropp, 2 1/2, of Norfolk waits to release a balloon bearing a
religious message Sunday at Norfolk's Bethany Freewill Baptist
Church.
[Color Photo]
GARY C. KNAPP
Paula and Shane Oxendin were among the 1,100 worshipers at Sunday's
Easter service aboard the carrier America in Norfolk. Shane Oxendin
is stationed aboard the America.
GARY C. KNAPP
About 1,100 Easter worshipers of many faiths gathered in a hangar
usually reserved for fighter planes on the carrier America, which is
in port at the Norfolk Naval Station.
KEYWORDS: EASTER HOLIDAY by CNB