Easter Awakening

Happy Easter to all!! This morning was one of the best mornings I've had while at FUMC Cleburne. There wasn't an abnormal amount of kids in Sunday school, we didn't save 30 people today, but instead I enjoyed a great time with the kids this morning in Sunday school and then went to a great service after that. For those of you that aren't familiar with how FUMC Cleburne works, it falls under the traditional category on the church scale. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think there is a problem with that. All too often people tell me that "traditional" equals boring when it comes to church services; not here though. Everything from the presentation of the alter (which I wish I had a picture of because it was amazing!) to the people in the service was great. Okay, so I'll try and describe the alter. A little background info first. For the lentin season P.G.S.(Pastor George Sutton) has been doing a series on the seven deadly sins (suprisingly without one mention of Brad Pitt or the movie Seven). There was a very simple about 8' wooden cross set up behind the alter, and each week a new sin would be added to the cross until all seven were nailed to the cross. Well upon entering the santuary this morning I notice the cross is laying down across the alter with a transparent white sheet descending from the rafters of the church (which has a really really high ceilng) imitating light shining down on the cross. It was an outstanding visual for the occasion. Even before church we had a mini youth service for Sunday school. We did a little P&W and Mauri led a great little lesson. In this time we sang the song, "Come Awake" by the David Crowder Band. I figured this song would be appropriate for the occasion, and it was amazing to feel God in the room when it was going on. I could almost feel myself outside of the person playing guitar and singing and simply worshiping in the room. I'm sure all five of you have heard this song before but I want to share the chorus with you anyway

Come awake, from sleep arise!
You were dead, become alive!
Wake up, wake up, open your eyes!
Climb from your grave into the light!
Bring us back to life!

I added the exclamation points at the end because, unless you're waking up a small child, you have to WAKE them up.

Happy Easter to All!!