Easter (break?)
While several Cobbers loaded up their cars and headed home for Easter Break, I loaded the dishwasher, loaded my guitar into the car, and headed over to Salem Evangelical Free Church in Fargo where I intern.
Little did I know that I was headed into one of the busiest weeks in the life of a church professional. I have always loved music. I have always loved church (even when I was little and only thought that church was to sing in the choir, see my friends, and fall asleep on Mom’s lap in the pew). I have always loved Christmas, and I have always loved Easter. But it wasn’t really until late high school and early college that I began to see that all of these loves might come together.
Until this week when I spent 21 hours at Salem I didn’t really realize how much work it truly is. Tuesday was spent setting the stage and lights for the Good Friday service along with looking ahead at Easter Sunday. Since everything was not accomplished on Tuesday, Wednesday was then spent putting together the screen presentation as well as the worship team musical binders for Thursday night’s rehearsal for Sunday. Wednesday quickly turned into Thursday, and before I knew it I was back at Salem taking apart the stage for Friday so that we could rehearse that night for our Easter Sunday services. After spending 1.5 hours getting ready for our rehearsal, another 3.5 hours rehearsing, I proceeded to stay at Salem for another hour to re-set the stage for our Good Friday service at noon the next day.
Good Friday there was faster than I could blink and was spent running through the service, running lights for the service, and then re-setting the stage for Sunday morning. Another wonderful 6 hours spent at Salem. Finally Saturday allowed me to take a small breather before I launched myself out of bed at 5:30 on Sunday morning to make sure that I was at Salem by 6:45 to start our rehearsal and then eat some fabulous breakfast prepared and served by the middle-schoolers.
Despite all the busyness and hours put into Holy Week, Sunday morning was absolutely terrific! The music was wonderful and the sermon extremely meaningful. Although I know I was blessed by the whole week, the best part of the week was seeing people being touched by both the Good Friday service and the Easter Sunday services. After a week of running up and down stairs trying to set lights at just the right angle, making sure all the words were correct and in the right order up on the screen, and helping lead musical rehearsals, I was exhausted but refreshed, and thankful to have ended up at my good friend Dan Tinquist’s home for a wonderful Easter feast.