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Easter rituals
By Mary Adamski
enthrall faithful
Star-BulletinThe secular culture may define the Easter season as a consumer holiday, a time to buy bright new clothes, take kids to see cute baby animals and eat lots of candy.
But for Christians, here's the peak spiritual experience -- a time to immerse themselves in traditional rituals and familiar words to relive the New Testament story that shapes their faith. Hordes of the half-hearted who haven't entered church portals since Christmas will crowd the faithful in their pews at Holy Week and Easter services. Before they get to the joyful and glorious Great Sunday of the church, there's the dark side to face, the trial and crucifixion of Christ, which is marked on Good Friday.
The Kalihi-Palama Interfaith Council will start it off in their Palm Sunday tradition tomorrow, reliving Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem a week before he died. Members of several churches and organizations will join the 8 a.m. procession, waving palm branches and marching on Beretania Street, from Nuuanu Avenue along Aala Street and Vineyard Boulevard, through Mayor Wright Housing to Kaumakapili Church, for a 9:30 a.m. service beneath a banyan.
A massed choir of Olivet Baptist Church in Moiliili will perform tomorrow night in the premier of "Alpha and Omega," a modern multimedia cantata. This is just one of many churches that will mark the Easter season with special music, from the Honolulu Brass at Central Union Church to the preschoolers at Apostolic Faith Church.
A Holy Thursday service of Kaneohe churches will borrow from Jewish tradition, staging a Seder, the ritual meal marking Passover. This year, a rare alignment of western calculation of Easter with the Hebrew calendar puts the celebration of Christ's Last Supper, at which he gathered with his followers at a Seder, at the actual beginning of Passover. Jews will gather Wednesday night to begin the eight-day observance that marks their liberation from slavery in Egypt 3,300 years ago.
The Salvation Army Kaneohe Corps and Kaneohe Congregational Church will join in the Seder service at Parker United Methodist Church, one of several Seder meals being held in Christian context this year.
Ecumenical gatherings are a definite Easter tradition.
On Good Friday, members of more than a dozen churches will take turns carrying a cross from Thomas Square to Central Union Church as a prelude to the noon ecumenical observance of Christ's death on the cross.
The Easter sunrise service at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl, is sponsored by a coalition of Nuuanu Valley and downtown churches. The cemetery gates will open at 4:30 a.m., with the celebration to begin at 6:15 a.m. The Right Rev. Richard S.O. Chang, episcopal bishop of Hawaii, will speak, and the Royal Hawaiian Band and a choir from the Philippines will lead the music.
Kailua Beach Park is the setting for the 6 a.m. Easter sunrise service of the Windward Coalition of Churches.
Hawaiian religion practitioners will lead worshippers into Makua Valley for a 6 a.m. interfaith service. It is the third time the Army will open the Makua military range for the gathering. A potluck breakfast on the beach will follow.
Sunrise services are a centuries-old traditional way of celebrating Christ's resurrection, following the Gospel story of believers who went at daybreak and found the tomb empty.
But moonrise also comes into play in looking at Easter. Since a fifth-century church council, the date of Easter has been calculated as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. The earliest it could occur is March 22 and the latest, April 25.
So, yes, Easter is late this year. But it is finally here and will be celebrated in the following services:
APOSTOLIC FAITH CHURCH
1043 Middle St. 847-5902
Easter: 10 a.m. About 100 children from Sunday School classes will dramatize the Easter story in speech and song.
1190 Nuuanu Ave. 524-0844
Friday: 7 p.m.
Easter: 6:30 a.m. Sunrise service at Magic Island with baptisms, potluck refreshments. 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. at chapel.
45-435 Aumoku St. 247-2733
Tomorrow: a new 10 a.m. service added.
Wednesday: 7 p.m. Tenebrae.
Thursday: 7 p.m. Holy Eucharist and foot washing; 8:30 p.m. prayer vigil continuing until noon Friday.
Friday: noon liturgy, 7 p.m. stations of the cross.
Easter: Holy Eucharist 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m.
1660 S. Beretania St. 941-0957
Thursday: 7 p.m. service, with dramatic interpretation of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper."
Friday: noon, annual ecumenical service.
Easter: 6 a.m. youth-led sunrise service, 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m. Honolulu Brass joins the choir, 11:30 a.m. contemporary worship.
1300 Kailua Road
Thursday: 7 p.m. joint service with Keolumana United Methodist Church.
Sunday: 10 a.m. worship followed by brunch.
95-1361 Meheula Parkway 623-9229
Tomorrow: 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m. services feature procession with palms and a mime play.
Thursday: 7 p.m. Communion and foot-washing.
Easter: 6:30 a.m. on church lawn, 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m., communion with combined adult, youth and keiki choirs.
1639 Keeaumoku St. 536-7244
Friday: 7 p.m. Korean and English-speaking congregations' joint service.
1212 University Ave. 949-2220
Thursday: 7:30 p.m., Lord's Supper and Tenebrae service of darkness.
Friday: 7:30 p.m., Taize prayers around the cross.
Saturday: 7:30 p.m., Easter Vigil.
Easter: 10:15 a.m., Music by the Crossroads Choir and guest instrumentalists precede services. Breakfast at 8 a.m. in Weaver Hall.
780 Keolu Drive 262-4548
Tomorrow: 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. Services will feature three short plays by the Drama Ministry.
1516 Kewalo St.
Thursday: 7 p.m.
Easter: 10:45 a.m., egg hunt follows.
1020 S. Beretania St. 522-9555
Thursday: 7 p.m. Tongan and English speaking members combined service.
Easter: 10:30 a.m. The children's choir will perform at joint worship service.
20 S. Vineyard Boulevard 536-9602
Thursday: 5:30 p.m. supper, communion service and foot-washing.
Friday: noon worship, 7 p.m. Tenebrae service. Prayer vigil will begin at 8 p.m. and continue until 6:15 a.m. Easter morning.
5286 Kalanianaole Highway 373-2131
Thursday: 5:30 p.m. Last Supper informal Eucharist and potluck meal.
Friday: noon liturgy, 7 p.m. service.
Easter: 6:30 a.m. Great Vigil, 9:45 a.m. Holy Eucharist, 11 a.m. Egg Hunt and continental breakfast.
277 Ohua Ave. 597-2383
Saturday: 5 p.m. vigil, blessing of new fire and holy water.
Easter: 5 p.m. solemn liturgy, rite of healing.
784 Kamehameha Highway 455-1138
Tomorrow: 9 a.m.
Thursday: 7 p.m., Holy Communion and traditional foot-washing.
Friday: 7 p.m.
Easter: 9 a.m. celebration of Christ's resurrection, brunch and egg hunt.
85-256 Farrington Highway, Waianae
Thursday: 6 p.m. soup and bread supper, joint communion service.
Friday: 7 p.m. joint service.
Easter: 6:30 p.m. joint sunrise service, 9 a.m. Easter Festival.
317 Manono St. 261-0125
Thursday: 7 p.m.
Easter: 10 a.m. service will feature a drama presentation; egg hunt follows.
829 Pensacola St. 594-6446
Easter: 7:45 a.m., 9:45 a.m. worship.
2728 Huapala St. 988-3271
Thursday: 7 p.m. communion service.
Friday: 3 to 9 p.m., silent prayer vigil.
Easter: 7 a.m. sunrise service at Manoa Park, 9 a.m. family worship in sanctuary.
95-410 Kuahelani Ave. 623-6663
Friday: 7:30 p.m. ecumenical service with other congregations.
1941 East West Center Road 988-6222
Friday: 7 p.m. Taize prayer will be chanted around the cross.
2651 Pali Highway 595-3935
Tomorrow: 10:15 a.m. Chancel choir will present a cantata, "Crown Him King," by David Guthrie.
Thursday: 7 p.m.
Friday: 6 p.m. a jook (rice soup) supper in Kosasa Hall followed by service. For supper reservations call 595-3935.
1775 S. Beretania St. 946-6505
Tomorrow: 7 p.m. Thirty-two musicians dramatize Bible stories from creation to resurrection in "Alpha and Omega," a multi-media musical by Debra-Clair Cloniger and Camp Kirkland.
1404 University Ave. 946-4223
Thursday: 7:15 p.m.
Friday: 7:15 p.m.
Saturday: 7:15 p.m. Easter Vigil.
Easter: 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. brunch in auditorium, 10:45 a.m.
Queen Emma Square
Thursday: noon, bishop's chrism mass, 6 p.m. Seder supper, 7:30 p.m. liturgy, 9 p.m. to midnight, a watch behind high altar.
Friday: 1 to 5 p.m., labyrinth meditation, 5 p.m. stations of the cross.
Saturday: 7 p.m. Great Vigil service. Labyrinth open from 10 a.m. to noon, 6 to 7 p.m.
Easter: 7, 8 and 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist, 11:30 a.m. egg hunt.
93 N. Kainalu Dr. 262-8176
Wed.: 7 p.m. Tenebrae.
Friday: 7 p.m. stations of the cross.
Easter: 7:15 a.m., 9:15 a.m., music with choir and brass.
1004 Kailua Road, 261-5787
Tomorrow: 8 and 10:30 a.m.
Thursday: 7 p.m.
Friday: 7 p.m.
Saturday: 5:30 p.m.
Easter: 8 and 10:30 a.m.
1124 7th Ave. 732-5565
Friday: 7 p.m. The stations of the cross dramatized in mime by eighth-grade students of St. Patrick Church.
Thursday: 6:30 p.m. Passover Seder service at Parker United Methodist Church, held jointly with Kaneohe Congregational Church and Salvation Army Kaneohe Corps.
Friday: Public may meditate and "Nail Your Prayers to the Cross" from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Kauluwela Mission Corps, 296 N. Vineyard Boulevard.
Friday: noon service, Central Oahu Corps, 564 California Ave., Wahiawa.
Friday: 12:30 p.m., Leeward Corps, 98-612 Moanalua Loop, Aiea.
Friday: 6:30 p.m., "Walk to Calvary" dramatic presentation, Kaneohe Corps, 45-174 Waikalua Road.
Easter Sunday: 6 a.m. Combined sunrise service at Kaneohe Congregational Church, 45-114 Waikapoki Road, with Parker United Methodist Church and Salvation Army Kaneohe Corps.
Sunday: 6:30 a.m. Leilehua High School stadium, followed by breakfast at Silvercrest, 520 Pine St.
Sunday: 10:45 a.m. Kauluwela Mission Corps, Liliha.
Sunday: 11 a.m. Central Oahu Corps, Wahiawa.
Sunday: 6 p.m. Contemporary reggae-music worship, Leeward Corps, 98-612 Moanalua Loop, Aiea.
923-3137
Easter: 7 a.m. sunrise service on Sheraton Waikiki Hotel's Diamond Head lawn; 10:30 a.m., on the beach at Hilton Hawaiian Village.
