Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Andrew Hight | Family Ministry Coordinator

Easter is at one of the latest dates it can possibly be this year, and yet it still crept up on us. The unseasonably cold weather (as I type this on Monday afternoon, I see a few snowflakes outside the window!) doesn't help make it feel like Easter—but it’s coming, in just a week and a half!

I love Easter. And when I say that, I mean all aspects of Easter—the commercial and the religious. I love the Easter where you buy lilies and daffodils, dye eggs, and set out decorative rabbits and chicks around the house. The Easter where you watch the 1948 film Easter Parade with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, and bake a lamb-shaped cake using a vintage mold—a tradition I just learned about this year.

But I also love the Easter that St. Andrew’s has always offered—and still does. I remember, sixteen years ago, attending Holy Week services in the chapel, a service each night as we counted down to Good Friday. Remember those? And then on Good Friday, the choir—sometimes joined by an orchestra of ten or more musicians—would perform Handel’s Messiah or a Requiem by Fauré or Rutter. The stillness of Holy Saturday would give way to the sunrise service put on by the youth group at 8 a.m. in the chapel, followed by a breakfast we’d all scarf down so we could get a seat in the packed sanctuary as the opening line of the iconic hymn Jesus Christ Is Risen Today rang out. The cross of white easter lilies (now it’s in 52nd year) erected high over the choir and sometimes, if we were lucky, the Hallelujah Chorus would be performed, complete with trumpets and timpani. Jesus was alive.

As a teenager, Easter at St. Andrew’s felt like an event—like it was the place to be. How blessed we are that, all these years later, such high-calibre services and meals are still being offered during Holy Week. I encourage all of you to visit our Easter page to see what services are coming up next week, including the Easter morning breakfast.

When it came to capturing the imagery for Holy Week this year, we chose to tell the story through stained glass. At St. Andrew’s, we know better than most the powerful storytelling that stained glass can provide. The Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday images we’re using are actually pulled from our own sanctuary.

The Easter window is one you might not have noticed—unless you’ve sat in the balcony or are in the choir. This massive window is original to the sanctuary, dating back to when the new church opened for worship in September 1907. It bears the inscription: “He is not here, for He is risen, as He said.” The window was dedicated to the memory of George and Margaret Davidson by their daughter, Elizabeth Roos. George Davidson was a leader in St. Andrew’s early years and played a key role in the construction of the original church building in 1857.

This Sunday, the journey to the cross begins once again as we celebrate Palm Sunday. We are blessed with another opportunity to experience St. Andrew’s at its finest—which, in my opinion, is during Easter.

Warm regards,
Andrew Hight | Family Ministry Coordinator