Sunrise services to mark Easter celebration, while Passover week draws to a close

It will still be dark when the Salvation Army Redondo Beach Band sounds its first notes on Sunday morning. But a short time later, the sun will invade the eastern sky and the few hundred people gathered at Veterans Park next to the Redondo Pier will welcome Easter.

“You have a view over the ocean, the sun is coming up, you’re close to nature. It’s very inspirational, a real special feeling,” said Debbie Stadler, chair of the Easter Sunrise Service sponsored by the Redondo Beach Jaycees.

The nondenominational service, which starts at 5:45 a.m. and will include an Easter message and music by the 12-voice L.A. Vocal Core, is among several events South Bay Christians and Jews will hold Sunday and Monday to celebrate Easter and Passover.

Outdoor sunrise services will take place at locales ranging from the Manhattan Beach Pier to a Hermosa Beach shopping center parking lot. At Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach, children will search for Easter eggs. And a Passover service and kosher lunch will be held at a San Pedro temple. The New Life Presbyterian Church in Manhattan Beach will combine jazz and rock music, theater, traditional hymns, a sermon and a continental breakfast to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on Sunday at 7 a.m. in the Polliwog amphitheater at Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Redondo Avenue.

“We have a lot of fun with the service,” said Mark House, pastor of New Life. “We all get involved. It’s definitely upbeat in nature and not very solemn. If people want a high church experience, they’ll be disappointed.”

He said the service is a community event for people whether or not they attend church regularly. “They appreciate getting outdoors and watching the sun come up on Easter morning,” said House, who started the service seven years ago and has watched yearly attendance grow from 150 to 500.

This year’s service will mark the debut of the church’s new drama group, performing a skit called “Fast Food Religion,” about the approaches of different churches.

New Life also will stage its first Easter egg hunt for children after the service. About 400 eggs--which are artificial and contain candy--will be hidden around the park.

In San Pedro, Rabbi David Lieb will conduct services at 10:30 a.m. Monday marking the final day of Passover at Temple Beth El, 1435 W. 7th St. The observance, which lasts for seven days, marks the Jewish exodus from Egypt about 3,300 years ago. At the service, psalms of praise will be read and a memorial for the dead presented.

People are invited to bring kosher food--”That means no bread or grain products,” said temple educational director Debi Rowe--for a Passover lunch. There also will be a discussion of Rabbi Harold Kushner’s new book, “Who Needs God?” It will be sponsored by the temple Sisterhood.

For its Easter sunrise service, Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach will set up chairs for 1,000 in front of the Liquor Barn--”It’ll be closed,” said the church’s Darlee Bratcher --at 1133 Artesia Blvd. The 6 a.m. event Sunday will feature contemporary rock music with a gospel content.

Singer Della Reese will perform her own music, as well as traditional hymns, at two Easter services Sunday at 7 and 9 a.m. at the Redondo Beach Church of Religious Science, 907 Knob Hill Ave. For the 11 a.m. service, music will be by Cathy Gabrielle and the Musical America Alumni Choir. Frank Richelieu, pastor of the church, will speak at the services, which are expected to draw up to 800 people each.

In Gardena, sunrise services will be held Sunday at 7 a.m. at the south end of Roosevelt Memorial Park, 18255 S. Vermont Ave. The speaker will be Natalie Hodgen, pastor of the First Christian Church of Gardena.

A sunrise service will be held at 6 a.m. Sunday on the Manhattan Beach Pier by the Oceanside Christian Fellowship. Pastor Duke Winser describes the service as informal with contemporary music and hymns.

“It’s open to anyone and everyone,” Winser said, echoing comments by sponsors of other services, who call them Easter celebrations for people who may not be regular churchgoers.

Said Stadler, who heads the 30-year-old Redondo Beach service: “Since this is nondenominational, people who don’t have a church and want to celebrate Easter have a place to come. . . . It’s a really beautiful service that makes everyone feel good.”