Get Me to the Church on Time

Area churches worried that this year’s Easter would be a repeat of last year’s rainy holiday can take heart. The pleasantly warm weather that arrived Friday is expected to extend its stay through the weekend.

But along with the lovely weather--a delight to bike-riding kids on spring break--comes an unusual confluence that has church officials a little worried, because this year Easter and the start of daylight saving time fall on the same day.

“We told people again at Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services,” said Pastor James Sillerud of First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills. But if this Easter is like any other weekend when the clocks are turned forward--or back--then attendance at services could be uneven. “We always get a few folks who don’t remember and come in looking real sheepish,” he said.

Time may become even more relative at the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth, which was only trying to be helpful when it wrote letters to its members advising them to ignore the standard advice about changing their clocks tonight.

The nondenominational church’s pastors wanted would-be worshipers to avoid the disappointment of arriving an hour late for services. And so, answering to a higher authority than the U.S. Congress, they told the congregation not to worry--the time change would not take effect at their chapel until after Easter morning.

Unfortunately, it was not until the mailer went out to 70,000 households that someone noticed an innocent error: “Turn your clocks back AFTER service,” the letter reads. Alas, since this is spring, the announcement should have reminded people to turn their clocks forward.

“We have egg on our face on that one,” confessed the Rev. David MacKerron, the church’s executive pastor. “I was one of four people proofreading the mailer . . . but none of us caught it.”

The confluence of holy holiday and daylight saving time was but one of the last-minute worries with which Valley religious leaders had to contend as they prepared for Easter. Good Friday’s warm temperatures, which are expected to continue through the weekend, also threatened to wilt the Easter lilies and gladiolus that were arriving at area churches.

Like other congregations, Chatsworth Foursquare Church has reminded members of the time change on Easter for several Sundays. Pastor Jerry Moreno noted that people who do not attend church regularly, however, have missed his weekly reminders--and therefore could miss his 10:45 a.m. Easter Sunday service.

“There are a lot of people who only go to church on Easter and Christmas, so there is no way for us to remind them,” Moreno said.

At larger churches such as Santa Rosa Catholic Church in San Fernando, there was less concern about the embarrassment that tardy worshipers might encounter. Since the church celebrates Mass every 90 minutes, “people might get here late, but if they wait an hour and a half, there is another one starting,” said the Rev. Pat Thompson, associate pastor.

In the end, even the Church at Rocky Peak’s misprint should not cause anyone to miss anything. If worshipers follow the church advice and aren’t going to change their clocks until after services, they will arrive on time. No problem.

But if they are confused, defiant or both and decide to set their clocks back before bed Saturday, then they would arrive an hour early--say, at 7 a.m. for the 8 o’clock service. “Well, if they do, we have plenty of coffee, doughnuts and refreshments while they wait,” said MacKerron.

Churchgoers who change their clocks with the rest of California--and set them forward--will be disappointed too, arriving an hour late.

One thing is fairly certain, however. The weather should be beautiful. At any hour.

This weekend, look for temperatures that are, “in a word, warm,” said meteorologist Joe Dandrea of the National Weather Service. The San Fernando Valley is expected to have temperatures ranging from the middle 80s to the low 90s both days, Dandrea said.

It didn’t get quite as hot as predicted on Friday, but the highs were still respectable. The temperature hit 84 in Burbank and 82 in Van Nuys. By comparison, the Los Angeles Civic Center high was 89.

Friday’s temperatures did not come close to the record high for April 5. In 1989, the mercury hit 105 on that date. The coolest temperature was 42 degrees in 1921.

Times staff writer Lisa Leff contributed to this story.