The Son Also Rises

A caravan of headlights competed with a nearly full moon along the empty stretch of California 150 to Lake Casitas as the procession veered left and weaved through a sleepy campground toward the water.

There in the predawn darkness, the modern pilgrims emerged from their parked Ford Explorers and Hondas with lawn chairs and children in tow ready for Easter. They walked across the thick, dewy grass bundled against the cold, and gathered around a picnic table set with boxes of doughnuts and a steaming coffee urn.

More than 200 from Ojai Valley Community Church had arrived by the first hint of light for a chilly, lakeside sunrise Easter service.

Getting there wasn’t easy, but everyone seemed glad they made the trek.

“My motivation is not the weather, trust me,” said Dee Smith, huddling with two friends and a cup of coffee. “It’s so beautiful here--look at that moon still up there.”

“There’s something attractive about catching a sunrise,” said her friend, Nancy Graves.

“It’s a symbolic rising,” Elsie Stewart added. “We’re tired of the eggs and bunny. It’s time to get down to what Easter’s all about.”

Lake Casitas was one of several Ventura County sites where sunrise services were held Sunday. A number of churches offered the early dawn ceremony in addition to more traditional services later in the day.

In Oxnard, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church held a short 6 a.m. service on its outdoor patio, followed by a pancake breakfast.

In Thousand Oaks, Ascension Lutheran Church members gathered at 6:30 a.m., while others had three later services to choose from.

“He is risen!” shouted the crowd at Lake Casitas as the sun peeked over the surrounding hills and a rock band played riffs from “Amazing Grace.”

The Praise Team--four singers plus musicians playing bass guitar, drums and tambourines--woke up the crowd and scared off some red-winged blackbirds with the group’s water’s edge amplifiers.

Pastor Paul Bergmann, wearing jeans, leather jacket and baseball cap emblazoned with “Phil. 4:13,” held his hand in the air and sang along.

“Jesus didn’t have fancy pulpits or nice churches, but I imagine he did pretty well by a lake on a morning like this,” Bergmann told the crowd seated in front of him, while fishing boats drifted in the distance. “What a day to worship together and talk about renewal--a sunrise in our life.”

Nestled under a blanket and sitting on a picnic table, Philip and Debbie Woodall listened.

“Jesus is alive,” Debbie Woodall said. “And so are we--cold and crispy.”

The Ojai couple said they rolled out of bed at 5:50 a.m. and rushed to the service. She put her shoes on in the car and pulled a hat over her hair, and he didn’t shave.

“We were very tired and it was a little tough getting here, but it was worth it,” Debbie Woodall said.

“The setting is nice,” Philip Woodall said. “Just because you’re in a church doesn’t mean you’re a Christian.”

Bergmann said this sunrise service was the first for Ojai Valley Community Church in his first year as pastor. He hopes this will be the beginning of an annual tradition. “I envision thousands here, someday,” he said.

That may be an obtainable goal, considering the 250 or so who arrived before the service concluded about 8 a.m.

And it could have been more.

On Saturday night, Carrie Mattingly’s entire family had intentions of attending. But at 5:30 a.m., it was a different story for her husband and two of her children.

“I’m sure they’re still asleep,” Mattingly said near the end of the service. “They were still snoring when I left them this morning.”

Mattingly did manage to get her third child out of bed.

“That was hard,” 13-year-old Becky said. “But I’m glad I came. It’s so beautiful out here, and the pastor had good things to say.”

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