More Worshipers Pulling the Shades on Sunrise Service

As he has done for the last 27 years, Will Bredberg plans to wake up before dawn Easter morning, put on his wetsuit and a pair of Levis, and head to Will Rogers State Beach.

A pastor at the First Baptist Church of West Los Angeles, Bredberg expects to arrive at the beach at 4 a.m. to help set up for the annual sunrise service, organized by his and 13 other Westside churches.

“It’s pretty exciting to me. It speaks of people’s passion for their faith, the joy of celebrating together,” he said.

While Bredberg is unloading musical equipment and setting up generators in the sand, Carolyn Harvey will be asleep for at least two more hours 20 miles away in South Los Angeles. For the first time in 42 years, she won’t be attending sunrise service at the Second African Methodist Episcopal Church, where she is a member.

In January, members voted against holding the predawn ceremony and chose to continue with the regular 7:45 and 11 a.m. services. The once-popular sunrise program was showing a decline in attendance, especially among younger members, said the Rev. Kelvin Calloway.

“They either stayed at home or went to another church. So we had to ask ourselves, ‘Is this still a relevant and viable tradition for the parishioners of the day?’ ” Calloway said. “We as a church had to recognize that and work on addressing that need.”

Harvey, who had voted in favor of keeping the sunrise service, expressed disappointment but said she planned to attend the 7:45 a.m. service.

While some Christian churches still faithfully hold sunrise services on Easter, the popularity of such events has waned among younger people and families with children who are reluctant to get out of bed that early.

Traditionally a Protestant practice, sunrise services are held just before dawn in honor of Christ rising from the dead after the crucifixion.

Many Southern California churches prefer to hold outdoor services because darkness turning into daylight is symbolic of Christ shedding his physical body to take on a spiritual form. The image of dawn is significant in Christian theology because it signals the end of the dark days surrounding the crucifixion, said Eddie Gibbs, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.

“It’s got nothing to do with sun worship,” he said. “The resurrection represents the dawn of a new day and a hope for the world.”

The casual atmosphere at Will Rogers State Beach attracts an eclectic mix, including families toting toddlers and seniors clutching blankets and coffee cups, said Bredberg.

The beach is a natural draw for worshipers, said Bredberg, who also performs Easter baptisms at the Pacific’s edge. “It’s hard to get a feeling of getting close to God in the middle of Los Angeles,” he said. “But to be out where there’s nothing but ocean and nature’s creation, you just really feel a sense that there’s nothing closer than the power of God.”

Thousands of people who usually attend the sunrise service at the Hollywood Bowl may be searching for alternatives Sunday. One of the biggest such services in the nation, the Hollywood Bowl program was canceled for the second year in a row because of unfinished construction, organizers said. A return of the nondenominational service is planned for next year.

Among spots welcoming former Bowl attendees will be Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, which is holding its 6 a.m. service for the 29th year.

News of the Bowl’s program closure prompted the Hollywood United Methodist Church to pull together its first sunrise service in 10 years, said the Rev. Kathy Cooper-Ledesma. The candlelight processional starts at 6 a.m.

“I think, for so many people, it is really a tradition to get up early on Easter and to really celebrate that time of the morning because that’s when Mary went to the tomb, at the first light of day,” she said.

Although waking up in the wee hours to mark the resurrection appeals to some worshipers, others don’t find it as tempting.

“We sort of know our people, and we know they aren’t morning people,” said Ken Tachikawa, an associate pastor for South Bay Community Church in Gardena.

The church has never held a sunrise service, and instead offers three morning services, the earliest at 8:15, and a children’s festival starting at 9:45 a.m.

To jolt churchgoers into the Easter spirit, this year’s theme is “Espresso Yourself” and will feature espresso after the sermon, Tachikawa said.

Faithful Central Bible Church dropped sunrise services 10 years ago and instead holds an elaborate theatrical production during its 10 a.m. service that tells the story of Easter. Past Easter services have included an actor portraying Jesus riding into the church on a donkey and the trial of Christ in a modern-day courtroom setting.

“At 5 a.m., you may reach some, but you might not reach others,” said Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer of Faithful Central, which holds services at the Forum in Inglewood. “And for us, this is a way we can reach out to a broader Los Angeles community and try to have a gathering that is more and more becoming multiracial, multiethnic, to show the diversity of the body of Christ.”

Myrian Monnet-Cisneros, pastor of Rosewood United Methodist near Silver Lake, says her church should stay with its 30-year-old tradition of a candlelight Easter service at dawn.

The 6 a.m. service attracts about 40 people, including Catholics whose own churches traditionally don’t participate in sunrise services, said Monnet-Cisneros, who serves the church’s Spanish-speaking congregation. After meditation and singing outdoors, participants convene inside for breakfast.

“It’s a time for the congregation to celebrate and be identified with its own people,” she said. “It would be nice for more churches to go back to these practices instead of having mega-reunions or mega-worship services.”

To encourage people -- especially young people -- to roll out of bed early, pastors shouldn’t be afraid to think outside the box for a sunrise service, said the Rev. Leslie R. White, pastor of Grant AME Church in Watts.

The church takes an energetic approach to its 5 a.m. service, putting on a 175-person production that features a performance to rapper Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks.”

“If you’re going to get somebody up, you better not let that person fall asleep because that person’s not coming back,” White said.

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Times staff writer Veronica Torrejon contributed to this report.