Sunrise Service

The day's first light tinted the dark sky and chased away the full moon Sunday as worshipers picked their way across the hillside at Beachmont Christian Camp in Kingsville. Frost-covered grass crunched underfoot as families and couples bundled in ski jackets and blankets arrived, some clutching cups of coffee. Most held a copy of the Easter sunrise service program. "Over the years, it's snowed, it's rained and it's been a little colder than this, but they keep coming," said Paul Twining, the director of Beachmont Christian Ministries.

The day's first light tinted the dark sky and chased away the full moon Sunday as worshipers picked their way across the hillside at Beachmont Christian Camp in Kingsville. Frost-covered grass crunched underfoot as families and couples bundled in ski jackets and blankets arrived, some clutching cups of coffee. Most held a copy of the Easter sunrise service program. "Over the years, it's snowed, it's rained and it's been a little colder than this, but they keep coming," said Paul Twining, the director of Beachmont Christian Ministries.

Sunrise Easter worship service started extra early yesterday because of the change to daylight-saving time.Although worshipers would lose an hour of sleep and have to face an unseasonably cold morning, the Rev. Errol Smith knew they would come. And they did.Within an hour after he turned on the lights in the towering steeple of Lovely Lane United Methodist Church in Charles Village, about four dozen people had arrived. And there didn't appear to be a sleepy eye in the house.Churches across Maryland welcomed worshipers at dawn yesterday for services big and small.

St. Peter's Lutheran Church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus in a place most people associate with death. Congregants planned to gather before dawn Easter morning inside the darkened sanctuary of the Fullerton church before walking with candles to the church's cemetery for a service led by the Rev. Mark Crispell. His makeshift altar: a tombstone. Included in the service are hymns and Scripture readings, as the sun rises to illuminate the faithful - both the living and the dead. For churches like St. Peter's, an Easter morning gathering in or near burial grounds emphasizes their belief in the resurrection of Jesus and the salvation it represents.

NEW YORK -- For hundreds of years, millions of blacks were captured in Africa and forced to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, where they became slaves.Early yesterday morning, more than 1,000 black descendants of those slaves made a symbolic trip from St. Paul Community Baptist Church in East New York, Brooklyn, to the shores of that same ocean to pay homage to their ancestors, as part of a religious remembrance of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.The travelers arrived on the beaches of the Rockaway peninsula about 4 a.m. for a sunrise service led by the Rev. Johnny Ray Youngblood, the pastor of St. Paul, who organized the tribute, which is held every year.

Carroll County churches will celebrate Easter this week with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday worship services and activities.Services include:Westminster Baptist: Maundy Thursday Seder service will be at 6 p.m.; reservations are required for the meal.The community Good Friday processional through Westminster will begin at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Bond and Green streets, and travel to Ascension Episcopal Church on North Court Street for worship at noon.

St. Peter's Lutheran Church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus in a place most people associate with death. Congregants planned to gather before dawn Easter morning inside the darkened sanctuary of the Fullerton church before walking with candles to the church's cemetery for a service led by the Rev. Mark Crispell. His makeshift altar: a tombstone. Included in the service are hymns and Scripture readings, as the sun rises to illuminate the faithful - both the living and the dead. For churches like St. Peter's, an Easter morning gathering in or near burial grounds emphasizes their belief in the resurrection of Jesus and the salvation it represents.

Area churches will be conducting Good Friday and Easter services this weekend, and invite you and your family to join the celebration.*The Pasadena Ministerium will conduct its ecumenical Good Friday service at Community United Methodist Church, 8680 Fort Smallwood Road, from noon to 3 p.m.Clergy scheduled to speak include: Rev. Charles Harvey, Community United Methodist; Rev. Brian Rafferty, Our Lady of the Chesapeake; Rev. John Douglas, Emmanuel Lutheran;...

PREPARATIONS for celebrating Easter have center stage at church services.Area churches invite you and your family to attend services.Community United Methodist Church, 8680 Fort Smallwood Road, will have Good Friday services at 7: 30 p.m.The church's music groups will join in an Easter cantata to be performed during the 9 a.m. and 10: 30 a.m. services Sunday.Lake Shore Baptist Church, 4613 Mountain Road, will present an Easter cantata, "Greater is He," under the direction of music director Linda Kay Funk, at 7: 30 p.m. tomorrow and at the 8: 15 a.m., 9: 30 a.m. and 11 a.m. services on Sunday.

Joyful celebrations of Easter and Passover coincide this year. Passover, one of seven major holidays in the Jewish calendar, recalls the exodus of the Jews, led by Moses, from Egypt. May you enjoy the company of family and friends at your Seder table.Sunday is Easter, the chief feast of Christians, who commemorate the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion. It is a day for rejoicing after recalling the passion and death of Christ. Local clergy encourage you to join them in Easter and Holy Week activities.

St. Andrew's plans yard sale tomorrow St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 4 Wallace Manor Road, Edgewater, will hold its weekly indoor yard sale from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow. Spaces are $15 for a 10-by-10-foot space and $5 for tables. Tables are first come, first served. Reservations are suggested. Information: 410-269-7671. Events scheduled at Grace Baptist Grace Baptist Church of Sunset Beach, 17 Somerset Road, Pasadena, will hold the following events: Good Friday service at 7 p.m. today.

NORTHWEST Dawn services planned Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Taneytown will hold an Easter sunrise service at 6:25 a.m. today in the church cemetery on Roberts Mill Road. In the event of rain, the service will be held in the church at 38 W. Baltimore St. Breakfast will be served after the service. Information: 410-751-1203. Keysville Evangelical Lutheran Church, 7301 Keysville Road, Keymar, will hold an Easter sunrise service at 6:15 a.m. today. Information: 410-756-6064. St. Luke's (Winter's)

GEORGE WASHINGTON paid a visit to Freedom Elementary School last week and awed pupils and teachers alike. Professor John C. Swartz of Ohio spent several hours educating fifth-graders on our first president's life with anecdotes and little-known facts. Resplendent in uniform, riding boots, tricorn hat and white powdered wig, Swartz seemed to be Washington. Swartz matches Washington in height and even wears the same boot size. "I thought he was the real George Washington because his face looked exactly like him, and he even had a wig. I asked him if he dug himself out of the grave," said first-grader Haley Morton.

NEW YORK -- For hundreds of years, millions of blacks were captured in Africa and forced to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, where they became slaves.Early yesterday morning, more than 1,000 black descendants of those slaves made a symbolic trip from St. Paul Community Baptist Church in East New York, Brooklyn, to the shores of that same ocean to pay homage to their ancestors, as part of a religious remembrance of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.The travelers arrived on the beaches of the Rockaway peninsula about 4 a.m. for a sunrise service led by the Rev. Johnny Ray Youngblood, the pastor of St. Paul, who organized the tribute, which is held every year.

PREPARATIONS for celebrating Easter have center stage at church services.Area churches invite you and your family to attend services.Community United Methodist Church, 8680 Fort Smallwood Road, will have Good Friday services at 7: 30 p.m.The church's music groups will join in an Easter cantata to be performed during the 9 a.m. and 10: 30 a.m. services Sunday.Lake Shore Baptist Church, 4613 Mountain Road, will present an Easter cantata, "Greater is He," under the direction of music director Linda Kay Funk, at 7: 30 p.m. tomorrow and at the 8: 15 a.m., 9: 30 a.m. and 11 a.m. services on Sunday.

Carroll County churches will celebrate Easter this week with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday worship services and activities.Services include:Westminster Baptist: Maundy Thursday Seder service will be at 6 p.m.; reservations are required for the meal.The community Good Friday processional through Westminster will begin at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Bond and Green streets, and travel to Ascension Episcopal Church on North Court Street for worship at noon.

St. Andrew's to hold yard sale tomorrow St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 4 Wallace Manor Road, Edgewater, will hold its weekly indoor yard sale from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow. Spaces are $15 for a 10-by-10 foot space and $5 for tables. Reservations are suggested. Information: 410-269-7671. Captive Free concert is tonight Our Shepherd Lutheran Church will present Captive Free in concert at 7 p.m. today at 400 Benfield Road, Severna Park. Information: 410-544-8993. Youth group to fast through tomorrow The Youth Ministry of Galilee Lutheran Church will hold a 30-hour fast against hunger through tomorrow at 4652 Mountain Road, Pasadena.

HAPPY MARYLAND Day eve.On the holiday tomorrow commemorating the founding of Maryland a mere 363 years ago, Margaret Steinbock-Davies and her fourth-grade students at Brooklyn Park Elementary School will be celebrating in social studies class.Steinbock-Davies, the social studies teacher, has planned a traditional Maryland luncheon for the students to help prepare and enjoy, including Maryland crab soup, Maryland fried chicken, biscuits, potato salad, fresh green beans, Maryland-shaped sugar cookies, a cake depicting the Maryland flag, and black-eyed Susan chocolates.