Easter sunrise service

Every Easter Sunday our local church holds a sunrise service on a nearby hill, known in the church as "Galilee". This in reference to the verse in which an angel tells the women who've found Jesus' tomb empty, "Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’" (Matt. 28:7)

Marc has been to this service before, but I never had, and this year Simon and I decided to get up early (the service starts soon after 5am) to go to it. The night had been a heavy, hot and sticky one, so it was quite a relief to stop fighting for sleep and to get up and go out into the relatively cool night (still about 30°C!). There was a bit of a wind, which was lovely, and the moonlight was so bright that we walked the first bit of our way without torches. After that we were on a path through the fields though, and I thought it would be better to have torches to scare away snakes. As we made our way up towards the hill, we did hear a rustling sound nearby, and I swung my torch round to see the coils of a snake not far from the path. I momentarily regretted my decision to come, and to bring Simon with me, but we'd got that far, so we weren't going back again!

We could see a light on the hill, and the smaller lights of people making their way to the hill on foot or by motorbike. After a while our path crossed that of some young people walking up from the village, and we were glad to let them lead the way (and scare off any more snakes!).

It was very pleasant on top of the hill, and if it hadn't been for my lurking fear of snakes (or my fear of lurking snakes) I would have been tempted to suggest that during hot season we should always hold church services up there early in the morning, instead of packing into a small church building once the sun is beating down!

It was good to be with brothers and sisters, though I was a little disappointed that the service wasn't more concentrated on the Easter message! There was a disturbance not far from us during the service, people exclaiming, and leaping up, and a young man hitting something with a stick. I thought they'd killed a snake, but learned later that they'd seen a snake, which had got away, and had killed a gecko (said to be dangerous - perhaps they are different from European geckos?).

The sunrise was also a bit of a disappointment, being a typical hot season sunrise where the light just starts to become apparent through the haze. But I was glad to mark a special day by doing something a little different.

I haven't yet mastered night photos, but here is the blurry moon (and the blurry red light on a mobile phone tower in the village):



Once the sun was up, here are some of the people at the service:



Here is everyone leaving the hill again after the service (a few of the village roofs are visible in the background):



And this shows you how small this hill is, despite being the highest hill around: