by Pastor Tim White
What a Great Easter! I was deeply moved at every Easter service. I thought Pastor Linda had one of her best sermons at the beautiful Good Friday Service. What a great time for those committed to grow deeper in their love and appreciation of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross. The Holy Saturday service with Dr. Marty Folsom, the Chancellor of Washington Seminary, was really a blessing. I just had to give him a hug after the service after he shared from the reality of his personal grief the profound meaning of a Silent Saturday. Millie Porter did a great job with the dinner following the Saturday night service. The song that Dr. Marty and Eliot wrote together was just beautiful. I did not get to attend Pastor Josh’s Sunrise Service, but I heard great things about this early morning experience and I just love Josh.
And then all the work that everyone put into our Easter Pageant was just blessed by God. The little girl that came up at 9:30am service with her parents on the front row touched my heart to see their emotions as she watched the Easter story with such wonder. And then all the kids at the 11am service; my grand-daughter Eva, my grandson Oscar and all the children that we all love so much were just being themselves. The little boy who decided to go back to mom because there might be a monster in the cave to the little girl who came up by herself in her beautiful dress for the final song - Oh Happy Day! Her mother was crying just watching the wonder on her little face and she shared with me how much it meant to her. Then I will never forget the little boy who laughed so hard at my joke that his mom had to come and get him to take him to the back. I love that boy and I hope he and his family come back. People really enjoyed Pastor David’s Easter Breakfast and polished it off by the time the 11am service started. Afterwards, Grace Graham brought in a gourmet Philippine buffet - and a lot of it. So, many new families stayed for lunch after the 11am service enjoying Grace’s gift of hospitality.
The Easter Egg Hunts were terrific! Pastor Josh did a great job sharing the Easter story with hundreds of children. The hunt in the pool was just packed and such a great experience. The hunt on the top of the hill was as good as we have ever experienced. Special thanks to Pastor Jackie for being the Lead Pastor on our Easter project. For Rhonda and her team, along with Eliot and his team, who put on a great musical extravaganza. For Pastor Linda for directing the Easter Pageant through all the challenges such as losing our projector right before it started. David Fox playing Jesus and leading an enthusiastic cast in the play. The shuttle drivers, greeters, hosts, food preparation team, and a huge children’s ministry team with Rosanna Fox and Krista Bleile leading the way. Pastor Michael worked so hard in setting up the Tomb with a great team helping him. Over a thousand people at Easter services is a great win for us at this time in the life of our church. And there were so many amazing new families with touching stories of faith who came for the first time to Washington Cathedral.
And then to top it all off - we did it! We raised the money and reached our pledge goal to allow us to continue to lease the amazing facilities that God has blessed us with and to be able to use it for the next year. This is the fastest we have ever completed a fund-raising campaign in the history of our church. I can’t tell you the burden that takes off my soul as I recognize the God of Miracles once again at work in the life of this dream to Build a Great Caring Network. I can’t think of a moment in the history of our church that we have been more blessed by the incredible, gracious, love of God. And I pray that you were blessed this Easter as well. 2019 is going to be an amazing year in all our lives!
Your friend for the rest of my life,
Pastor Tim White