Commemorating Easter doesn’t have anything to do with bunnies and egg hunts at the Christ Church Cathedral this long weekend.
With various services — both solemn and festive — on the schedule, the Very Reverend Shane Parker, the Dean of Ottawa, will certainly have his hands full with the 800-seat cathedral filled to capacity.
“Easter is the queen of the festivals, so to speak,” said Parker, who has been a reverend in Ottawa for 10 years.
The services begin on Thursday with the “commemoration of the Last Supper. It’s a very important celebration,” said Parker. “On Good Friday, we remember and commemorate the crucifixion of Christ. On Holy Saturday night, we have a vigil where we light the Easter candle. Of course, on Sunday, we have the celebration of the resurrection of Christ.”
At the end of the Thursday service, the entire church will be stripped bare and the lights turned out, and on Good Friday the church itself will be lit with nothing but daylight.
The Good Friday service is a “solemn service,” said Parker. After the Saturday service, the church celebrates with three separate Sunday services for the “joy of resurrection by pulling out all the stops,” said Parker.
“We recognize that there is more than we can see. There are more possibilities to life than we can possibly imagine. I would hope that people who attend would feel that the creator of all creation is with them in the worst and lowest parts of their lives, just as He is in the most joyful. Easter is recognition of that,” said Parker.
