Christians on Long Island mark Easter with services in church and on the shore
As the sun crept over the horizon at Jones Beach, a chorus of voices singing hymns ushered in Easter morning as Christians celebrated their holiest holiday. Bundled in coats and armed with folding chairs, worshippers gathered on the sand predawn, amid cries of “hallelujah” and cheers.
Easter sunrise service at Jones Beach Field 6. Credit: Daniel Goodrich
Long Islanders worshipped and marked the holiday with jubilant church services, visits from the Easter bunny and “eggstravagant” egg hunts. Children gleefully scrambled to collect the 10,000 colorful plastic eggs scattered around the lawn of Jericho-based Milleridge Inn and posed with photos of the famous bunny who made a special appearance. Owner Butch Yamali said close to 3,000 Long Islanders showed up for the “big family day” at the inn, which was complete with pony rides and a petting zoo.
The Easter bunny counts down to the start of the egg hunt at the Milleridge Inn Easter egg hunt in Jericho on Sunday. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Easter symbolizes “the gift of new life and to remind ourselves in times of darkness and uncertainty and division, the word of hope always breaks forth like sun in a new day,” Erik Rasmussen, the Long Island Council of Churches chair, said at Jones Beach early Sunday. Close to 200 worshippers attended the sunrise service.
Father Michael Duffy of St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre called Easter “the day that changes everything.”
The Rev. Michael Duffy gives parishoners communion at St. Agnes in Rockville Centre during Easter Sunday Mass. Credit: Johnny Milano
Mass attendees were grateful to honor the holy day in person. “It’s an expression of our faith. It’s one of the pinnacles of our faith,” said Bernadette Simple of Laurelton. “It’s just wonderful to be here in the community and to be back in church after COVID.”
Pews were filled with locals and visitors from as far as Guam and Missouri in Garden City, where at Church-in-the-Garden, the Rev. Earl Y. Thorpe Jr. delivered a fiery Easter sermon recounting the story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. He charged worshippers with being more like Jesus, who he painted as an advocate with an unwavering conviction to help everyone and an unflinching commitment to justice.
“Jesus was a political prisoner and was executed because he had a radical mission and ministry of love which superseded the status quo of inequality, misogyny, bigotry and a whole host of ‘isms’,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe wove the lessons of Jesus’ execution and resurrection into the present day with examples of problems plaguing America. Jesus healing the blind? The man had no health insurance yet was healed. Jesus feeding thousands with fish? He enacted a feeding program. Men as head of the household? Women were the first to discover Jesus’ empty tomb.
“Something got wrong with the society that says, ‘No, no, if you’re doing something for somebody else without paying … then it’s wrong in this society.’ Anybody know a society like that?” Thorpe questioned the congregation. “The same thing that was happening in Jesus’ time is still happening to us 2,023 years later.”
With Morgan Campbell, Daniel Goodrich and James Carbone
Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.
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