Experiencing new lives through Easter

Today is Easter, which commemorates the day Christians believe Jesus

Christ was resurrected from the dead after being crucified on the cross.

However, Easter can exist throughout everyone’s lives, says the Rev.

George Crisp of Christ Church by the Sea on Balboa Peninsula.

On Thursday, Crisp, who leads his United Methodist congregation, sat

down with Daily Pilot City Editor James Meier to discuss how important

Easter is to Christians.

Q: What should Easter mean to Christians?

A: First and foremost, I think Easter should mean new life. God gives

us new life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It’s

an event that is joyous and exciting. It’s a promise fulfilled that God

promises us new life in Christ, and this is how it is fulfilled.

It is the major Christian festival as well. I had one professor who

used to say the church year should be geared around Easter, and we don’t

often do that. We gear it more around Advent, before Christmas,

technically. But he said it should start with Easter, and I have to agree

with that.

Q: Does the holiday take on extra meaning this year in light of Sept.

11?

A: I think there is extra meaning in light of Sept. 11 because that is

such a day of tragedy and such a day of loss, such a day of darkness in

people’s lives, in our nation’s history, that Easter has the significance

of saying death is not the final answer. Tragedy is not where God wants

things to end. God wants there to be new hope, new life, a renewed sense

of living that comes out of the tragedies, darkness, sins of our lives.

Q: How important of a holiday is it, would you say?

A: Personally, I think it is the major holiday for Christians. It is

what defines us as Christians. It is the story by which we know that we

are ultimately loved by God and are given every opportunity to live in

that love.

Q: How does Easter differ in the United Methodist Church from other

Christian churches?

A: I think in the United Methodist tradition, we tend to focus more on

the Scripture and the proclaiming of the word. And so there is more of a

focus on telling the story from a Scriptural point of view. But that

doesn’t mean that is not also told with a sense of how it’s

contemporized, how we have a sense of Easter in the year 2002.

Other traditions may focus more on the celebration of Eucharist at the

table, the communion. And while we have that as a sacrament, and it’s

something we can consider extremely important, it’s not in the tradition

as strong as the proclamation of the word. And that proclamation happens

through preaching, through the reading of the Scripture, through the

choir, through the congregation.

It is also a time in many Christian traditions where new believers are

baptized. And we’ll be celebrating baptisms at our 10 a.m. service here

[today]. There are four children that will be baptized that morning. When

children are baptized, we are also saying they are being included in the

family of God. So it’s very important.

In ancient church tradition, baptism was a primary focus for Easter.

Those who have been studying the faith for one to three years were

baptized on Easter and then were allowed to have communion for the first

time. That’s not the case today, but that was the ancient church.

Q: Today, I’d assume baptism can occur any time of year.

A: Baptism can occur any time throughout the year, but my practice is

to offer it at special holiday times, not just at Easter, but at

Pentecost and the Sunday where we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, other

liturgical times throughout the year when baptism is highlighted in

Scripture. But, like you said, it can occur any time of the year.

Q: Do any of the traditions differ at all?

A: I’d say there is a breadth of experience in the Methodist Church.

There are some very highly liturgical, highly geared toward the pomp and

circumstances of celebrating the Christian faith, and there are others

who are on the other end of the scale who are very much basic and very

simplistic in the way they approach things.

We often use the terms “high church” and “low church.” And I don’t

mean to use those as derogatory terms, but more as descriptive kinds of

things. Also, it varies within the Methodist Church in terms of how

liberal versus conservative a particular congregation may be. This

congregation is pretty much squarely middle of the road. It’s very much a

blend of all of those things.

In terms of contemporary versus traditional, which is another sort of

dividing line for Christians, we are again a very much blended kind of

church, where we have some traditional elements and some very

contemporary parts.

All of that is a part of how Easter is celebrated in different

Methodist churches.

Q: Would you say your church is relatively typical of other Methodist

churches?

A: I think we are very typical of the mainstream United Methodist

tradition. I don’t even know how to quantify how many very conservative

churches there are out there. They just exist. I do know that. But I

don’t think they’re as representative as this congregation is of

mainstream United Methodist tradition.

Q: Tell me a little about the Easter sunrise service you hold on the

beach every year.

A: This is our 12th annual Easter sunrise service on the beach at 14th

Street. It was started when a couple of laypersons came to the pastor who

was here at the time and said, “We ought to use our location and do

something special utilizing the beach.” So that’s how it got started, and

it’s been carried on ever since then.

We see it as a community event. We certainly want the community to

attend and we hope community members do attend. In the last few years,

we’ve had up to 400, 500 people come at a given time. Last year, we had

very good press coverage from the Daily Pilot.

I think it’s a major event for the community, and it’s in a wonderful

setting. We all appreciate being in a church setting. It’s like taking

the church to the people. We’re happy to do that. It’s a wonderful

process. We have a great community that’s working this year to develop

that service, everything from putting together volunteers to do ushering

and all of the other things.

And we’ve enjoyed it -- the years when it’s been dark when we started,

but the sun comes up while we’re singing. One year, we had dolphins

hopping by. One year, a city trash truck came by and disturbed the whole

event. And I used that as a way of saying, “That’s God taking the garbage

out of our lives.” It made for a great metaphor. I wasn’t happy with the

city about that.

Q: So you’d prefer the dolphins?

A: I’d prefer the dolphins.

Q: On another subject, you were one of 22 Christians with the Western

Jurisdiction Korean Mission Tour who visited South Korea to get

acquainted with foreign Methodist churches. Tell me a little about that

trip.

A: It was a tremendous journey, a lot of fun, but also a great

learning experience for me. I got to experience preaching in a sanctuary

that would hold several thousand people. I think there were about a

thousand people that morning, so that was exciting. By contrast, I also

preached for a group of six people four days later at a small country

church.

It was also a good opportunity to see how the Methodist Church is

functioning in Korea. It is a little more conservative than American

Christianity. I don’t say that as a judgmental kind of thing. It’s much

more descriptive of how they function.

Part of the conservatism I see there relates to the fact that they

primarily relate to male clergy. In the United Methodist tradition, we

have female clergy. Part of the impact of our trip was that we had a

woman bishop, a woman layleader, a woman pastor and a woman district

superintendent. We had all these women in leadership who gave input in

various places to show how women can be in leadership in the church. I

think doors are opening there, but it’s slow.

I think it was a tremendous trip all the way around. I also had the

privilege of seeing some folks I went to seminary with -- Korean pastors

who came to Claremont [School of Theology], served maybe a little while

in churches in Southern California and then went back to Korea for their

ministries.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: Easter is not a historical event for us as Christians. It is

something that matters to us each and every day. Easter happens, I think,

every time someone has a new sense of life, a new sense of opportunity, a

new breath of fresh air, a second chance.

Easter happens in people’s lives. When a woman leaves an abusive

husband in order to find new life in the place of safety and peace and

help. Easter happens when a loved one dies and the family can recognize

they’ve been released from their pain and suffering. And any time pain

and suffering are addressed with love and compassion, I think Easter

happens.

I think we’re always pointing back to the fact we’re an Easter people

-- that we address different aspects of what it means for God to love us,

including the cross, the story of the resurrection.

I think I’d also say Easter is, for me, a matter of discovering how

much God loves us. So any time somebody has that sense of God’s love in

their life for the first time or in a new way, then Easter has happened

again. And certainly at Christmastime, and I know this sounds odd, we’re

talking about the savior who was born to give his life for our sake,

which is what he does in the story of Easter. There is a connection.

There’s always a cross in the cradle, and there’s always a cradle in the

cross.

BIO

Name: The Rev. Dr. George Crisp

Age: 51

Church: Christ Church by the Sea

Residence: Newport Heights for five years

Family: Wife of 18 years Sue, sons Andy and Matt Stough

Education: Bachelor’s degree in music and minor in theater arts from

the University of Redlands; master’s of divinity degre and a doctorate of

ministry from Claremont School of Theology

Hobbies: Watercolor painting, backgammon, softball, volleyball,

racquetball, playing guitar and piano, and composing music