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To the editor:
Easter Sunday has come and gone, and I shall remember this one.
For over 20 years, I have celebrated Easter Sunday locally. This year, I felt I needed a change of pace, so I chose Boston.
We are so fortunate here on Cape Ann to have Boston so accessible by public transportation; the train. And with modern technology, I can now actually read books, look at email, listen to music, and hear sermons I may have heard when I was a teenager when I attended Park Street Church in Boston.
Oh, and yes, I can still look out the windows of the train at the views I especially enjoy.
To experience Sunday services I had to catch the 7 a.m. For a late riser, this can be difficult, but I did succeed.
The train went all the way to North Station. There were very few people on the streets when I arrived. I love to walk to Park Street Church. On other trips in town, I walk up by the State House and across Boston Common and Public Gardens and continue along Newbury Street to Boylston Street. Return trips to North Station usually include Fanueil Hall Marketplace.
When I was a teenager, I used to sit up in the balcony at church with my friends, so naturally I thought this would be a great spot to experience Easter Sunday this year. I was not surprised that the congregation filled the church to capacity.
The view was certainly very good in the balcony. What I had not planned on was the elevation was a bit of a problem for me, remedied by sitting when everyone else stood to sing. Even though I did not know a soul attending that church now, I felt at home, and felt the sense of celebration of what Easter is all about.
I had sung in the Park Street choir back in the 1960s, the first year there was a choir. Now the choir is tripled in numbers or more.
After the service, which concluded with a sing-along of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" (with 50 choir members, 15 or so orchestra players, the organist, three ministers, and perhaps 500 to 600 people in the congregation) the crowds were treated for unbelievable hors d'oeuvres and drinks.
I was comfortable, in spite of the crowd. I had time to enjoy the feast and join the crowd going upstairs to the sanctuary for the final morning service.
I had decided to experience the service not in the balcony, but on the main floor. This was much better.
God's message came through with glory! And I had pleasant memories of my teen years, when my father made that possible.
It was a way of having him with me now. Thank God, the train service is running on weekends!
Martha Bowen
Gloucester
