What are you doing . We do not have a sunrise service. In many Episcopal Churches, there are vigils that either happened very early in the morning, or the evening before. The first eucharist of the easter season. At Saint Clements, at the 8 00 service, we are baptizing a new christian, a little baby. With plenty of music. And at the 10 00 service, we will be packed with flowers and people dressed up. Great. Let me go back to a vigil. What is a vigil . A vigil a very old service, of the christian church. Recalling salvation history over time, going back to the hebrew scripture. And the new testament. And then leading into the celebration of the resurrection. And it is one of the most traditional times of the year to baptize as well. So you say salvation history. If we are not exactly remembering what that is, can you encapsulate that for us . How much time do we have . [ laughter ] very often christians ask one another or ask people on on the street, are you saved . And very different interpretations of it. Salvation history in a nutshell, how over and over again, over time, how god has saved gods people. And so that is tying the Old Testament to the new testament together. As sort of one unit, in god coming to save. The word save, also meaning to heal. But for most christians, we began to date easter, as not a singular event, but you go back x amount of time in the church calendar. Helped to remind us what we are doing there in this easter celebration. Where does it start . Again, there are many different beginnings and different starting places on the church calendar. But we look back to ash wednesday, the beginning of lent, a very somber time, penitential time, on the church calendar. And the great 40 days of lent begins. And in some traditions, people give things up. In some traditions, people take things on. We try to spend some time being introspective. Also looking out and seeing who else is out there in the world, that may need our prayers and our assistance. 40 days is a traditional time then . Yes. 40 days in the wilderness. Forty days of the rain for noah. Forty is a symbolic time, is that right . Yes. Yes. During these 40 days, beginning with ash wednesday, that is the time when people often have crosses of ash on their head. And then it moves up to, what is called, holy week. Walk us through this last week. It has been a busy weekend the life of the church. You can tell by the bags under my eyes. [ laughter ] we had palm sunday last sunday, which is a mixture of observances. We celebrate the triumphal entry of jesus into jerusalem, where in some of the gospels, people are putting columns down on the road for him to parade over. It is almost a celebration. What we do is, we walk around the city blocks waiting in singing. And then as the service continues, we move into the gospel reading, which is a passion, the crucifixion of r lord. And there is a change into feeling the pain of jesus on the cross. Lets pause out at that change point. We will take a break. And come back. Were talking with bruce oatmeal neil, who is the pastor of Saint Clements church. Stay with us up on the sunday morning. On this easter morning, there is still time for you to get up and go to a sunrise service. We hope that you do that. And then go out and attend a church for easter worship. The high point of the christian calendar. To help us understand what that is about, bruce oneill is working with us. You are telling us that palm sunday is the time of the waiting and celebrating. And you are telling us, about a week ago that it begins to shift into a darker mode, which you described as the passion. Yes. And beginning on palm sunday, with this and then moving into the story of jesus on the cross, for holy week, which is what last week was, and various traditions, observed in different ways, we have course have palm sunday, passion sunday. And then have some quiet time. And then as the week progresses, we have a thursday service. This being the time commemorating the last supper. This is not a word you use every day. I use that word quite often. Mondy, coming from the word, to be mandate. And jesus mandating love for one another. We have a dinner on thursday. Somewhat commemorating jesus last supper. And then we move into the church and have a stripping of the altar. And take away everything except the very basics, getting ready for bed friday the next day. And have prayers. Why do you do that . In preparation for good friday, the day of jesus dying on the cross. And going back to the most simple things in our church. So all the colors and everything festive, are taken out on maundy thursday at the end. And then on good friday, how do you observe good friday . We began at noon with a threehour service commemorating jesus last minutes on the cross, beginning the day. We have meditations. We have our beautiful choir music. We have readings and prayers. And one may not be there for the whole three hours. So this is a drop in. Some congregations use what is called the seven last words or something. But this is a threehour service. It begins at noon. It ends at 3 00. Why . What is the symbolism there . Remembering the time of jesus on the cross. Three hours, that is the traditional time. What do you do a again, for these three hours . If i want to drop in for a bit at Saint Clements or at other churches across the bay area, the same thing will go on . And if i go in just to drop in for a while, what am i going to see and feel and hear . At Saint Clements, you will see people in different stages of life, on different journeys. Some of them are there every sunday, every service. Some of them are just stopping by off the street. And good friday was a time really for people to reconnect as is Easter Sunday, to reconnect with their faith or on their journey searching to find a place. Im going to hear some music. I am going to sing some songs. Im going to hear some scripture. That is to remind me of the time of christ on the cross. So 3 00, on good friday what happens at church is between than and now . Some people have further services on friday evening. Some people have very Simple Services on saturday. And then saturday evening sometimes vigils. We take a break. For our congregation in our community, easter is sunday morning. I know easter happens for different people in various ways. But Easter Sunday is our big day along with christmas. Although we are open the rest of the year. Okay. You use the word, take a break. And so perhaps that is a good time for us to do that. And leave us a little more time in the next segment. , to come back and talk with bruce oneill, on this Easter Sunday. Again, a blessed easter with you. Thank you for joining us. Were talking with bruce oneill, who is the director of Saint ClementsEpiscopal Church in berkeley. Thank you for being with us. It is easter morning. And everybody is going to church. And you are going to be under the pressure to deliver an easter sermon. Which is always a challenge. Lets go back for just a minute. And let the viewers learn a little bit about you. Where do you come from . What is your personal story . I grew up on the east bay. In berkeley, we call this, through the tunnel. And i went to college in berkeley, studied english and social welfare, very marketable double major. Had been involved in the church from early on, in the Episcopal Church. And thought possibly at some point, that ordination would be something i might do. But i didnt think of myself as particularly religious. And so i started thinking about maybe i would go to graduate school for Public Policy or a Business School or law school. And after college, with that marketable double major, i went to work for a law firm, that i have been working for during the summers. And i worked in, employee benefits. Working on retirement plans. Very interesting. Great people. It was clear i was called to do something else. I had catalogs in my closet, looking at different graduate programs. I have lunch with the priest from my local church one day. He came into my office and closed the door and said, bruce, you need to go to seminary. And having someone else say that gave me the nudge to look into it a little bit more. And i looked at the ordination process in the Episcopal Church. I looked at various seminaries and what the studies would be like. And it finally clicked that this was something that connected my faith with the rest of my life. First of all, but this goal priest may get married, right . Yes. And you are . Almost 20 years. And a son . Yes. Jeremy will be 15 next week. How was he doing with being a preachers kid . Sometimes he is doing well. Sometimes it is a challenge. I am one too. That is why i bring this out. Why in the world would you leave a very secure and productive field to work in, with insurance and benefits that Everybody Needs why would you trade that in and go into Parish Ministry . These are longerterm benefits. [ laughter ] those are shortterm. These benefits are much more grand and much more long term. It is also it really wasnt what i felt called to do. There are some days not everyday is wonderful in Parish Ministry. There are challenges. From all around. Sundays, i wish i had stayed. But in the big picture, it is really a fulfilling thing for me. What are the best parts of being a priest in a local parish . The people are wonderful. Loving, giving and generous. Meeting people in good times and in bad times, in various situations. I might be joking around with some of our teenagers. And then i need to go to the hospital to visit someone, in less than joyful times. But it is a real blessing to be part of peoples lives and to get that welcome. The Episcopal Church, for people who dont keep up with such things or may not know a brief sentence or two about that. If we come to an Episcopal Church, what should we expect . What are some of the traditions . One of the great things about the Episcopal Church is that there is a wide variety, even just in berkeley, there are four different Episcopal Church is, with four different flavors. And the Episcopal Diocese of california has about 80 congregations throughout the bay area. The Episcopal Church if you go into an Episcopal Church, you can expect a ritual. It is not just preaching and singing. There is definitely a ritual that has been followed for centuries and centuries. And so we can expect that. That would be sort of standardized. So it is a formal way, in that sense. With the prayers and the hymns. They will be serving communion and eucharist on sunday, which people will partake in. It will take about one hour or one hour and 15 minutes, with all of the hymns. So that is sort of set. Let me go back and say, the doors of your church, they are open. You dont have to do anything but show up, right . Yes. No membership card at the door. So you go and participate. We urge you to go out and do that. The core message of today of course is the resurrection of christ. And that is told in different ways in each of the gospels, right . Right. Do you have a favorite . I like the mall. I like them all. No favorite gospel. I like the various nuances between them. And even though each of the gospel authors have slightly different viewpoints that bothers some people. I think, in the big picture, the story is the same. And that makes it even more moving to me. What is that story that is moving to you . Jesus having been crucified this past friday. And his followers, very upset and distressed. The one that they loved was no longer with them. Early on that morning, his followers went to the tam where he had been. They went inside and it was empty. Nothing was there. They were scared. They thought somebody had stolen jesus is body jesus body. And slowly, the apostles began to encounter the risen jesus, back to life. There we have it. That is it. And for people who go and read the gospels, they are slightly different. Marks with the empty tomb. And then if you go into john, there is a more formalized better greek, the whole thing. More like a cathedral. Then you will get sightings and appearances. So when people read this, you say, there are differences in these gospels, but that should not be of a great bother. Because they were written by different people at different times. So we want to know what you are going to preach on today. Maybe we will talk about that. I should give him some time to think about that. [ laughter ] we will be right back. Back with bruce oneill. A blessed easter to you. One of the things we love about doing television here is that some of the people in the control booth and the crew asks us questions. The question here is, in church she grew up and said, something happens to jesus in the three days. One of these great creeds of the church that we recite what happens to jesus between good friday and easter . The resurrection. But he descends . Yes. In some of the creeds, this sends to heller to the dead. And the thought is, to bring those who had already died up into this new life of the resurrection. That is the theological message. We often interpret that in the three layers when people read the creeds, they thought the universe was like a layer cake. And there was god up here in the land of the dead or hell here. And we were somewhere on middle earth. That image may not exactly hold. But it is the theological idea, of going and then returning with. So it is good news all the way. It is good news all the way. A little early for theology. [ laughter ] we should wait until 10 00. So you are going to preach about what . What is going to be the core of the message today . I was hoping that you would be giving the instructions. I still have a couple of hours. The court is core is a member in the story of the resurrection. The early followers on the first easter morning. And recalling that story. What does it mean to me . It is a couple thousand years later. Why are we still talking about it . And why does it have an impact on our lives . With hope, people will hear the message from scripture and possibly hear the message from the sermon, that resurrection brings hope, and brings new life. And life into our lives, in the midst of a crazy busy dangerous world. God is with us in various ways. Hope and encouragement. So what would be the value then of my coming if i go to a church this morning and i have never been there before, what am i likely to encounter . And what is going to happen . Again, one of the wonderful things about the Episcopal Church and christianity in general, is a wide variety. If you come to the Episcopal Church, there will be music and scripture and prayers, and community. We live with so many people who are spiritual but not religious. Especially in the bay area. Sometimes, religious people can be spiritual. And it is wonderful to be part of this community of faith. And we are not alone in our faith journey, in our lives. There will be great hymns and easter lilies. And probably a Little Something good to eat at coffee hour afterwards . Yes. And the great sacrament of the easter egg hunt, for the youngest ones. Where does that come from . Do you know . Easter egg hunts . I do not know. I dont know either. But the idea is that it is a good time to take your family and take kids there and get them introduced into the easter season. If the sun is not up yet, there is still time to go out and find a morning sunrise service. Or to check a local church around you. They will be glad to see you. It will take a little bit of your time. And you will go away much happier and feeling better about things. Sing clemens at 10 00. It is right by the claremont hotel. 8 00 and 10 00. And the Methodist Church at 10 30 a. M. Find a church somewhere. And go. You will be glad you are there. Bruce, thank you for coming on, on this Easter Sunday. He is risen. Blessed easter to you. We will see you again next month. Thank you. Hello everyone. Welcome to bay sunday. I am your host, frank mallicoat. Good to have you on board. We begin with the weekly pitch. If you have a show idea, we would love to hear from you. Give us a shout. Go to facebook. Com and go to pay sunday. We will hopefully get in touch. Our first guest, a familiar face and voice in the bay area. Tv and radio personality that has taken to the stage many times. He is a one man show. Not a genuine black man. The longestrunning one man show in San Francisco history. It is now celebrating the tenth the year. He is here to tell us his story. Welcome back brian copeland. It is a pleasure to be here. Good to have you here. Over 700 performances over