Easter at Hollywood Lutheran Church

Join us for a magnificent and hopeful celebration of God's reconciling power in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Easter Sunday, often marked with "Sunrise Services," has a more ancient Christian tradition that anticipated the Resurrection at midnight.

These Easter Vigil services are at the same time the most joyous and most solemn Christian liturgies performed, with a series of 12 prophetic scriptural readings, the lighting of the "new fire" and the Exultet or sung announcement of Easter which makes all the connections between God's mighty acts of redemption down through time, and during the night hours, which bring light and joy and gladness to humanity.

The Season of Easter consists of seven Sundays and weeks of joy and celebration--longer than Lent! During this season the Ascension of Our Lord commemorates the events of Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:6-11.

The observance of Easter was settled at the ecumenical Council of Nicea in A.D. 325.  Very simply, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21).  The date of Easter moves because the cycle of the Earth’s moon is 28 days and does not coincide with our calendar months.

In addition, the Eastern Orthodox Church and other eastern Christian bodies differ from the Western church because they continue to use the Julian Calendar instead of the Gregorian Calendar for their calculations.

When does Easter fall?

If you need to know the date of Easter and other church year festivals related to it, use the following table: