Patriotism and martial music shared the stage with hints of dissent and pleas
for peace at the Hollywood Bowl's Easter sunrise service on Sunday, signs that
divisions over the war in Iraq persist, even amid the most unifying
expressions of Christian faith.
The war also was mentioned in several services in Orange County. "Many of
our members are Marines who are now deployed," the Rev. Packard L. Okie
of St. Clement's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church said at a dawn service at Max
Berg Plaza Park, about two miles from the north entrance to the Marine Corps
base at Camp Pendleton. "Many of their families attend our
services."
This year's event at the Hollywood Bowl marked the 81st staging of the
nondenominational service, which was broadcast for the first time in more than
a decade to troops stationed abroad over the Armed Forces Radio and Television
Service. The proceedings opened in darkness, with bagpipers playing
"America the Beautiful" and a choir belting verses of the
"Battle Hymn of the Republic," accompanied by the thunderous timpani
and cymbal-crashing of the Los Angeles Police Department Concert Band.
Chaplain Rick Givens of the U.S. Air Force Reserve offered a prayer for
President Bush and his Cabinet, the victims of the war and troops "in the
sand, in the mess tents and in the barracks." "Lord, we don't
understand what's going on there, but we know you do," he said.
With a much more fiery tone, the Rev. Michael Beckwith of the Agape
International Spiritual Center delivered a brief sermon that appeared to
criticize the war.
Beckwith -- a leader of a national program advocating the nonviolent
principles of Mohandas Gandhi -- said that when Christ was crucified, he
"could have brought the shock and awe of the days of ages." Instead
of resorting to vengeance, the preacher said, Jesus prayed for forgiveness for
his oppressors. The moral, he said, is that "it is not what happens to
you in life, it's how you respond to it."
As the amphitheater warmed to the first rays of sunlight, Roman Catholic
Father Michael J. Mandala read Pope John Paul II's Easter "peace
message," which called for an end to terrorism and called upon Iraqis to
be the "protagonists" in efforts to rebuild their country.
Chinese opera singer Li Zhang followed with a rendition of "Let There Be
Peace on Earth," as organizers released a brace of white birds that
fluttered into the canopy of the Hollywood Hills.
Such messages are staples of the traditional Christian Easter service, and the
hundreds of Christians who shivered through the proceedings interpreted them
as either criticisms of the controversial military action, or gestures of
support for what has been billed as a war crucial to the establishment of a
more durable peace.
Either way, the Easter story -- one of salvation bought with brutal physical
sacrifice -- resonated with many Angelenos who had the war on their minds.
Friends Karol Smith and Shirley Kidd both opposed military action in Iraq. But
they disagreed about the service. Smith, of Culver City, thought that it sent
a message that pleas for peace could coexist with overt displays of
patriotism.
But Kidd, a Venice resident, was dismayed by the touches of jingoism. "It
was like it was saying, 'We are the U.S., and God is with our troops,' "
she said. "But there wasn't much focus on the suffering" in Iraq.
Sitting a few benches away, a Vietnam veteran who declined to give his name
said the service was no place for critics of the war. Troops abroad, he said,
would be demoralized.
If the service sent contradictory messages, he said, "that's the point of
human nature."
The ceremony at Max Berg Plaza Park in Orange County was simple. Two
guitarists provided music for the two dozen church members seated on chairs in
a semicircle. Two candles in glass vases rested on a table in front of Okie,
who led members in song and prayer while early park goers began claiming
picnic tables and barbecues for family reunions later in the day.
The Rev. Diane Jardine-Bruce, rector of St. Clement's-by-the-Sea, was gearing
up for a dinner she would host Sunday evening at her home for a group of
Marine wives whose husbands were in Iraq.
"We have a lot of services to get through today, and I know I'll be dead
tired," she said. "But I felt it was something I needed to do."
In Garden Grove, thousands of people filed into the Crystal Cathedral, where
about 24,000 church members attended services throughout the day and evening.
Outside, a dozen protesters chanted and yelled antiwar slogans, but security
officials for the church said the demonstrators did not cause any problems.
Most described themselves as students or residents against the war.
Protesters didn't deter Al and Kathy Dunn and their three children, who paused
outside the immense glass cathedral to take family photographs.
They had driven from Idyllwild for an extended weekend in Orange County when
they decided to celebrate Easter at the Garden Grove church.
Dunn and his wife said they prayed for U.S. soldiers in Iraq during the
service, which included a special acknowledgment for soldiers killed in
action, troops stationed in Iraq, prisoners of war and those missing in
action.
"The pastor talked about the events in Iraq and the need for people to
request the mercy of Jesus Christ to help us through this," Dunn said.