Faithful flock to Norring Lake for special Combined Churches of Wagin Easter Sunrise Service

The Combined Churches of Wagin Easter Sunrise Service drew about 20 people to Norring Lake in the shire of Wagin on Easter Sunday to mark one of Christianity’s most holy days. The service has been held at Norring Lake for about 29 years and Vineyard Christian Fellowship pastor couple Ian and Wendy McDougall led the celebration. “It’s a combined churches event,” Ms McDougall said. “That involves the Catholic, Baptist, Anglican, Uniting and Vineyard churches — we do the Easter sunrise service and the carols also at Christmas time.” Ms McDougall said the Norring Lake celebration might stem from Kojonup where the Uniting Church used to hold an Easter Sunday service at Cherry Tree Pool. “They had a camp site there,” she said. “You weren’t allowed to say a single word until the sun came up and when the sun came up they’d say ‘Christ is risen, he is risen indeed’, and I think that is probably where the idea came from. “It’s Easter Sunday, the first day of the week, it’s the first day Jesus rose because he rose on Sunday and the scripture said very early in the morning. That’s where the idea of actually having a sunrise service makes it a little bit more special, because it’s about Jesus rising and you see the sun rising.” The faithful braved an early morning on March 31, gathering at the lake at 6.15am to find the weather kind. “Being early in the season, we didn’t have to get up later but it also wasn’t colder,” Ms McDougall said. “Often we’ll be in rugs and blankets and overcoats and beanies, if it’s mid-April it definitely is cold down there then so the end of March makes it a lot easier. “One year we were under the shelter because it poured with rain and we had one year where it was just cloud the whole time until right near the very end of the service when there was this little slit and the sun popped out then disappears again.” After the service the group welcomed the day with a shared breakfast of hot cross buns and Easter eggs.