Dear William, I am so happy that you replyed to my letter. I think your email helped out a bit. But I need to get some type of information about the Sunrise Service. There is an Adventist church in California who regularly have these meetings on Sunday morning early.

Can you help me understand more clearly? When you say this church "regularly" has these meetings on Sunday morning early, do you mean that they do this every week, or perhaps even once a month? My response to you was based on the idea (my idea) that you were speaking of a sunrise service in connection with Easter Sunday. This is why I referred you to Matthew 28:1. Was it an annual Easter sunrise service you had in mind, or was it something more frequent?

I met a sister in the internet who attends these meetings and I told her that she should becareful of them. I did not feel that it was the right thing to do because I felt that it was still Sun worship like the pagan did in those days back then. She was very upset with me.

I believe that we do well to avoid merely "baptizing" elements of pagan worship into the church. But the fact that one may meet for a service at a particular time of day does not necessarily make it pagan, even if the pagans met at the same time, does it? For instance, take Paul's evening meeting in Troas (Acts 20:7). The Bible identifies it as taking place on the first day of the week. Many Sunday keepers point to this text as justifying their weekly Sunday worship. Did Paul do wrong for "worshiping" on a pagan day? We would say No, wouldn't we? We would point out that Paul was still a Sabbath keeper, that this was actually a Saturday night meeting (the day consisted of evening, then morning), and that he was not honoring Sunday as a day of worship because he left on a trip when it got light on Sunday morning. We would also point out that the purpose of the meeting was not their regular gathering for worship but a special occasion--a farewell meeting with Paul before he left. Does this have any parallels to the question you are concerned about?

I don't know the date of Paul's journey, but perhaps there was a full moon that night. The fact that some pagans worshiped the moon (and perhaps did it on the occasion of the full moon) would still not make us feel that Paul was at fault for this meeting, would it? So in thinking these things through, we have to ask not only when the service is held, but for what purpose. If our purpose (and, it should go without saying, our practice) is not the same as the pagans', can we rightly be accused of engaging in pagan worship?

These are some of my thoughts on the subject. I do not claim "papal infallibility" for them! With more information and a solid, persuasive argument in the other direction, I might well change my mind.

I do not know where to look for more information on sunrise services. During my 10+ years of local church pastoral ministry, I don't recall ever scheduling such a service for any of my churches, but to have done so on an Easter Sunday would not (I think) have compromised my commitment to the Sabbath and to the Lord of the Sabbath. On the other hand, if I were to schedule such things at frequent intervals throughout the year, my church members and my conference president might properly wonder what I was doing! But if we are discussing only an Easter sunrise service, even if it is done every year--well, I will confess that I still share some of the uneasiness you feel, but I do not see that such a service is *necessarily* pagan.

I know that it is a weird subjest. I told her that I was going to get information on it and if I was wrong, I had no trouble in stating that I was sorry but that I was going to send her information. Do you know where I can look? I would appreciete any thing you have. Thanks. ___________.

I wonder if the folks at www.bibleinfo.com would have more information? This is an Adventist-run site which is often very helpful with Bible questions. This is not quite a Bible question, but they might have something to suggest for you.

Sorry I can't be of more help! May God bless and guide you as you seek to honor Him.

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William Fagal, Director
Ellen G. White Estate Branch Office
Andrews University
Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1400 USA
Phone: 616 471-3209
FAX: 616 471-6166
Website: www.WhiteEstate.org or www.egwestate.andrews.edu
E-mail: egw@aubranch.egwestate.andrews.edu