Worshippers gather in Allegheny Commons Park West for Easter Sunday sunrise service
It's a new era for the North Side Easter Sunrise Service – and a new location.
Allegheny Commons Park West hosted this tradition for the first time. It's a tradition coming back for the first time since before COVID.
"We used to do it up at the top of the hill at the observatory," Steven Werth, pastor at Community House Church and Riverview United Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, said.
"It went on for 80-something years, and the pandemic stopped it."
The community gathered along Lake Elizabeth on Sunday morning.
There were ducks in the water, and birds chirping. The pastors who did it were just a beautiful and serene spot.
They came to the park to celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection. Of course – that is the significance of Easter Sunday.
The pastors also mentioned words like "togetherness" on Sunday.
They say that sense of togetherness – the ability to bring together a diverse group – was important.
The service was open to people of all denominations.
"There were people of different races, different sexual orientations, different denominations, different political affiliations," Parker Kantos, pastor at Brighton Heights Lutheran Church, said.
"It truly was a representation of the community together, which was awesome to see."
Kantos says he knows there will be more events brought on by some of the North Side churches going forward.
