For many, Easter Sunday marks a return to in-person worship

BOSTON (AP) — For many U.S. Christians, this weekend marked the first time since 2019 that they gathered in person on Easter Sunday, a welcome chance to celebrate one of the year’s holiest days side by side with fellow congregants.

Notable events included a 6 a.m. sunrise Mass outdoors near the waterfront in South Boston, and a joyous, hug-filled service at St. Peter Claver, a historically Black congregation in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Another mostly Black congregation, Watson Grove Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, had hoped for an outdoors service at a downtown park.

But rain forced a last-minute change of plans, and about 700 mask-wearing worshippers met instead in the church’s sanctuary for what senior pastor John Faison said was by far their biggest indoor gathering during the pandemic.

“We hadn’t seen a crowd like this for two years,” Faison said. “Eyes were lighting up. People just felt good.”

The pandemic erupted in the country in March 2020, just ahead of Easter, forcing many churches to resort to online or televised worship.

Many continued to hold virtual services last spring after a deadly winter wave of the coronavirus and as vaccination campaigns were still ramping up.

But this year more churches opened their doors for Easter services with few COVID-19 restrictions, in line with broader societal trends.