EASTER WEEK 2014--Memories of Good Friday services at the Empire in Bay City

I think my wife and I are going to go to a Good Friday service this year to recognize the death of Jesus on the cross more than 2,000 years ago.  It's an important occasion and it's one that's too easily left by the side of the calendar.

If my grandkids and I were sitting in the coffeeshop eating scones and drinking espresso and they asked me about how I celebrated Good Friday as a young boy, I'd have to tell them about the services at the Empire Theater in Bay City which were sponsored by local Lutheran Churches.

The services were held around noon time and were at one of the nicest places in our small city on the side of the Saginaw River.  Hundreds would attend.  One of the local pastors would give a sermon where the Good Friday story would be told.  There must have been choir music, but I don't remember it. 

When it was over, I remember walking out of the theater onto Washington Street and everything would be quiet on the busiest street in town.  Stores had shutdown as part of the observance.

Here a picture of the Empire from the Cinema Treasures site.