Monday, March 31, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Multitudes of traditions were celebrated in Las Vegas as Christians of all ages attended Easter church services.
While believers celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, Easter, which marks the death and resurrection of the man from Galilee, is considered to be the holiest of Christian holidays.
Christ's death as outlined in the Bible's New Testament is a time of renewal for the faithful and the less faithful. It is a time of recommitment and rededication to the beliefs shared by most Americans.
It also is a time of year when churches have more services and fuller pews.
In the southeast valley, about 3,000 people attended the valley's largest nonsectarian sunrise service, sponsored by Palm Mortuary. Three different ministers gave brief remarks at the 90-minute service held in a cemetery near Eastern Avenue and Warm Springs Road.
Many of the visitors said they have churches of their own but attended the Palm service because of its beauty and tranquility.
"It's a peaceful place," said local bartender Robert Dillon as he stood in the shade of a palm tree. Dillon, who was attending the service for the third time, planned to visit his own congregation later in the day.
"It's just beautiful out her," he said.
Brenda Robbin made the five-hour drive from Thousand Oaks, Calif., so she and her 14-year-old daughter could celebrate Easter with her mother. Robbin's father, who died four years ago, is buried at the cemetery where the sunrise service was held.
"I come back here every year for this," she said. "I would even if my mother wasn't here."
Most of the people who use the cemetery have been to the service, cemetery Director Marlin Cornelius said. "That and the Christmas animals we put out attract a lot of people."
Preparations for the service started at 2:30 a.m. Sunday with cemetery staff putting out 2,200 chairs and arranging potted plants, said Ned Phillips, event organizer and vice president of Palm Mortuary. Their actions culminated a planning process that started in January when Phillips began picking songs and singers for the event.
Phillips started the service 12 years ago as a way to create new traditions for newcomers to the city. About 400 locals attended the service the first year, and the crowds have continued to grow.
"I feel it fills a need," he said. "There are so many people here from different places. I was hoping it would start a tradition here."
In central Las Vegas, St. Anne's Catholic Church, at Maryland Parkway and St. Louis Avenue, marked the holiday with a few Easter traditions of its own.
The diverse congregation had about twice the usual participants at an 8 a.m. mass. Father Robert Votta sprinkled the assembly with holy water left over from Saturday baptisms and encouraged the parish to live lives of thankfulness for the sacrifice and renewal of Christ.
"We need a strong faith in our society today," he said to the Roman Catholic congregation. "Pick up a paper, turn on a TV and you can see the deep, dark depression in people's lives.
"You have been guaranteed a place in heaven. Continue to deepen your faith."
The message struck a chord in May Wooters, a local housewife and grandmother. Although she attended primarily to see her grandson, who serves as an altar boy, Wooters, a lifelong Catholic, said she felt renewed at the close of the service.
"I always do whenever I come," she said.
Spiritual renewal isn't the only Easter blessing. The parish expects to bring in "about double our weekly collections" on the holiday that ends the holiest week of the Catholic faith, Votta said.
In West Las Vegas, Second Baptist Church marked the holiday with a 5 a.m. service and a children's pageant where youngsters sang songs, told stories and gave testimonies about their faith.
Eleven-year-old Ash ley Mathis said she practiced every day for the last month in preparation for her role in a pantomime her Sunday school class presented to the nearly 1,700 attendees.
"It was fun," the future singer said.
The children's services were designed primarily as an outreach to youngsters who don't normally attend church, said youth director Lois Warren, who has organized the event for more than 25 years.
Youngsters felt the strategy was a successful one. "It affected the little kids in that they learned about Jesus," 12-year-old Ashley Nichols said.
Rather than dealing with Easter the holiday, the congregation focused on the faith that binds it together, the Rev. Willie Davis said.
"Easter is in and of itself a pagan holiday," Davis said. "Christ just happened to have died at the same time of year."
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