Dr. Luce and his Idea

In 1957 a reporter for the Colorado Springs Free Press interviewed the Reverend Albert Luce about his role in starting the Easter Sunrise Services in the Garden of the Gods. The results were published in the Easter Sunday edition of 21 April 1957. Only the 1916 starting date seems to have been in error:

Rev. Luce & Friends in the Garden of the Gods

"It was dawn of Easter Sunday 1916 (1920), and the sun rose like a grand fire over the eastern Colorado plains.

"As the haze-softened sphere cast crimson shafts against Pikes Peak, the chorusing began in the Garden of the Gods.

"The voices signaled the beginning of an impressive new Christian rite in the Pikes Peak Region: the Easter Sunrise Services in the Garden of the Gods.

"The scene was one of spectacular beauty: blazing sun and sky to the east, sparkling snows crowning Pikes Peak to the west; the beauties of pine-studded mountains to the north and south...and the deep pure blue of the Colorado sky above.

"Amid the services site itself loomed the strange and striking pink rocks of the ancient Indian worshipping ground - nature's temple of all Gods.

"'Yes, it was an inspiring site,' recalls the Rev. Albert W. Luce, the spry, 78-year-old Colorado Springs churchman who originated the services.

"I was just starting the services as a project for my own church,' said Dr. Luce, who was pastor at the time of the Central Church on the West Side.

"'We held the services in the exact spot where they're now held,' he said. 'And we had about 750 persons at the first services. They represented just two churches - the Pikes Peak Christian and the First Christian Church. These were the only two churches represented during the first four or five years.'

"Dr. Luce chuckled as he thought back to the pre-Easter days of 1916.

"'Some of my people didn't feel very warmly about my first Sunrise Services project,' he said. They figured why go out to the Garden of the Gods in the cold of dawn when they could be sitting in a nice warm church.'

"Dr. Luce said he mentioned to another pastor that he didn't want any battle, 'but my people think I'm crazy.'

"From whence came the idea of the Sunrise Services?

"Dr. Luce said it came from the 19th chapter of St. John's Gospel.

"Although he owned a Model T Ford back in the old days, Dr. Luce frequently left it home due to the price of gasoline: 13 cents a gallon.

"'I often rode my bicycle to the Garden of the God where I would sit and ponder Easter,' he said. It was during one such period of meditation that he thought of a particular passage in the Gospel. It stated: 'Now in the place where He was crucified there was a Garden. There they lay Jesus.'

"Unable to forget the passage, Dr. Luce asked himself: 'Since the first Easter took place in a garden, would not he Garden of the Gods be a fitting site for the Easter Sunrise ceremonies?'

"His idea was born...and he set to work pushing it to fruition. City officials agreed to set up three crosses at what is now the present services site.

The Original Three Crosses in the Garden of the Gods

"Preparations for the servies became so burdensome for Dr. Luce by 1921 that he persuaded his church to invite the El Paso County Ministerial Alliance to help support the Easter project.

"The Alliance has been the guiding force behind the services ever since, said Dr. Luce, 'and occasionally they invite me to appear on the program.'

"(Dr. Luce was slated to deliver the closing prayer at the services this morning).

"The Sunrise Services have been of inestimable publicity value to the Pikes Peak Region, Dr. Luce believes.

"He cited the coast to coast radio broadcasts on CBS, the postcards and literature disseminated by the Chamber of Commerce, plus films he himslf has shown in 47 of the 48 states and Canada.

"'I've shown films of the service in every state except Wisconsin,' he said, 'And I still intend to go there....'

"This energetic churchman was born in a small town in upstate New York 78 years ago.

"When only one year old, his family took him to Detroit where he attended the public schools, including the Cass grade school where Charles Augustus Lindberg was later to study.

"His steps along the ministerial study path took him to Hiram, Ohio, just south of Cleveland, and later to Friends University, Wichita, Kan. Following his graduation, he studied at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kan.

"He served as minister in several Missouri churches before coming to Colorado in 1904. He taught school in Golden, later served as a minister in Windsor, between Greeley and Fort Collins.

"Dr. Luce came to Colorado Springs in 1916 and promptly took over duties at the Central Christian Church at 15th Street and Pikes Peak Ave. However, after fire destroyed the structure, the church was moved to the old Longfellow School...

"He is now a member of the First Christian Church...."