For 150 years a beach in New Jersey, owned by Christian group Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, was closed on summer Sunday mornings.
But last year the state refused to recognise its right to close the beach then, saying it would be fined up to $25,000 a day if it did not keep it open all week long, according to a report in The Times.
So the Association responded by holding an open air service on the beach and 500 people heard Pastor Joe Tiedemann’s seaside sermon. For the first time, his boardwalk pavilion looked out not onto empty sands but to crowds of sun umbrellas and bikini-clad bathers. Asked whether it changed his message, Tiedemann replied: ‘We’re just happy that people can be in the presence of the Lord.’
