Standing before their congregations at a time of introspection and optimism, ministers across the country called the year 2000 a fresh chance for peace, compassion and spirituality.
From coast to coast on Sunday, the new millennium was a common theme at church, with many of the clergy using the opportunity to tell parishioners to forget about computers and think about God.
"The question should not be whether you are Y2K-ready, but whether you are heaven-ready," said the Rev. Larry Davis, pastor of First Baptist Church of Cold Spring, Ky., near Cincinnati.
John Fiedler, senior minister at First United Methodist Church in Dallas, told his congregation the growing fear of Y2K problems had reached a fever pitch — likely fueling misguided concerns.
"Perhaps you had a similar experience to mine on Saturday morning," Fiedler said at the start of his sermon. "You got up early and went outside, and you were just delighted to note that the trees and the sun and the clouds were all Y2K compliant."
Fiedler added that the dawning of 2000 means Christians worldwide should "get back to the business of waging peace."
The Rev. Rick VanWey of the Beulah Church of the Nazarene in Beulah, N.D., said so much time and energy was spent preparing for Y2K "that we've almost missed the sense that the return of Christ is imminent, and it's far more of importance than anything else."
At the Church of the Nativity in Dothan, Ala., choir member Sam Flowers said a "special awakening" is beginning now that 2000 is safely here.
Across the country in Los Angeles, the Rev. Arshag Khatchadourian of St. James Armenian Church said technology could work for the church in the new century. Television and the Web are uniting people and igniting a spiritual awakening, he said.
"We are finding out we have the same problems, we have the same concerns, we have the same yearnings and we have to support one another," Khatchadourian said. "Our sufferings will make us come together."
Pastor Jay Wolf at the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., avoided mention of the year 2000 or Y2K, but told his congregation to "plug in" to God for a "consistent power source."
The church launched "Y2Pray," a project to focus on the congregation's prayer requests.
Bouncing around the church and wiping sweat from his brow, the Rev. John Johnson encouraged churchgoers in Richmond, Va. to take advantage of the fresh start of a new century.
"Today is the day, the beginning of the new year, to start off on the right foot," Johnson said at the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church.
"You need a spiritual boost now and then and a new millennium is definitely that," said the Rev. Richard Ryan, who participated in services at the Catholic Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne in Sun City, Ariz., where a foot-long millennium candle was lighted.
"It's a reminder that things in the past are past. That includes guilt, sin and the mistakes we've made. Psychologically it's a new start, a chance to do things right," Ryan said.
For the Rev. James E. Victor Jr, assistant pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the awe was in seeing what the world could achieve.
"As the world got its groove on the 31st and had a worldwide party ... we saw no episodes of violence across the world. We got a sense of what could be," he said.
In Oklahoma City, thousands of Catholics gathered for a jubilee to renew their faith in Jesus.
Rushing to meet a friend before the afternoon Mass, Gloria Schulte said she believes the new millennium will be a time of spiritual growth. "I think the church is going to grow — find more people," she said. "It's a chance for people to return to their roots."
The lack of a Y2K catastrophe was reassurance from above for the Rev. Isaac Wayne Stuart of the Friendship Baptist Church in Schenectady, N.Y.
"We were rest assured that God is still God and would continue to be into Y3K, Y4K and on," he said.