5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Luke 24: 5-6
Easter: In the face of fear, anxiety and exhaustion, we have a certain hope because of Christ’s resurrection.
Christians: In the face of sadness, we know how to still celebrate with joy. Sing!
Churches: While we are without hugs and hospitality, we can offer love locally. We are in the roads, in the parks and in the fields! We love our communities.
So let’s plan for Easter to ….
1. Help our church families celebrate the resurrection
2. Welcome guests from our communities into our church’s joy and hope
3. Offer brave, inspirational, flexible, prayer-fuelled ideas
Join us on 25th February 2021 at the Big Day Out on Zoom, when we will launch our resources, but for the moment here are our ideas. Which of these inspires you? [We will not be preparing resources for all of these. Follow us online to find out which we will be developing further]
1. Easter Festival & Good Friday in the Park.
Find a wide open space. Fill it with activities, e.g. engineering an egg drop, egg decorating and bonnet making. Allow families to book into slots to ensure safety. Have a vast wide wooden cross in the centre. Each visitor can write their name and a prayer on a luggage label to nail to the cross. Finish with a half hour all-age chaotic open celebration of Christ’s saving death (and a hot cross bun)
2. Easter Walkabout.
Four gazebos in the park or churchyard. Put an actor in each to tell the Easter story through the eyes of key characters: a disciple at the Last supper, Pilate at the trial, a centurion at the cross and a woman at the tomb. Families book in online to walk around the stations. If everything gets cancelled, record the characters telling their stories and send it out online.
3. Zoom Easter.
Grab the funny script and the tailored backgrounds. You find your actors (adults or children) to record the Easter story on Zoom. Send it out on social media, because we all want to see the people we know (especially if they’re dressed as a Centurion!)
4. Easter Amble.
Half a dozen houses in your community decorate their gardens or their windows with moments from the Easter story. Get families walking the route, making sure it is short enough for little legs. How can you involve the community?
5. Bake Along.
Drop off the ingredients at the doors of families. Invite them to join your live Zoom bake along. Hot cross buns? Easter egg chocolate brownies? You need one chef to bake and one engaging hero to engage the children in the gaps with games and mini-talks.
6. Easter day service.
Let’s get outdoors. Let’s fill the park. Can we sing? Then let’s make sure we’re heard far away! Any field, park or open space will do. Everyone brings a rug. Preach with a loud voice. Keep it short. Is this the year for a sunrise service around the bonfire for the families? Create memories.
7. Weekend of Wonder.
Give your families a menu of adventure for the Easter weekend, dropping a bag of goodies off at their door. Thursday evening Last Supper with home made flat bread and ribena. Make some hot cross buns on the Friday with a booklet about Christ’s death. Saturday is a walk around your community with challenges. Sunday is frying an egg in a surprising place (have you got access to a cave?!) with a chocolate egg hunt.
8. 80s Easter.
Vol-au-vent because they look like a tomb. Swiss rolls because they look like a cave. Roller boots because… I’m not so sure. Could this be the year to go bizarre because nothing is quite normal anymore?
9. Escape Room.
Crack the code as a family on the sofa or as a small group on Zoom. Free Barabbas before he commits another crime. But why is Jesus still locked up?
10. School assembly.
One video carefully made (using one of our Easter assembly ideas) can be sent around to every school in your community. Give the classes a resource to use as a follow-up.
