Celebrating Easter with Church in the Community
EASTER is the most important time of the year for Christians. This year, probably more than ever, people are longing for the new life and new hope for the future that Easter can bring to all of us.
To help bring home this message of hope to all, Campoverde Church in the Community put together a full programme of services and events combining the holiness of the Easter season with the hope, excitement and joy that comes with the approach of Easter Day. With Lent being a time for reflection, each of our Sunday services of worship during Lent focused on the events in Jesus’ life during the 40 days before his death. With Lent also being a time for giving, we joined with Overseas Stores (Iceland) to collect Easter eggs for the children of Orihuela children's home and, thanks to the generosity of the people of Campoverde, two big boxes of them were collected during Holy Week. In addition, we encouraged people to add extra items to their weekly shop for our Community Food Bank.
During Holy Week we placed the Stations of the Cross around the church garden as part of our Easter trail, ending at the crucifixion of Christ on the cross. Many people took great comfort from following the Stations and then spending time reflecting, whilst sitting in the tranquillity of the garden. On the Friday before Palm Sunday members of the church and community met in our new hall for a Palm cross making
workshop. The Palm crosses were taken to bars and shops throughout Campoverde by members of the congregation and were given out during our Palm Sunday service.
On Easter Sunday we were determined to do what we could to help everyone hear about and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we wanted to get across the true meaning of Easter to our community and, in particular, make special memories for the children. So, we got together with the Rusty Nail and between us organised a special Easter Day of
Fun. Over 25 children and their families joined us for our celebrations.
Starting at the church, the children and their families were treated to Easter eggs and drinks. We told them about our church and why we were celebrating on this special day. The children then had to find the Easter bunnies located around the garden and answer the questions found on each of them.
When everyone had finished the quiz we all moved down the road to the Rusty Nail where, thanks to Yvonne and Roy, the Easter fun continued. We had an Easter colouring competition, name the Easter bunny, guess the number of sweets in the jar, Easter basket making and a bouncy castle. At the end the winners of the competitions were announced and more chocolate eaten. Lots of the families then stayed for a special Easter dinner prepared by the Rusty Nail. Later in the afternoon we held our special service of celebration in the church, where we heard about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us.
It was an event to remember (if a little exhausting!) and we pray that everyone involved will remember this very special Easter Day. We give special thanks to everyone who helped, everyone who turned up and Jesus Christ for making it all possible.