Costa Blanca News

Easter with Campoverde Church in the Community

- By Maggie Dew

EASTER is the most important time of the year in the Christian calendar; it is the time when we celebrate the thing that sets Christiani­ty apart from all other religions: the death and resurrecti­on of Jesus.

This year, as usual, Campoverde Church provided a full programme of events and services, appealing to all parts of our community and all ages.

We started with making palm crosses in the church garden, ready for Palm Sunday. Members of the congregati­on came along and spent a very happy time learning how to make palm crosses before making enough to take around to all the bars and restaurant­s in Campoverde for distributi­on to their customers.

On Monday of Holy Week we had our Holy Week procession through Campoverde. This is one of the most important events in Campoverde’s calendar and arose from the annual procession that takes place in Pilar de la

Horadada.

We wanted the expat ‘paso’ that leads the main procession to be brought to Campoverde, and permission was granted a few years ago. It is very important to our church as it contains a cross, the symbolic reminder that Jesus sacrificed his life for us so we could have eternal life. Many local people and local dignitarie­s joined the procession or witnessed it from the roadside.

On Maundy Thursday we gathered in The Shed to remember the events of the Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples on the night before he died. We enacted the words spoken and shared bread and wine together.

Afterwards we went into the church garden to trace the events leading up to the death of Jesus on the cross, by following each of the Stations of the Cross that had been place in the garden throughout Lent.

On Easter Saturday we had an ‘Easter Eggstravag­anza’ for the children of the village. Around 25 children and their families turned up and enjoyed

an afternoon of Easter fun; this included a name the bunny competitio­n and decorating Easter bonnets.

After telling them all about the true meaning of Easter, the afternoon ended with the grand finale of the Easter egg hunt.

The Church’s grand finale was the celebratio­n of the resurrecti­on

of Jesus on Easter day. The service was a most joyful occasion, which included happy resurrecti­on hymns and readings, hearing why Jesus died for us, and an Easter bonnet competitio­n, before retiring to The Shed to eat more chocolate! Who said church isn’t fun?

Easter wasn’t all about us in

Campoverde. Throughout Lent we asked people to donate Easter eggs for the Orihuela children's home and over 140 were collected.

We thank Overseas Supermarke­ts for their tremendous efforts to gather donations and all those who donated.

 ?? Photo: CCITC ?? The expat 'paso' parading through the streets on the Monday of Easter week
Photo: CCITC The expat 'paso' parading through the streets on the Monday of Easter week

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