This is the fifth and last article about children and possible ways of their involvement in Holy Week. It is the wonderful, celebratory event of Easter Day, which we have waited for all through the forty days of fasting, doing without something, or adding some extra thing to do throughout Lent.

The Jewish and Roman authorities were relieved. They thought that now Jesus was dead and His body sealed in a guarded tomb, that would be the end of the matter. But what happened on the first day of the week?

Bible Readings: Luke 24.1-12 or John 20.1-10. The children may like to mime this, with one of them, or a parent, acting as the narrator. Alternatively, if they have made a garden scene in a sand-tray or a corner of the garden, they could use clothes-pegs dressed as people and act it out that way during the Bible reading.

It is a special day of celebration and feasting and lovely if the whole family can attend church together for a dawn service.

The Service of Light

After the deep solemnity of Holy Week, this is a great celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which the family can share together. Traditionally, it begins, dark and mysterious, before dawn and may signal the end of the all-night vigil in the church. Remember, for the Jews the first day of the week does not begin until dawn.

Most churches would have had no flowers for the whole of Lent; the Easter, or Pascal Candle, was not lit during Lent, and on Good Friday the Communion, or Altar cloth and many of the decorations in the church had either been removed or covered. On Easter Day everything has been freshened and replaced and there are usually extra flowers and decorations.

As people enter the church they are given unlit candles (usually with at least a collar to prevent the molten wax from falling onto the carpet or burning fingers).

• Note: Parents, please remember that you are responsible for your family. Children are almost always delighted when their candles are lit, but careful supervision is needed in their handling of the candles, especially when they are standing close to each other; clothing and hair can be very vulnerable.

The ceremony is dramatic as the Pascal Candle is processed through the darkened church. The Candle is then lit to represent the resurrection of Christ, the Light of the World. Other candles are lit from it and are passed from person to person throughout the church as their candles are also lit. Their light is used then to see the words while hymns and songs of praise are sung.

Note: The Pascal Candle may have been purchased already decorated, or it may have been decorated by members of the church, or the children. Decorations include

• The cross, often painted on, a symbol of both life and death
• Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, symbols reminding us that God is the beginning and ending of everything
• The numerals of the current year, reminding us that God is with us right now
• Five ‘nails’ in the shape of the cross, symbol of the wounds of Christ

Baptism                                                                       

The Liturgy that follows is traditionally, from the early church, one of baptism. In the early Church, many baptisms often took place at East