During the Easter holidays, many young children think that the festival is all about chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies.  This isn’t their fault as many of them rarely if ever, attend a church, read a Bible, or even know who God is.  Fortunately, that’s not the case for all children.  There will be many Christian homes this Easter enjoying Easter eggs but with one important difference – they will be told the truth about Jesus’ death and resurrection, and why this special time of the year is so important to Christians.

Christians have usually referred to the Easter season as the Paschal season and that word – ‘Paschal’ – means of or pertaining to Easter or the Jewish Passover.  It comes from the Middle English via Old French, which got it from the ecclesiastical Latin Paschalis that comes from the word Pascha, meaning ‘Feast of Passover’, via Greek and Aramaic from the Hebrew Pesah meaning ‘Passover’.

Jesus died that we might be reconciled to God.  His death was an atonement for the sins of mankind, and necessary in order to build a bridge with our creator so that we might enjoy the fruits of his mercy and forgiveness, in a loving and eternal relationship free from sin and death.

In the season of Spring, there are signs of new life everywhere.  Birds nest and rear their chicks and trees and shrubs bud.  All these pictures of new life in nature go hand in hand with the Easter message of Christ’s resurrection.

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone at Victoria Community Church and other readers a Happy and Peaceful Easter.

Nick Bishop, member of the Victoria Community Church.