On Saturday, April 11, we gathered the largest crowd for a single event in the history of our new church ministry. We estimated 350 people participated in the first Easter Egg Hunt at the Wolverine World Wide Family YMCA. We moved ahead with it with a couple of uncertainties: it was still Spring Break for the area schools; it was a first-time event with no prior experience; and several other churches were also doing Egg Hunts that same morning. Who would come?
That question was answered with the stream of children and families coming into the Community Room for face painting (this is simply always popular; high five to the corp of face painters), coloring pages, refreshments, and hugs and pictures with the Easter Bunny. We then moved to the gym to be a crowd and receive guidance on how the three age groups would proceed to their respective areas for staggered start times.
It was a special experience for me to welcome and address the crowd, obviously excited and ready to go outside with baskets or bags to find eggs. And there were a few moments to talk with them about the first word of the event, EASTER. These were my prepared remarks:
Good morning and God bless you. Welcome to the first Easter Egg Hunt at the Wolverine World Wide Family YMCA!
Are you excited to be here? We are excited to host you. You are among friends. I am Pastor Jeff Williams and I get to serve with the White Pines United Methodist Church. I am thankful for the friends I have and we have as White Pines United Methodist Church. The YMCA and White Pines UMC are friends. We do fun things together and this Easter Egg Hunt is the newest and one of the most exciting things we share.
Another exciting thing we do together is the summer Music & Drama Camp. We have registration forms in the Community Room.
I want to introduce you to a friend and the Executive Director of this YMCA, Bev Thiel…(Bev offered words of welcome and instruction)
Today’s Easter Egg Hunt is about finding eggs and feeling excitement. It is fun to look for them, find them, gather them together in a basket or bag, open them and find more good stuff. There are plenty of eggs for everyone. Everybody gets good stuff today.
The first word in today’s event is Easter. And that means we look to the special stories in the Bible about Jesus, who is God’s Son. The stories are about finding, but they are also about losing.
Jesus’ friends are sad because two days before the first Easter they lost Jesus when he died. He died because people killed him on a cross. They could not talk with, learn from, eat with, or go places with him anymore. And they were sad. They did not want to lose such a good friend who taught them so much about God.
On Easter morning some women friends go to his grave to take care of his dead body. And they don’t find him! The grave is empty and they are still sad, but now they are scared. What happened? They can’t find Jesus. One special friend, Mary, is crying. And you know what happens next? JESUS FINDS HER. She knows it is Jesus because he calls her by name, he says, Mary. SAY YOUR NAMES ON 3
Jesus finds his friends on Easter morning and helps them figure out what to do next.
That’s really exciting for Jesus’ friends. Not that they find something, but that they are found.
The excitement you feel right now getting ready to find Easter Eggs is like the excitement Jesus’ friends felt when Jesus, God’s Son, found them.
It is like the excitement God feels about finding us and loving us.
Have a great time this morning. Searching for and finding Easter Eggs. And remember how much God searches for you with love, how Jesus finds you and calls you by name.
Are you ready? Now I read in the program that another friend was supposed to be here to help us, someone called the Easter Bunny. Has anyone seen the Easter Bunny?
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