There will be a special Easter program for Newtown Quaker meeting at 9:45 a.m. on April 17 including Easter hymns and discussion of the lessons the life of Jesus offers us in the modern world. At 11:00 am, there will be a Meeting for Worship with presentation of flowers for shut-ins, welcoming new babies into the Meeting, and the awarding of Bibles to fourth graders in recognition of their growing participation in the adult activities of the Meeting.
The 9:45 a.m. program will be based on the theme of From Horror through Grief to Hope: What the Easter message can offer in today’s challenging world. It will include readings and hymns, time for worship sharing, and time for reflection on these subjects in tying the Easter themes with our contemporary experience: Horror: the horror of the cross and the horror of scenes in the news; Grief: sadness and bewilderment of the disciples on Saturday when they could not even properly prepare the body for burial, and our bewilderment about how to respond to the violence in our world; and Hope: the hope the disciples felt when they once again found Jesus among them and the hope available to us to live positively in difficult times. This program will include inspirational readings and visual images to conemplate.
The traditional Quaker 11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship will include the children’s program. Following the Meeting for Worship, fruit and juice will be served on the lawn while the children join in the hunt for hundreds of brightly colored Easter eggs hidden on the Meetinghouse grounds.
Annemarie Hindman, Clerk of the Quaker First Day School, will oversee the traditional Egg Hunt for the children. “Adults bring a dozen or so eggs apiece,” said Annmarie. “The older students are in charge of hiding the eggs; and the middle-schoolers will each have a toddler as a buddy to make sure the youngest among us find some eggs. At the ‘OK’ signal, they all run off with their Easter baskets, and a good time is had by all.”