Primary Easter Service

On Wednesday, our school community came together for the Primary Easter Service led by Chaplain Justine. We celebrated Holy Week through prayer, music and story. The Paschal candle was lit and blessed, representing the light of Christ coming into the world.

Chaplain Justine would like to share her sermon with our school community:

Jesus is risen! Halleluia! Halleluia!

Welcome to our Easter Service and many thanks to Mr Basson and the Yr 6 students (Maka, Lexi, Jaxon, Mulder and Melody) for their dramatic telling of the Easter story.

Often when we think of Easter, we think of chocolate eggs, and baby animals – of tiny yellow chicks, of fluffy bunnies and white lambs. In Australia, we even have chocolate bilbies and wombats. And all that’s fine because they are all symbols of new life, and at Easter that’s what we are celebrating new beginnings and new life.

In the Christian Church we are celebrating a new beginning in our life with God, which is made possible by Jesus. This is the original Easter story and it has been told in words and images and music and drama for over two thousand years, and here we are still telling it today! It must be a pretty special story.

It’s a story in two parts: the first part is very sad, and the second part is very surprising and joyous!

God so loved the world that he sent his son, Jesus, to teach us how to love one another. Jesus healed the sick, and helped the poor, he welcomed and included strangers, he forgave people and encouraged them to forgive others. He taught his followers how to pray and he wanted them to live peacefully and to spread the news that God loves all his children. Jesus wanted things to change, he wanted the powerful to obey God’s law and to treat people fairly and help those in need. Some people heard his message, and they became his friends and disciples. But other people did not like what Jesus had to say, they did not want to share their money or their power. They did not fear God, and so, they plotted to get rid of Jesus.

These wicked leaders had Jesus arrested and brought to trial, and even though he had not done anything wrong, he was beaten and killed on a cross. His friends were heartbroken and frightened, most of them ran away. Everyone thought that was the end of the story. Jesus was dead and evil had won.

But that was not the end of the story. Now God came into the story and turned everything upside down! When the women, who were Jesus’ friends, came to his tomb it was empty and they were told: Jesus is risen!

Now, that was a surprise! But an even bigger surprise was coming. Later, they saw Jesus and spoke to him. In fact, Jesus appeared several times to his followers and he told them that they must spread the good news that He was alive and would soon join his Father in heaven. His disciples were amazed and overjoyed!

You see, on Good Friday we are sad because we remember the unfair suffering and death of Jesus. But on Easter Sunday we are joyful because Jesus is alive again and we are celebrating God’s triumph over evil.

Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than fear; and Jesus Christ gives us hope of a new beginning and eternal life with God.

And because we, here at John Wollaston Anglican Community school, are an Easter people, we celebrate Easter by saying:

Jesus is Risen! Halleluia! Halleluia!

Halleluia is made up of two words: Hellelu meaning ‘give praise joyfully’ and ‘Yah’ – which is short for Yahweh the unspoken name of God

So, when we sing ‘Hallelujah’ – we are saying Praise God joyfully or Praise Ye the Lord.