Easter Celebrations at Elizabeth Jenkins Place
The Salvation Army’s 2023 Easter message, ‘Alive in Love,’ is underpinned by Christ’s sacrifice for humanity. The message notes, “Easter is a celebration of love and life. God loves us so He sent his son Jesus into the world because He wants us to become truly alive in his love.”
At Elizabeth Jenkins Place Aged Care Centre (“EJP”) in Collaroy, New South Wales, the Centre’s Chaplains, Major June and Captain Craig, are co-leading an uplifting service that reminds their residents of the true meaning of Easter and what this sacrifice means for them personally. There will also be some accompanying activities, including painting a canvas. “We will provide the residents with some print outs and ideas they may be able to paint, which is relevant to new life and what Easter represents – this idea of sacrifice and what it looks like to express on a canvas,” says Captain Craig.
Easter Reflections
On 6 April, there will be a liturgy, connected to the last supper, to inspire reflection. “We’re going to provide an opportunity for people to place the names of people they’d like prayer for on Post-it notes or placed around the cross,” Captain Craig says. This will serve symbolically to, “invite the residents to remember the people they care about and can bring before the Lord.”
On Good Friday, the Chaplains will place a red cloth around the cross and conduct a service, with the visual aid of dissolvable paper. “I’m planning on having some red water to represent the blood of Jesus and it will be an illustration,” Craig states. “We can put the word sin, or we can put things that we know we fail with into the red water and can actually watch it dissolve. It’s an illustration for everybody to see.” The Chaplains will then subsequently close off the Easter message by placing a white cloth onto the cross on Easter Sunday, representing Jesus’ victorious resurrection.
As they reflect on the Easter plans ahead, Major June explains what Easter means for her. “Easter is very significant. It’s the fact that Jesus has died for me. He died for everybody, but He died for me personally, to give me life. For me to just reflect on that, it’s very significant.” Captain Craig similarly emphasises that each of us are called to experience God’s grace. “I believe that God wants everybody to come and know Him” he says.
Connecting together on a spiritual level
Major June notes she most enjoys connecting with residents. “They’re all gems,” she says. “They’ve got so much wisdom and you can learn so much from them. And then you put God into the mix and it’s even more awesome.” For Captain Craig, who has recently joined the Centre, he similarly finds chaplaincy enriching. “I think it’s the privilege of people allowing you to be part of most inner part of who they are,” he explains, before going on to say, “to see people connecting with their own spirituality, and to help them then put that into practice, is just very rewarding.”
