Messy Easter at St. Luke's, Edmonton

St. Luke’s Anglican Church hosted its annual Messy Easter gathering again this year. The event ran from 2:00 until about 4:00 pm and featured and Easter egg hunt and two crafts. The first craft was a paper container that the children decorated with stickers, drawings, and anything else they liked, which they then used to hold the Easter eggs they found. One of St. Luke’s Messy Church organizers, Karen MacDonald, says they were “really creative!” 

“The other activity,” MacDonald explains, “was making a cross and/or an Easter egg that was designed to look like stained glass and to be hung in a window. Colourful round confetti that I found online from Amazon made them quite lovely!” 

The Easter egg hunt was huge, both inside and outside the church building. There were thousands of eggs hidden, all donated by parishioners, and the kids had a blast finding them. 

St. Luke's rector, the Rev. Nick Trussell, says the Holyrood community league hosted an egg hunt at the same time just a few blocks away, but "it was gathering in the Spirit of the risen Christ that made the Messy Easter celebration a special blessing for the participants. One seven-year-old particpant said she's always so happy to come to Messy Church because it is much easier to make friends there than at school."

Food organizer, Noreen Soneff, contributed trail mix snacks, juice boxes, and coffee for participants to enjoy before they headed home.

Approximately 50 people attended the event, with a good mix of young and older people, and MacDonald reports that “everyone enjoyed the activities! It was a fun and worthwhile event.” 

Trussell says, "Praying together as neighbours and the family of Christ while learning about God's gift of faith through songs, crafts, games and community is what makes every Messy Church gathering so special. It is a unique and approachable way to engage faith without some of the more formal aspects of our worship which can be an intimidating barrier for many."   

The Messy Church friends at St. Luke's gather for a Messy Church the 2nd Saturday of the month from September to June. The next Messy Church is May 13 at 4:00pm. The theme will be "Sowing and Growing."