The Easter Cross
Setting up a large wooden cross outdoors during Holy Week can be a dramatic and effective way of reminding the wider community of the Easter story.
Such a cross may be erected in a prominent position in a churchyard, but why not also see if there are other places a cross could be put up? For example a local landowner might be happy to work with the church to put up a cross or plant spring bulbs in the shape of a cross on a prominent hillside or at the entrance to a town or village.
During Holy Week the cross will usually be fairly bare - perhaps just a crown of thorns resting at the top. For Easter day the cross can be transformed by being decorated with ribbons or swags of coloured cloth flowing from the arms of the cross and a chaplet of flowers where the crown of thorns was. Dressing the cross in this way could form part of an Easter dawn service.
In the ground at the foot of the cross why not also plant spring
flowers? Some churches like to do this
in the shape of a cross too. You could
use spring bulbs planted in good time or spring bedding plants that have been
planted as part of children's activities between Good Friday and Easter.
Do make sure that any cross is safe and firmly secured in the ground so that it cannot be pushed over.
