The True Easter Meaning & How To Celebrate Easter Online in 2023
How Many More Days Until Easter 2023?
The countdown to Easter is well on its way and we are so excited to celebrate! Only a few days away! Are you ready?
Isn’t it interesting that the most important day of the church calendar is the one that always springs up (pun intended!) on us?
The Easter season is a time of remembrance, conviction, and celebration. As we’re preparing our hearts for Easter 2023, we’ve noticed a newfound hope in contrast to the Easter of 2022.
This Easter season, we are seeing a shift. The churches we’ve talked to are being more intentional with engagement and going deeper with their community which makes us even more hopeful for Easter 2024!
During Easter 2022, the church world was slowly shifting along with the changes being thrown at it. Most churches were in survival mode, searching for ways to connect with each other when people couldn’t gather together in person.
But now, we are in a transitional period.
Churches are able to function as they were before while also adapting to this new era of building connections online. Within these past two years, we have seen so much innovation from different church communities across the globe to deepen their community using the power of the internet.
And if your church hasn’t yet, with the Easter season in full swing, it brings new opportunities to do just that.
💡 Tip: Have you download the free Online Easter Engagement Guide yet?
Exploring The True Easter Meaning
Despite what the commercials and window displays tell you, Easter is more than bunnies, decorative eggs, chocolate, and jellybeans. Easter is the most important day of the church calendar and the root of the Christian faith.
While we encourage you to participate in all the classic Easter festivities and snacking, you can also take the opportunity to go deeper with your community by taking time to explore the true Easter meaning.
Even though most know the Easter story by heart, we cannot rely on what we think we know about the Easter story. This season, encourage your community to be intentional about preparing their hearts and revisiting the story of Easter. Here are a few ways to do so:
- Read through the Gospels
This is a great place to start. Encourage your community to read the Easter story in each Gospel and make note of the differences. Each Gospel is told through a completely different lens and will spark great conversation and pondering.
Passage 1: Matthew 26-28
Starting with the plot against Jesus, this passage covers the Last Supper and Gethsemane all the way up to The Great Commission.
Passage 2: Mark 14-16
This passage in Mark begins with Jesus anointed at Bethany, covers the Last Supper, Jesus before Pilate, and up to Jesus’ resurrection.
Passage 3: Luke 22-24
Luke’s Easter passage begins with Judas’ decision to betray Jesus, covers Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives and Peter disowning Jesus, and ends with Jesus’ ascension into heaven.
Passage 4: John 17-20
This passage begins with Jesus praying to be glorified, for His disciples, and all believers. It then goes through the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection and ends with the purpose of John’s gospel.
Possible Discussion Questions
- What are the distinct differences between each Gospel?
- What is the tone of each Gospel and what does that tell us about the author?
- Why do you think certain moments were included and others were not?
- Read Books or Watch Movies that highlight the Easter Story
If you want more resources to accompany the Biblical passages, there are plenty of great books and movies that allow great exploration of the Easter story.
Even if the films are not faith-based, they will still encourage discussion about the importance of understanding Easter in the midst of the season’s commercialization.
Books Perfect for Read-aloud
- The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross by Carl Laferton
- The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt
- “God’s Wonderful Surprise” in The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones
Movies that Highlight Easter (Faith-based & Beyond)
- The Passion of the Christ, 2004
- Risen, 2016
- The Chosen (series)
- Sight and Sound’s Jesus
- VeggieTales, An Easter Carol, 2004
- Easter Parade, 1948
- Peter Rabbit, 2018
- It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown,1974
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, 2005
- Create an Easter Playlist
Throughout Holy Week, listening to music is a perfect way to prepare for the Easter weekend. There are countless beautiful hymns and moving modern worship songs that would make a great playlist. Below are a few suggestions!
Some are slower and moving while others are more upbeat; all with the intention of celebrating the glorious resurrection day. Start a Spotify or YouTube playlist with some of these options and help your congregation get into the right state of mind by sharing the link.
- “Easter Song” by Keith Green
- “In Christ Alone” by Adrienne Camp
- “Because He Lives”
- “Jesus Paid it All”
- “The Old Rugged Cross”
- “Christ is Risen, Hallelujah!”
- “The Wonder of Your Cross” By Robin Mark
- “Well Done” by The Afters
- “Christ is Risen” by Matt Maher
- “Glorius Day” by Passion Conferences
- “God So Loved” by We the Kingdom
There are so many more fabulous songs that are perfect for Holy Week, don’t hesitate to add your favorites and expand your musical horizons!
Online Church Easter Ideas: Pre-Made Easter Baskets
Did you know that you can easily take classic Easter games and activities online? Whether you’re homebound or out of town, you can still gather with your church community and participate in fun Easter activities.
Here are a few fun ideas!
- Easter Basket Making
For such a simple-sounding idea, preparing Easter baskets with your church community can really make a difference. You could set up the activity in a variety of ways. It could be designed as a fundraiser or donation event for a Young Mother’s organization, a fundraiser for upcoming mission trips, or just a time of fellowship for parents to gather together and prepare baskets for their loved ones.
Picture crafting sessions spent laughing and chatting with your congregation online - it’s a great way to get people to connect and build a new community.
- Egg Decorating
BYOD- Bring your own decor or dye! Don’t you just love dying Easter eggs? We feel it’s the perfect activity to get you into the Easter spirit.
Grab your egg cartons, food coloring, and stickers, and gather with friends and family virtually for a time of Easter egg decorating.
- Easter Egg Hunt
Bring an Easter classic online! This one works particularly well on Altar Live. During the Event creation process, set up your desired amount of tables (The more the merrier!) and assign your hospitality team to wait with paper or plastic easter eggs.
Let the kids (or the children at heart) run wild and hop from table to table to look for the “hidden” eggs. To make it a little more challenging, have the kiddos answer Bible trivia or solve a clue to earn their easter egg prize.
If you want to make it a contest, send the winner with the most
eggs small easter basket or a personalized shout-out during the service.
- Easter Bingo
The possibilities are endless with this one! There are plenty of free printable bingo sheets for all ages like this one, but you can really get creative. You can go the whimsical route with rabbits and eggs or the Biblical option with memory verses, Easter story trivia, and more!
Be sure to download our free Altar Live Easter guide here.
Celebrate Easter 2023 With Altar Live
This Easter season, why not take this opportunity to offer your community a new way to engage with your church online?
Whether it be a virtual station of the cross or a Good Friday service, Altar Live is the perfect place to keep your congregation engaged, connected, and active. Check out our free downloadable Altar Live Easter guide here - it’s filled with tips and resources to make your online Easter service a success..
Altar Live is an online church platform designed for faith communities to stream and host interactive and engaging events and services. Our simple, intuitive platform gathers your people together online where they can worship together in watch parties, freely socialize at virtual tables together, and find private places to pray with each other.
💡 Tip: Altar Live holds 3 major components: Events, Meetings, and Rooms.
With a church platform like Altar Live, anyone can easily create an engaging online church service that has the ability to bring people together regardless of location.
The Altar Live team is honored to be able to provide video conferencing software, consulting & training for churches, reach every person on the other side of the screen, and create a community online.
Book your free trial or schedule a meeting with us today!
Share Your Services With Altar Live!
Using Altar Live to celebrate Easter this year? Snap a picture with your congregation during your watch party, Event, or other online gathering and we’ll share them on our Instagram stories!
📸 Tag us @altarlive to be featured!
