The Big Question

John Finch, ministries support officer with the Church of Scotland’s Priority Areas, Glasgow

“I wasn’t sure what to share. Most of us will have a ‘peak egg’ childhood memory, I had one Easter which included a bracing dip off Malin Head.

“In the end I chose one from my time working in Gorbals when I picked up a can of spray paint and took to the streets. We were hosting a community art exhibition to draw people together around universal themes from the Easter story. We created a beautiful pack to get people thinking about the themes and gave it to anyone who would stand still long enough.

“I was in the anxious space of waiting for pieces to come in and hoping that it wasn’t a flop. Suddenly I realised that I hadn’t created anything. I’m not gifted artistically, it took me a while to come up with an idea. One of the themes was Tribalism and Tradition.

“I knew of a youth club in the east end of Glasgow which was reliably covered in some of the most traditional tribal grafitti that Glasgow has to offer – I’m sure you can imagine. I went and bought a can of lurid pink spray paint, and hiked up to the east end. I went round the outside of the building spraying pink lovehearts over very specific words – and pretty soon the building was covered in ‘Love’ the polis, ‘Love’ Rangers, ‘Love’ Celtic. Conscious that the Police Station was across the road, I photographed my work and hustled back to Gorbals.

“My contribution notwithstanding, the exhibition was inspiring!”

The Rev Anne Paton, minister at East Kilbride: Old

“I was brought up in Renton Trinity Church in the Vale of Leven, and it was the tradition there on Easter morning to have a sunrise service at the top of Carman Hill where we were joined by Cardross Church which was at the other side of the hill.

“The service always began with the singing of Jesus Christ is Risen Today accompanied by a keyboard, and even now when we sing that hymn, it takes me back to the service on the hill. I have lots of fond memories during my teenage years especially, of gathering with friends there and enjoying the inevitable breakfast in the church hall afterwards.

“The Easter morning which particularly stands out in my memory was not one during my teenage years however, but one from a few years later. In early March 1991, my first son was born and by Easter Day, he was all of six weeks old. While as a teenager I might have struggled to get out of my bed, and the earlier Easter was, the earlier I had to get out of it, that year there was not much sleep happening, so it was easy to get him all wrapped up and take him up the hill for his first Easter service.

“My husband is a Roman Catholic, and we were joined at the service that day by the local parish priest. My abiding memory is of the usual singing of Jesus Christ is Risen Today while I cradled my son (who was fast sleep) surrounded by the church family who had nurtured me. The presence of the parish priest seemed to symbolise the ecumenical church in which my son was going to be brought up.

“ It was a joy to celebrate the risen Christ in this special way.”

Paul Algeo, family development worker, North Ayr ‘TheGither’ Project, St Quivox Church, Ayrshire

“There is no doubt in mind that 2015 was my most memorable Easter.

“In fact, my most memorable year, ever!

 “It was the year that I began volunteering in the Church. It was the year that I met my wife to be. It was the year that marked the end of years of addictive behaviours. If this is all that had happened then I would have been extremely blessed and very grateful. But, it wasn’t. That year I was introduced to the Good News of Jesus Christ. I don’t recall ever hearing it with such clarity before. I may have had, but it certainly hadn’t left any significant impression on me. I’m sure my own agenda and priorities played a part in that though. The theme song of that year for me was a song called Happy Day by a band called Jesus Culture. Here’s the opening verse:

The greatest day in history, death is beaten 

You have rescued me

 Sing it out, Jesus is alive

 The empty cross, the empty grave

 Life eternal, You have won the day 

Shout it all, Jesus is alive

 He’s alive

“It’s an absolutely wonderful song packed full of truth and accompanied by feel good music that’ll get your body popping.

“Up until this point Easter was all about chocolate eggs and bank holidays. Not anymore. The truth of Jesus life, death and resurrection became MY truth.

“And it changed me.

“Drastically. For months at the beginning of each day I played that song out of sheer joy and adoration for what Jesus had done on my behalf.”

Angela Brydson, DCS, Community Outreach Worker, Upper Clyde, Douglas Valley and the Tinto Parishes

“My most memorable Easter was for all the wrong reasons.

“The church I grew up in always had an early morning service in the local park.

“Part of the fun was getting to roll our decorated eggs down a big hill! As teenagers we often helped with the younger ones.

“Once the wee ones had finished, it was time for us older ones to have some fun. That year some of us went further up the hill after our eggs had crumbled and planned to race each other down. Unfortunately, I fell out with gravity halfway down, slid and went the rest of the way down the hill on my back. Once I got to the bottom I realised my wrist didn’t feel quite right, but after the embarrassment I ignored it while we had our service.

“I decided not to go back to the church for breakfast but got dropped off at my grandparents as they stayed closer to the church.

 “My Papa, who was a first aider took one look at my swollen wrist and suggested a wee trip to the local hospital was needed.

“Needless to say, the wrist was broken, unfortunately it wasn’t my writing hand, and I came home with my first ever stookie!

“My church family were lovely, and I received some ‘Get well soon’ messages during that week, as well as a lot of teasing.”

The Rev Lyn Peden, minister of Skipness linked with Tarbert Loch Fyne and Kilberry.

“Holy Week and Easter has always been my favourite festival of the church year.

“In both my home church of Castlemilk and later as minister of St Andrew and St Nicholas in Glasgow, I was privileged to be a part of greater ecumenical groupings celebrating Easter. Most memorable for me were the Easter morning breakfasts in Castlemilk. Celebrating together in an early morning Easter service outside on the Cathrin Braes followed by breakfast in the church hall.

“When I became a minister in 2010 I joined the local G52 Churches Together group, made up of seven local churches and mainly lay led, they organised a Good Friday Walk of Witness each year.

 “We would start at one church with prayer and then walk along Paisley Road West past some of the other churches, pausing at one point to sing, read scripture and pray, then onto a second church where we would share in worship led by members of the G52 team.

“Walking on Good Friday along with Christians of other traditions, having time to talk to them and seeing local people waving and smiling was a wonderful witness to Christ.

“It was an emotional walk and one of the events I miss most since Covid restrictions and now having moved to a new charge in Argyll at the end of last year.”