Easter is a three-day weekend that starts with Good Friday garden planting, and ends with the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. The planting is the oldest tradition involving children at HCYR. Every Good Friday since 1978, Founder Gary Priour has retold the Easter story under the same old oak tree, to residents and staff, before planting. Gary retraces the days of that Passover week in Jerusalem, pointing out that His appearance before Pilate at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning is the very time the group gathers for planting.
Gary then takes the children through the story of that day, to the Crucifixion at noon, and to the death of Christ at 3:00. He details the history of the term “Good Friday”. He relates the Resurrection to the planting of the garden, reciting John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” The planting of seeds, he explains, parallels the Easter story. The miracle of transformation follows a time of darkness.
After planting, fun activities fill the weekend, including a traditional Easter egg hunt and a barbecue. On Sunday the whole family attends chapel for a traditional service to celebrate the Resurrection. Easter is thus presented as a weekend of profoundly good news, with a unifying story of healing and new life, as well as an occasion for family gatherings.
