Q: In the Church Manual, in Article XVII, Sect. 2, “Easter Observances,” it says, “In the United States there shall be no special observances, festivities, nor gifts at the Easter season by members of The Mother Church.”
As children, my sisters and I had a good time hunting for Easter baskets that our parents hid. I’ve sometimes wondered if this is considered wrong. —A READER IN FLORIDA, US
A: Based on the message in the whole By-Law I don’t think this refers to children receiving Easter candy or baskets. When I saw that this is in a section of the Manual titled “Church Services,” my curiosity was roused, so I wrote to the Research Department at The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity and asked for more information about this By-Law. Here is what they shared:
