Maria Calkins' unofficial title at the First Congregational Church of Oxford should be the Oxford UCC Easter Bunny. A few months ago, Maria was in charge of a small team that festively wrapped bags of jelly beans and delivered them two weeks prior to Holy Week to 120 newcomers of the town.

"Our Church Council noted that our area has experienced a good deal of growth in recent years, and they wanted some way to reach out to new families in town," explains Calkins. "Our minister's wife, Cindy Young, had heard about a popcorn outreach project that a church had done, using bags of unpopped microwave popcorn, and thought we might be able to do something along these lines. I was contacted, as a member of the Evangelism and Church Growth Task Force, and attended the next Church Council meeting to help plan an event."

"Because the Easter season was coming up, Church Council members and I developed the idea of using jelly beans in the project, rather than popcorn. The Church School Superintendent gave me a copy of 'The Jelly Bean Prayer,' (see below) and off I went to figure out how to do the project."

"The campaign was a group effort and done with the help of several other parishioner volunteers. First, I went to town hall and copied all property activity for the past six months. I reviewed the list, removed commercial transactions and names of families just moving from one part of town to another, and came up with over 150 addresses. Since we had only planned on doing about 50, we were quite surprised! Based on location, 120 addresses were selected from the final list."

"In order to get the whole congregation involved, I made an announcement about the program at church and invited worshippers to help deliver the jelly beans. I purchased small prepackaged bags of jelly beans and colorful Easter bags with handles so they could be hung on recipients' doorknobs. Cindy made up a flyer with information about the Oxford church, an invitation to join the members for worship and fellowship, and a copy of the Jelly Bean Prayer. Then fellow volunteers Cindy Thompson and Dot Barre and I spent one afternoon assembling the bags and copying the address list so that each of us could give out bags after the next two church services and supply addresses to delivery people."

"On the kick-off day, many people came by after church and picked up anywhere from 2 to 15 bags to deliver the following week. Leftover bags were given out the following Sunday."

At least two families attended services after receiving the jellybeans, and Calkins considered it a success. "This 'jelly bean evangelism' effort was intended to invite newcomers in the hope that those who may be seeking a spiritual home or a warm fellowship in which to share their life journey would find it with the First Congregational Church of Oxford" -- even if that journey included hopping down the bunny trail.

The Jelly Bean Prayer

Red is for the blood He gave,
Green is for the grass He made,
Yellow is for the sun so bright,
Orange is for the edge of night.
Black is for the sins that were made
White is for the grace He gave,
Purple is for the hour of sorrow,
Pink is for the new tomorrow.

Give a bag full of jelly beans, Colorful and sweet, Tell them it's a Prayer.... It's a promise.. It's an Easter Treat!

According to www.annieshomepage.com, this prayer was written by Shirley Kozak of Stuttgart, Germany in 1990.