Dressed in pastels, and donning her bonnet, Phoebe joined other squealing children in the Mount Tabor Lutheran Church's Easter egg hunt Sunday morning. Only after they had filled their bags and baskets with loot did they assemble inside the Salt Lake City church to sing songs of praise.

"It's gonna be great! We're praising Jesus," said Jenny Jenson, as she stood before the youth choir she was helping to warm up.

Many members chomped on candy. Tanisha Afu, 2, sat among the other kids chewing on the bottom of her dress.

Adults hugged, wishing one another "Happy Easter," as the pews in the circular sanctuary began to fill. The altar was surrounded with Easter lilies, which also rested in the white cloth draped over a large wooden cross - the same cross, incidentally, that's used for Salt Lake City's annual Good Friday procession of the cross.

The Rev. Annemarie Burke welcomed the congregants who had gathered to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.

"Today is the day when we welcome new life," she said. "In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven."

Everyone held small bells that they rang each time they sang "Alleluia," which was often. "Alleluia, Christ is risen!" they cried. "Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is alive!"

Between the hymns and readings, Robin Eskridge gathered the children around the altar for a sermon, in which she explained the symbols that surrounded them. She opened a small box, meant to be Jesus' tomb, and revealed a white lily.

"This represents new life," she told them. And as the flower reaches upward in prayer each springtime, it is "praising the S-U-N, sun, and the S-O-N, son."

The kids returned to the pews and their coloring books, or darted outside the sanctuary doors, as Pastor Burke spoke of the earthquake that began the resurrection dawn. She reminded congregants of the recent earthquake in Nevada that was felt in Utah, the floods ravishing the Midwest, the security threat announcements we hear in airports and the commercials that tout the dangers of germs. All of these things "shake us up," she said.

"What are the earthquakes in your life?" she asked. "What makes you unsettled?"

She told the gathered faithful that walking with Christ doesn't mean freedom from earthquakes and troubles. In fact, a Christlike life will likely bring believers more often to those who need and seek mercy, she said. Walking with Jesus, "tucked in his garment," she said, "the threats of the world won't define you."

And together they sang, "Alleluia!"

jravitz@sltrib.com