Hunter Christians commemorated the death of Jesus Christ at services across the region on Friday.
Anglican Dean of Newcastle, Katherine Bowyer led a family service at Christ Church Cathedral on Friday morning, which was followed by the distribution of Easter eggs.
"We experience the story of Easter it in lots of different ways. When you hear the story there might be things that particularly resonate with you - times of great joy and sadness, times of sharing memories, times of feeling left out by others, times when we are confused and times when we grieve and times when our happiness and joy burst out of us without being able to contain it," she said.
".... God's love is with us and Jesus's love is with us. That's the message of Easter. God's love doesn't end, God's love is with us always."
Hundreds will also attend traditional services between noon and 3pm to mark the time of Jesus's crucifixion.
Easter celebrations of Jesus's resurrection from the dead commence with vigil services on Saturday night and Sunday.
Writing in the Newcastle Herald, Anglican Bishop Peter Stuart said the ability for people to choose their behaviour was part of the Easter story of good news and hope.
" We can decide to stop actions that hurt others. We can cease being selfish. We can think of others before we think of ourselves. Each of us can help make the world a better place. We can choose goodness, kindness, and generosity to offer people hope people living in fear and despair," he wrote.
