Happy Easter 2016!

If you are observ­ing the East­er hol­i­day today, please accept best wish­es from all of us at the North­west Pro­gres­sive Institute.

East­er is the most sig­nif­i­cant holy day for Christianity’s many denom­i­na­tions, although not all of them are cel­e­brat­ing it today. Pas­sages like the fol­low­ing excerpt from the Gospel of John (20:1–9) are com­mon­ly read on East­er Sun­day as part of Chris­t­ian com­mu­ni­ties’ obser­vance of the hol­i­day, as they are con­sid­ered author­i­ta­tive accounts of the East­er sto­ry by Christians.

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Mag­dala came to the tomb ear­ly in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the oth­er dis­ci­ple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have tak­en the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the oth­er dis­ci­ple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the oth­er dis­ci­ple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the bur­ial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the bur­ial cloths there,
and the cloth that had cov­ered his head,
not with the bur­ial cloths but rolled up in a sep­a­rate place.
Then the oth­er dis­ci­ple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet under­stand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.

This will be Pres­i­dent Oba­ma’s last East­er as Pres­i­dent. On Fri­day, the Pres­i­dent made the fol­low­ing state­ment regard­ing the holiday:

Michelle and I join our fel­low Chris­tians in observ­ing Good Fri­day and cel­e­brat­ing East­er this weekend.

This is a time to remem­ber the sac­ri­fices made for us and hold all who suf­fer close to our hearts. Yet it is also a time to rejoice, give thanks for the Res­ur­rec­tion, and unite with Chris­tians around the world in pro­claim­ing, “Christ has risen; He has risen indeed.” We wish all who cel­e­brate a blessed and joy­ful Easter.

The First Fam­i­ly cel­e­brat­ed East­er at the Alfred Street Bap­tist Chuch this morn­ing, accord­ing to the White House pool reporter assigned to accom­pa­ny the President:

Alfred Street Bap­tist Church is packed to the brim.

Pres­i­dent Oba­ma, First Lady Michelle Oba­ma, Sasha and Malia are here, per White House.

Your pool­er esti­mates 500+ atten­dees, plus anoth­er 100-per­son cho­rus clad in red, gold and white robes. Pool entered the church to a rous­ing song and then prayer.

Pas­tor greet­ed First Fam­i­ly, then updat­ed the con­gre­ga­tion on the church’s effort to aid cit­i­zens of Flint, Mich., say­ing they’ve sent 15,000 cas­es of water to affect­ed families.

The White House post­ed a pho­to of the First Fam­i­ly singing at the service.

The 138th Annu­al White House East­er Egg Roll will take place this year on East­er Mon­day, which is tomor­row. More than 35,000 tick­ets have been issued to peo­ple from all fifty states for the event, the White House says.

Notably, the win­ning art­work for this year’s East­er Egg Roll comes from NPIs home­town of Red­mond, Wash­ing­ton. Per the White House:

Felic­i­ty Ng is a 10-year-old in 4^th grade at Audubon Ele­men­tary School in Red­mond, Wash­ing­ton. Her art­work was cho­sen as the 2016 East­er Egg Roll Pro­gram Cov­er. Felic­i­ty enjoys draw­ing, writ­ing, and play­ing piano, and want­ed to cre­ate a patri­ot­ic egg design to com­mem­o­rate Pres­i­dent and Mrs. Obama’s final East­er Egg Roll.

Con­grat­u­la­tions, Felic­i­ty! What an honor.