As the financial crisis continues and unemployment rates rise, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said this Easter was a ''really tough time'' for many Australians.
The more fortunate were asked to aid the struggling.
''I think it's a time for all Australians to gather around and support those who have lost their jobs or are in danger of losing their jobs,'' he said yesterday after attending the Good Friday service at St John's Anglican Church in Reid.
His other Easter message was one of road safety.
With the national Easter road toll at four as of yesterday, he said, ''A lot of people drive over the Easter long weekend. Please, please, please drive very carefully. Drive really carefully.''Mr Rudd attended church with wife Therese Rein and teenage son Marcus.
Shiny black rocks were distributed to parishioners, each representing his or her ''burden'', which they were invited to place at the foot of the cross near the altar.
Mr Rudd and his family each took the opportunity to symbolically unburden themselves while at the service.
The Prime Minister also sang hymns in a strong, resonant voice and his wife was affectionate with his son, patting his knee and holding his hand.
She was also quick to pass a hymn book to a stranger who lacked one.
A media staffer for Mr Rudd told The Canberra Times that Ms Rein had presented her husband's staff with hot cross buns, but hadn't baked them herself ''as she's a businesswoman''.
Associate priest Margaret Campbell, ordained last November, delivered her first Easter sermon. At the heart of it was the idea that ''the relevance of the first Easter day is still alive and well to us today, and that we could easily have been the people who were there at the cross [who wanted Jesus crucified] and his love for them is the same as his love for us today''.
She said the fact that Australia's Prime Minister was a member of her congregation made no difference. ''All the members of the congregation are treated equally.''Rector Paul Black said Easter was to Christians the most important time of year.
''In some senses, Christmas pales into insignificance, Easter is the great festival of the church. ''It's a feast of resurrection and without the resurrection, we wouldn't be here.''
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