I’m full of questions this first Day of the Easter Season. I say the first day of the Easter Season because we have fifty days of Easter. Maybe for the first time I am grasping why we need 50 days beyond Easter. Maybe it is because it is so difficult to get our heads around its true meaning.
When was it that you first understood what Easter was all about? I realize it is a challenge because when you go to the stores there are huge posters of bunnies, hams, and Easter Lilies, marshmallow chicks, chocolate eggs, crosses and more for sale. None of which have anything to do with Jesus rising from the dead. I asked that question and someone in their mid-sixties noted that they still aren’t sure if they grasp it! I guess that’s ok, at least the wheels are turning.
How do you teach your children in this type of culture the true meaning of Easter and Holy Week? I happily noticed that the sign at the Community House Lawn stated “Egg Hunt” and eliminated the word Easter because hiding eggs is often associated with the Christian celebration of Jesus' resurrection. The roots of Egg Hunts lie in earlier, pagan celebrations of spring. The challenge in grasping the meaning of the Resurrection of Jesus isn’t supported by our culture.
Were seeds of Easter understanding planted in your heart when you were growing up? I remember that we all dressed up nicely of Easter Sunday when we went to Mass. We did go to Mass every Sunday, we all knew it was Easter by the way we presented ourselves. Maybe because of our Greek neighbors, we colored our Easter Eggs red to represent the blood of Christ. We were also taught that the shell represented the stone over the tomb, when cracked open there appeared the white of Jesus’ garments and the yoke was the pearl of great price, the Resurrected Jesus. Then, we received our Easter Baskets!
How do we go about understanding the meaning of Easter, and planting that meaning in our children and our community? I guess that will be my challenge and yours as we journey this Easter Season. If you have any wisdom to share on this, please send it along. In the meantime, I will share these questions with you, so that a lively exchange can begin as we grapple with the meaning of our faith in the Resurrected Jesus.