Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Did you know Easter was a Christian festival?

Tomorrow our girls celebrate Easter at school with a 'hat parade'. The ubiquitous images of Easter in the shops are bunnies (?) and Eggs (which point to re-birth more than resurrection).

Now the usual response to all this from Christians is an Easter version of 'bah humbug'. So, how can we redeem Easter as a festival without becoming merely anti-culture?

One thought is to try to redeem some of the imagery...

For example, if we use hollow chocolate eggs as symbols of an empty tomb then we are combating secularism with the gospel and following in centuries of Christian tradition.

Anyone got any better ideas?

Eat Chocolate for Jesus?

1 comment:

Greg T said...

Hi John,

I think it starts with the name. I'm not sure why we as Christians refer to this time of year as "Easter" when that word comes from the name of a pagan deity. That seems to make about as much sense as calling Christmas "yuletide". I prefer (and try to remember to use) "Paschaltide" instead.

Regards,

Greg