Easter Confusion

I was enjoying a chat about Easter yesterday with my five year old and three year old, trying to get an idea of how much they have taken in and understood about why we celebrate Easter. For the most part, our five year old had a great understanding, but our three year old is only catching the small bits - totally fine, but good to know what they still need to know. Our older three children have a very good grasp of what Easter really means and yet I hope that every year it means something more and something deeper for each of them. So I ask myself, what am I doing to see that goal realized?

For one thing, we don't do "Easter presents" and try to avoid a lot of the commercialism at the stores, we don't visit the "Easter bunny" or even imply that such a thing exists. We place our focus on the Friday of remembering why Good Friday was so good and then really celebrate the Sunday for Jesus being alive and conquering sin once and for all. Our almost eight year old is passionate about Narnia - the picture of Aslan coming back and the stone table broken in two is a great image to reflect on with our older ones. Anything that lines up with the Bible but helps them grasp what it means for them, personally is something to share in. I confess, we do hide some small chocolate eggs on the Saturday but only for the sake of an annual tradition to enjoy some treats, definitely not the focus.

Then today, I was lingering over tea and a visit with a special friend, who shared something that has gotten me thinking...This past week a woman in her small group was able to share the true meaning of Easter with someone that really thought it was only about bunnies and chocolate. She had never heard of Easter being about anything more than that - the woman boldly took the opportunity to share what Easter really was about and what it meant to her. Awesome! We all need to be reminded that it is not just that people don't care...many people don't even know that Jesus' death and Resurrection is the meaning of Easter! I certainly want to be open to opportunities that God brings for me to share, and just as importantly, I want to be absolutely sure that our children have the full picture of Easter - without the bunnies and chocolate.

I Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God."

Hebrews 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross."