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Easter Eggs

He is not here. He has risen just as He said! Matthew 28:6

I have loved hunting Easter Eggs my whole life. As an adult, I love watching kids run around picking up those sparkling, plastic treasures. I am not sure why hunting eggs is so much fun. There really isn’t much of a reward. Today most families hunt plastic-filled eggs. There is even a special prize for the golden egg, but it wasn’t always like that.

My mom would not buy the fancy Easter Egg dye kits. We used vinegar and food coloring. My brother, sister, and I would dye dozens of eggs so we could hunt all day. The problem with the Easter Bunny was he didn’t do anything with Cleo, our basset hound. Cleo also loved hunting Easter Eggs but for different reasons, and she was good! By the time we got out to hunt the eggs, Cleo had eaten most of them, the shells and all.

The Easter Bunny did a great job on the candy end and the eggs. I guess that’s a bonus if your Dad manages a grocery store.

For a lot of families, Easter ends with a bunny hiding eggs and kids stuffing their mouths full of chocolate, jelly beans, and marshmallow treats.

Easter is about Jesus’ death, burial, and His coming back to life in order that we might receive Eternal Life. Somehow, our Easter celebrations have become two separate events. We go to church and hear about Jesus and the empty tomb, then we come home and turn on the TV and find Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail.

What are we teaching our children about the most important event in history? How can we redeem the day? We really are without any excuse for not teaching our children what Easter is all about. At least 58% of kids believe in the Easter Bunny and that it is a celebration of the Easter Bunny’s birthday. Ask your child if they know what Easter is all about. Younger kids may not know the fine details, but by the first grade, they should know the whole Easter Story and why Jesus died on the cross.

There is a ton of information online about using Easter Eggs to teach the meaning of Easter. Eggs can represent the Trinity. The eggshell, yoke and white of an egg is all still an egg. Chicks hatch from eggs that represent new life. Bunnies represent new life.

Get children’s books that talk about the true meaning of Easter. There are lots out there. My favorite is called “The Best Thing About Easter” by Christine Tangvald. You can read the Easter Story from a children’s or preschool Bible. Put religious-based candy in their baskets such as chocolate crosses, or chocolate coins to represent Judas betraying Jesus. Give a religious gift in their basket, things such as cross jewelry, a Bible, or a fun Christian book. The church provides Right Now Media to every member of our congregation. There are hundreds of programs for children, all faith-based. The church library is full of books about Easter. There are videos and DVD cartoon movies explaining the true meaning of Easter as well.

The Church provides so much information and opportunities for our children to know who Jesus is and His purpose for us. We look forward to seeing everyone this Sunday as we celebrate our Risen Lord.

We will be celebrating outside at the Pines. There will be coloring books and crayons for the kids, candy bags and Resurrection Eggs for those who did not get them on Palm Sunday (we only have about 20 left).

What a day this will be. He is Risen! Hallelujah!

Pastor Greg

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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