Beyond the Bunny?
I keep seeing this title as I look for Christ centered Easter
ideas. This is the first year I’ll be hosting Resurrection Sunday dinner so
it’s a whole new thing for me. Here’s the problem: I hate Easter in America. I
wasn't raised on the bunny, eggs, baskets, or hollow rolls. Easter was simply a
celebration of Christ’s triumphant resurrection and victory over sin and death.
We had church, maybe some ham, and then a day of reflecting on how much our
Savior loves us. That’s just the way it was.
When I got to college I remember as suite activity we dyed
Easter eggs and I was faced with the decision if I was going to participate. On
the one hand it felt worldly and wrong to reduce the suffering
and resurrection of my Savior to colored eggs and fluffy
bunnies. On the other hand, I was surrounded by godly women who were joyfully
participating and I didn’t want to seem legalistic. So I joined along. But it
didn’t sit well with me. And it still doesn’t.
Fast forward 5 years. I regret now how I handled the
situation. I regret not speaking my feelings in truth and love versus the judgmental
and self-righteous words I spoke (because there were those before I
hypocritically joined along). I also regret that I didn’t stand by my
convictions but rather gave in to what I saw other Christians doing and assumed
that therefore it was right even though the Spirit inside me said otherwise.
The Lord has been teaching me humility pretty much my whole
life but the past few months he’s opened my eyes to it a new way. First, that we
all fail. Even my godliest role models who point me to Christ are no substitution
for Christ himself because they are flawed. And second, who am I to judge anyone because like them I am also deeply flawed.
The past several years have been years of the Lord changing
my definition of what it means to follow him. He has been faithful in showing
me how we have made of a mess of His Gospel and turned into our own. With this
has come a critical and discerning heart towards the American church.
However, as with all things (I’m never one to do things half
way), I may have gone a little overboard. In my righteous zeal I found a very
unrighteous judgment of the church. I had been in the church my whole life –
looking out at the world and judging them. The Lord in his grace showed my how
destructive that outlook had been but without even realizing it I turned that judgment
back onto the Church. In recent months,
God has opened my eyes to this as well. He reminded me that He has loved His
Church even if they make mistakes just as he loves me through my mistakes. Therefore,
I need to extend grace to His people because a) he extends grace to me and b)
I’m not the ultimate authority of what God thinks or desires and therefore I
might just be wrong.
If I could go back my that first Easter in college I
would've done it very differently. I would’ve politely declined and resisted
the peer-pressure that “it’s not that big of a deal” and “stop being so
legalistic”. I would have gently stated that I felt that if I were to partake
it would cheapen the Easter experience for me and ask to be allowed to own that
conviction. I would have let my dear friends know that their decision to
partake was between them and God and no way involved me. I would have stayed
and laughed with them and rested in the joy of being with good friends. I would
have prayed that God would be glorified in their decision to dye of eggs and my decision to refrain from doing so.
So heading into this Resurrection Sunday, I was discouraged
to find that all of these “Beyond the Bunny” activities were no more than just
a slapping of a Bible verse on an American custom with really very little to do
with Christ’s awesome work on the cross. I was ready to write a blog about how
upsetting it is to me that this is the state of the American church when the Lord reminded me of the above sentiments.
So I will conclude with this. I hope that your Easter, whatever traditions you
choose to partake in, the bunny, egg hunt, or hollow rolls, I hope your Easter
ultimately is about Christ and what he has done for us.
I’m reminded by Paul’s words “whatever you do, whether you
eat or drink do it for the Lord’. Paul was talking about to group of Christians
who were arguing about whether or not it was more godly to or not to decorate Easter
eggs. Well not really, but it was something equally as silly (it wasn’t silly
to them of course) but Paul gently points out that the point of everything we
do is to glorify Christ and really that’s all that matters. Are our actions
bringing the focus back to Jesus? Who am
I to say that dying eggs doesn’t help bring Glory to Christ. In my own life, I
know that would cheapen the experience. But it may be different, in your case.
Maybe this is a good time for your to witness to your unbelieving neighbors,
maybe it gives you a special time to bond with your kids bringing them joy, who
knows?
So however you decide to celebrate this Easter, may your
eyes be fixed on Him. And whether you dye eggs or not, may Christ be glorified.
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to
present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the
only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ out Lord, be glory, majesty,
dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!
