Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter!

Today marks the second of the "high holidays" for Christians everywhere.  Interestingly, the first, the birth of Jesus, would be meaningless without the second, the death and resurrection of Jesus.  I find this interesting, because Christmas gets way more attention than Easter.

I chalk this up not to the difference in the religious meaning behind each of the holidays, but to the fact that a jolly old elf circumnavigating the globe with flying reindeer to deposit elf-made toys in people's houses is way more exciting than a giant bunny leaving a basket of colored eggs.

By the way, am I the only one that noticed that since our migration from hand-made toys to plastic creations with "made in China" stamped on the box, the whole elf-made bit should have collapsed on itself?  Thank goodness for the simple trusting nature of children, at least for a time.

As a child I never fully believed in the Easter bunny; what did he look like?  A real bunny, or a giant mix between a rabbit and the abominable snowman?  How did he get into the house (certainly not through the chimney) and why did he come at all?  Am I the only one who doesn't find it sanitary to have an animal handling my food?  Probably, but that doesn't make me wrong.

Aside from all of this, the underlying reason for the holiday can get lost, even for those who purport to celebrate it.  At least Christmas has some great carols about the birth of Jesus.  There's not really a large storehouse of great Easter songs to sing.  Maybe the best way to truly enjoy this aspect of the holiday is to just quietly reflect on what it means that God loved us so much that he came into our world (complete with our crazy cultural expressions) not to be revered and adored, but to be rejected and abused, and ultimately to pay the price on our heads so we could be made right with him.  That's even more amazing than flying deer or candy producing rabbits.