Blog #16 Words From A Shepherd’s Heart
Definition of Lent: The 40 days before Easter Sunday when the Christian church reflects on the passion story of Jesus (the week leading up to his death and resurrection). It begins on Ash Wednesday (this year that was February 22) and ends before Easter Sunday (April 9th).
Depending on your family and church traditions, you may be observing Lent right now. It is often a time of reflection on the story of Jesus’ path to the cross. I don’t think it has to be a gloomy time but I find more and more that there are blessings in these intentional seasons of reflection. On one hand, we can celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection any day. We also do it as a church community when we observe the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, together. But there is something special about taking a chunk of time to really pay attention to what God has done for us, out of his great love, in sending Jesus to the cross.
I have shared before about our family’s tradition of using the resurrection eggs as a way of counting down the story of Easter with our boys. Some are 12 days long and others are longer. Having something tangible that they can open and touch makes the story more interesting and engaging.
There are other ways we can be intentional during this season. Having a calendar like this one has some simple family activities to do together. The Jesus Storybook Bible is a great children’s version of the Bible and offers a yearly Lent guide as well. You could also try a family challenge to do one act of kindness every day, and/or praying together as a family for specific family, friends, neighbors, or even world issues during this time. We want to have an inward focus, as we reflect on what Jesus’ death and resurrection means for us, and we want to have an outward focus – because God’s love is so wonderful we want others to experience it as well.
But what about eggs and bunnies being used for Easter? Should we use these symbols in the church? Did you know that Christians would take popular symbols of pagan celebrations and give them a new meaning? Like eggs and bunnies, for example. They were considered symbols of fertility and would be used by non-Christian religions as part of their worship. Christians gave these symbols new meaning by saying they were examples of the new life we have in Jesus. They would also paint eggs red to tell others about Jesus’ death on the cross to save us.
Should we have two sets of stories we tell our children? The “Christian” Easter story about Jesus and a whole separate set of stories around the Easter bunny that have nothing to do with what we celebrate? I think we should make the Easter bunny a part of Jesus’ story, just like the Christians several hundred years ago did.
What if we had the Easter bunny become the teller of the Good News of Jesus? What if we decorated eggs with colours that represent different parts of the story of Jesus, or even painted pictures of the story on them? You can read more about this here. We don’t have to separate the story of Jesus from the cultural symbols of bunnies and eggs but I think we do need to teach our children a new way to understand them. We don’t have to let the culture tell the story – we have the best story to tell!
Sarah Cogswell is Pastor of Children and Families at The Journey Church in Moncton, NB, Canada. She and her husband David have been married for 24 years and are parents to three amazing teenage/young adult boys. She spent 9 years caring for children in her home, and has hosted 18 international students throughout the years. She is currently working on her Master of Divinity through Acadia Divinity College and enjoys learning and experiencing ministry and faith all at the same time. You can contact Sarah by emailing sarah@onthejourney.ca.