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| "Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise..." |
As my long-time readers know, I am not a fan of plastic Easter. I can't stand the idea of forking out big bucks on shrink-wrapped gifts for kids. For those who are not believers in Jesus and the Resurrection, why would they want to hand out candy and presents only three months after Christmas? Why even celebrate? Its ridiculous!
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| "...you will do well to pay attention to the message..." |
For those who are Christians, Easter is the most important day to remember and celebrate. And to cheapen the message and the day with plastic and other crap totally steals the focus. Especially for children.
Especially for the children. They should be the LAST to get plastic junk. Oh, but then the toy and candy industries wouldn't get to profit from their parent's sentimental whims and guilt over being bad parents. So quickly Fiona was able to rattle off, "Jesus died for our sins...AND WE GET JELLYBEANS!" Ugh.
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| "...as to a light shining in a dark place,until the day dawns..." |
We choose to celebrate Easter very, very simply (after many years of trying this thing and that). No church, no new fancy dresses from Costco, no magical footprints on the carpet, no pastel decorations. This morning, I read the Easter story straight out of the Bible to Shane and younger. I read each version from Matthew all the way to John.
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| "...and the morning star rises in your hearts." |
While I read, Ian and Mark hid three dozen hard-boiled eggs I colored last night. Then Mark made breakfast while we watched Veggie Tales Easter Carol. During breakfast we had a few opportunities to point out sins in our children and remind them that Jesus taught a different way of living.
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| Shane finds the first egg! |
After that, the egg hunt was on...
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| Comparing first eggs |
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| The Easter Monkey hid that egg! |
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| Ian was Daniel's buddy |
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| "Look Mom! I found a chicken egg!" |
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| NOT an Easter Egg |
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| "No, Daniel, you have to PEEL them first!" |
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| The Easter Snail |
So, the big question is, why do we, The Downens, choose to celebrate Easter simply and not part of a church body? We believe we can receive the message of Easter from anywhere, as long as we believe. We can see it and feel it as we watch the sunrise on our forest and the illumination of our budding fruit trees. We can hear it when we listen to Mahler's Symphony No 2. And already, we are forgetting and over-indulging on hard-boiled eggs and jelly beans. Help us to avoid temptations and the candy in the kitchen! Today is going to be a beautiful, sunny day, so out we go into God's creation to enjoy it!
