On Easter Sunday, a pastor is having a short time with the children during worship. The pastor asks, “Who can tell me what happens on Easter?” Little Cindy says, “I know! I know!” The pastor proudly asks Cindy to tell the congregation. “Easter,” she says, “is when the Easter Bunny comes out of the tomb, and if he sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of winter!”

As we have entered into the Easter season, I have been thinking about our Easter practices. More and more, I find I have been sounding like a cynical old man when it comes to our social traditions around holidays. I complain about the secularization of Easter, which is one of the most sacred days in the Christian year. Looking back, I realize we should have seen this shift coming when what we wore became more important than where we went on Easter Sunday. But yard decorations? Inflatable Easter Bunnies? Really?

I am not one of those guys who doesn’t give Christmas presents or who thinks children should not have Easter baskets. I love chocolate, and I don’t begrudge any kid or adult who is given a chocolate egg the delight of eating it. But our social practices around such important holidays deserve to be held in moderation. What does the Easter Bunny teach children about the Resurrection anyway?

Traditions of the Easter holiday that are most important in our faith are gathering together in worship, sharing an Easter meal, hearing the message of Christ’s Resurrection and rejoicing in Jesus’ victory over death! I like that, long ago, the Church decided to set the date of Easter in the Spring.* I like the connection between budding trees and blooming flowers with the Resurrection. I think it is appropriate to say, “Happy Easter!” But it is our responsibility as Christians who celebrate Easter to remind the rest of the world why we celebrate, similarly to why we celebrate Christmas.

Easter is more than the opportunity to wear new spring fashion. Easter is more than one day of Easter Sunday. Easter is a season of fifty days, the second longest liturgical season, where we continue to celebrate the Resurrection until the Feast of Pentecost. In fact, every Sunday is a “little” Easter, which is why we don’t count the Sundays when we observe the forty days of Lent.

My family is patient with me. When I begin a rant, like the above, they gently tell me to “lighten up.” My Easter “rant” is not as bad as my “Wise Men” rant. When I was the pastor of a church, I insisted that the Wise Men could not appear in the manger with Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. Matthew is the only gospel writer who mentions the Wise Men (or Magi). Herod asks the Wise Men for the exact time they first saw the star. Later, when Herod realizes that the Wise Men have tricked him and returned home by another road, he orders all children in and around Bethlehem, two years old or older, be killed. The implication was that Jesus was at least two years old when the Wise Men found him. But, back to Easter.

With the influence of social media and the internet in general, it is easy to get caught up in traditions of Christian holidays that truly have no correlation to their meaning or intent. As we live into this Easter season, may we focus our hearts and minds on the good news of the Resurrection. May we share the good news with grateful and joyful hearts, leaping forward like children on an egg hunt, eagerly searching for the presence of Christ in our own lives and accepting the gift of his Resurrection as fully as our Easter baskets.

Happy Easter.

Cary

* Easter is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the spring equinox. The full moon used to calculate Easter is an ecclesiastical full moon, which is not calculated in quite the same way modern astronomers would. The date of Easter changes each year because it is based on the lunar cycle. Easter Sunday always falls on the Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring equinox in March.