Easter and Traditions
We've been giving a lot of thought to Easter this year, and how we want to celebrate with our kids. They're getting to the age where traditions matter--and not just our own. They're hearing from all their little friends about what their families' plans are, and asking for the same things. I have mixed feelings. I know Easter is the perfect time to usher in spring (especially after such a long winter!), to celebrate the signs of the new season. At the same time, there's a part of me that still balks at the idea that I have to go overboard, lavishing gifts on them, and smothering them in candy. It's not that I don't love to give my kids gifts. It's that I don't want to breed a sense of entitlement. So our gifts to the kids this year will be gifts that celebrate spring: bubbles, jump ropes, sidewalk chalk. Things we can do together to enjoy being outdoors after a long winter.
But there's more to Easter than bunnies and bubbles. I don't think it's necessary to cut out every secular element of the holiday, but neither do I want them to miss the real significance of this holiday. I'll be honest, the Easter story means the world to me, but over time I feel like I've lost some of its deep significance in the routine of celebrating it each year. This year we're trying something new.
Our family will be having a Passover meal. We're going to make very simple, very traditional foods, much like what the Israelites would have eaten centuries ago. I want my kids to have a context for the world in which Jesus lived, to understand what was happening before him. We'll revisit the Exodus story, the night on which the Israelites painted their doors with blood, knowing that unless they were found under the lamb's blood, they were lost.
Hmmm... A funny thing happens when we dig deep to teach our children. We learn a little something ourselves. I've always struggled to get my mind around the Old Testament and its place after Jesus' arrival on earth. Why was the Law there in the first place? Why wasn't it replaced altogether? I've heard the Sunday school lessons about Jesus' being the fulfillment of the Law. But somehow it wasn't until I was striving to find a way to teach my children that the pieces fell into place.
There's a reason why Jesus died at Passover time. The two events were inextricably connected. I want to give my kids a sense of the bigger picture, of just how Jesus fulfilled, completed the Exodus story. I want to give them some sense of the cohesive nature of the Bible. More than anything, I want them to understand who Jesus was, and what it meant to the Jews, and to us, that He became the Passover lamb.
I know much of it will be lost on them. It's still important. These truths and the depth of these stories needs to be woven into the fabric of their heritage, and that starts with family traditions. I hope it takes them far less time to grasp the magnitude of God's plan. Either way, I'm happy to be celebrating in a new way this year, to have fresh eyes for the Easter story, and a new amazement at God's wisdom in the underlying plan he was carrying out all along.
But there's more to Easter than bunnies and bubbles. I don't think it's necessary to cut out every secular element of the holiday, but neither do I want them to miss the real significance of this holiday. I'll be honest, the Easter story means the world to me, but over time I feel like I've lost some of its deep significance in the routine of celebrating it each year. This year we're trying something new.
Our family will be having a Passover meal. We're going to make very simple, very traditional foods, much like what the Israelites would have eaten centuries ago. I want my kids to have a context for the world in which Jesus lived, to understand what was happening before him. We'll revisit the Exodus story, the night on which the Israelites painted their doors with blood, knowing that unless they were found under the lamb's blood, they were lost.
Hmmm... A funny thing happens when we dig deep to teach our children. We learn a little something ourselves. I've always struggled to get my mind around the Old Testament and its place after Jesus' arrival on earth. Why was the Law there in the first place? Why wasn't it replaced altogether? I've heard the Sunday school lessons about Jesus' being the fulfillment of the Law. But somehow it wasn't until I was striving to find a way to teach my children that the pieces fell into place.
There's a reason why Jesus died at Passover time. The two events were inextricably connected. I want to give my kids a sense of the bigger picture, of just how Jesus fulfilled, completed the Exodus story. I want to give them some sense of the cohesive nature of the Bible. More than anything, I want them to understand who Jesus was, and what it meant to the Jews, and to us, that He became the Passover lamb.
I know much of it will be lost on them. It's still important. These truths and the depth of these stories needs to be woven into the fabric of their heritage, and that starts with family traditions. I hope it takes them far less time to grasp the magnitude of God's plan. Either way, I'm happy to be celebrating in a new way this year, to have fresh eyes for the Easter story, and a new amazement at God's wisdom in the underlying plan he was carrying out all along.
