Don’t you love Spring? It’s such a beautiful time of year. Flowers blooming, birds returning, more hours of sunshine, warmer weather, and Easter, one of my favorite celebrations. To me, it’s all about redemption, new beginnings, and it happens with the freshness of spring as God recreates the world all over again.
To the outside world looking in at the church — it might look like a chance to show off new clothes, colorful eggs, and lots of chocolate. More than I can express, I wish everyone knew the real reason. I loved the way a sweet lady once explained the "new clothes" situation. She told her daughters that it was time to put away the dark clothes of mourning and put on bright new colors in celebration of Christ’s resurrection! Doesn\’t that just make you want to go put on some pink right now? (Even you guys could wear a pink shirt or tie!)
I remember as a little girl having Easter egg hunts in my backyard and trying my hardest to find that "prize egg." To its discoverer, it meant a full-size candy bar! (We had four kids and not a lot of money at our house!) But I don\’t remember my parents talking about the Easter Bunny and I never associated those decorated eggs and baskets with Jesus\’ death and resurrection.
However, now churches seem to be able to find lots of ways to connect the joy of Easter with the joy of spring and even those colorful eggs. I have to say – I sometimes wish we\’d have had some of these creative minds and cool resources around when I was a kid!
I know I’ve asked this before, but we have several new readers, so if you don\’t mind my asking again…
Let’s take a poll:
How many of you will be holding Easter Egg hunts at your church?
How many of you will be holding Easter Egg hunts, but not on Easter Sunday and/or at a location other than your church?
How many of you would say "Not on MY watch?"
I don\’t really know that there’s a right or wrong answer here, but I really am interested to hear how this is handled at your church. Let me know!
And remember…He is risen! He is risen INDEED!
We will not do one at our church but we have community groups that are going out into our community and doing easter egg hunts at parks in their neighborhoods and then inviting them to church the following morning. We are not against having them at our church but we feel like we can invite others to our church by having it ahead of time and letting them know of a place to worship.
We will have two Egg Hunts (annual events) – Flashlight Egg Hunt for grades 1-6 and Preschool Egg Hunt for birth-Kindergarten. These are big traditional events. We use them to meet 2 of our Children’s Ministry Goals. 1)Create a network of families who encourage each other to live by Biblical principles and enjoy fellowship together. 2)Reach out to unchurched families and involve them in fellowship ans small group Bible study.
I was involved in lots of egg hunts as a kid at churches even though not brought up in a Christian home. So yes I get that it can be a outreach and a way for people to connect. But, I got to say as a parent I am not recreating those events for my children. I never knew about the deep sacrafice of the cross it developed no reverence or thankfulness for Jesus himself. I have seen in my own children they need no hype or gimmick to draw them into Jesus the truth is enough to make them at awe of the wonders of Jesus love for us. Although we in no way judge others for how the choose to do childrens ministry or parent our personal convictions say this Holiday can be exciting and meaningful without bunnies, loads of sugar, and baskets.
Thanks for your feedback. Both sound like great events!
Thanks so much, Dawn, for your reply and sweet spirit. Blessings!