My sister-in-law Anne is at it again with her holiday decorations! She put up her Easter decor just a few days after St. Patrick’s Day. What do you think? How does your family celebrate Easter?
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So Cute! We usually make a Easter dinner after church. Our oldest daughter lives in CA and won't be able to make it for Easter.
How do you celebrate the holiday?
Well, Easter isn't as a big deal here in Ecuador as it was in the States. So for us, it's just another Sunday.
How can Resurrection Sunday be "just another Sunday" in your church calendar? Or even the days leading up to it be "no big deal"? It's a pretty significant series of events, observed by both Catholics and Christians. I hope you simply meant you don't decorate the house for it, not that your church or family doesn't celebrate it. Even our Jewish friends are getting ready to celebrate Passover. This is a very busy time of year for different faiths.
Catholics ARE Christians 🙂
Bee 🙂
I'm sorry, but unless on Resurrection Sunday the pastor preaches about It, it isn't as a big deal as in the States. I understand the importance of the Occasion. And no; we don't decorate our house for it. I mean, after 10 years in a different culture you start to lose the old customs you're used to.
We celebrate that every Sunday at church…not just Easter. We partake of the Lord's Supper upon the first day of EVERY week as it says in the New testament. When doing this we remember his death and sacrifice.
I'm sure they meant Catholics and Protestants. Easy slip to make when typing and trying to think at the same time.
SuperJames526, I would have to disagree with your assessment of Easter in Ecuador. Not sure where you are serving, but Ecuador has a HUGE Catholic population. Yes, many of the indigenous people and poor country hamlet dwellers have mixed faith and folklore and many may be poorly catechized, but to say Easter is not a big deal in a country that 94% identify as Catholic is just not accurate.
Well, we are serving in a small town called La Concordia, which is located 3-4 hours west from the Capital. I understand that Ecuador is mainly Catholic (I'm highly against it), and that the indigenous people have probably not heard of it; but what I meant to say was that in our church circle, we don't seem to make Easter a big deal.
SuperJames526 Thank you for the clarification. I'm am not certain why you are against Catholics who are your brothers and sisters in Christ but I pray you have a blessed and holy Easter.
We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
We don't do any egg hunts or associate Easter with bunnies.
Us too!
My family is in 3 diff states so on holidays its just my son and I and sometimes his kids. I try to make a nice meal, not ham that's waaaaayyy too salty! I don't always make church but I know that church doesn't have to be in a building, its where 2 or more are gathered in His name.
What about partaking of the Lord's Supper, giving money to God, singing songs of praise? Those are all things we are required to do on the first day of the week…every week.
Giving money to God? He has a personal bank account? You can do those other two things yourself, wherever or whenever. "Do this in remembrance of me" doesn't mean you need an ordained minister present. And not every church has communion every Sunday anyway. Mine only has it once a month, or you can call the minister to your home if you want private communion for any reason.
There is no example in the New testament of Christians taking the Lord's Supper once a month. We should carefully follow the examples of worship God gives us in the New Testament. And yes that money does belong to God. We are to be good stewards of it.
I think you mean "you" should follow what "you" think the New Testament tells "you." Not every church does what yours does. Please don't tell everyone else that only your way is correct. My church's stand is that no scripture dictates how often to take communion.
Our authority must come from God. The Bible is His word therefore we should look only to that for how we worship. Man doesn't have authority to make their own creeds and doctrines and say this is what we want our church to do. We should go to scripture and see if we 1.have a direCT command to do something, 2.see an example of it being done,or 3 see if there is a necessary inference of it. In the case of how often we take.the Lord's Supper scripture just says we are to gather together and break bread upon the first day of the week. The inference is every week since it doesn't tell.us how often. When we go about deciding how often we want to take it that's "adding to" God's word. We don't have authority for that.
In one sentence you say you have to follow only what the Bible says. In another you say you can put your inference in what the Bible says. I don't get it. Those contradict each other.
I think it is better for children if parents and caregivers in their lives do not give their children misleading information. Christians do not have to make any references to the easter bunny or collecting eggs. I think this is actually bad for a child's mind. As a Christian it would be better to make a clear deleniation that the idea of an Easter bunny and collecting eggs are not to do with Easter, that is a false idea. Focus on things that are worth it because they are real truths and ignore the junk.
I don't think God worries too much if we notice the happy changes in nature that spring brings, and we enjoy those, too. Not everything in life has to be given Pagan or anti-Christian undertones. You can find joy in the everyday and not displease God.
I think a little imagination is good and healthy for a child. They can see the Easter bunny at the Mall,and hunt for Easter Eggs. On Easter Sunday attend church and listen to their Sunday School teacher talk about Jesus. I go to a Pentecostal church and they have a Easter Egg hunt for the kids. They also put on a big drama production of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the church for six nights, for the public. Let them be children, they grow up so fast.
Why teach children about a false Easter bunny and a true saviour at the same time? Later one will be false and the other true, isn't that confusing? We are not supposed to lie! And not share in some things and then the lord too. Christian should just be Christian.
Paschal or Easter eggs are a very ancient tradition within the Church representing the empty tomb following the Resurrection. Originally they were real eggs coloured with vegetable dyes, and it was only in the 1800s that the first chocolate egg was produced. The Easter bunny is a German folkloric figure.
Bee 🙂
Easter eggs have a history with the Orthodox church and were used as religious symbols. Eggs were died red to symbolize the blood that was shed on the cross. The Easter Bunny was originally someone who judged if children were behaving. German and Pennsylvania Dutch parents used the bunny as a morality lesson this time of year. So if those religions and beliefs and parents were OK with colored eggs and bunnies, why can't we be? Why can't we have both the symbols and the religious holiday? I don't think it confuses children. I understood what Easter was about as a child, knew why we went to church, but knew about the Easter Bunny and eggs, too. I wasn't confused, and I didn't feel that anyone was lying to me. I could believe in a lot of different things, a bunny or a Bible story. Isn't that what you want children to do? Learn to believe in something they've never seen themselves?
The commenter said a clear delineation based on the Bible.
Read in your Bible the first of the Ten Commandments,
in Exodus 20:2-4 you will find the 1st of the Ten Commandments:
…2"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3"You shall have no other gods before Me. 4"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.…"
In a religious sense there is more of a command to disregard the idea of an Easter bunny than to hold to the practise.
If you took that Bible verse literally, we would not be allowed to make any art, statues, dolls, stuffed animals, or even those animals displayed on that Ark Encounter. I don't think those types of things are unfavorable to God. We are not worshiping them. If you want to take that verse to its extreme and take all toys away from children, then you're free to do it in your own home, but not in others' homes. Don't condemn anyone else for not following your same degree of strictness and literal interpretation of a book that is/was/always will be open for debate.
BTW, you can see a man-made image of God himself on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. If the Catholic church is fine with that, I am too.
Really the culture is just too easy to follow. I was brought up with Easter egg hunts. However my family never read the Bible. We were not taught anything at home and we were sent to public school. We went to street dances and socials and eventually bars. My life has not been very good and I am more interested in reading the Bible and doing good works now, but my life is almost over. People need to actively invest in and cultivate their christian lives. Don't just let commercial holidays and the public system be the things you respond to and do. The Easter bunny is a big deal in stores for obvious reasons, but we don't have to place emphasis on it in our lives. Try to think what is Christian and important to focus on and bring into your lives. And the little people's lives early. The Easter bunny seems not very good to me cause I think it is just not true. How about God who sees what you do in secret will reward you openly. That is a Bible verse. Now show me where the Bible mentions the Easter bunny. Then I will be corrected.
Of course the Bible won't mention an Easter bunny. Rabbits were considered unclean because they "chew the cud," which technically is not true in the cow/cud sense. But you know, there are a lot of things we do or have in our lives that aren't mentioned in the Bible. Driving cars, flying planes, getting x-rays, getting dialysis, using a coffee maker, microwaving supper, sending e-mails… And we even do some of those on Sundays.
So if you want to start excluding things from your life because they aren't in the Bible, go right ahead. That's quite noble of you. But don't just pick and choose, because that wouldn't be right. Take your stand and remove it all! Then with a clean conscience, you can enjoy your mud and stone home, no plumbing, no electricity, no Internet, no modern medical care, and a donkey to ride on to town.
If I remember my New Testament correctly, Christ heavily criticised the Scribes and the Pharisees for their nit-picking attitude to interpreting and following the Law…
I think Christ would be more interested in how we treat other people with love and compassion, rather than picking them apart for not following our interpretation of Bible quotes :/
Bee
The people then had all of the activities you just mentioned but not as technologically advanced. They travelled, had health concerns, drank beverages, heated food, corresponded with each other, and they did those things daily but some not on the Sabbath day. However they did not have rabbits delivering eggs to children on the Passover.
We always had an egg hunt for our kids and bought them candy and stuffed bunnies on the day before or week before Easter. We never told them anything about the Easter bunny. On Easter Day, we have always gone to church and celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus. I do agree that you shouldn't teach your kids that the Easter bunny has special powers. My husband's mom did that and also taught him that Santa was real. He was very upset when he found out they were lies and then he started questioning everything that she had ever told him. I do think we should be careful what we say but still enjoy Easter; however we choose to celebrate it.
Using Santa or the Easter Bunny for creating joy and suspense and giving to others is not teaching "a lie." Even when the kids find out who's really behind all that, it's still a lesson about loving, caring, sharing, and wanting to make life happy for others.
If you're going to follow the Bible literally, then you do have to go all in. The staunch Bible followers who talk the talk but in reality are "cherry pickers" (picking and following only the Bible passages they want to) are the ones who seem hypocritical to the rest of the world. So remember, it's OK to stone people per the Bible. And if you're widowed, your husband's brother has to marry you. No eating pork, or rabbit!
Let us all keep on with our Bible reading and study anyway, even if it is difficult to understand sometimes. Don't be put off of your Bible studies! Not wanting an Easter bunny in with the celebration of our risen God is not unreasonable, in my opinion. Jesus came to set people free and called Himself The Way, The Truth and The Life and said no one goes to God The Father but by Him! So if we are truely worshipping Jesus our Lord and God let us set every thing aside that is not important and look at Him!
I told my parochial students this: "Boys and Girls, Easter is not about rabbits and eggs. Easter is about Jesus and his resurrection from the grave! But what do we know about rabbits in the spring? (They have bunnies!) That's right! They have lots of bunnies in the spring – new life! What do we know about eggs? (They hatch chicks) That's right! When baby bunnies and baby chicks are born, they kind of represent the new life we have when we give our hearts to Jesus. I think rabbits and eggs can be a good reminder of that new life Jesus wants each of us to have. What do you think? "(and from here sprang many positive comments and a deeper discussion of the gospel)…You can make things as big of a deal as you choose – for or against the world's Easter trappings- but the bottom line is-do it with grace. love and don't lose the message of Jesus -which can easily be lost when all things of the world are "bad" in a child's life.
And what a lovely teacher you sound Anon 4/09/2017!
Happy Easter to you and your lucky parochial students 🙂
And a Happy Easter to Ellie and her creative sister-in-law with her pretty Easter decorations.
I'm off to hang teeny wooden eggs painted with spring flowers on my Easter tree!
Bee 🙂
Cute!
I'm Catholic…so we'll be going to Holy Thursday Mass, Good Friday service, and Easter night vigil. So, we are enjoying the relaxing of this week before everything get's cray. 🙂 I love Easter because it's when you see how much Jesus LOVES you.
It's just myself for Easter since my sisters live in 2 different startes. I don'to go to church anymore it was so boring going when I was little. When I was little I use to fake sick so I would have to go to church.
Sorry you are alone on holidays. My family are in 3 different states I know how it is. And church doesn't have to be in a building. You can talk to God anyplace you are. He wants to be close to you,He loves you!
I don't put up Easter decorations before Easter! It's still Lent.
Just because it's lent doesn't mean your can't put up Easter decorations.
My Catholic church put Easter decoration up during lent. I called my church and they said it was ok.
Lovely decorations. We decorate and bake a cross. We still fill Easter baskets.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn