Children, Eggs, and an Easter Greeting

At the beginning of last week, or perhaps even the week before, I came across the idea (no, I don't know where it came from because I failed to make it a fav) to use when chatting with the Grace Church children in worship on Easter. The idea was that many centuries ago, in some church, people would bring a red egg to Easter worship. During worship, they would hand it to someone as they offered the greeting: "Christ is risen!" The recipient of the egg would then say: "Christ is risen indeed!"

Do you know how difficult it is to find a red Easter egg? Or to find red dye? Hmmm....I suspect we all know that has something to do with food and red dye; but that's another story for another day. Anyone who knows me knows that when an idea comes into my mind, I don't give up until I figure out a way to carry it out.

In the meantime, Jeff Blackwell, our Director of Community Building & Programming, had ordered items for the children's Easter egg hunt. One of the things he had ordered were Splat Eggs. They are clear and have what appears to be an egg yolk in them. They move all around, somewhat I'm told like an implant, and go "splat" when you throw them against a wall. But I am digressing...

I asked if I could use the eggs - so that solved the problem of whether or not I would use real eggs for the children. Jeff said "yes." And when I was in the craft store on Thursday, I found red pouches in which I could put the eggs. It seemed too perfect. All I needed to do was to figure out what to say to the children. If only it had been that easy.

On Saturday evening, as I attempted to put the eggs in the red bags, I discovered they would not fit -- too small. My wonderful husband volunteered to go to the craft store and try to get larger red bags. Alas, they had only white or ivory. I went with the white having read somewhere else online that people in churches had given out white and gold eggs on Easter.

I cannot tell you the fun I had during my time with the children on Easter Sunday. After introducing the Easter greeting to them, I shared that I was going to give each one of them an egg as I greeted them with "Christ is risen!" Their response was to be "Christ is risen indeed!" I went down the line of children (and parents), handing out eggs, offering the greeting, and receiving their response. Then I invited them to go on an egg hunt. I had hidden foam eggs in the Easter flowers around the empty tomb. They hurried over and found their egg. Then I asked them to go to someone in the congregation, hand them the egg, greeting them with "Christ is risen!" I asked the people who received them to respond with "Christ is risen indeed!" It was a joyous moment in our Easter celebration. It is a remnant of Easter which I hope we will all carry with us.

Christ is risen! Christ is risen! Indeed!

Christ is risen! Christ is risen! Indeed! I love Easter! I love the pageantry of Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb at sunrise; the image of the empty tomb; the angel wondering why Mary is weeping; the beautiful colors of spring flowers and the "left-over" palms forming the garden around the tomb where the risen Jesus first speaks. I love that he first speaks to a woman! Easter opens up all sorts of possibilities for us, our faith, our churches, our world!

As a pastor, I have always been moved to tears on Easter. In some way, it is akin to that watercolor or musical work or poem or play that is indescribable - there are no words to describe it - as it finds its way deep into the recesses of my heart and emotions, bringing a joy so incredible that all I can do is weep.

As I looked at the sun rising over the river yesterday morning during our Sunrise worship celebration at the Riverfront, as we were singing, "Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia," I experienced God anew! My response was to weep! Later, as I sang the Easter hymn The Day of Resurrection, with the organ and brass accompanying, again the tears flowed! The presence of the risen Christ was real in a new way.

"Now let the heavens be joyful! Let earth the song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph, and all that is there-in!
Let all things seen and unseen their notes in gladness blend,
for Christ the Lord hath risen, our joy that hath no end."

The sacred story of Easter moves me from tears of sorrow to tears of joy! The problem is that as I step away from Easter, while I am eager for the memory and meaning to linger, it often fades. Its vividness fades. Life becomes ordinary again. It occurs to me that, when life becomes ordinary, so does the way I live.

As Easter people, we are not called to be ordinary; we are called to be an extraordinary witness in an ordinary world. There is nothing ordinary about the good news of Easter: "Christ is risen! Christ is risen! Indeed!" This season of Easter, I am going to attempt to be an extraodinary witness, a person who exudes the joy and promise and possibility that comes from knowing the risen Christ! I sense this could get interesting!