I don’t know about you, but Easter sneaks upon me as a stealthy thief in the night. Something about its do-si-do-ing between April and March.
Compared to Christmas, why is Easter Jipped?
It’s such a pivotal holiday, nothing in the history of Earth could be more earth-shattering, or soul stilling. No mighty Pharoah could muster self-resurrection, not with all his vast man powered stink’n-dog bricks of twenty ton-caliber grandiose triangular tango stack up, and even with embodied linen wrapped shriveled apple style self-preservation, could he take up his dead body and rise in it, alive and rosy and well. Then open the door for all to put their bodies back on like your favorite pair of long lasting, tried and true blue jeans, re-united forever, and all losses of all types, evaporated eternally.
This is you know, obviously, a really big deal! So why do I have a hard time giving this celebration the true savoring gratitude filled worshipful delight it deserves?
Why does Christmas get most the steam? A man with a red suit gifting at the North pole is more endearing than a bunny bringing boiled eggs and chocolate? Maybe we are all just a little wiped out and money depleted from putting a lot into Christmas.
But as wonderful as the fact is that a baby was born who would change the shape of the world’s history, the Reverberating fact that He DID conquer the world’s most pressing conundrums, really does deserve some greater study, some greater jubilation.
It so happens that last year, the church I belong to, invited its members, to do just that. Find reason to joy and jubilee for what our best kept hopes and dreams might actualize into, our most tragic disappointments and hurts might mend by way of and our hugest losses bridge back and re-unite through. These disciples asked our church members to celebrate and savor Easter with more passion, purpose and pure intent.
And here it is next Easter season, and I have felt a little a little at a loss, the grace of flow for what to do, doesn’t seem to just descend, like at Christmas.
So whats a girl or guy to do? If one realizes last minute it’s really time to get his or her Easter act together? Easter cram!?! Slam!
Find that Simple, Worshipful Lovely Easter Idea JUST for you!!
Maybe just… Baby step it. Pray. Choose. Pick up one thing that brings some holiness to the holy day, week or month. And try it on for size with our room mates or family this year, and if it is lovely, make a thing of it.
Let some ideas start to spark for next year, or decide to let Easter extend a little past the holiday and I mean, why not?
If you are just looking for today and tomorrow, Let’s start with an Easter Story time. A vintage charming story book, Here you go, a little freebie! It might spark an idea for how you might celebrate! Or grab a little person to snuggle and call it Easter-Delight time.
My phone storage wouldn’t allow one more second to film, and this final attempt got me the very furthest…maybe you were meant to read the last paragraph aloud to yourself or kin!
Attire
The Easter dress, sometimes new, thrifted, borrowed, blue, or sometimes one of your closet clothing friends seems to help you say, “Hey I’m light and sweet and maybe a bit fancy for you dearest God!” It’s always made the day a little more special for me, from the year my mama made me a special pinstripe pink dress, to the years I just donned an old hat and wore pink a pink gingham shirt from my closet. And I love to buy a nice white shirt, with tie or bow tie, for the boys! So when you find that church of your choice to socially gather to sing and commemorate, you feel you are giving Him your best!
Food
Of course, as we discuss celebration, we need to talk food! So if you are about to shop, don’t forget to consider grabbing some canned biscuits, and marshmallows. If you want to bring some tastes from the Holy Land, maybe some dried figs and nuts, and or hummus and pita/flatbread.
You’ve probably had Resurrection rolls at some point? We do these the simplest way possible, with a package of canned crescent rolls or biscuits, and wrap the dough around the marshmallow, and bake it. Resurrection Biscuit Recipe. The marshmallow disappears, and you have a visible object lesson for your little ones to celebrate Christ’s ascension from the tomb! Here’s a tiny bit fancier of a recipe, but still simple, Rhodes Rolls, and Cinnamon! Resurrection Rolls.
What about the foods of the Holy Land? I loved getting to know Tammie from Simple.Healthy.Tasty and her Good Friday meal is a fun way to bring those tastes into our home. Again, the grocery store has many options, like a package of pita! But its nice to see some visuals here, especially the nut dried fruit mix!
As I was growing up, here and there, my parent’s pulled off a Passover Seder Meal. Its a beautiful historic holy meal commemorating the Children of Israel and the Exodus from Egypt. This beautiful blog post shows you which foods you might want to gather if you would like to establish a tradition that pulls in ancient people’s celebrating Christ’s liberative qualities! And here is a lovely script to follow as you make it a Christian worshipful meal.
Last year, we were so blessed to have my Dad come help us pull together a Christian Sedar meal. Because he was so familiar with the program, it was very simplified and we had some lovely discussion with the principles the meal and program brings up. This year, we had to really move through it quickly because unbeknownst to me, there was a fireside scheduled that day. Our dried figs and nuts, represented the hoped for fruit of our good choices. A jar of horseradish, our five year old dolloped a big bunch thinking it would be extra tasty! He did he not like his big dose of represented sins! (Lots of laughs.) We used crackers to represent the unleavened bread that Jewish descendants used remembering forefathers hastily obeying God’s command to leave Egypt. For the first time, we bought a ‘pascal’ lamb, briefly mentioning that lamb blood was put over the doorways so the plague of first born sons dying, would pass by. Incidentally the figs, or horseradish really jazzed up lamb meat!
If you aren’t familiar with the program, as my seasoned Passover executing Dad, its not too difficult to skim through, note your highlights, and make this meal uncumbersome and meaningful for a busy family with youth.
Crafts and Activities for the Kids
Some years back, my family made Easter ornaments, Jesus’, Donkeys, and I found printable Names of Christ from Montserrat, a superwoman Christ-loving mama, you will love her Easter ideas and printables! In the past we’ve put these decorations on an Easter branch cut off from some budding tree. Something like Montserrat’s cute Easter branch. This year, I had to grab something extra quick, a little fake Christmas tree, so my little “Discovery Sprouts” preschool could decorate on the spot. Oh those little pictures done by my oldest years ago, are so sweet to me now.
As you know, children like to hunt eggs, and you have probably seen these symbolic Easter eggs.
There are beautiful helps online to make your own, or just simple drawings of key items like a palm leaf, a nail, a rope and thorn, or even song title, would work wonderfully in teaching important symbols to children, and can infuse some memorable meaning to your activities.
I purchased my beautiful set a few years ago from Stephanie Eggli. She is the hugest sweetheart and will likely help you get a set very reasonably priced.
It can be fun to act out Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, as people wave colored palm leaves and proclaim Hosanna!
Sacred Ceremonies
There are so many ways to honor our Lord. One of mine and many others, favorite mentors Emily Belle Freeman with David Butler, they provide context to discuss 25 names of Christ and how that Glorious Son of Man and Son of God showed up for each of you and your family this year! Even if you don’t have the fancy candle set, you can bring out some candles to the dining room table and discuss.
When I was growing up, some time around 5-6 am, my own mother and father, under mama’s idea, managed to wake 9 sleepy children up to watch the sun rise, as we pondered the Son Rising in our lives. The dusty sleep weighed heavily on our eyelids, we grumbled and moaned. We tugged at the blankets we shared on the lawn or trampoline to edge out the cold which never kept all the way out. It was so hard to get up, but I think I learned worshipping the Son, does take significant sacrifice. The warmth and blessings we get, make that sacrifice well worth it! Watching the sun rise on Easter or any day together, can bring delight to your Easter.
This is my own personal favorite. Jesus washed the feet of each of his disciples as He began the Last Supper and sacrament with His disciples. As I washed my children’s feet this year, my dear husband read them Jesus’ stories in the scriptures and played the piano. I have a son who is graduating this year, and I savored this last service with him, likely, in his entire life. To watch the far off pondering look in his eyes as he listened to his father read, and to hear his satisfied musing, as I rubbed in some peppermint oil, is something I will never forget. I ended rubbing my own husband’s feet, and he rubbed my back. He rubs my back so regularly and really embodies the concept of “Foot Washing Service”, as a disciple of Christ in fatherhood and Husbandship.
