{"id":30,"count":37,"description":"Easter\u2026Eggs and Bunny?\r\nBy: Rev. Steve Lee\r\n\r\nAs we approach Easter, or what I refer to as Resurrection Sunday, it might\r\nappear as if the whole world is celebrating Jesus Resurrection as well! Go into\r\ngrocery stores and you will see Easter Eggs and candy. Go to the retail shopping\r\noutlets and you see Easter Bunnies and Easter sales. In some schools, there is\r\nthe Easter Egg hunt, with pretty baskets stuffed with decorated eggs. Then the\r\nquestion must be asked, how are the eggs and bunnies a celebration of Easter?\r\nThe answer is not so simple! The idea of eggs being shared go back the 12 th and\r\n13 th centuries. In Europe, eggs were given to others as gifts. This tradition of\r\ngiving eggs was appropriated by the Christian faithful, once the fasting ended\r\n(practice of Lent) eggs were shared and eaten with friends and family within the\r\ncommunity. European believers saw the egg as a symbol of Jesus rising out of\r\ndeath and being \u201cre-born\/Resurrected.\u201d And in the 16 th century, Germans started to use the image of Rabbits as the deliverer of the Easter egg, as fasting ended on Resurrection Sunday, it was told to children that the bunny came to deliver the eggs.\r\n\r\nYes, it is silly to think that a bunny came to drop off the eggs, and that eggs are\r\nsymbols of the Resurrected Jesus. Evangelical Christians can discuss the merits\r\nof these ideas with fellow believers. But to the non-believing world, they don\u2019t\r\ncare nor do they wonder about the appropriateness of the egg or bunny and what\r\nit stands for! So may I suggest, instead of avoiding the non-Christians, engage\r\nthem at the egg hunts and the Easter celebrations with the message of Jesus.\r\nPolls have shown that American\u2019s believe that Easter to be a religious holiday.\r\nSo how about having a conversation that asks the non-Christians, at the egg\r\nhunt or the Easter Bunny photo shoot; \u201chave you ever wondered about the\r\nEaster egg?\u201d The answer, \u201cJesus died for our sins and came back from death, so\r\nthat Eternal Life in heaven can be had, no matter who you are or what you have\r\ndone!\u201d\r\n\r\nSo take time to talk about the meaning of Easter instead of quibbling about the\r\nmerits of the egg and bunny!","link":"http:\/\/www.gii-usa.org\/lax\/category\/articles\/word-from-the-editor\/","name":"Word from the Editor","slug":"word-from-the-editor","taxonomy":"category","parent":9,"meta":[],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gii-usa.org\/lax\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gii-usa.org\/lax\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gii-usa.org\/lax\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taxonomies\/category"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gii-usa.org\/lax\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/9"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gii-usa.org\/lax\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts?categories=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}