A Call to Celebrate Easter with Intention
Last year, I had the privilege to speak about celebrating Easter with more intention on Easter Sunday for our Easter service. I wanted to share excerpts from that talk this year, here, so that hopefully many of us can make more efforts to take on this call to action to celebrate the greatest Easter story ever told more fully and with more joy, anticipation and intention in our own homes.
My talk was given in response to this talk from Gary Stevenson, a leader in our church and I highly recommend listening to it, but I will share my takeaways and the inspiration for my own home and family that I received. In this talk we were invited to better model the teaching and celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Easter story, with the same balance, fulness, and rich religious tradition of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Christmas story. He noted that in December, we somehow manage to incorporate the fun of “jingle bells”, Christmas stockings and gifts alongside other more thoughtful traditions such as caring for those in need, singing Christmas carols and hymns, and of course opening the scriptures and reading the Christmas story in Luke 2. Achieving this same balance for a more Christ-centered Easter is not as easily achieved. Elder Stevenson quoted New Testament scholar N. T. Wight, “We should be taking steps to celebrate Easter in creative new ways: in art, literature, children’s games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts,….This is our greatest festival. Take Christmas away and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away and you don’t have a New Testament, you don’t have a Christianity.“
I loved this call to action! I got really excited about it! If the Easter story, the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the single most significant event to ever happen on Earth, why can it be a challenge to find Christ in our celebrations at Easter time? In popular culture Christ can easily be found in the celebration of Christmas. As a young mom I have taken special care to find intentional ways to teach about Christ at Christmas time and find that balance that Elder Stevenson discusses. But, when I have tried to do the same for Easter the last few years, it has taken quite a bit more effort and research. I’d like to share some of the ideas Elder Stevenson suggested and some my family has come up with to better help us focus on the true meaning of Easter.
One of the suggestions that Elder Stevenson presented to better focus our Easter celebrations on Christ was to find your families version of “Luke 2.” What scripture reading experience will you introduce in your families? Suggested scriptures: This blog post suggests a list of scriptures that follow along with Holy Week. Elder Stevenson suggested 3 Nephi 11: 1-17 as, “the greatest Easter story ever told.”
Another suggestion he had was finding fun ways to bring Christ into our Easter celebrations in quote “art, literature, children’s games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts…etc.” The Mesa Temple Easter pageant is one example of these types of events that we are so lucky to have so close and have the opportunity to attend at Easter time. One game that would be fun to introduce in your own families is an Easter egg hunt scripture chase. Fill plastic eggs with scripture references to the Easter Story (one colors Egg for each team). Split into teams and hunt for the eggs the first team to collect all the eggs and place their scripture references in the correct order of events of the Easter story wins.
I have shared that I like to make special efforts to decorate for holidays. Changing the decor serves as a cue for my small children that something special is happening. I like to create fun ways to get them excited about the upcoming holiday and help us make memories together. I try to think about the “why” behind whatever effort I make. Christ is the true “why” behind the efforts we make during the Easter season. The meaning behind why we celebrate Easter can sometimes get lost in the bunnies, candy and gifts, but there is certainly room for both fun and teaching the true meaning of Easter during this season. So, to better help us find balance in our Easter activities, I came up with some ideas for both fun and meaning for our family to try and practice and hopefully some of these ideas will resonate with you and can be added to your Easter celebrations this Easter.
1. Add images of Christ into your Easter decor. Place a favorite picture of Christ in a prominent place in the home. If you have young children, print out Christ centered Easter coloring pages and place them where they are easily accessible for children to color for quiet time.
2. Replace some screen time with shows that are centered on Christ. The Chosen series, the living scriptures animated movies, The Testaments movies are some options. You can also stream Veggies Tales, 'Twas the night before easter or An Easter Carol for free through Amazon Prime.
3. Introduce “Holy Week” to your family and talk about each day. Make a plan for how you will teach about the events that occurred leading up to Easter Sunday. Finding art and literature that help me and my family learn more about Holy Week has been the simplest and most effective way to turn our Easter celebrations towards Christ. I love this Easter book for my kids and this Easter artwork to display in our home. We display this Holy Week story line of pictures as a visual reminder of each day of the Easter Story.
Those examples help us to better understand HOW to make sure we are including Christ in our Easter celebrations in our homes, but possibly the more important question is WHY is it so important to do these things?
Elder Stevenson shared a story of two young girls at a funeral he and his wife recently attended. When his wife, Leesa went to offer comfort and teaching and asked the small girls if they knew where their aunt was, they responded that they knew that she was happy and with Jesus. Elder Stevenson said “At this tender age, they found peace in the great plan of happiness and in their own child-like way, testified of the simple beauty of the resurrection of the Savior. They knew this in their hearts because of the thoughtful teachings of loving parents, family and primary leaders planting a seed of faith in Jesus Christ and in eternal life.” Similarly, when I was 9 years old my sister passed away and I remember feeling sad that she wouldn’t get to grow up with me here on earth, but I knew that I would see her again someday and had a testimony of eternal families and of my own eternal life. That experience, although very challenging for my family, was such a core testimony building experience for me and at that young age, I knew that I believed that Jesus died for me, was resurrected and because of Him, I will be resurrected and reunited with my family again.
This is why we make sure to teach the true story of Easter because it gave those girls, and myself the knowledge that helped them beautifully move through a challenging experience with hope and faith in Christ. “Your efforts may seem small compared to the loud voices your children hear in the world. At times it may not feel that you're not accomplishing much. But remember, that “by small means the Lord can bring about great things. One family scripture study, one gospel conversation, or one good example may not change your child's life in a moment any more than one drop of rain causes a plant immediately to grow. But the consistency of small and simple things nourishes your child much better than an occasional flood” - Dieter F. Uchtdorf. These small efforts in the grand scheme of things make the biggest difference. When life's challenges come, your children will have the efforts you prepared for Easter in their minds reminding them that they have a Savior who loved them enough to die for them and because of His atonement, they always have someone who understands them perfectly who they can turn to for peace.
I know that these efforts to teach of Christ are important. It pains me to read of and dwell on the Savior's suffering during this Easter week, but it also helps me to realize how much our Father in Heaven and Savior love us that they made this plan for us to return to them. I love Easter and the opportunity we have to focus on Christ and on His resurrection, that because of Him we can qualify for His greatest gift—that of eternal life. I am cheering you on as work to more intentionally celebrate Easter in your homes.
With Love,
The Hygge House
