As I meandered through the high street this morning, I noticed that the Coop had decided to "go Eatser-ish" and put up a banner display, with the inevitable chicken and egg display. In the commercial reality of today, it is somewhat late to the stage. Afterall, Lidl were stocking their chocolate eggs during Christmas. I cannot abide this commercial pushing of the seasonal boundaries. Christmas isn't Easter, and it's definitely not Easter yet, in the same way that Advent isn't Christmas, even though (yet again) you could buy mince pies in Lidl in September.
None of these rants reflect where my mind went this morning.
First, I felt sad that in the gloom that our nation is in at the moment, that this seemed like the next "moment" that commercially and socially was on offer and which the community (we might logically conclude) might look forward to next. Really? A few chocolate eggs! Though of course, there is now this accepted secularism that the eggs and the Spring flowers and the change of the hour is essentially the launch of summer in the UK. And so we spin round and round through the seasons. Seems fairly empty to me. Where is the real hope?
Second, I felt - surely we can (as Christians) do better than this? In fact - far better! So how will we present the glorious life changing moment of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that is so powerfully different to a few chocolate eggs? What will we do with it? How will we communicate it?
Or will we merely fall into the secular trap and go with it?
BTW, I'm already booked for my 2 Easter assemblies in WP and BG. It's one of the hardest biblical themes to present to children. Presenting the execution of Jesus is exceptionally difficult and to do so by being true to the Gospel, without getting into trouble and causing upset ("Mum, the Baptist Minister came into assembly today and talked about nails being hammered into Jesus on the cross."
Value your prayers on that!!!
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