Ahhhhh....   Spring!

Don't you just love this time of year?  Crocuses and snowdrops peeping out of the ground, robins hopping around, calling out to each other, trees and bushes breaking out in buds...new life everywhere!

And of course this is the season for some of the most sacred holidays on the calendar.

I was reading an article (in Martha Stewart magazine, of all places!) about the Seder ritual -- the Passover meal. It was intriguing.  "'All of us our asleep' a Jewish saying goes. 'By telling stories, we are awakened.'"

And thus the article began.

"The Seder," the article went on to say, "draws family, friends, and often strangers together to eat, drink, sing, discuss, question, and argue, all while exploring the contradictory feelings that emerge from recounting the flight of the Jewish slaves from Egypt more than three thousand years ago.

The Seder plate, the centerpiece of the Passover table, is proof that the ancient Jews devised an ingenious way to teach the story of the exodus long before studies demonstrated that the most effective learning calls upon all five senses."

Through the foods on the Seder plate, the exodus is remembered in a tangible way.  Each represents a part of the story. It is a powerful lesson -- even to me, though I am not Jewish, and I have never gathered around a Seder plate.  I do not share that cultural heritage, but my spiritual heritage has its roots in the trials of the Israelites in the Old Testament.

What a glorious reminder the sharing of the Seder must be.  We should have more such reminders.  I know some people are wary of rituals -- it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the meaning behind them. But I think our holiday traditions can be some of the most valuable teaching tools we have.

Many lament the commercialization of religious holidays -- I saw a newspaper advertisement recently that was for a church. It pictured a basket full of jellybeans and asked, "Does Easter mean beans to your kids?"  Well, that certainly is profound, in an everyday sort of way.

But does that mean that we should shun Easter traditions that on the surface seem to have no connection to the true reason we celebrate Easter?

Some may say yes. But one of the favorite things I remember about Easter at my family's house involves that not-so-religious (some may even say pagan) symbol of Easter -- the egg.

My mom, for as long as I can remember, has set up a display in a prominent place in our home that just portrays the meaning of Easter so simply and so beautifully. She opens a Bible to the Easter story, and on top of it lays an egg -- one of the big plastic ones -- opened up and empty.

And, she'll ask you, "Do you know why the egg is empty?"  Well, do you?

It represents the empty tomb.

Empty because Christ rose from the dead, just as prophecy said. Just as he promised he would.

Empty because Christ conquered death. Not just once, but forever, for all. 

Because of him, death needs not have power over us. If we accept his payment for our sin, we don't need to fear death, because his death balanced our account.

What a blessed story!

An empty tomb ...   an empty egg

Thanks Mom.