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January 13, 20165 Tips to Help You Navigate the Christian Fiction Market
June 5, 2016
What part of the chocolate Easter bunny do you eat first? The National Confectioner’s Association reports that 76% of people eat the ears first. I tested my family—we are 100% “ear first” eaters. Easter is full of fun traditions such as chocolate Easter bunnies, egg hunts, and pastel colors. But for Christians, Easter should also be an important time of passing down the legacy of Christ to our children. As a pastor to children and families, I don’t find anything harmful about Easter holiday traditions. Yes, I know many of the traditions are rooted in pagan festivities hundreds of years ago, but those meanings have long been lost. I don’t dye hardboiled eggs to worship a fertility goddess; I do it to have a fun and memorable experience with my children. Romans 2:12 tells us that we should not conform to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This doesn’t mean that you have to live like a hermit apart from society and culture. It means that in everything you do, make sure that Christ is first and foremost. At Easter, this can be done by ensuring that all of your celebrations and traditions point back to Christ. One of our traditions we have reclaimed for Christ is the Easter egg. We use Resurrection Eggs to tell the story of Jesus from Palm Sunday to resurrection. You can make your own, or purchase them online at http://www.familylife.com/find-help/key-resources/resurrection-eggs#.U1u8S17IZZg. Every year we do our regular Easter egg hunt. In addition, we hide the ResurrectionEggs. Once all the Resurrection Eggs are collected, we open them one at a time and tell the story of Jesus to our children. The eggs contain many different tokens that represent important events during Jesus’ final week on earth, such as a toy donkey, nails, a rock, and one that is empty. We have many other traditions at Easter and you can too. Be creative, look online for ideas, and create moldable moments that will shape the hearts and minds of your children for years to come. What are some ways that you are currently emphasizing Christ through Easter in yourhome?
Cyle Young
Cyle a binge writer, pastor, and cinnamon roll savant. He spends his day devising how to make the world a better place through the Gospel of Jesus and creating fantastic adventure for his fantasy characters in The Last Waveson novels.
He is co-creator of All Out Sports and an avid indoorsman. :) He likes air conditioning more than fleas, ticks, or wasps.
2 Comments
We love these. thanks for the reminder.
We have been using the Resurection Eggs for over 12 years. We have used they at home, with our AWANA Kids, in Sunday School and even VBS. We feel it is important to teach alternate symbols for Easter to the children. We actually create Egg Packages for the kids to take home.
In my Sunday school setting I used to use the Eggs for Three weeks. Each week I had the kids tell the story. I believe to be a missionary is being a story teller. As Christians we are called to share our story, our testimony. The Eggs help to tell the Great story of the Gospel, God’s love in action.
I have taught the story telling model from 1st Grade to 6th grade. I changed the lessons to be age appropriate. According to Josh McDowell youth are picking there world views earlier as young as 12 years old. We need young Holy Spirit led missionary story tellers for their own generation.