Thom Fredericks is the next amigo to consider the question, “Why does Easter matter to you?” I can always count on conversations with Thom to be challenging and deeply encouraging. I think you’ll get a glimpse of that here. I’m not really sure what Thom’s “real” job is, but he’s got serious skills with a camera and editing software. He’s also a life-long student (literally and figuratively) and is currently working towards a sociology degree. Or at least he was a week ago. Enjoy.

I was a little taken back over the conflict that this question brought to the surface within me. I mean, what do I really think about at Easter? Coloring eggs – chocolate bunnies – candy coated marshmallow treats shaped like chicks – Cadbury eggs with candy egg yolk filling – pink and blue jelly beans and a special Easter toy all arranged with precision and love in a basket stuffed with “Easter grass” waiting for the eyes of a child that Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected for; a bundle of temporary happiness so generously delivered by an ancient symbol of fertility in the folkloric character, the Easter bunny.

The way I think about the resurrection at Easter is not the same way I think about the resurrection at any other time during the year. Easter seems to diminish the reality of the resurrection. It feels more like another faux Christian celebration based on assimilation to culture rather than a celebration of the risen lord. A high-jacked holiday expression where we have conformed more to the subtle death by consumerism rather than rejoicing in the resurrection of Christ and the death of self – He died so that I might live. It is one more example to me that shows how much more our culture reigns supreme in our selfish, selfish lives. I can only say this, if our ultimate hope is founded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the sacrificial lamb, whose death and resurrection has begun the reunification between the Creator and the creation then this one symbolic day is not enough. If this amazing moment in history has changed our lives then everyday is a life changing realization and cause for celebration in the message that Christ loved us first and more than we could ever grasp, so much so that he was willing to lay down his life. Following Christ is a way of life; Easter is a way of compartmentally fitting it in. We, followers of Christ are as guilty as the rest of the world every other day outside of Easter. We look for life in the things that make us die. Easter should only magnify our search and commitment.

So, if the pagan ritual turned Christian celebration via the proselytization method of assimilation offers me anything it is to be reminded that Jesus died for our everyday and that our everyday should be lived like we believe in the resurrection and the transforming power of the spirit. It is the faith in the resurrection that offers us the transforming experience of becoming new creations.

To answer the question, “Why does Easter matter to you?” I would have to say that Easter doesn’t matter to me, the resurrection does and it changed my life. This is the message that I would rather have the wide eyes of my waiting children see – the reality of the resurrection changing the everyday life in both myself and the Christian community we participate in.