A Chocolate Easter Egg

For those of a sweet bent, Easter is chocolate. Chocolate eggs rain down upon us.

The association of eggs with Easter comes not from Christianity but paganism. Eggs, like bunnies, symbolised the Spring hope of fertility that new life will come again despite the harshness of winter. Christians however weren’t stupid – they could recognise a good thing. Chocolate eggs were too good to pass up.

Eggs though are encased in shells. They are containers, holding goodies within. In time they crack open to allow the chick to come out and grow up. A container and its contents are quite different.

At Easter time in church there is a lot of make-believe language. A dead Jesus coming back to life, stones being rolled away, bursting out of hell’s prison, victory over death…

This old familiar language, like a fairy tale, is the container, the shell of Easter. But it isn’t its contents.

The content of Easter is the belief that Christians hold that love is stronger than hate, and hope is stronger than despair. Love and hope is seen in the changes in people’s lives.

Easter isn’t about believing in the literal words of an old fairy tale. It’s about seeing lives changed, joining that movement that wants to colour the world in love and joy.

Now back to the chocolate…