i’m not sure if it’s the death, the violence, the injustice, the improbability, the eeriness, the joy that must have exceeded all other, or what…but the easter story is one i grapple with. i find myself repeatedly putting the stories of the bible into practical terms, tethered out there as something to learn from, and whether they actually happened or not doesn’t matter. my faith is not determined by that. somehow at easter i question this. maybe it’s just harder to see the abstract in death and resurrection. maybe my “all or nothing” personality wants to kick in. maybe it should.
i know one thing for sure: i honor the position of questioning and wondering. i humbly question god’s mystery. i humbly wonder who christ was. but part of why i can do that is because i have something to question and wonder about. as my children grow older, i have an increasing desire for their foundation to be solid and thick…full of stuff to question and wonder about. and you know, i don’t think i’ll ever get too old to add a layer to my own foundation.
so, bring on the easter eggs. (a slip of paper and item hiding in each…also known as resurrection eggs…also known as blasphemous for combining the pagan egg symbol with the story of christ’s resurrection…at which point i want to bellow out: CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?!?!?…) it was meaningful to me to spend time gathering things for the eggs. this afternoon i found myself in my driveway sifting through stones looking for flat ones. the air was warm, old people were walking down the street, the birds were singing, there was a police siren, and i was the only one home…i was present in that moment.
i’m looking forward to a prolonged sense of anticipation…like we have during advent.
so we’ll open one egg, read part of the story and light one more candle each day for the next 12 days.
with the details and layers of the story exposed, i am pretty sure i will hear two things every day:
“yeah, right. no one knows if that REALLY happened.”
and
“it HAD to have happened. otherwise none of what we see would even be here!”
and i will agree with both of them.
oh, and there will be a chocolate each day too. : )
“Now let the heavens be joyful,
Let earth her song begin:
Let the round world keep triumph,
And all that is therein;
Invisible and visible,
Their notes let all things blend,
For Christ the Lord is risen
Our joy that hath no end.”
— John of Damascus
prairie daze 
I’ve found Easter has so fewer rituals than Christmas. Maybe it’s because many share your sentiment.
Forgive my ignorance, but why 12? Just curious, because I didn’t get it.
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i don’t know why 12….i couldn’t find any reason…i’d love to know if there is one.
but we jumped on the bandwagon of 12 eggs, but imagine it could be 14 or 10 or 6 or 3…
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Kristin, I am in awe of you once again. I love this anticipation you have built. It is so very exciting. I think twelve is beautiful to coincide with twelve disciples. I believe the Easter egg is significant! An empty egg signifies the empty tomb, a treat inside the egg signifies the gift of Jesus, his life and his death. Thank you for giving me little thrills as I read your message to your children. It is such a concrete way to bring the anticipation alive.
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My spirit is deeply moved. You’ve left the mystery of Christ’s life and resurrection in tact. Our faith claims are all the more significant when we have the sense to leave the mysteries of God’s love undefiled. Thank you for displaying your readiness to celebrate what you claim even before you can!
I am left filled with gratitude for your spirit – your imagination – your passion – your love – your humility.
I love your dearly!
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ah sweet sister… yes, there can always be skepticism, and must be for faith to be owned, and yes, we so deeply know this to be true – deeply enough that we can make space for the questions. Here’s what I know: 1)the history of humanity overflows with unimaginably brave people; we hardly have to turn the pages back on the newspaper to know that, and if in doubt simply ask your friends in Columbia. 2)human beings have the most horrid imaginations for being cruel; we hardly have to turn back the pages on the newspaper to know that, and if in doubt simply ask your friends in Columbia. 3)under severe oppression the human heart longs for freedom and there will always be those who give up their lives in compassion that challenges those hiding behind fragile power (“we hardly have to… and if in doubt simply…”). 4)the vast majority of the heroes find their purpose in spirituality. 5)there is therefore no real basis to question the possibility of a figure like Jesus of Nazareth as we read about him – it would be unimaginable for there NOT to be someone like him, discerning the divine-lit path between violence and ostrich-head. 6)before I was really even a doctor-in-training, just getting into the hospital wards on a regular basis, I had seen more miracles than I could count. Those who have not been in the “thin places” can doubt, but very very few who have been where I have would close that door. What comes to mind is Jesus’ answer when the paraplegic was brought by his friends: it is less a miracle to me that the dead rise again than that the divine creative power persists in and through and around our flawed but beloved race. I can only see Jesus wanting more than anything to push the over-intellectualized adults away and sit down with the youth who have the courage to see and to ask – he was famously 12 years old also, and knows the thrill of besting adults!
So for this brief time we allow ourselves moments of knowing some extent of the cruelty that is far too common, and that at the same time we can choose to align with our best knowing – and that through this, the arc of the universe is long but bends inevitably towards truth and justice. Even when we are afraid and deny our best knowing, we are still invited back onto that arc. We need to be reminded. Living with a Bible scholar, I have certain doubtings present in the core of my home. But still, this I know, and no, um, egghead who knows more about pages of books than what happens in a human face can shake my knowing. We do not need to listen to the forces that speak lies about the value of human lives, about some innate competitiveness beyond anything else, about pervasive final morbidly fascinating evil. Those voices are strong, but this I know: God is present in all these moments, all of them.
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“i honor the position of questioning and wondering. I humbly question god’s mystery”
-oh how I feel the same….
i don’t think i’ll ever get too old to add a layer to my own foundation.
-to me, that is evolving….something I embrace; the constant change of one’s perspective and beliefs.
Hugs to you all!…..
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your brain is awesome.
:)
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Wonderful inspired idea! Love it.
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