I have a love-hate relationship with Easter eggs. Each Spring, well, it's still Winter technically, I start dragging down our bins of hundreds (thousands?) of colorful, empty plastic Easter eggs to sit outside my office waiting to be picked up, filled up, and returned in time for Eggcellent Saturday. Despite our signage and our pleas each year for families to match egg halves & put them all back together before returning to the bins after the exuberant Easter Egg Hunts that end approximately 6 minutes after they begin, due to inevitable squishing and toddler-tantrum-ing, there are hundreds of unmatched egg halves that taunt me each time I walk outside my office.
However, the joy I receive from watching all ages - from wide-eyed preschoolers in the Glenn School Dolphin and Whales classes seeing the piles of colorful eggs to older adults who hang a bag of empty eggs on their rollator walker to take home to fill with peppermints and that mysterious, unnamed chewy pastel candy covered in wax paper-like twisted wrappers - it is something to behold. It really is remarkable how a small sticker, a few pieces of candy, or the amazing surprise of a more valuable find like coins or trendy fidgets can bring smiles to all ages. I love how children who help their grown-ups fill the eggs proudly drop them off and tell me all the good things they stuffed inside and get so excited if they find one of "their" eggs during the hunt.
I think it must be the surprise factor. The mystery factor. The anticipation factor. It seems like it is a good Lenten practice for Sunday School children to walk by and see the piles of empty eggs with a little trepidation that they won't ever be filled to then be delightfully surprised when they show up in a few weeks to enjoy bounce houses, cotton candy & popcorn, sack races & bubbles & sidewalk chalk in the amphitheater, and find that they can hunt and discover dozens of eggs filled with an assortment of random prizes. Will most of the trinkets wind up in trash/recycling? Sure. Will the memories of childhood Easter Egg Hunts to begin the mysterious journey of Holy Week last long after the sugar rush and subsequent meltdown when it's time to unplug the bounce houses? Most definitely. The signs of spring - Lent in Latin - are all around us in nature, of course, but empty Easter Eggs that hold so much potential and hope for the future are one of my favorite symbols of this season. Because let's face it, if I hand my kids a few pre-filled eggs today in the carpool line, they would be confused at worst and momentarily intrigued at best. It's the build-up, the anticipation, the it-takes-a-village of the family of faith pulling together to host a gigantic community Easter Egg Hunt, that makes the eggs so special. And we could say that about a lot of things about our faith traditions, can't we? Each experience more meaningful when shared together, when the goal is accomplished as a group effort, not just one person standing alone in a sanctuary to sing a solo to praise God, but a community of Believers to gather and lift our voices in prayer and worship together. We can make individual donations to causes we believe in all day long, but when we place our offering in the brass plate or basket passed down our pew, we know our gifts go together to share the surprising gifts of God's love making a larger, communal difference. I hope you'll literally and figurately gather some empty Easter Eggs this Lenten season to fill with the gifts you have to share with the world.
Eggcellent Saturday is Saturday, April 1, from 3:00-5:00pm with bounce houses, treats, games, and a community Easter Egg Hunt!
Sign up to volunteer here and pick up empty eggs to fill with nut-free candy & trinkets outside Rev. Susan's office!
Grace, Peace, & Easter Eggs,
Rev. Susan