By Pastor Kyle Smith
Ellendale
Christmas or Easter. Which do you prefer? Which one is more important? Which one gets the most attention? When we take a step back as Christians and ask these questions, we see how secularization has shaped not only non-Christians, but even those of us who are Christians.
Christmas time is a wonderful time of year. Regardless of whether you like the cold or the snow, it’s hard not to enjoy the Christmas season. After all, there are many Christmas activities to participate in, such as getting together with family and friends, exchanging presents, baking Christmas cookies, putting up the Christmas tree and various Christmas decorations, the nostalgia of Christmas music, and everything else that comes along with the Christmas season, and of course, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
But what about Easter? There’s the Easter Bunny, Easter Eggs, perhaps a few Easter decorations, maybe getting together with family, and of course, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. There very well could have been a few things I’ve missed, but do you notice how much smaller that list is compared to Christmas?
Granted, Christmas and Easter and both important, and you couldn’t have one without the other. At the same time, one can’t help but compare the two. Take a moment and compare the number of Christmas traditions you and your family have and compare it to the number of Easter traditions you have. Take a moment and compare the number of hours you spend preparing for Christmas versus the number of hours you spend preparing for Easter. If you’re like me, I spend significantly more time and give more attention to the celebration of Christmas than I do Easter.
This by itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it certainly isn’t sinful, but consider for a moment what it does mean. Where you put your time shows what you value. And if you’re like me and you put significantly more time preparing for Christmas than you do for Easter, we have to ask ourselves if we are truly valuing Easter for what it is, the resurrection of our Savior, who lived, died, and rose again for us.
A few years ago my wife and I came to realize we were putting a small emphasis on Easter in comparison to our emphasis on Christmas, so we set out to change that. Granted, we haven’t succeeded yet. In fact, perhaps we won’t be able to succeed. After all, how can we compete with “the most wonderful time of the year,” complete with an entire TV channel dedicated to Christmas movies, Christmas music on most radio stations, and more. But that wasn’t going to stop us from doing what we could to emphasize the resurrection of Jesus amid a culture that doesn’t commercialize it.
If you’re looking for ways to put a greater emphasis on the birth of Jesus with your family, here are some tips: (1) Before partaking in your big Easter meal, take a moment to read the resurrection story from the Gospel of Matthew or one of the other gospels;
(2) you could bake Resurrection Rolls (You can do a quick internet search for the recipe.) with your kids; and (3) go to church, not only on Easter Sunday, but you can also attend Lenten Services to better help prepare your heart for Easter. May the Lord bless you this Easter Season as you celebrate our Savior’s resurrection from the dead!