Will the Easter Bunny Come to Our House First?

It was Easter morning and at the start of the service Father Pat, as he often did, asked the children to come up and sit around the altar.

When they were finally snuggled in, Father Pat in front of the congregation asked the children the following question: “Kids, why do you think Easter is so special?”

Looking around, Father Pat saw that little Billy had raised his hand. “Yes Billy?,” the Priest smiled.

“Because on Easter I can stuff my face with chocolate and other candy,” little Billy noted.

“Thank you Billy,” Father Pat nervously said, and he tried to quickly move on to the next child. “Sally, you had also raised your hand.”

Little Sally stood up and said, “On Easter, I get to wear a frilly dress and new shoes.”

'Will any of these kids come close to getting the meaning of Easter?,' Father Pat thought to himself? Then he saw Michael shoot up his hand. Michael was often a good child to call on, the Priest remembered. “Yes, Michael,” Father Pat pointed.

Michael straightened himself up and said, “Because on Easter the stone is rolled away, and Jesus comes out of his tomb…”

'Thank goodness at least one of the kids is getting it,' Father Pat thought to himself.

“… And if Jesus sees his shadow, then there will be eight more weeks of winter,” Michael continued.

I remember that a TV host from my childhood, Art Linkletter, used to say that children and animals were the toughest acts to work with. He even wrote a book titled: Kids Say the Darndest Things! It was based on actual segments from his TV Show, “House Party,” where he would talk and interview youngsters. And the children would often say amazing things.

All this reminds me of something that actually happened in our house many years ago. My daughter, Robin—who is now a senior in college—was roughly five or six years old at the time.

Robin turned to my late wife, Debbie, and asked, “Mommy, will the Easter Bunny come to our house first?”

Without missing a beat, Debbie turned to our daughter and replied, “Well Robin, I guess that all depends upon which road the Easter Bunny is hopping down on.”

Robin was satisfied with this response, and she went back to dyeing Easter eggs. I think that at that point our little daughter was dyeing the linoleum kitchen floor as much as she was dyeing Easter eggs.

I guess if you asked most people in the Christian tradition, “What is the most important holiday?,” they would loudly answer, “CHRISTMAS!!” But it was not always that way.

For example, we now have a ton of sing-alongs, and performances, of Handel’s Messiah at Christmas time. However, when this beautiful work was first performed in Dublin in 1742, it was during the Easter season.

Easter was more important than Christmas in most branches of Christianity not that long ago. For example, George Washington had no Christmas tree as part of his Christmas celebration at Mount Vernon. This was a standard fact for the majority of Christian homes in America during the colonial period and in the early days of the US republic.

The Easter Bunny entered American Christian Easter celebrations via German immigration into Pennsylvania in the late 1700s. It only became a widespread American Easter symbol in the late 1800s.

I am in no way trying to write anything against the Easter Bunny. But I do want to remind us all that there was a time—and not that long ago—where Easter was even more important than Christmas.

I believe that the New Thought movement, with its metaphysical approach to the story of Easter, can really help revive the importance of Easter and Holy Week. Easter is not a “one off” event that took place long ago and far away.

We can all use a resurrection—a revitalization—of that Christ spark that is inside of us all. One of my favorite lines in all of the Bible is Philippians 4:13 where the apostle Paul writes, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

It is also true that we can do all things through the Buddha nature which strengthens us. We can do all things through our Higher Self which strengthens us. Or as Aldous Huxley might have put it, 'I can do all things through the perennial philosophy that strengthens us.'

Our frail and flimsy egos are not going to get the ball into the end zone. But when we open up to that Beyond, which is within us all, then we can do things that we could not have done before.

This is the beauty and magic that I believe the New Thought movement brings to Easter. There was not some special secret sauce that was only in Jesus and not in us, as many branches of Christianity believe. Rather, the same secret sauce that was inside of Jesus is also inside of you and me. Again, Easter was not a “one off” event that happened long ago and far away. Rather, it is something that can happen again and again—right here and right now!

And so dear friends, if we want it to be—and I hope we do—the answer to little Robin‘s question can be: “The Easter Bunny can come first to all of our houses.”

Happy Easter,

Rev. Rick