An egg doesn’t seem like much. Small enough to sit snugly in your palm in a plain white or brown shell, available to buy at any grocery store, convenience store and even some gas stations, an egg is one of the most unassuming, common foods we know. But at Easter time, eggs of all sizes and colors appear everywhere. They are made, hidden, gathered and loved by Christians and non-Christians alike.
Eggs are a miraculous incarnation of new life: A seemingly inanimate object, resembling a stone or sealed tomb, cracks open to reveal a loving, breathing creature. Even an egg cooked on for your plate is beautiful: a pure white and gold “chapel,” as poet Anne Sexton once wrote about her breakfast.
Easter eggs are meant to enhance our Easter joy, to remind us that this is a time of feasting and celebration. They also remind us that the Resurrection calls us to something deeper and more serious – to Christ, alive among us. An egg is small and ordinary, but also miraculous. In Jesus, God became small and ordinary, too, like us. And though he died, Jesus also rose again, through the power of God.
This message is excerpted from “Symbols of the resurrection” by Heidi Haverkamp in the April 2019 Gather magazine.
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