Passover vs. Easter

Several years ago I was walking through Sam's Club where the following conversation occured:

-

Older Lady to my little daughter: Are you excited about the Easter Bunny coming?

-

Me: Well, we don't celebrate Easter.

-

Older Lady looks shocked.

-

Me: (thinking, Oh no, now she thinks I'm a heathen) But we do celebrate Passover!

-

Older Lady looks even more displeased.

-

Me: (thinking, well, now she thinks I'm Jewish)

-

There just wasn't an opportunity to explain that in my mind the Passover is the time to remember Christ's death and ressurection. While to me they are inextricably linked, to her they had no connection at all.

-

We don't celebrate Easter, but every year our church gathers for our annual Passover dinner. We have lamb, unleavened bread, salads, baked potatoes (just to add something more filling) and grape juice. We have a short meeting beforehand where anyone can share their thoughts or scriptures and usually someone reviews the Passover story for the children. Sometimes we've had songs or skits about the crucifixion and ressurection. My kids have grown up having the two events intertwined.

-

My daughter recently made an interesting observation that our public schools let the kids out for Good Friday and the Monday after Easter but teacher-led prayer and the teaching of creation is banned in school. Is it the Easter Bunny that merits time off school or it this just another dichotomy that our society thoughtlessly accepts??

-

I don't look down on anyone who celebrates Easter. While I'm glad much of our country still celebrates the death and ressurection of our savoir, I can't help but feel they are missing the whole story and the big picture by leaving Passover out of it.

-

We celebrate all three of the main Biblical Feasts. We don't celebrate them with any Jewish traditional fanfare. We simply try to follow the Biblical guidelines, which are pretty simple. We don't do it because we are bound by an old testament law or because we think it gives us some spiritual credit, we do so because we see a richer heritage in the keeping of the Feasts. We keep the Feasts because we appreciate the blessings and insight that the keeping of them gives.