by Peter Lockhart
Traditionally Easter eggs have been seen as a sign of new life and hope for Christians at Easter time but I am beginning to wonder if they are beginning to represent something a little darker.
It was reported that this year $230 million dollars would be spent by Australians and New Zealanders on Easter Eggs, bunnies etc. Walking around the shops just before Easter it's not hard to see why - with mega eggs and bunnies enticing us to engage in what could only be seen as unhealthy over-eating.
If we add to this that at least a proportion of the chocolate we eat in the West comes from cocoa beans picked by children who are treated like slaves (see the World Vision 'Don't Trade Lives' campaign) then our Easter binge on chocolates seems to be coming to represent something quite distrubing: greed and gluttony!
It is not wrong to want to celebrate Easter or to use symbols which promote and express our hope in Jesus resurrection. But when those symbols become distorted by the commericalism of the West, maybe we as the church need to take a step back and ask again, how can we share the message of the good news of Jesus in symbols that give life, not take it away?
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