A More Christ-Centered Easter

The weekend before Easter, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints across the world listened to General Conference. This semi-annual broadcast is an opportunity for members to listen to the prophet and other church leaders called by God. These men and women share inspirational messages about Jesus Christ and His gospel. Being right before Easter, there were many talks centered on Christ and how to honor Him during the Easter season.

On Saturday morning, Gary E. Stevenson, a member of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, opened the conference with a powerful Easter message. He talked about his own family’s experience, but I imagine it’s the experience of many Christian families. He mentioned that his family is very good at balancing fun traditions with more Christ-centered ones. However, he said that their celebration of Easter could use some improvement, how they do typical traditions of the Easter Bunny and brightly colored eggs, but don’t have very many Christ-centered Easter traditions.

An apostle’s invitation

He invited us to focus more on Christ during the Easter season, and to ponder the resurrection narrative contained in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is a testament of Jesus Christ and includes the powerful story of the resurrected Savior visiting the Nephites in the Americas. Elder Anderson suggested that 3rd Nephi 11 could be the Easter equivalent of Luke 2.

“His visit as a resurrected Savior, introduced by God the Father, is a most glorious and triumphant Easter message. It will help our families gain a personal testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, who broke the bands of death.”https://www.thechurchnews.com/general-conference/2023/4/1/23665940/elder-stevenson-april-2023-general-conference-easter-story-book-of-mormon

With young children, I contemplated the ways that we could focus our Easter traditions on Jesus. The Easter Bunny is fun and we’ll continue those fun traditions, but we need balance. I want my children to know the beautiful Easter promises of healing, redemption and eternal life.  Here are some ideas for focusing your Easter festivities on the Lamb of God.

Ideas for a Christ-centered Easter

• Make a garden tomb- This can be as simple or as elegant as you want. The idea is create a display with an empty tomb as a reminder that Christ lives. I used a mason jar in a serving bowl filled with potting soil. I placed a big rock at the mouth of the jar as the stone that Christ rolled away when he was resurrected. During family time, I talked about the empty tomb display and what it represented. I then put our little tomb in a spot so that we could see it and remember what it represented. If you want to be fancy, you can plant grass seed or small plants to beautify your garden tomb

  

• Watch a video about Christ- The church’s Bible videos wonderfully depict the Savior’s life, including His death and resurrection. You can also find many other options for uplifting videos on YouTube.
• Attend an Easter performance- Attend any inspirational pageants or musical performances that focus on the true meaning of Easter near you. We will be taking our kids to an Easter pageant at our local temple this year
• Christ focused Easter decor- Christians are great at decorating for Christmas with the Savior in mind. We usually have nativities, angel tree toppers, and stars. Easter decor is often just bunnies and flower wreaths, but including more Christ-centered Easter decorations could invite the true spirit of Easter. Examples of such decor could include replicas of the tomb, paintings of Christ, or depictions of the cross.

The church has come up with ways to help its members to keep our minds centered on Jesus. Instead of the usual two hours, this will be the first Sunday where we members will only attend Sacrament meeting. This change is so that we can spend more time on Easter Sunday with our families showing our gratitude for the Savior.

I have always loved celebrating Easter, and I am excited to see how our future celebrations will be impacted by doing more to celebrate this time of year and what it represents.