I Don't Want to Share

Anyone who is or has been a parent has likely experienced this before. You're sitting there at dinner with a really tasty something on your plate. It is done to a perfection and it is your favorite ... and your darling little one wants some. Do you share? Well, every loving parent shares. So you put a nice tasty morsel of this wonderful food on the plate for your little darling to taste. He or she picks it up (with fingers, of course), looks at it for a moment, then hurls it across the room where the dog, cat, or dust bunnies can enjoy it. Then your little sweetie looks at you and asks for more.

Any loving parent would share, but at some point any intelligent parent would say, "It's not doing my dear child any good to hand over my good things so they can throw them on the ground." Let me put it another way. Any good parent would conclude, "Don't cast your pearls before swine." (I know, I know, "Kids aren't swine!" Don't miss the point. "Don't throw what is really good to those who will fail to appreciate it and simply waste it." Is that better?)

So, here I am, thinking about Easter. Colleagues of mine who just a few weeks ago were ridiculing anyone who could be convinced that any religion was valid (well, that is, anyone who could be convinced that Christianity was valid) are now talking about how nice this Easter is going to be. "And no one better say we need to come in and work," I heard one say, "because it's Easter." And I'm thinking maybe I don't want to share anymore.

The day that we observe as "Easter" is intended to be a Christian celebration, a religious holyday (I didn't mispell that by accident), an observance of the central issue of Christianty -- the death and resurrection of Christ. On this day we celebrate the fact that He actually rose from the dead. It is one of only two days that a large number of "Chreaster" Christians actually show up at church. You know the ones; they only go on Christmas and Easter. You can count on nearly every church in the nation having a special, clear presentation of the Gospel for the lost who they all anticipate will show up that day of all days. It is a unique day in the year, and it is uniquely Christian. And we have generously shared it with everyone else. They all get together and celebrate with family and observe "new life" (the point of Easter bunnies and eggs) and things like that. It's a day off for everyone regardless of religious persuasion. And they've turned it into a circus. Toys, candy, parties, large quantities of food ... they've taken that exquisite, perfect morsel of food we've put on their plate, looked at it for a moment, and thrown it across the room for their bunnies to eat, so to speak.

Well, I don't want to share anymore. I'm taking it back. You guys are perfectly free to believe what you want. You can laugh that anyone could possibly believe that someone could come back from the dead. You can complain that religious lunatics believe that a book is inspired by God and ought to be believed and followed. You can ignore the Gospel we offer and call it foolishness. It's your right and I wouldn't dream of taking that from you. But you can't have my Easter. It's a special, unique, exquisite day when we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, and if you don't want to do that, don't, but don't think you get to waste the day on other things. It's not your day.

(Note: If anyone missed it, this is tongue in cheek. I'm being somewhat humorous. Or, at least, trying.)