A Struggle For The Soul Of Easter

The Rev. Kristi Philip stood before a store’s display of Easter cards and looked.

And looked. And looked.

Finally, the Episcopal priest found what she was seeking. There, off to the side and relatively few in number, were the Easter cards featuring religious themes.

It was an eye-opener, she said. But this season is full of such moments. Because in contemporary American life, today is not just the apex of the Christian calendar. It’s not just about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For many, it’s a rite-of-spring holiday largely defined by shoe sales and brunches.

Some surveys have even suggested that there are now slightly more Americans who primarily think of Easter in essentially nonreligious terms than there are people who strongly link the day to its spiritual underpinnings.

According to the company’s press releases, the most popular symbols found on Hallmark Easter cards are spring flowers, bunnies, Easter baskets and colored eggs. (The cross ranks down with lambs and chicks.)

Sunday newspapers in recent weeks have spilled advertising inserts for sales campaigns such as “Disney’s Video Gift Hunt for Easter!”

You can’t turn on the TV without seeing Easter used to hype a sales pitch.

And according to the National Retail Federation, merchandising tie-ins linked to Christianity’s holiest day have been growing for five years.

So why isn’t there more highprofile hand-wringing about the commercialization of Easter?

One reason might be the fact that, compared to the marketing onslaught leading to Christmas, attempts to cash in on Easter are still small potatoes. That’s the view of Pat McCormick, assistant professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University.

“For Madison Avenue, I think Easter is harder to sell,” he said. “Christmas, with the focus on children and gifts, is easier to commercialize.”

In addition, challenging the nonreligious symbols of Easter can place committed Christians in an unenviable grouchlike position.

“How do you combat the Easter bunny?” said the Rev. Robert Hasseries, pastor at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Coeur d’Alene.

It’s simple, say some church leaders. You don’t try. You just focus attention on the biblical basis for the celebration.

“Nothing beats a good story,” said one Spokane minister. “And, in Easter, we’ve got a really good story to tell.”

Still, there is a low-key cultural struggle being waged over the soul of the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.

Determining which side is winning depends on your point of view.

Pagans celebrated spring long before the life of Jesus. But those nominal contemporary Christians who choose Easter to basically throw a party to note the passing of winter trivialize the occasion and ignore its religious core, some say.

As has been pointed out, the New Testament says nothing about putting on some mellow jazz or serving orange juice spiked with champagne.

“This isn’t just some spring celebration,” said the Rev. Terry McGonigal, dean of the chapel and assistant professor of religion at Whitworth College. “It’s about the atoning death and resurrection.”

He worries about the possibility of nonreligious interpretations of Easter Sunday dissipating the significance of the day.

But he doesn’t think taking offense at specific Easter stereo store blowouts or people obsessing about glazed hams is the appropriate response. In his view, the best thing those who consider themselves to be believers can do is truly reflect on what it means to be a Christian.

Said the Rev. John Shaffer, pastor at Manito United Methodist Church: “There’s no point in bemoaning the fact that there are those who will try to make money off religious holidays.”

To early Christians, rabbits and eggs were symbols of new life. And certainly there are those who are aware of this historic link as they present children with Easter baskets.

But some skeptics say that today these things are more typically less about celebrating spiritual renewal than about caving in to the pressures of commerce.

Still, church attendance shoots up on Easter. That’s no time to come off as a sourpuss by railing against chocolate bunnies, said the Rev. C. Craig Hall, pastor at Opportunity Presbyterian Church.

“You just sound like a grump,” Hall said.

Christian leaders ought to concentrate instead on helping families understand the meaning of the day, he said.

The Rev. Homer C. Todd, pastor at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, said he isn’t bothered by the nonreligious trappings of Easter.

For one thing, they don’t really detract from or interfere with his own worship experience. And he likes to believe that, sooner or later, children exposed to Barbie Easter baskets or purple M&Ms will look around and ask:

What’s this all about, anyway? When that happens, the story can be told, said Todd.

“And then they can find out that, yes, there really is a reason for celebration.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by Charles Waltmire