As a
secular European style nation, NZ reflects little interest in Easter other than
for holiday purposes. The meaning has been diverted to small symbols aimed mostly
at children and the benefits are eagerly sought by bread and confectionary manufacturers
and retailers.
The
Christian message of Easter has been marginalized by the media as belonging to the
embarrassing and quaint devotees of Jesus.
Making things more difficult for the
true message to penetrate is the imagery of Easter in religious art. For many
years, Jesus on the cross has been portrayed in unreal stylized, even
fashionable images and trinkets. People now don’t even react to such things but
see them as part of the human landscape. They are inured (hardened) to images
that once had real meaning.
The only means open to us is to let
them see us, the followers of Jesus happy and rejoicing in our faith and life. Not
hidden away shamefully and not pretending to have healings and miracles amongst
us but showing people the real thing. We have not shown people anything real for
so long, all we have done is struggled to preserve our ‘Christian’ history and
religious culture.
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