Local clergy reflect on the meaning of Easter
By: Lacey Korevec
Whether it’s a day to hunt for eggs and spend time with family, or a day to reflect on spiritual renewal, Easter has a number of different meanings to people who celebrate it.
But for local Christian leaders, the meaning of Easter is simple.
The Rev. Jack Foster, of the United Methodist Church of Cranbury, said Easter is the highest point of the Christian year.
"It’s a time where we should be rejuvenating our own sense of God and faith and trust," he said.
Celebrating the holiday with bunnies, painted eggs and candy doesn’t bother the Rev. Foster, who said that the spiritual theme of renewal is still important.
"It’s part of the cultural setting," he said. "I think we clergy need to lose our hang-ups about all that kind of stuff and let people be people and present our things as we need to. People need time to celebrate and have fun and do things. It’s really very healing to do that. There’s enough to bring us down in the world."
For the Rev. Ed Flannagan, of the Nativity of Our Lord R. C. Church in Monroe, Easter is a time for rededication to Christ and the Gospel, beginning with Lent, a 40-day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.
"For me, Lent is the renewal of our baptismal commitment to the gospel way of life," he said.
Father Flannagan said that even though celebrating Easter with eggs and candy has become more of a secular tradition than a Christian one, he said those symbols are rooted in Christianity.
"In our Catholic tradition, we see the Easter egg as really symbolizing the tomb of Christ," he said.
Father Flannagan said Easter baskets filled with candy symbolize the breaking of fast on Easter Sunday.
"The candy comes from the fasting of the 40 days of Lent," he said. "Most people would break their fast when Easter comes and partake in these delicacies during the Easter season the breads, the cakes, the candy."
To the Rev. Gary Filson, of the Jamesburg Presbyterian Church, Easter simply means hope.
"It means that death is not the final word," he said. "That we have a hope about life and the life to come. I think, to some people, it means nothing. I think to some people, it’s about Easter bunnies and chocolate. I think to some people, it’s one of the most important events in human history and, for that group of people, it’s a religious holiday because for them it means hope."
The Rev. Filson said Easter is the center of his faith. Believing that Jesus was born is less important than believing he was resurrected, he said.
"That he rose from the dead and came back to tell us that there is life beyond this world and that God is a gracious God that wants to forgive us and make us his own, that is the center of my religious life and the center of my faith," he said.
The part of Easter that deals with bunnies, chickens and candy is OK with the Rev. Filson. But he said he thinks it’s more logical to believe in the resurrection of Christ rather than in the existence of the Easter Bunny and other popular Easter traditions.
"I’ve never known many chickens and bunnies that have had relationships so that bunnies can deliver their eggs," he said. "I’ve hardly ever seen a rabbit with a paint brush painting (eggs), although, there is that Cadbury rabbit that clucks. I’ve hardly ever seen chickens with a bag of jellybeans. And I don’t know what the chickens have to say about hiding their plastic eggs."

