Although Easter is a much more important occasion in the life of the Church than Christmas, Christmas has far more popular appeal. The Church should see if it can redress the balance. There are some obvious reasons for the greater popularity of Christmas. One is that the Christmas story is more touching than the Easter story involving as it does the birth of a child. While Easter is ultimately a story of salvation and resurrection, it is also a story of cruelty, death and cowardice. It doesn't warm the heart in the same way Christmas does. Christmas also involves the giving and receiving of gifts. This aspect of it has become appallingly commercialised and this both attracts and repels us. But undoubtedly far more people, believers and unbelievers alike, look forward to Christmas more than they look forward to Easter. Apart from the above factors, another reason is that the Church has been much more successful at popularising Christmas devotions than it has been at popularising Easter devotions. There are plenty of well-loved Christmas hymns, for example, but there are no well-loved Easter hymns that I can think of. Again, perhaps this is because Easter lends itself less well than Christmas to heart-warming songs. Through St Francis of Assisi, the Church also established the tradition of people setting up cribs in their home at Christmas. Children love this and it is an essential part of the Christmas atmosphere. If the Church wants to bring Easter more down to earth and bring it into the homes of people, why doesn't it get some of the many gifted artists willing to lend it their services to design an Easter scene equivalent to the crib? It wouldn't be difficult. Many churches already set up Easter scenes at this time of year. The scene would show the tomb with the stone rolled back. It would show the Roman soldiers posted to guard the tomb. It would show the angel sent to roll back the stone and the apostles and disciples who arrived at the tomb to tend the body of Christ. Above the tomb it would show the Risen Christ. Obviously such a scene would not be as popular as the crib given the downturn in religious practice in Ireland, but if the bishops and priests set about popularising it I would be surprised if it did not find its way into thousands of homes over time. How about it? David Quinn Easter 2003 ends |