Welcome to the
North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit
Most mornings, I walk across the park to our local shops, in
order to pick up our daily paper. Over
the past couple of months, there has been a transformation in the appearance of
the park, as there is every spring.
First, a few green shoots appeared, which gradually, almost
imperceptibly, grew and developed small yellow tips, before opening into a
beautiful display of daffodils.
Similarly, buds began to appear on the trees, which have now burst into
leaves of variety of shades of green.
The Local Council workers have had to begin cutting the grass again, and
of course, all sorts of plants, some welcome and some less so, have begun
sprouting and growing again in our garden.
I’m writing this shortly after Easter, the greatest of all
the Christian festivals, without which the Church would not be here today. One of the things most associated with Easter
is eggs, particularly of the chocolate variety, and we are still working our
way through our supply. The tradition of
associating eggs with celebrations of springtime goes back to pre-Christian
civilisations, and records of this are found in Babylon, Egypt and Rome. The early Christians then adopted and adapted
this custom, and began painting eggs red to symbolise the blood of Jesus,
poured out as he died on the cross. The
symbolism of eggs and their relation to Easter has several aspects to it. The main one is that eggs are associated with
new life. All animal life begins, in one
way or another, in an egg. Many
creatures, birds, fish, reptiles, lay eggs when giving birth, and the young creatures
continue to develop within the egg until they are ready to hatch and begin
their life outside the egg. In other
creatures, notably mammals, including humans, the young develop from the
fertilised egg in the mother’s womb, and are born live. So an egg is a symbol of new life, and so
reminds us of the new life which we see as Jesus was raised from the dead, and
the new life which God offers to all who believe and put their trust in
him. Another aspect of the symbolism of
eggs at Easter is that they are a reminder of the tomb in which Jesus was
buried. The shape of the egg is a
reminder of the stone which was rolled across the entrance to the cave. The unbroken shell reminds us of the tomb
being sealed as Jesus’ lifeless body was laid inside. And the cracking open of
the egg is a reminder of the tomb being opened at the moment of the
resurrection. Thirdly, eggs were one of
the foods traditionally forbidden during the period of Lent, the final day of
which in the Western tradition is Holy Saturday, the day between the
crucifixion and the resurrection, and so eating eggs was a sign that the period
of sadness and self-denial of Lent had come to an end, and that the time of
feasting and celebration of Easter had begun.
Finally, and if I’m honest I think slightly more tenuously, some people
see a symbol of the Holy Trinity in an egg, of our Christian belief that God is
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, three in one
as we sometimes say, as the egg is made up of shell, white and yolk, three
parts forming one whole.
There are different traditions associated with eggs in
different countries around the world. I
was once in Germany leading a school trip on Easter Sunday, and the warden of
the Youth Hostel where we were staying produced a brightly coloured and
decorated hard-boiled egg for each of us at breakfast time. In the part of Wales where we used to live,
there is a tradition, admittedly not as strong as it used to be, of ‘clapio
wyau’ (clapping for eggs) of children going from farm to farm with a wooden
‘clapper’, asking for an egg at each place and ending up with a basketful. In
Britain Easter eggs now seem to be mostly of the chocolate variety, The first
ones of this type appeared at the court of Louis XIV in France, in the
seventeenth century, and mass production began with the manufacturers Fry’s and
Cadbury’s in the second half of the nineteenth century. But whatever form the eggs take, the
symbolism remains, at this time of the year we celebrate the triumph of hope
over despair, of goodness over evil, of love over hatred, of life over death.
A happy and joyous Eastertide to you all!
Deacon Stephen Roe
Welcome to the
North Wiltshire Methodist Circuit
Most mornings, I walk across the park to our local shops, in order to pick up our daily paper. Over the past couple of months, there has been a transformation in the appearance of the park, as there is every spring. First, a few green shoots appeared, which gradually, almost imperceptibly, grew and developed small yellow tips, before opening into a beautiful display of daffodils. Similarly, buds began to appear on the trees, which have now burst into leaves of variety of shades of green. The Local Council workers have had to begin cutting the grass again, and of course, all sorts of plants, some welcome and some less so, have begun sprouting and growing again in our garden.
I’m writing this shortly after Easter, the greatest of all the Christian festivals, without which the Church would not be here today. One of the things most associated with Easter is eggs, particularly of the chocolate variety, and we are still working our way through our supply. The tradition of associating eggs with celebrations of springtime goes back to pre-Christian civilisations, and records of this are found in Babylon, Egypt and Rome. The early Christians then adopted and adapted this custom, and began painting eggs red to symbolise the blood of Jesus, poured out as he died on the cross. The symbolism of eggs and their relation to Easter has several aspects to it. The main one is that eggs are associated with new life. All animal life begins, in one way or another, in an egg. Many creatures, birds, fish, reptiles, lay eggs when giving birth, and the young creatures continue to develop within the egg until they are ready to hatch and begin their life outside the egg. In other creatures, notably mammals, including humans, the young develop from the fertilised egg in the mother’s womb, and are born live. So an egg is a symbol of new life, and so reminds us of the new life which we see as Jesus was raised from the dead, and the new life which God offers to all who believe and put their trust in him. Another aspect of the symbolism of eggs at Easter is that they are a reminder of the tomb in which Jesus was buried. The shape of the egg is a reminder of the stone which was rolled across the entrance to the cave. The unbroken shell reminds us of the tomb being sealed as Jesus’ lifeless body was laid inside. And the cracking open of the egg is a reminder of the tomb being opened at the moment of the resurrection. Thirdly, eggs were one of the foods traditionally forbidden during the period of Lent, the final day of which in the Western tradition is Holy Saturday, the day between the crucifixion and the resurrection, and so eating eggs was a sign that the period of sadness and self-denial of Lent had come to an end, and that the time of feasting and celebration of Easter had begun. Finally, and if I’m honest I think slightly more tenuously, some people see a symbol of the Holy Trinity in an egg, of our Christian belief that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, three in one as we sometimes say, as the egg is made up of shell, white and yolk, three parts forming one whole.
There are different traditions associated with eggs in different countries around the world. I was once in Germany leading a school trip on Easter Sunday, and the warden of the Youth Hostel where we were staying produced a brightly coloured and decorated hard-boiled egg for each of us at breakfast time. In the part of Wales where we used to live, there is a tradition, admittedly not as strong as it used to be, of ‘clapio wyau’ (clapping for eggs) of children going from farm to farm with a wooden ‘clapper’, asking for an egg at each place and ending up with a basketful. In Britain Easter eggs now seem to be mostly of the chocolate variety, The first ones of this type appeared at the court of Louis XIV in France, in the seventeenth century, and mass production began with the manufacturers Fry’s and Cadbury’s in the second half of the nineteenth century. But whatever form the eggs take, the symbolism remains, at this time of the year we celebrate the triumph of hope over despair, of goodness over evil, of love over hatred, of life over death.
A happy and joyous Eastertide to you all!
Deacon Stephen Roe