As an immigrant American, I have always been baffled at the concept of an Easter egg Hunt, especially in churches. Despite so many explanations to make me buy into it -including considering it as a church community ‘outreach’ event- I have been unable to reconcile myself to it, and so for the past twenty years, I have abstained from participating in or coordinating one (as an introverted single new mom, I took my daughter to one organized by our county Parks and Recreation department during the first year of her life, but we’ve never participated in another since then).​

My struggle with the Easter Egg Hunt was despite how its association with the greatest event in human history, the activities themselves lack the narrative of the greatest human event - the rising from the dead of the Savior of the world! 

Lately, I’ve also paid attention to the connection between how we relay the Easter narrative and the practice/culture of gender inequality (lack of gender mutuality), which is generally perpetuated in the church by either downplaying or completely erasing the role of women in God’s grand plan of salvation. I’ve heard many Christian women leaders ask at Easter time, why the lack of knowledge in the church about the critical involvement of women in the second greatest event in human history and the answer I’ve come up with is because our activities during this celebration, tend to exclude the biblical narrative and instead focus on cultural celebrations(?).

Much of the Christian faith is handed down in ordinary day life/living: our daily practices, traditions and rituals both at home and in the church, as well as in play (yes, play!). People remember more through play. And so I decided our church would from henceforth adopt a new practice that rightly informs and transmits one of the most important tenets of the Christian faith - the Resurrection narrative.

So, after almost twenty years of abstaining from my North American Easter Hunt activities both personally and in my church via my leadership, this past 2018 Easter, my church finally had a ‘hunt’ that was connected to the biblical narrative. I’d like to share what we did, so that others, who perhaps wish to connect their Easter ‘outreach’ programs/activities to the Christian faith, can do it more authentically and with more theologically sound components (bunnies have nothing to do with the Christian Easter event, y’all!).

First of all, I changed the name of our Easter activity to theologically reflect its purpose. So, instead of Easter Egg Hunt, we commenced our Easter Cross Hunt (because the Cross is central to what we celebrate at Easter!) and these were the components of our Cross Hunt:

• Lots of crosses & thorns (we ordered some plastic coins which had crosses and thorns on either side: represents the common human denominator of ‘Jesus died for all’ Christ’s death was for ALL, no exceptions. 
• 3 women figurines to represent the three individual Marys (who were at the Crucifixion and at the empty tomb and saw Jesus (one of them)
• 1 empty tomb (which my daughter made out of play dough, using half a walnut shell to cast the mold
• 2 angels (who told the Marys Jesus was risen)
• Soldiers with swords: represents the common denominator: humans (like us) killed Jesus; signifies the common human denominator of sin which sent pierced Jesus’ side, and nailed him to the cross
• A pair of conjoined doves to signify the Holy Spirit (the power that raised Jesus from the dead)
• Lots and lots of various candy!

​Due to limited funds (for finders’ awards), we didn’t do all the figures, e.g., Pontius Pilate, Caiphas, Judas Iscariot, Peter and the fire, Joseph of Arimathea, Simon the Cyrene, vinegar, and purple robe....

We made sure there was an abundance of the cross/thorn coins and the armed (with swords) soldiers as this was the common denominator that all humans share. There are no prizes for finding these, but everyone must have some in their goodie bags!

Our space is small, so I had to get creative with the search areas. I ended up portioning off about 2ft x 12ft area on three walls of our gathering space: one on each side of the congregational sitting space and one behind the Table.

Our Easter Cross Hunt took place right after the Easter Sunday morning service (which included Holy Communion, of course!). The benediction was the signal to commence the (indoor) Cross Hunt.

People would split into three groups and each group would choose one side of the search area. They are not allowed to switch sides during the search. At the “amen” following the Benediction, the search commences for the critical figures and imagery in the Crucifixion and Resurrection story. I allotted time (about ten minutes) for the hunt (in which both young and old participated), and at the end of the time (i did a countdown to let everyone know when to stop ‘hunting’, everyone sat down and we started asking for the non-duplicable significant figures and objects of the Hunt: 

1. Holy Spirit (dove)
2. 2 angels
3. Empty tomb
4. 3 Marys (I hid one Mary in each of the three search areas, so three different people would find each one)
5. 1 Jesus (dressed in white)

Also, each person who found a non-duplicable figure/object came up to the front, until al the finders and their ‘finds’ were lined up and holding up their finds. All objects, except the common denominators, were collected back to be re-used next year.

There were 8 prizes in all to match the number of special figures in our hunt (hopefully, we can include the other important figures next year) and the prizes this year were Christian and community movies (a couple of Tyler Perry’s Madea series made it into our prize box!).

My prayer is that as we start this new narrative in our Easter activities, we will be able to ground a theologically sound retelling of the Resurrection Narrative in both young and old and that it won’t seem so hard for such communities to embrace the leadership role of women in church and community because they can see that Jesus trusted women enough to send them with the one of the greatest news in humankind: Christ is risen from the dead and we shall also rise from the dead! Happy Easter! God bless you!
-Rev. Oghene'tega Swann

I will never forget the first time I became aware of how we limit the answers to our prayers.

Scripture teaches us that God answers prayers. Even if it takes forever, God answers prayers. Yet, many Christians do not pray because past efforts seemingly, proved futile.

I once had a similar thought about a particular, crucial prayer request about eleven years ago.

God had miraculously led me, as it were, to the brink of the Red Sea and I was waiting and praying for the sea to 'part' and nothing was happening. In frustration, I went back to the LORD in prayer to ask "why?"

The answer I received from the LORD, forever changed how I would view prayers from then on.

This was a momentous life-changing event and the LORD was stalling on the answer, or so I thought. But it turned out I was really the one stalling, as the LORD showed me.

He said to me, "Tega, the reason I haven't answered your prayers is because you've already made up your mind how you think I will answer it. Oftentimes, when you, my children, pray to me, you've already decided how you think I should answer the prayer, so that when I do answer it, you miss the answer because it wasn't packaged the way you expected or thought it should be."

This response blew my mind and sent me on an introspective search to see what the LORD could mean by this response. Thankfully, I was able to detect ways my mind had already construed how His answer would come, and I was able to detect how I could correct and make myself amenable to His 'will,' whatever that may be.

I went back to the LORD in prayer and told Him I was ready - any way He wanted. This simple yieldedness and surrender opened the door to a series of miracles in my life. Miracles that continue to come because I have chosen to keep that revelation in perspective whenever I pray.

And it is that perspective I wish to share with you all today.

In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us to both invite and surrender to 'God's will' before we demand anything of Him.

Whereas, there's often an unspoken fear on our part that surrender toGod's will might limit our own agency, Scripture and Jesus' life teach otherwise.

When the LORD is allowed to have 'free rein' His activity exceeds everything we could ever ask or imagine (Eph.3:20).

Because He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, He is able to work every kind of miracle there is - according to His will.

Finally, He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 (one of my favorite verses) that His plans bring us into and beyond what we'd hoped for!

So why don't we get answers to prayers???

Because we don't let God have 'free rein' in answering the prayers! He answers them, but we don't see them!

For instance, a poor person might ask God to take away his or her poverty, and inadvertently think the answer would mean God would make him or her 'wealthy.' But because poverty really means 'lack,' God ensures that person never lacks anything. Such a person might never have a million dollars in the bank, but yet have every need met. Well, because his or her bank account or material capital never increases, it might be assumed that that prayer was unanswered, right? Wrong! God did answer, but just not in the way such a person expected.

Another example might be a person praying for God to take away their loneliness. The default expectation would be that God would send such a person a spouse, right? Well, if God deems it so, He might. But He also might deem that the best answer for such a person would be enlarging his or her heart to love and be loved by others in such a way that their relationships abound, filling every area of their lives. For what is loneliness anyway, if not the fact that we feel the lack of people to participate in our life's journey?

However, if such a person thought (in our limited human way of providing solutions) that a spouse was the answer they needed, they might miss the blessings of community the LORD places before them.

Likewise, the one that prays for community (as a number of people to connect and do life with) might receive just one person to make his or her life more productive. And such a person might miss and reject that 'one person' because they were expecting a 'multitude.'

Flexibility. Flexibility in our own wills is what is needed when we come to pray to God. It is what Jesus had when he faced the most painful experience of any human life - the knowledge he was about to be killed and yet  he had to let it happen in order to let God's activity supercede his.

Flexibility, because God is the Potter and we are the clay, and as such He has the right to fashion out of us what He, as the Potter, knows the clay would best represent (Jer.18:1-6).

Yet, we do not let God be the Potter, although we are invariably and always the clay!

We do not allow God act because we are scared He would do what we don't want!

But to quell this doubt that hinders (seeing) the answer to our prayers, Jesus asked in Luke 11:11,

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?"

We need to reconcile the fact that although He is God, whose ways are not our ways, He is also a Father! A parent, if you will, and a Good one at that! As such, He cannot and will not give us what will not give us pleasure, but He instead uses every agency at His disposal to enhance, not minimize what we ask for, but only if we let Him.

I've learned to let go and 'let God' and it's led me on some of the most exciting adventures of my life. I don't need to climb Mt. Everest to have an adventure, because I'm climbing higher mountains and casting them into the sea every day!

I don't need to 'part' the Red Sea, because He decided to make it into a puddle I can jump across! Either way, He answered my prayer - which was to let me 'cross over' to the 'other side.'

Will you 'let God' answer your prayers today? He can and He will, if you just let Him have free rein.

Tell Him what you want or need and then back off and let Him work it out.

Look for the response and be willing to receive it however it is packaged! After all, the King and God of the whole world came packaged as a baby(!) in a manger! It didn't make him any less King and Creator. Just packaged differently.

So, yes, God does answer prayers. If we 'let Him.'