The Best Thing Ever

We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ

Happy Easter! I decided to spend Easter with my Grandmother this year. I took two buses and a train to get here. I went to church with her this morning and wore a floral skirt (naturally). I found it quite amusing that the two speakers today were both men in their thirties who were completely bald. They looked kind of like Easter eggs themselves :-)

When I was little, I felt slightly unsettled on Easter because I thought that we were celebrating Christ's death. Which, I mean, we sort of are--He had to die to be Resurrected. We would just always watch gruesome videos like the The Lamb of God and it would just make me sad. My mom always cried when she watched that video--again, I thought she was so sad, and that the "true meaning" of Easter was essentially tragic.

Obviously I have gotten more spiritually mature in my old age, and I have realized how beautifully glorious and essential the death of Christ was--and how it was made so because of what happened before (Gethsemane) and after (Resurrection). Basically, we remember the entire Atonement, which is, clearly, a wonderful thing. It is actually the best thing ever.

When I was young I only had a vague understanding of the Atonement--let's be honest, it is still fairly vague--but at least now I have more of an inkling of its importance. But when I was a young teenager, I was completely clueless. I was so enamored of the whole idea of standing up for my values and the "chosen generation" thing that I had almost no understanding of the role of the Savior. Maybe there was a gap in my spiritual education--I knew I wasn't supposed to smoke, drink, have sex, or wear tank tops, but I had no idea why we even needed a Savior, or what that even meant.

Maybe it was my own teenage self-centered arrogance--as if, in a way, I believed that I was the center of the gospel plan and the purpose for everything. I remember looking at a picture of the Savior when I was 12 or 13 and thinking "Jesus is really important, but not that important. Kind of a side note." Ah, bless my poor, young, blasphemous soul.

Luckily I eventually realized how silly I was. I think I finally figured out that Jesus is the center of everything, the whole point of the gospel, when I actually started paying attention in church. One day I heard Joseph Smith's quote about how everything in the gospel is an appendage to the Atonement, and it totally changed my world--Christ and His Atonement is what gives our standing up for anything any meaning and what gives our obedience and faith any power to change and sanctify us.

Sometimes I wonder why Christmas is a bigger celebration than Easter. I suppose its cultural--I mean, Santa brings presents, while the Easter Bunny only brings candy (which, don't get me wrong, is quite acceptable). But because the Atonement is what we celebrate at Easter, I would think that, especially in LDS land, it would be a bigger deal than Christmas.

But essentially, Easter and Christmas celebrate the same thing--Christ came to earth as a fulfillment of prophecy so that He could atone for our sins, die, and live again. This is central to our doctrine, to our basic gospel principles like faith, repentance, and baptism. We [should] talk about the Atonement all the time. We remember it each week when we take the sacrament--so, basically, we celebrate the "true meaning" of Easter and Christmas every single week. Very cool.

Now, if we could just get Santa and the Easter Bunny to come on a regular basis, that would be great.

You have just enjoyed my Easter musings. Here are Elder Holland's: