A Gentler Kinder Easter
The Hill reports PETA President, Ingrid Newkirk, in a letter to the White House, requests they make some significant changes to their annual Easter Egg Roll, scheduled for April 1, 2024, on the White House lawn.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is calling on the White House to roll a different way this spring — swapping chicken eggs for potatoes at the annual Easter Egg Roll. ...
“Potatoes are the most popular vegetable in the country and can be safely dyed, allowing for spudtacular traditional activities, such as rolling them, seeking for them, and decorating them. You could even hold potato sack races and games of hot potato!” the letter to the first lady said.
Newkirk urged Biden to “leave a legacy of kindness” by starting a new potato-filled tradition at the White House.
Whether you think Easter Egg hunts are fabulous or frivilous, it's far more than some of the traditional Easter trappings which the world is calling us to revamp and rethink lately.
Churches across America (and across the globe) are being called to present a kinder, gentler version of the Gospel itself. In the name of leaving a "legacy of kindness," the world would have us to water down the truth and the power of the Gospel message.
Indeed, the offer of salvation is for ALL, regardless of our past or current sins or lifestyles. Yet it is a "Come as you are!" message, not a "Come as you; stay as you are!" message. That said, God calls us to repentence and newness of life.
Affirming unbelievers in their sin is neither kinder nor gentler. Affirming unbelievers in their need for a savior is both and more!
Don't settle for a counterfeit gospel which amounts to nothing more than a basket of colored potatoes. Celebrate new life in Christ this Easter, in all its redemptive glory!
"Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out ..." (Acts 3:19, ESV).
"The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9, ESV).
Pay It Forward In Big and Small Ways
Imagine that you are in line at a coffee shop, and the person in front of you offers to pay for your drink. Inspired by their kindness, you then offer to pay for the drink of the person behind you. This chain continues as each person pays for the drink of the person behind them, creating a chain of kindness that benefits everyone in line.
Well, one of the longest such "pay-it-forward" car lines in history actually happened at a St. Petersburg, Florida, Starbucks back in 2014, when some 750 cars kept the chain flowing over the course of two days.
“It was a pleasant surprise. Everyone likes their coffee paid for. So it was nice,” one customer told CNN affiliate Bay News 9.
Small acts of kindness can have quite a ripple effect. They can inspire others to do the same, simply for the sake of blessing another, without any expectation of receiving anything in return.
We don't need to be in a coffee line, though, to bless those coming up behind us. We can be constantly on the lookout for opportunities to show kindness to others, even in small ways. This can include offering to help a neighbor with their groceries, holding the door open for someone, or simply smiling and saying hello to a stranger. By doing so, we can create a positive impact in the lives of others and contribute to a chain of kindness that can benefit our communities and beyond. That's the ripple effect. Even small gestures can have BIG impact.
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12, NIV).
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works ... " (Hebrews 10:24, ESV).
Compassion Quotes
"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these." [George Washington Carver (1860–1943) was born into slavery but went on to become one of America's best known botanists and inventors.]
"A good heat is better than all the heads in the world." [Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873), was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician.]
“I feel sorry for the man who cannot feel the whip when it is laid on the other man’s back.” [Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) was the 16th President of the United States, whose crowning accomplishment was the abolition of slavery.]
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” [Dalai Lama, born Tenzin Gyatso, (1935 - ) is the current (14th) Dalai Lama, or spiritual/political leader of Tibet.]
“True compassion means not only feeling another's pain but also being moved to help relieve it.” [Daniel Goleman (1946 - ) is an author, psychologist, and science journalist.]
“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” [Francis of Assisi (c. 1181 – 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher, and is one of the most universally respected religious figures in history.]
“It is much easier to show compassion to animals. They are never wicked.” [Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975) was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974.]
“For years I thought my assignment or the Church's assignment was to articulate the Gospel and nothing more. Now I believe that if we don't support the verbal expression of the Gospel with physical demonstration of compassion, we are not imitating Jesus.” [Max Lucado (1955 - ) is a best-selling Christian author and writer and preacher at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas.]
“Compassion is loving others enough to say or do what is appropriate from an empowered heart without attachment to the outcome.” [Gary Zukav (1942 - ) is an American “spiritual” teacher and the New York Times best selling author.]
“Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.” [Francis Schaeffer (1912 – 1984) was an American Evangelical Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor, most famous for his establishment of the L'Abri community in Switzerland.]
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” [Plato (c. 428 – to c. 348 BC) was a philosopher, as well as mathematician, in Classical Greece. Together, with his teacher Socrates and his student Aristotle, they forged the foundation for Western philosophical thought.]
“No one has ever become poor by giving.” [Anne Frank (1929 – 1945) was a young Jewish writer who lost her life in the the Holocaust. Her wartime diary, later published as The Diary of a Young Girl, became a classic, providing a behind-the-scenes context for the life and times of those affected.]
“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” [John Holmes (1904 - 1962), American poet.]
“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident.]
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” [John Bunyan (1628 – 1688) was an English writer and preacher best remembered as the author of the religious allegory The Pilgrim's Progress.]
“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” [Gautama Buddha was the founder of Buddhism believed to have lived and taught mostly in eastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BC.]
“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” [Pema Chödrön (1936 - ) is an American Buddhist nun and author.]
“That's what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.” [Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a French philosopher and author.]
“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. ” [Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968) was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.]
“We only have what we give.” [Isabel Allende (1942 - ) is a Chilean-American writer and novelist.]
“Good works is giving to the poor and the helpless, but divine works is showing them their worth to the One who matters.” [Criss Jami (1987 - ) is a contemporary American philosopher, poet, and essayist.]
“Nothing that we despise in other men is inherently absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don't do, and more in light of what they suffer.” [Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident.]
“How would your life be different if…You pretended those around you were deaf to your words? Let today be the day…You let your actions speak and communicate your feelings and intentions.” [Steve Maraboli (1975 - ) is an internet radio commentator, motivational speaker and author.
“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.” [Mary Anne Radmacher is a contemporary American writer and artist. She conducts workshops on living a full, creative, balanced life.]
“Look into your own heart; discover what is that gives you pain. And then refuse, under any circumstances whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.” [Karen Armstrong (1944 - ) is a British author and commentator known for her books on comparative religion.]
“The first to help you up are the ones who know how it feels to fall down.” [Author unknown]
“Compassion: a sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” [Merriam-Webster Dictionary]
“Compassion is the ability to see what needs doing right now and the willingness to do it right now.” [Brad Warner (1964 - ) is an American Sōtō Zen priest, author, blogger, documentarian and punk rock bass guitarist.]
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grades intention.” [Oscar Wilde (1854 –1900) was an Irish author, playwright and poet, best known for such works as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Ernest.]
“Compassion is a verb.” [Author unknown]
“The strength of a nation is not measured by the size of its army, but by how it treats the weakest members of its society.” [Author unknown]
“Be kind whenever possible. … It is always possible.” [Dalai Lama, born Tenzin Gyatso, (1935 - ) is the current (14th) Dalai Lama, or spiritual/political leader of Tibet.]
Many of the above quotes provide their own points of application. They do not necessarily represent the views of Orthodox Christianity; neither do they necessarily represent the views of Illustration Exchange.