Guilt-free Easter Eggs? A Surprising Connection to the True Meaning of Easter

Dear Emmaus families and friends

It is my prayer that you are reading our final Newsletter of Term 1 following a Spirit-filled Easter long weekend. In the week leading into Easter, our students from ELC to Year 12 had the opportunity to meaningfully engage in activities that reinforced the true and profound meaning of Easter - the ultimate sacrifice made by our Lord, for all humankind.

Although the secular world can at times appear to hijack this most holy season for Christians, every so often there is a subtle but profound congruence. While driving last week, a radio advert for the Australian Red Cross caught my attention. Their 'pitch' was that if you gave blood, you can eat more Easter eggs! This certainly focused my attention on the remainder of the advert.

They estimated that the typical blood donation results in about 500 calories being burnt to replace the cells given in the donation. They then concluded that this translates into eating approximately 12 small Easter eggs completely “guilt free”. As we would all know, the purpose of giving blood through the Australian Red Cross is to "save lives" which could not align more strongly with the true meaning of Easter "the giving of blood (Jesus') is to save lives". Unlike blood donations, where there is a limit to the number of donations (hence lives saved) any one of us can make at any point in time, the 'donation' (sacrifice) Jesus made is limitless; enough for all of humankind, for all of time!

The second theme from this Australian Red Cross campaign that aligns seamlessly with the real Easter message is the statement that the donation of blood results in “guilt free” Easter egg consumption. The “freeing from guilt” through Jesus’ giving of blood for us all is the very core message of Easter! Ultimately, the Red Cross has this Easter message spot on, I think (with chocolate consumption thrown in for good measure!).

It was a joy to see our Emmaus students engaging last week in a wide range of activities reinforcing the true meaning of Easter (which did not include donating blood to the Red Cross in case you were wondering; but probably did result in ample Easter egg consumption!).

Blessings

Andrew Linke
Executive Principal