Carnival is over and the stores are getting more colorful.
Chocolate Easter eggs fill the supermarket shelves. Children become euphoric with such colorful and delicious chocolates. There are chocolates for all tastes: white chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate with nuts and more.
There are small and big eggs, with packaging for children and adults of all ages. People wearing Easter bunny costumes walk through the stores playing with the children and, of course, offering chocolate eggs.
There is a lot of commercialism that comes this time of year and few people talk about Jesus, His sacrifice on the cross, and His resurrection.
Maria, teacher at Project Timoteo, tells us,
“Every year we teach the little children that the real Easter is not the rabbit and chocolate egg. When we ask them ‘What is Easter?’ they answer immediately: Easter eggs! That is when I love to teach them the truth about Jesus.”
Using puppets, Maria explains to the children that chocolate eggs are made only for selling and for profit. The goal is to make children aware that they may receive some chocolate, but this is not what Easter celebrates, and there is another figure who represents Easter: the Holy Lamb, who died for us.
Marcia, director of Project Timoteo, invited parents to come to the church for an Easter Sunday service and, to her surprise, many parents who had never been to the child development center before showed up to watch their children dance in a special Easter performance.
“It was a great time. The children were happy because their parents were there to see them. They had an important time together.”
Many people in Brazil celebrate Easter as if the chocolate eggs were the most important. Even being a Christian country, the commercial influence is strong and thousands of people forget the real meaning of the celebration, especially children.
Thank God there are churches and Christians committed to spread the Truth in the little hearts of the little ones.