Tabitha Heathcote has the luxury of sampling this particular Easter egg early and finds it to be the real deal
When it comes to Easter, there is one very important question that everyone should think about: When is it too early to eat a chocolate egg?!
Cadbury has clearly decided that it is never too early or too late, since we can now buy Creme Eggs all year round! But the rest of the brands seem to be in constant competition to see whose eggs can hit the shelves before the Christmas decorations are put away.
What is Easter about?
What do you remember about Easter when you were growing up? The chocolatey suspense, the eager anticipation of something new, cutting into the simnel cake, decorating eggs, the extra days holiday from school, family coming together, hot cross buns with melted butter……
As a child, I remember decorating hard-boiled eggs, dipping them in different colours. I remember watching the spring bulbs coming out and planting an Easter garden, hoping that the flowers would bloom by Easter Sunday. I remember lots of joy and laughter and I remember waving palm branches and crosses. But most of all I remember the anticipation and excitement, which I still experience at this time of year. The excitement of Easter Sunday often spent with family, where we would cut the simnel cake we had decorated. We might do an Easter egg hunt, but we would sing and share the chorus “He is risen!” with that familiar response of “He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!”
Easter is my favourite celebration of the year and as I have gotten older, the joy, anticipation and excitement that I felt as a child has deepened into a longing for more of God. As a child, I knew the importance of the season through story and faith, but as an adult I know and have more understanding of the significance of Christ’s coming, his ministry, his triumphant entry, his final days, death and most of all resurrection.
On Ash Wednesday each year, I begin my journey to Easter participating in Lent, choosing something to fast from (give up) for forty days. Choosing what to fast from is a personal challenge between you and God. It should be something that makes you long to spend more time with Him! Often, I give up sugar and chocolate because I want to crave Jesus as much as I crave them.
If you look around you, the celebration of spring and new life is everywhere but where is Jesus?
However, each year, this seems to be a harder and harder challenge as the towers of eggs in the supermarkets grow, and the choices in chocolatey treats multiply. It seems that with every new ‘egg’ that comes out, a little more of the true meaning of Easter disappears with it. If you look around you, the celebration of spring and new life is everywhere but where is Jesus?
The Real Easter Egg
Amidst the stacks and stacks of ‘easter’ goodies, the Meaningful Chocolate Company brings back meaning to Easter. It’s the only Easter egg out of the 80 million chocolate Easter eggs sold each year in the UK that explains the reason we have Easter eggs and shares the Good News. From the very beginning Christ was at the heart of this; the project was crowd founded in 2010 by thousands of churches and church schools which pre-paid for the manufacture of The Real Easter Egg, the UK’s first Fairtrade Easter egg.
From box to book, the Meaningful Chocolate Company has endeavoured to be faithful to God. With recyclable packaging from managed sources, it fulfils God’s command in Genesis 1.28, to look after the world. Through using fair-trade chocolate, they promote care and honesty in all aspects of the product (Luke 16.10), showing love to people all over the world with £420,000 raised for charitable causes (Matthew 22.39) and with every egg they share the Good News! (Mark 16.15). The company’s whole story, from idea to more than 2 million eggs since 2010, can be found on their website.
The Real Easter egg a is truly delicious chocolate delight, that will be a mouthwatering way to end a Lent fast. Satisfying for the tastebuds and for the soul.
It is a great gift for Christians and non-Christians alike. With a bright and inviting box, three small crosses on the front are the first glimpse that this is more than the usual chocolate egg. The paper Easter story book inside is clear and precise. It is an easy read and it’s clear that the authors have primary school children in mind, with much of the writing accessible and simply written.
The simple language and Martina Peluso’s gentle and inviting illustration, bring the narrative to life leading to natural questions being asked by children. There is ample opportunity to go deeper into the Easter story, through questions, conversations and the four activities at the back of the book. These activities consist of a spot the difference (ages 3+), a maze to help Jesus find his friends (age 5+), a question crossword for adults to help with (ages 5+) and a 2-part question competition for those under 10 and 10+. As suggested in the question activities at the back, you might want to have your Bible to hand!
The only thing missing from the book are scriptural references, which would be a great addition for pointing people back to the Bible, providing opportunity for someone interested to go and read more.
The Real Easter Egg is a truly delicious chocolate delight, that will be a mouthwatering way to end a Lent fast. Satisfying for the tastebuds and for the soul. As you indulge with this treat, and read again the true story of Easter, pause and savour the saviour, for no matter how good the chocolate is Jesus is so much sweeter. Psalm 34.8 says: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him”.
The REAL Easter egg. What’s not to love?
You can order yours from their website or various other websites including Eden, Leprosy Mission and Amazon. You may also find that Christian Shop and churches will sell them as well.
