The Parable of the Egg

We started our day at the Apollo, where we attended Easter service. Founded 10 years ago by a husband and wife team, our church began in a Harlem apartment before moving to a school building across the street. We have worshipped in that same building for the last decade. We've grown so much over the years that we've had to add a third service. You can imagine that last year's Easter service, often the busiest Sunday for many churches, saw even larger crowds. This was the reason behind this year's services being held in the 1,500-seat Apollo Theater.

Easter 2025 at Marcus Meets Malcolm

L-R Easter 2021 at Marcus Meets Malcolm, Easter 2020 in Central Park because...COVID

Nick left with Zadie and Nico right before the benediction because he forgot to leave a team member's check with the person who does the store deliveries on Sundays, giving Ila and me an opportunity to walk home together. We met back at the apartment and began preparing for the annual Easter Egg Hunt that our neighbors host each year on the Marcus Meets Malcolm play street. If ever there was a block that was a real-life Sesame Street, it's this one.

Our choir singing at the Apollo Theater

Each year, we head to this street for the hunt. Usually, the organizers hide the eggs in the nooks and crannies of brownstone steps and landings. They also scatter them around tree beds and planter pots. But this year, they tried something new—all the eggs were hoisted in above-head nets anchored by opposing tree trunks on this tree-lined street. Each year, when our children set out to find their eggs, at least one if not two kids come back disappointed by how few eggs they've collected. I've watched each time this happens—the kids who are committed to getting their eggs trample our younger kids and other less-aggressive kids to do that very thing: fill their baskets with eggs. Our kids set off with hope and excitement until a faster hand swoops down and snatches the egg before they can. They head to the next egg only for the same thing to happen again. I'm always cheering them on to hunt and grab faster, but often their hopes are dashed with no eggs left to find.

From this, I've concluded that in life there are egg-getters and those who just don't get eggs. Our two younger children currently fall under the latter group, and while it's so sad to see, it's the harsh reality of living in this cold, cruel world. In life, you're either going to have to strategically position yourself to get that proverbial egg or be ready to throw some bows (read: elbows) to get yours.

Scenes from today's Easter Egg Hunt at Marcus Meets Malcolm

Toward the end of the egg hunt festivities, I saw a neighbor who is also the mom of three. Her youngest daughter walked alongside her, proudly holding a newly acquired baby doll in a bassinet. Her mom shared that she won it earlier in the day because she found one of the golden eggs. Surprised that her little body was able to find one of these 12 magical eggs hidden on the block, she corrected me and said that one of the kids who lives on the street gave her a golden egg because he knew where they were hidden.

And isn't that the best illustration for getting what you need in life? It's not about how good you are at finding eggs; it's about who you know and your proximity to them.

I've been working on this egg-getter theory for the last two or three years, and today, as I watched our youngest child retreat from the egg cascade as children next to and in front of him elbowed their way to more eggs, I thought about the parable of these eggs—life isn't fair, and it's not just what you know; it's who you know. None of these ideas are new, but to see them illustrated in the innocence of an egg hunt is sobering.

Sorry today's message wasn't lighter and more hopeful. Easter has become one of my favorite holidays next to Thanksgiving. From being in community with neighbors to the beautiful weather to the beginning of our ice cream season to the messages of renewal, my cup is always full. But I just couldn't unsee the symbolism of the egg hunt and had to share.

However you spent today, I hope it was filled with good people and good food.

Petrushka

Your Local Ice Cream Lady/Life Coach