FOOD: Breaking Bread

Decorative hardboiled eggs, fancy hams and even fancier hats—what unlikely companions have mingled through the ages to mark our Easter festivities! The supreme day of Christian celebration deserves every colorful expression. For the dedicated pastors who bring the day to life for eager congregations, Easter is a special day of reflection and warm traditions. And what better way to commemorate the occasion than a feast of biblical proportions?

Easter in our home is fairly traditional. Most years, after our morning worship services we host both sides of our extended family for the day, and the food is abundant! We stick with the predictable ham (which we prefer to eat cold) and ‘comfort food’ side dishes, but our favorite part of the meal is dessert. Pecan pie is a staple at all of our holiday celebrations. It’s a family favorite that my wife makes from her grandmother’s recipe. Our other favorite dessert which she usually makes only on Easter is homemade lemon squares. They’re just the right mix of salty, tangy and sweet. Our children are still young enough to hunt eggs with their cousins, but rather than stuffing the eggs with candy, their grandparents started the tradition of hiding loose coins in the eggs. You can be sure that none end up un-found!

 -Ray Griffin, Executive Pastor, Quail Springs Baptist Church

14613 N. May Ave., OKC, qsbc.org

When our family gets together for Easter, we play it pretty straight, with the traditional ham and potatoes followed by an egg hunt with our kids and their cousins. But one tradition that our family has really come to enjoy is when our small group from church gets together on the evening of Easter Sunday. Everybody brings leftovers from their family Easter lunches and we go to town on round two, rocking it potluck style.  Good times.

 -Andy Lashley, Involvement & Communications Minister, Memorial Road Church of Christ

2221 E. Memorial Rd, Edmond, mrcc.org

As a busy pastor on Easter, the Easter meal is a time when I can relax and rest from a long, but very exciting and blessed day to be with my immediate family. So we don’t go to any extremes in making our meal. One thing we traditionally have is a family recipe from my wife’s family—cheese grits. She grew up in Kentucky and they share my theory on food—put enough cheese in it and anything can be good! But grits, and cheese grits, are a staple of Southern comfort food.  And we can cook them the night before, heat them up that day and enjoy a feast. Along with ham and turkey sandwiches (remember, easy is the key to cooking on this day), maybe a good potato salad made beforehand, and lots of fresh veggies—steamed broccoli, or a broccoli casserole (once again, night before!), Brussels sprouts, corn—whatever looks good and fresh at the store. All of this reflects what is important to us—our time at church together during the morning and our time as family that afternoon. So traditional food is the key. And, of course, with a 7-year-old in the house we have lots of chocolate bunnies. My wife makes a point of buying a white chocolate cross for each of our three boys and we can enjoy that as well. If we’re coming off of a Lenten discipline (like giving up chocolate), it can sure taste good!

 -Rev. Chris Shorow, Senior Minister, First Christian Church

201 E. 2nd St., Edmond, fccedmond.org

Well Easter is a bit hectic as I’m working that day! I am ready to crash at lunchtime! But we do have an interesting food tradition. I thought it was perfectly normal until I got married. We serve tabouli as a side dish. It’s a Lebanese side that I grew up with in northeastern Oklahoma and just assumed everyone had that alongside ham on Easter Sunday. My family served it at every special holiday dinner and I was shocked to discover it’s not like sweet potatoes, dressing or green bean casserole for everyone else!

 -Clark Frailey, Lead Pastor, Coffee Creek Church

1650 Coffee Creek Rd, Edmond, coffeecreek.cc