Last year we spent quite a bit of time at our Little Big Church looking at chocolate and at different sweets, including Liquorice Allsorts. Garry even wrote us some new songs on these themes – telling us God’s love is better than any chocolate and any ice-cream or cake and teaching us that it takes all sorts to make the church of God complete. Easter is a time when traditionally we get chocolate Easter eggs – symbolising new life – and other forms of chocolate, so tonight we explored the Easter story through M & Ms.
M & Ms are multi-coloured button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter ‘M’ printed on it in white on one side. They were first made in America in 1941 and they have different fillings, including peanuts, peanut butter, almond, pretzels, caramel and crispy, dark chocolate, all covered in milk chocolate. Last year, a fudge brownie centre was introduced in the United States, but I don’t think these are available in the UK yet. M and Ms are the flagship product of the Mars Wrigley Confectionery division of Mars, Incorporated and are a very popular chocolate treat. There’s even an M & M Store in Leicester Square in London which has over 100 M & M’s selections to choose from!
We looked at a poem by Bethany Darwin which looks at how this letter M can tell the Easter story to us:
“These sweeties tell a story,
The best you’ll ever hear.
This story tells of Jesus dying on a cross
So we can be brought near.
So hold them and turn them
And you will see
The ‘M’ becomes a ‘W’, an ‘E’ and then a ‘3.’
The ‘E’ stands for ‘Easter’…
God’s everlasting love and His eternal plan.
It reminds us of the cross and how God rescued sinful man.
The ‘3’ represents the 3 days Jesus spent in the grave;
It tells us by His death, His children He did save.
The ‘M’ reminds us of the mercy
The Messiah showed as He died in our place,
And the miracle of the resurrection
So we can see Him face to face.
The ‘W’ reminds us that He alone
Is worthy of our worship and our praise
And that He calls us to be His witnesses
Around the world for all our days.”