Holy Week Timeline: Click on the image to zoom in
Easter Activities for Families
It’s time for Easter and Resurrection Sunday! What a wonderful chance to spend some special family time together! Below are listed some great ideas of things you can do as a family or with children during this Easer Season
- Look at this page filled with Easter ministry ideas for families!
- Read this devotion for children called, No More Crying
- Tell the Easter Story with a Playdough Mountain
- Make Resurrection Buns as an Easter snack
- Create Easter Egg Baskets with your kids
- See what Holy Week looks like for John Piper’s family
- Do an Easter Bible Lesson called, “He is Alive!”
- Teach this NEW Easter Lesson with music liturgy and art project
- Read 10 Creative Ways to Celebrate Easter
- Explain the true meaning of Easter to your kids with this book
- Sing this powerful Easter hymn
- Watch this video on how to make Resurrection Eggs
- Watch the Jesus Storybook Bible video below w/your kids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq-NhRUIejo
Monday Morning after Easter
What was Monday Morning like for the disciples, after the resurrection? I’m not sure….scripture doesn’t give us much clues on what went on in those days immediately after the resurrection. Or, if it does, I am ignorant of where to find the information. Tonight I have been scouring John 20 and 21 again.
I know I brought this up yesterday in my post, but I want to expand on it a bit further tonight for my own thinking. Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus showed himself to them on “the first day of the week” (Resurrection Sunday?). We don’t know where Thomas was. But I think that he wanted to be alone. His hopes were dashed. He wondered if he had wasted his time believing something that wasn’t truth. He needed to be alone. He needed to look at the sky and think. Maybe, like me, he needed to sort out his thoughts on his “board” in his mind.
But 8–count them, 8 whole days later, he is back with the disciples. Did some of them persuade him to join them that night? Was he curious about their reports of seeing Jesus? Was he seeking truth for his own soul? They were gathered in a locked room, and yet Jesus appeared amongst them and said “Peace be Unto you.”. Honestly, I don’t know what I would have thought at that moment. But Jesus knew Thomas’ heart, He heard Thomas’ soul, and approached him first of all, inviting him to place his hands in the scars on his body. Jesus then told Thomas “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Wow.
And Thomas’ response? “My Lord and My God!” He needed no other proof, no other evidence. It was there. It was there and it was undeniable.
In the same way, my changed life was the evidence I needed to be able to say “My Lord and My God.” To hear my Savior say “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Oh, I still struggle with doubt, with cynicism. But I know that My Lord and My God are truth. And what is preached and what is done in missions work and what is done in outreach and building relationships and worship is done for truth.
Resurrection Sunday: A Joyful, Challenging Day
It’s been a challenging day.
It’s Easter. Worship was amazing this morning. Church was full. There was joy. There is joy. There is a realization, a recognition, an acknowledgement, yes, and even a proclamation that He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
But I’ve found today to be challenging in my soul for many reasons. I surprisingly found myself goofed up during the worship songs this morning. Moved to tears. A few short years ago tonight I was baptized. I followed my Jesus into baptism. The joy that day is indescribable. The pain, too of remembering what should be a happy memory (and it is a happy memory) hurts. So much has happened since then. And yet I know nothing can take away my relationship with my Lord and my God.
The day before that Easter, in scripture work I finally saw myself in Thomas–Thomas who, in his stubbornness wanted to see the evidence. Me too. Me too. He saw the evidence in the scars of Jesus hands and feet and he proclaimed “My Lord and My God!!”. I saw the evidence in my changed life and I too proclaimed “My Lord and My God”. And I proclaim that today, in the midst of this sadness that has settled in my soul. Joy does not equal happiness. I still have joy. I can preach to myself that joy tonight, through these tears.
I’ve read each of the accounts of the resurrection today. I am most struck by Matthew’s account, which I’ve included below:
28 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
So they departed quickly from the tomb both with fear and great joy. I can relate to these woman. Both fear and great joy. Can you imagine? Can you imagine how their hearts beat, how their breath quickened as they ran to tell the disciples? And I love it that it was the women who went to the tomb, who knew first that He was not there. Did they think for an instance that it was too good to be true? Or did they believe immediately? I would have been cautious, skeptical. I would have been Thomas.
And they came up and worshipped at his feet. They worshipped. That is the proper response. And that is the proper response for me tonight, despite the difficulty of this day. It hurts. It hurts. And yet there is joy. God is sovereign. God is sovereign. If God was not sovereign, there would be no resurrection story. And if there were no resurrection story, there would be no hope. But there is hope, and I must preach that to myself tonight as well.