Easter

As Easter is approaching, you might like to consider how to celebrate it with your family.

Every year we have two weeks of bible readings that we do together, as well as things to discuss, prayers and also optional inserts for openable eggs. It's been a great way to focus our attention on Jesus’ final week and reflect upon his death and resurrection as a family.

If you would like to use them for your family, both are available as pdf files via the resources tab. Note the start and finish dates are different for each so that the events of the Easter weekend itself line up with the readings.

Preparing for Easter with your family: Readings from the Gospel of Luke

• Aimed at more primary aged kids, although flexible and adaptable.
• Print in format needed (Acrobat Reader allows you to print as a booklet)
• Start on the Wednesday nine days before Good Friday and go through until Easter Tuesday (2 days after Easter Sunday).
• If you want to use my inserts which include the titles of the days, the bible verses and some suggestion for pictures, they are also available on the resources page.

Preparing for Easter with your family: Readings from the Gospel of Matthew

• Aimed at younger families, although flexible and adaptable.
• Print in format needed (Acrobat Reader allows you to print as a booklet)
• Note: this is exactly the same material as in previous years, it has just had a format update.
• Start on the Monday 11 days before Good Friday and go through until Easter Sunday.
• If you want to use my inserts which include the titles of the days, the bible verses and some suggestion for pictures, they are also available on the resources page.

For other ideas of how to celebrate Easter, books to read, and things to try – read through the Easter posts of the past. There is a lot in there!

We still have a simplified Passover meal and watch the Prince of Egypt on Thursday night. We still have hot cross buns on Friday morning and a little egg hunt on Sunday morning.  These have now become firm traditions, which makes them all the more special.

Easter

Easter is coming up fast this year, in fact it will all be over in only 3 weeks!   So it’s time to think about how you might celebrate Easter with your family.

Over the past 6 years we have used some readings from Matthew’s gospel over the two weeks leading up to Easter (you can read about them and their development over the Easter readings posts).   It has been a great way to focus our attention on Jesus’ final week and reflect upon his death and resurrection as a family.   When I wrote it our kids were a lot younger and so the readings and questions were a simplified version of the account. 

I have wanted to work through a more complete account for some time.  Also, as with Advent last year,  I felt we needed something new.   I had planned to write new material from John’s gospel, but realising the work involved that has been shelved for another year (!)  

This Easter we are trialling some new material from Luke’s gospel.   Like the Matthew readings, there are 14 days of bible readings, things to discuss, prayers and also optional inserts for openable eggs.

If you would like to use them for your family, both are available as pdf files via the RESOURCES tab:


Preparing for Easter with your family:  Readings from the Gospel of Luke

• Aimed at more primary aged kids, although flexible and adaptable.
• Print in format needed (Acrobat Reader allows you to print as a booklet)
• Start on the Wednesday nine days before Good Friday (March 16 in 2016) and go through until Easter Tuesday. 
• If you want to use my inserts which include the titles of the days, the bible verses and some suggestion for pictures, they are also available on the resources page. 

Preparing for Easter with your family:  Readings from the Gospel of Matthew

• Aimed at younger families, although flexible and adaptable.
• Print in format needed (Acrobat Reader allows you to print as a booklet)
• Note: this is exactly the same material as previous years, it has just had a format update. 
• Start on the Monday 11 days before Good Friday (March 14 in 2016) and go through until Easter Sunday. 
• If you want to use my inserts which include the titles of the days, the bible verses and  some suggestion for pictures, they are also available on the resources page.  

The start and finish dates are different for both so that the events of the Easter weekend itself line up with the readings.

I would love feedback on the new material, if you try it.  As we are also using it for the first time, I’m sure there will be edits along the way!

For other ideas of how to celebrate Easter, books to read and things to try – read through all of the Easter posts of the past.   There is a lot in there!

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Update after Easter 2016 - we enjoyed the new readings, having some more details of the gospel accounts and some different things to think about.

Here is a photo of the pictures/readings on the wall at the end:

 

A return to blogging

Hello, old friends. If there are any of you still out there that is!

Almost five months off. How time flies when you are having fun.

It has taken some time to decide to re-start blogging again. For a while there I wasn’t sure if I would and to be honest, I’m still not sure. However, I am reading good books again, and while I continue to read good books there seems to be some point in sharing them with others.

Over this week I’ll give you a brief update on life here over the last 5 months, and then we’ll get started again on book reviews next week.

[For those that would like a little-Easter kick start, you can get some ideas from previous years by reading the Easter posts. If you want to do the Easter Readings with your family (via resources tab), they start next week (April 7), so there is still lots of time to print it and think about putting some eggs together with the key verses. Personally, I am loving my annual dip into Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross by Nancy Guthrie.]

Easter reading

Easter is in 3 weeks and as it falls early this year it may have crept up on you by surprise!  For our family, that means it's time to consider how we remember Christ's death and celebrate his resurrection.

There is a lot of great reading material and resources available for adults, children and families these days. 

The following are some of my favourites:

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross has been my choice for the last 2 years.  Edited by Nancy Guthrie, this selection of 25 excerpts from known preachers and theologians on different aspects of the Easter story has something to offer and challenge in each reading.  I have really enjoyed this one.

Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die, by John Piper is also a great way to focus you on Jesus over Easter.  If you are like me you may struggle to articulate 10 reasons why Jesus died, let alone 50!  However each one made me see afresh another part of Jesus' death, why it was essential and why I can be so thankful for his sacrifice.  A more detailed review can be found here.

We will start our own family Easter readings next Monday.  It is 14-day set of readings from Matthew's gospel, each day has a bible reading, a few questions and a prayer. In addition each day matches to a colourful egg which is opened to reveal a special verse for the day and an item to remind us of the bible reading. See previous posts here and here if you would like more details.  If you would like a copy, you can download a booklet to print from here.





Your kids could also do Easter Unscrambled, a resource by the Good Book Company. It's 3 weeks of daily bible reading notes for children (XTB) and also material for families (Table Talk) to do together. We have used this material before and it's always very good. The XTB part would be good for competent (or almost competent) readers who still like activity books, and the Table Talk would be suitable for all.

Easter readings

At Easter our family does 2 weeks of readings leading up to Easter, which concentrate on Jesus' last week from Matthew's gospel.  It's very similar to the Advent readings we do at Christmas time.  We open an egg each day and stick a picture or item on the wall to remind us of the story as it unfolds.  I have blogged about it over recent years.  If you would like copy of the material we use, please go to the resources tab.  If you want to use it for your family, it starts next Monday (March 26th).

Easter - part 1

Easter is coming up in just over three weeks (in case you hadn't noticed all the chocolate in the supermarket...).

For our family, that means it's time to consider how we remember Christ's death and celebrate his resurrection.

Some will recall that our family does Advent readings in the lead up to Christmas. In an effort to reclaim Easter in the same way, we also do family bible readings in the lead up to Easter Sunday.

We have a 14-day plan, all from Matthew's gospel, each day has a bible reading, a few questions and a prayer. In addition each day matches to a colourful egg which is opened to reveal a special verse for the day and an item to remind us of the bible reading. See previous posts here and here if you would like more details.

If you would like to do something for your family, there is still time to design your own - we don't start our readings for another 10 days. If you would like to use my material, I'm happy to share - have a look at the resources tab.

If you would like to consider other material, try Easter Unscrambled, a resource by the Good Book Company. It's 3 weeks of daily bible reading notes for children (XTB) and also material for families (Table Talk) to do together. We have used this material before and it's always very good. The XTB part would be good for competent (or almost competent) readers who still like activity books, and the Table Talk would be suitable for all.

Easter

Last year around this time I did a little series about Easter and how to celebrate it in a Christ-centred way with our families. Please follow the links back to that series to get some ideas for Easter that may work for you.

I was happy with how things went last year - so we plan to continue with our bible reading plan this year. It is a 14 day plan, which has a bible reading, prayer and some things to think about each day.

Most days also have a little item hidden in an egg, which helps to tell the Easter story.

I have just realised it needs to start on Monday (March 22), so I'd better get it all organised this weekend!

I hope you also will be able to take time out in the lead-up to Easter to remember Jesus' death and his sacrifice for us.

The other posts from last year (here and here) also show some of the things we did over the Easter weekend, like having a Passover meal on Thursday night, having a Resurrection Cake on Sunday and going to church on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

I'll get back to you after Easter and let you know how it all went!

Easter Series #1

1. How you could prepare for Easter with your family

I wonder how you 'prepare' for Easter with your family? Well if you are anything like me, up to now you have not really done anything at all. The most preparation that goes into your Easter may be buying some hot-cross buns and chocolate, deciding whether to go away for the long weekend, or deciding whether you will go to church on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

We have been the same, well - with some exceptions! We always go to church for both Good Friday & Easter Sunday, and never go away - but that is because Husband is a minister, so we sort of have to be there! (However, prior to him being in ministry I don't think I ever went to a Good Friday service and I very much liked going away for the Easter Long Weekend!)

However, I can certainly say that I have never thought much about 'preparing for Easter' at all. All that has changed though! Which leads me to the first idea...


i) A Bible Reading Plan

Having seen the massive benefit to our family of doing a 25 day advent calendar for Christmas, which included bible readings, prayer and thinking about the passage, I thought we should do one for Easter too.

Last year I searched online, and found this plan (Annie's Easter Eggs). It is a 12-day plan, each day reading a few verses relevant to a part of the crucifixion and resurrection. I taped up a cardboard cross, and each day we opened a little egg (sourced from Kinder Surprises), which contained an item relevant to the story. Then we blue-tacked the item to the cross, to remind us of each thing. It worked for us quite well.

However, having done it, I would have preferred a different emphasis for the bible readings - some that covered more of the time in the week leading up to Good Friday, rather than emphasising various aspects of the crucifixion itself.

So, I have done one myself - it is a 14-day plan, all from Matthew's gospel (my goal is to do 4 over the next 4 years - one from each gospel). It uses the NIrV as it is aimed at younger readers, I had my 6 year old in mind, assuming that my almost 4 year old will get something out of it too.

Each day has a bible reading, a few questions, a prayer and a picture to draw (my kids loved doing the drawings for Christmas and sticking them in a line around the wall).

Here is Day 1 - so you can get an idea.

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Day 1

Jesus Predicts His Own Death

Bible Reading

Matthew 20:17-19

¹⁷ Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the 12 disciples to one side to talk to them.

¹⁸ "We are going up to Jerusalem," he said. "The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will sentence him to death. ¹⁹ Then they will turn him over to people who are not Jews. The people will make fun of him and whip him. They will nail him to a cross. On the third day, he will rise from the dead!"

Questions

What will happen to Jesus?

How does that make you feel?

Why did he go to Jerusalem even when he knew what was going to happen?

Prayer

Dear God, thank you that even though Jesus knew what would happen to him in Jerusalem, he still went - willing to give his life for us. Amen

Picture

Jesus walking to Jerusalem

To keep up the excitement, each day has a little plastic openable egg, with the title of the day inside and most days have an item to remind us of the bible reading. (I got this idea from the Annie's eggs page, eg. 30c to remind of Judas betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, or a stone to show that a stone was rolled in front of the tomb). We are using Kinder Surprise eggs, so if you want to do this too - go out and buy 14 Kinder Surprises (in our house the kids get the chocolate and toys in small amounts, and I get to keep the eggs!)

I have included some photos of some of them, I have not done them all yet - still more Kinder Surprises to open & eat!
(PS. the little handcuffs are from Police Lego!)

ii) Easter week

This is really a variation on the same theme above - search through the bible and try to date the events of the final week. Then read out those passages for each day. This will give children (and you!) a good idea of what actually happened on each day. (This idea is in Treasuring God in Our Traditions, Noel Piper). She also suggests making an "Easter Mountain" - a construction our of playdough, in which you can re-enact the events of each day, will people made out a 'chenille-sticks' (which I am assuming are pipe cleaners). A cautionary note she gives here is that once this gets silly for children, stop doing it - the death of Jesus is too serious to joke about. I am considering making the Easter Mountain and will post up photos if I do.

iii) Books to read

I am keen for ideas on this, as yet I have only come across one good book for Easter (although I haven't had a chance to have a good look around). Dave the Donkey (by Andrew McDonough of the Lost Sheep series) has written a fantastic book about Easter for children, told by the donkey who carried Jesus into Jerusalem and his Grandpa donkey. It is well-written, tells the story with appropriate seriousness, but also ends up celebrating 'Long live the King!'

iv) Other ideas

One friend, Lesley, suggested that prior to Easter (if she had a chance) she would "to do a taste and see over the next few weeks of the different foods in the traditional passover meal, talk about them, and then have all decide what you will actually eat on the Thursday before Good Friday." This could be helpful in thinking about various aspects of the passover in advance. My next post will discuss the idea of a Passover meal on Maundy Thursday - but if you plan to do one, you definitely need to prepare for it!

Do you have any other ideas? I would love to hear them!

I will post again in a few days about some ways to make Easter weekend itself a little more meaningful.

Easter series

Easter is coming up, and as with Christmas, I thought it might be good to think about it how we celebrate it with our families and why we do so.

We celebrate Easter as the main historical event in which our faith is grounded - the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour.

So, I thought over the next few weeks, it might be helpful to think about what we can do to keep this truth the central part of Easter, rather than an additional extra.

I will aim to look at:

1. How you could 'prepare' for Easter with your family.

I have written a 14-day "Preparing for Easter with your family" plan this year, which I will talk about, as well as some other things.

2. How you could celebrate the Easter weekend itself.

3. What to think about the Easter bunny, eggs and chocolate.

And perhaps other things as I think of them!

I am also planning to finish reading Treasuring God in Our Traditions, by Noel Piper and see what suggestions she has.

So, if you have any ideas on how to celebrate Easter in a Christ-centred way, either things your family does, or you have seen done by others - please let me know via a comment and I will collate some things for us all to share.