Celebrate Easter with Your Children

I stood by the nursery desk, wondering why the nursery leader was late.  I could not remember her being late before.  A few minutes later, she flew in apologizing.  "I'm so sorry I'm late," she said smiling.  "But it is your fault, you know."

"What?" I questioned, wondering what her explanation would be.

"Easter," she explained breathlessly.  "I was up before dawn this morning putting out the items for the treasure hunt.  I awoke the children early and started them on the treasure hunt while I put the hot cross buns into the oven.  You gave us so many good ideas for celebrating Easter that I just had to do some of them, and things took longer than I thought they would."  

She was flustered, but her joy in helping her children celebrate this special day was contageous.  She put down her things and began greeting all the parents with a beaming smile on her face. 

Easter.  It is the focal point of our faith.  Without Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, our faith is in vain.  We cannot begin to explain our own faith without pointing to Christ's work in that last week of his life.  We owe everything to it. The assurance of our relationship to Christ rests in it.  We have no hope without it.  Yet in spite of this, Easter is often an overlooked holiday for many Christians.

Think about it.  Do you look forward to Resurrection Sunday with the same excitement as Christmas?  Do your children?  Do they have reason to shout "The Lord is Risen!" on Sunday morning?  Do they know that this is the most important holiday for Christians?  Do they see your excitement as you prepare that special meal to celebrate with family and friends?  Do they hear you singing precious songs about the suffering of Christ that week as you enter into His suffering, identifying with the Man of Sorrows?  Do they sense from you that this day is more important to you than Christmas?

Let us make Easter a BIG deal for ourselves and for our children.  I am not talking about Easter baskets and Easter bunnies and new clothes.  I am talking about celebrating the week and the day in a way that makes a profound impression on the value of what Christ did for us. Here are just a few suggestions on things that will help children grasp the importance of this week.

• On Palm Sunday, buy small palm branches or make them from construction paper and play out Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem.  Let them re-enact going into town to get the donkey, bringing it back for Jesus, and then laying clothing and palm branches out for the donkey to ride.  Shout "Hosanna to the Son of David together."  Sing praise songs to Jesus, and talk about what it would be like if the stones had actually begun to praise Him.
• Make a picture poster of the events of Jesus' last week.  Each day this week add one picture of what happened on that day.
• Celebrate the Passover Seder together as a family.  There is information online that will help you celebrate this.  Explain that Jesus and his disciples celebrate this together just before He died.  
• If your church has a special service on Thursday or Friday, go together as a family.
• On Friday (or Thursday, if that is your tradition) read together one of the stories in the gospel of the crucifixion.  Whenever a different person is mentioned, try to imagine what it was like for them that day. 
• Find a devotional that you can use to focus your family's devotions on the sacrifice Jesus made.
• Invite people to church for Easter and then home to your house afterwards to eat together.
• Make cards together that celebrate the resurrection.  Send them to friends or pass them out to neighbors.
  
• Have a special Easter dinner.  Serve lamb and talk about Jesus being the Passover lamb.  Make a cake in the shape of a cross or a lamb.
• Make a paper mache or bread dough tomb.  Put together clothespin disciples for the children to reenact the events.  Find a rock to cover the entrance to the tomb.
• Separate your celebration of Spring from Easter.  Celebrate Spring on the first day of Spring.  In your gift for your children, include colored eggs, bunnies, chicks, new clothes, and other special things.
• Attend the Easter Sunrise service, if your church has one.  
• On Easter morning (or afternoon), send your children on a treasure hunt.  Inside small paper or plastic bags or cloth bundles, put symbols of the events of the last week of Jesus' life.  If it will make it more fun, add a small amount of candy to each one.  When all the items are found, see if the children can identify each symbol and tell why it was included.  Then, for older children, see if they can put the symbols in the correct order.  

Easter is coming!  I cannot wait!  But first I will walk through this week with a sorrowful heart as I grieve His horrendous suffering and my own sin that made it so necessary.

Decorating for Easter

One of the fun things about having a home again is being able to decorate.  After Christmas, Easter is my favorite time of the year.  I can’t imagine my life without the momentous events that happened that day so long ago – when the Lord and Creator of the Universe took my sin upon Himself, paid for it with his life, and then conquered death.  What a day to celebrate!  Yet the things available for decorating at Easter time are spring decorations rather than Easter ones.  Stores are full of spring flowers, chicks, bunnies, and pastel-colored eggs.

There is one suitable decoration that I can sometimes find.  It is not as easy to find as chicks and bunnies, but I do occasionally run across one.  Over the years, I have managed to collect a number of them.  Some are soft and cuddly stuffed animals, and some are quite realistic.  These lambs and sheep serve as a reminder to me of several wonderful things during this time of year.  I remember what Isaiah says:  “All we like sheep have gone astray.  We have turned everyone to his own way.” I think of Jesus, the Passover Lamb who gave Himself for our sins so that death would pass over us.  I remember that not only is He is the Passover Lamb, but He is also our great and wonderful Good Shepherd. 

So about six week before Easter, the lambs and sheep make their appearance – on the bed, dresser, coffee table, and anywhere else I can find that is appropriate.  When I head for bed at night and I move this one from its place, I remember, “The the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”  As I drift off to sleep I can remind myself that He said, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. . . .I lay down my life for the sheep.”

In the morning when I get up and I settle down to read my Bible, this one sitting on the coffee table in the living room reminds me, “As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”  I think of Jesus’ quiet resolve before Pilate and his refusal to fight back when his beard was torn from his face and his back was ripped in shreds by the soldiers whips.  I think of his quiet agony as he was nailed to the cross.  The others being hung that day must have railed against the soldiers who crucified them.  But not Jesus.  He faced it in quiet agony.

When I walk through the dining room, this cute one watches me from atop the china cabinet.  When I see him, I remember: “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.”  Our dear Passover Lamb with no blemish whatsoever was assassinated for my sins.

Throughout these weeks leading up to Easter, I want to be reminded of the cost of redemption.  It goes beyond what I can fathom.  These little lambs and sheep serve as a continual reminder to me of the magnitude and magnificence of God.  Bound as He was by His own justice and holiness, He still found a way – a very costly way – to show us mercy and love by redeeming us.

On Easter morning  I will add some happy, joyful decorations to celebrate His victory over death.  For now, though, I want to be caught up again in the wonder of His amazing love.

A Different Easter

For our entire time in Maine, Charlie and I celebrated the week before Easter in essentially the same way.  On Wednesday we celebrated the last supper.  Charlie believes that Wednesday is not the "lost" day in the Easter calendar but rather the night that Jesus celebrated the passover with his disciples, and that he was crucified on Thursday.  Otherwise you do not have three days and three nights in the tomb.

This year we drove to a church we had previously visited once for their Wednesday night service.  It's a long way from 'home' but we were fairly close by to visit someone in the hospital.  We did not expect them to celebrate the Lord's supper that night since we know that Charlie's view is not shared by everyone, but we were looking forward to worshipping and praying with them.  We arrived shortly before the time when Awana was supposed to start.  There were only two other cars in the parking lot. 

"Well," I said to Charlie, "it's vacation week this week, so maybe they've cancelled the children's programs."

The front door was propped open.  We walked in, but no one appeared when we talked louder than usual.  The door to the pastor's study was open, but he wasn't there. We walked around the entire church.  No one was there. 

"We need to see if there's a bulletin around," Charlie suggested.

We found one in the choir loft.  Scribbled in the margin were the words, "No Wednesday evening service." 

I sat down at the piano to play for a minute while Charlie took out his cell phone.  In a minute or two he said, "I've found another church nearby.  Let's go."

Off we went to the next church, arriving there in time for their scheduled service.  The parking lot was completely empty.  Evidently, they had cancelled their Wednesday evening service as well.

We had just passed a sign for another church.  We thought we might be late, but since some churches are not always prompt, we decided to try that one.  We drove the short distance down the road to that church and found another empty parking lot.

As we started toward home, we drove past church after church that had evidently cancelled their Wednesday night service.  The sign out front indicated they had one, but not a single car was in the parking lot. 

On Thursday morning, Charlie attended a pastor's fellowship near 'home'.  Since we had missed being able to go to church on Wednesday night, I asked him to listen to see if any of the pastors mentioned that they were going to have a Thursday night service.  No one did.

On Sunday morning, for the first time in thirteen years, I watched the sunrise spill pink ribbons across the sky from the guest room at my sister's house.  Her church wasn't having a sunrise service.  While I enjoyed the warmth of the bed that morning, I missed the gathering of believers at sunrise on Easter morning, celebrating the amazing news that Jesus was risen from the dead.  My mind was full of special sunrise service memories.  In Manila at the American cemetery, the teenagers ran down the hillside, dodging the tombstones, shouting, "He's alive!"  In York, Maine, we stood shivering in our parkas while the scent of bacon cooking drifted from the kitchen of the Stageneck Inn.  We sang our praises over the soft background of waves rolling in over the stony beach, and a few people emerged from their rooms overlooking the lawn onto their balconies to listen, holding cups of steaming coffee in their hands.  Then there were the many sunrise services at our home church, immediately followed by a hearty breakfast in the fellowship hall.  As I lay in my bed on Easter morning, I gave thanks to God for all the people who were gathering to worship at sunrise that morning, giving thanks for the power Jesus has over the grave.

The morning service was a glorious celebration, accompanied by a full choir and orchestra.  I could almost imagine being in heaven as I was surrounded by such a crowd of worshippers.  But there were no hugs and greetings after the service because we were complete strangers.  There were no shouts of "Christ is risen" across the parking lot as someone shouted back, "He is risen indeed!"  Missing was the intimacy of Easter breakfast with friends.  Yet my heart was full of praise for the grand celebration of Jesus' resurrection.

Easter dinner is the one time of the year I really want to splurge on food.  My sister and I agreed that lamb would be a good choice, even though it took me four grocery stores to find it.  By the time we arrived home from church, the fragrance of the herbed lamb roast filled the condo.  By the time we sat down at the dining room table which was suitably laid with my sister's fine china, the lamb was accompanied by mint sauce, steamed fresh asparagus, lemony couscous salad, wild rice pilaf, and sparkling grape juice, with chocolate cake and coffee for dessert.  (I wish I had thought to take a picture.)

When I bit into the succelent lamb, I thought, "Poor lamb that gave its life blood for our dinner.  Wondrous lamb that gave it's life blood for our sins.  Reigning lamb that will receive us into glory!"

Different, yes, but definitely my favorite holiday of the year!

Dawn on Resurrection Day

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. Mark 16:1-2I have often wondered what it would have been like to be Mary or Salome or Joanna on that first Easter morning. Were they afraid for their lives if they were discovered to be disciples of Jesus? What did they talk about? His smile? His teaching? The way He changed them? His love for the unlovely? Their last time with Him before He died? We have no idea, but their early morning devotion has created a desire by millions of Christ’s followers to celebrate Christ’s resurrection at dawn on Easter morning.

For me, the memories of Easter sunrise services are many. As a child in Indonesia, my parents awakened me and my brothers and sisters. We dressed quickly in the darkness, grabbed sweaters and flashlights, and headed out into the crisp air of the predawn, following dewy paths to the beach. The youngest child rode most of the way on Daddy’s back. There on the beach, we gazed at the horizon, where the night’s stars gave way to morning’s glory. As the sky lightened, Dad retold the story of that first Easter morning, adding emotion to the words, “He is not here! He is risen!” As waves crashed on the beach and palm trees waved, we joined their celebration and sang with abandon. After all, we were the only ones there, God was our only audience, and there was no better day to give Him praise.

In the Philippines, we gathered at dawn in the American Cemetery. Surrounded by tombstones, some of the teenagers dashed down the hillside into the group gathered shouting, “He’s alive!” And how we sang! Surrounded by death, we praised the One who had power over death, the One who is Life.

In southern Maine, we gathered on the lawn of a seaside hotel, where the aroma of bacon wafted from the hotel’s kitchen. As the waves gently lapped at the shore and seagulls soared overhead, we awakened the hotel guests with our songs of praise. Some came out on their balconies and joined our worship.

Sometimes, I have been in situations where I could not attend a sunrise service. On one of those occasions, I arose before sunrise and climbed the stairs to the flat roof. As the city began to awaken and the sun began its day’s journey across the skies over Mexico, I sat alone reading my Bible, praying, and singing praises to God for His amazing redemption.

Here we gather in a building. It’s often much too cold to be outside at dawn on Easter. In our heated auditorium, we watch the sun light the room and the world outside. With a piano accompanying, we sing “He Lives!” I am amazed again by the mixed mercy and justice of God who would allow me to be redeemed when I deserve only His judgment.

So while I have no idea what it was really like for Mary, Mary and Salome on that first Easter morning, I am so thankful for their early morning expedition. Now I have a lifetime of early morning memories of celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. But that’s not what is most important to me. Their story cements the amazing reality that Jesus conquered death. After all, if it were a lie, who would have entrusted these simple women with the first news of it? Wouldn’t you have chosen someone rich and famous like Joseph of Arimethea or one of the religious elite like Nicodemus? I would have.

So thank You, Lord, for Easter’s dawn, and for the testimony of these women. Thank you for entrusting them with the first news of Your resurrection. Thank you that while tomorrow is in some ways just another day, it is a special day when we can celebrate with abandon. If You would do all of that for us, then You will give us everything we need and will take us safely through all our days until we see You face to face if we will just follow You every step of the way. Lord, I love You. Thank You. Amen.