And here’s the Easter spoken word video from Glen Scrivener, courtesy of 10ofThose. A wonderful reminder that Jesus is the Bread of Heaven who fully satisfies:
Category Archives: Children’s and Youth Work
Easter: Consider the Egg
Spotted this excellent Easter meditation yesterday, with the starting point of considering a Creme Egg (which I know that a good number of people will be doing over the next few weeks). Delivered by Dave Crofts of Christ Church Central in Sheffield:
Favourite Easter talk
Here’s my favourite talk that I do each year – feel free to use and adapt:
Preparation: One egg, towel, plastic sheeting/black sack, chocolate Easter egg. Willing teacher and volunteer.
Introduction
Ask: ‘I wonder if anyone can tell me what love is?’ Field the various responses and say, ‘sometimes love is giving up something so that you can help someone else. For example, you may give up watching a TV programme so you can help your mum with the housework or dinner, to show her you love her. Or, you give some of your time and effort to raise money for people less fortunate than yourself because you care for them. (Red nose day)
Now, this kind of giving we call sacrifice which means ‘giving up something valuable for something else that’s really important.’
Illustration
Now to explain a bit more about sacrifice we’ve got a little quiz with a nice prize for the winner and a nasty forfeit for the loser.
Explain:
Winner will get chocolate, loser will get egged! (Get a leader to be your partner in crime)
Ask them three questions each, easy ones to your volunteer – they of course get the questions right. Ask the leader difficult questions – they of course get the answers wrong! (Alternate question asking)
At the end, say you are going to egg the leader as they clearly got all their questions wrong. Here’s where your volunteer steps in to take the egging in their place – break the egg on their head.
Talk
Sacrifice is a really important part of love. And (Chris) suffered a little there, he gave up his nice hairdo so your teacher didn’t have to take the punishment for getting all those questions wrong.
Now it’s easy to say you love someone, it’s easy to give someone a hug, and hugging is a part of showing someone you love him or her. But are we prepared to suffer to help others?
Next week is Easter, a time when Christians remember the death of Jesus and celebrate His resurrection.
Just as Chris stepped in to take the punishment for the wrong answers from your teacher, we believe that Jesus stepped in and was crucified to take the punishment for all the wrong we do, so that if we chose to follow Him we can be forgiven and one day have eternal life with him.
There is a verse in the Bible that says:
For God loved the world so much that he gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him may not be lost but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Christians believe that this was the greatest sacrifice anyone has ever made, to lay down his life for the whole world.
You will hopefully never be in the place of having to give up your life for someone, but maybe you might think about some sacrifices you could make, to show someone you care or love them.
And when eating your chocolate eggs next week, perhaps you might remember the Christian message behind Easter, that of Jesus giving up His life for us all.
Questions:
For Chris
- What are Easter eggs made of? Chocolate
- What colour is chocolate? Brown
- What day of the week is Easter Sunday on? Sunday
For leader
- When was the first mass produced Easter egg made? 1873
- What is Chris’s favourite kind of chocolate? Twix
- What was the date of Easter Sunday in the 2000? 23rd April
(Ask questions alternatively)
The geography of Easter week
Here’s a Google Map that shows what happened where during Holy Week in and around Jerusalem (including a harmonization of the four Gospel accounts). Click a letter on the map for details of what occurred in each place.
The KML file lets you interact with this map in Google Earth.
(Thanks to the ESV blog)
The Easter story according to twitter
Brilliant version of Easter-story as told by social media from the team at Igniter.
Throughout the course of his public ministry, Jesus knew both the adoration and desertion of the crowds. Today, just as 2,000 years ago, the gospel asks a question that demands an answer: Will we follow? This video illustrates this truth through the dynamic lens of a 21st-century social network.
Is Easter too violent for children?
Our children need to hear the Gospel. They need to see Jesus. That means they need to see both sides of skull place. That’s graphic, sure. It’s confusing, of course. And not just for kids. But it is the only message that saves. It’s the only message that prepares one for salvation. It is, as Paul says, that which is “of first importance,” the message he received from Jesus Himself (1 Cor 15:3-4).
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the Gospel. That’s the first word. If we cannot speak of that, we would be better off not speaking of Jesus at all, rather than presenting another Christ, one who meditates but does not mediate, who counsels but is not crucified, who is accessible but not triumphant over sin and death.
The apostle Paul told us the word of the cross would be folly to those who are perishing (1 Cor 1:18). He didn’t warn us that it would sometimes also be folly to those who are publishing. No matter. It is still the power of God
This Easter, preach the Gospel… to the senior citizens, to the middle-aged, to the young adults, to the teenagers, to the seekers, to the hardened unbelievers, to the whole world. And, yes, preach the Gospel to the preschoolers.
Britain’s youngest parents
A 12-year-old girl has given birth to her 13-year-old boyfriend’s baby, making them Britain’s youngest parents.
The girl, at 12 years, three months, is the UK’s youngest mother, after giving birth to a 7lb baby girl last weekend. She fell pregnant at 11, while still at primary school, shortly after starting a relationship with a boy who lives near her family home in north London, The Sun reports.
The parents, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons, have the lowest combined age of any British parents in history.
A source close to the family said the pair, who have been in a relationship for over a year, were ‘totally in love’ and plan to bring up their newborn daughter together. They told The Sun:
“Both sets of grandparents are incredibly supportive. It’s a very difficult situation because the parents are both so young – but their families are right behind them. The baby’s mum and dad have been in a relationship for more than year, so this isn’t a fleeting romance. They intend to stick together and bring their daughter up together.”
The young mother’s father later confirmed both sets of grandparents have been ‘very supportive’ of the young parents. The baby’s grandfather broke his silence to radio station LBC, admitting that both families only discovered the news when the unnamed girl was eight months pregnant:
“Before people judge they should find out what’s happened. All we can do is be supportive, which is what we’re doing. It is heartbreaking, of course it is. For any man to find out their daughter has become pregnant. It is but you can’t turn back time, you can only go forwards.”
The man, who is separated from his daughter’s mother, said they had not allowed the sexual relationship but said he could not watch his daughter 24/7. As a business owner he hit out at accusations the family were dependent on benefits and said: ‘We’re not scroungers. I will support this baby as much as I can with my own money.’
He described the new father as a ‘great kid’ and claimed he would prefer this situation to discovering his daughter had been taking drugs. When asked whether he was ashamed, he told LBC ‘shame doesn’t come into it’ and said he still felt ‘proud’ of his daughter. He added: ‘She’s brought something beautiful into the world and we’re going to stand by her.’
The proud parents posted a picture of them posing with their baby daughter online. The young mother, who lives with her mother, hopes to return to school in September. At 27, her mother is one of the UK’s youngest ever grandmothers.
As a youth worker there are so many context questions I want to ask about this news story, but it does make me come back to the importance of the church leading on SRE for our children and young people.