Easter & Lent Material - Beyond Butterflies

March 5th, 2008

Beyond Butterflies is another Easter and Lenten resource for children’s ministry practitioners by the Vic/Tas Synod of the UCA. One of the stand out sections in this resource (which includes worship ideas, craft ideas, discussion ideas and more) is the section on “Easter With Children - some Theological Pointers” where we’re given some theological starting points for discussing Easter and Lent with children. This is one of the most helpful pieces of thinking that I’ve read in a number of years re Easter and children.

Check this resource out if you’re thinking about how we can talk about Easter, Lent and Holy Week with children this year.

This is so obvious that it’s easy to forget… ensure that children have made the connection that you are talking about the same Jesus who was born at Christmas time! Don’t assume that children will know this – for many children, programs run by the church at Easter and Christmas are the first time they have heard anything about the story of Jesus. Why should they know that the Jesus we talk about in Advent Workshops is the same Jesus we talk about in Easter? Remind them that although we celebrate the birth and death of Jesus every year, that he was actually alive for 33 years, and he did some remarkable things with his life! Tell some of the stories of his life – because his death only makes sense in the context of his life, and the things he did in his life are as important as his death.

It’s unfair to labour children with guilt about Jesus’ death. Telling children that Jesus died on their behalf, and that he carried the weight of their sins will be a burden that children will not know how to deal with. It is not watering down the gospel to tell children that Jesus didn’t deserve to die, but that because he did die, we know that God loves us more than we could understand. Jesus showed us that we don’t have to be scared of death, because we know that there is life beyond death.

Remember that children will not always understand the language and analogies that we use in church. They think far more concretely than what most adults do. What we understand as metaphor, children will understand as literal truth. Singing choruses that say Jesus will come again with a two edged sword will conjure very realistic and frightening images of Jesus chopping people’s heads off - it’s unhelpful and frightening.

Link: Beyond Butterflies