By John Birch —
When hearts are willing
but our minds distracted
by the world in which we move,
forgive us.
When our souls are thirsty
and we drink from water
that so easily runs dry
forgive us.
May we seek your face
in a world which passes you by,
may we hear your voice
in a world focussed on ‘I’,
may we know your mercy
and share it on our journey
this and every day.
Easter Sunday is the central celebration of our faith yet I struggle more and more because it seems to me that what begins with triumphant shouts of Christ is Risen Alleluiah, and a beautiful flowering of the cross ends with an easter egg hunt.
“It’s great to see the kids so enthusiastic”, people tell me, but is it really? Is an enthusiastic sugar high really a substitute for celebrating the resurrection of Christ? Have we bought into the secular culture so much that we can no longer tell the difference?
Others struggle too. The values emphasized in the easter egg hunt are counter to kingdom values – greed, individualism and competitiveness drive kids to find more candy not to share but for themselves. And what about the symbolism, not to mention the amount of plastic that is strewn around that will just end up in the landfill.
Easter Bunny – Has It Transformed Us?
The Easter Bunny is a rabbit-spirit. Long ago, he was called the “Easter Hare”, hares and rabbits have frequent multiple births so they became a symbol of fertility. The custom of an Easter egg hunt began because children believed that hares laid eggs in the grass. The Romans believed that “All life comes from an egg.” Christians consider eggs to be “the seed of life” and so they are symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why we colour and decorate eggs is not certain but in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia eggs were dyed for spring festivals as a sign of fertility.
Now I am all for taking the symbols of the culture and transforming them into the symbols of our faith, but I wonder have we transformed this symbol or has it transformed us? Are our values and our joy in the resurrection of Christ subverted by the secular culture that is all into greed, consumption and competitiveness? Do we miss out on the life that the season is meant to renew in us because we are caught up in another world view?
Having said all that I think that Holy Week and Easter Sunday in particular should be a wonderful celebration of life and faith for adults and kids. Here are some resources you might like to check out.
I add new resources to my Pinterest boards Lent and Easter with Kids and Prayer Stations with Kids on a regular basis so you might also like to check this out.
Looking for crafts
- This LEGO resurrection garden is a creative approach to the Easter story. I would prefer a real garden but it is a Strat.
- This article has some great ideas on how to create Prayer stations for Kids and they are printable.
- One of the most creative ideas for Easter week is what South Wilford Church of England Primary School in Nottingham did for Maundy Thursday. They called it Washday and had kids wash and clean both the school and their village.
- And from youthpastor.com a great suggestion for Holy week stations based on The Lord’s Prayer.
- And here is another set of Stations of the Cross for Kids that is worth looking at.
- This tin foil cross craft is also a creative project that I think would appeal to kids and adults alike.
- Faith at home has some good suggestions on activities to participate in with children.
- Christian Montessori has a very good collection of cross related activities – great for storytelling and meditation.
- I also like the originality of this Holy Week in Handprints from Catholic Icing.
- And Catholic Kids has a variety of colouring pages available for children of all ages.
- Catholic Mom has helpful books and Stations of the Cross for Kids.
- Great ideas for at home celebrating from The Purposeful Mom.
- And a Messianic Passover Seder for Families with Children.
- And here are simple directions for making palm crosses.
- Check out these Seven Ideas for Holy Week at Home by Christine V. Hides.
- Resurrection Day Mini Puzzle Unit is a free download of 10 pages for pre-K to 5th grade kids.
- Or, you might like to consider making Resurrection eggs – to me a better idea than Easter eggs. You could decorate them too.
- In France, the bells, not the Easter bunny, bring the eggs: French Easter Bell craft because the bells stop ringing on Maundy Thursday and don’t ring again until the joyous sound of Easter Sunday.
Want to do some Easter gardening?
- Make this Easter grace garden with your kids.
- Or this simpler Easter Resurrection Garden
- Or perhaps this mini resurrection garden – which I love because it is a growing garden.
As you know contemplative gardens are my passion, but by Easter I am working out in the garden too much to make my own resurrection garden, though I do love to plant basil (holy basil of course) at Easter as a special symbol of the season.
Looking for recipes:
- Think of making Crown of Thorn bread or consider it as part of your whole Lenten experience
- or the traditional English treat for Good Friday Hot cross buns, which I grew up with and still like to make every year.
- And I love these creative Easter story cookies inviting kids into a sensual experience of cooking.
Looking for videos:
Share this with your kids. I love this series of videos though the accents may be a little hard for some to follow.
Or if your kids are LEGO enthusiasts this is the video for you;
Or this one:
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week
“Do what the priest tells you!”
That was my Irish Catholic family’s policy for most of my childhood.
Things didn’t go well when I wanted to start reading the Bible for myself.
The priests warned me that the Bible was dangerous and that I shouldn’t read it on my own.
“Just listen to the Homily in church each Sunday, ” they assured me.
If there’s one thing American evangelicals get jumpy about, it’s any hint that someone is trying to the take the Bible away from them. These Catholic priests committed an “American evangelical mortal sin.”
After years of these attempts to control my Bible reading habits, I rebelled… by reading the Bible on my own. In the fallout of that decision, I left the Catholic Church for good and sought refuge in the Wild West of American evangelical Christianity.
During those years, I threw myself into service, mission, Scripture study, activism, and any other evangelical endeavor presented as authentic action for the truly committed. No matter how ineffective my work appeared, how much I struggled to become “pure” and “holy,” or how much I endeavored to be an influential culture warrior, I failed to ask if my foundational beliefs and practices were problematic.
Looking back now, I see that I made the mistake of trying to transform culture without first being transformed into someone worth imitating or able to offer something truly transformative.
Eventually, the fire of fighting spiritual battles faded for me, and the pursuit of God became deeply frustrating. I was left with only the hollow shell of my arguments and fears, and I lacked the substance of connection, let alone union, with God.
My evangelical anxiety peaked while in seminary.
At the end of my coursework I dropped my seminary diploma onto a dusty pile of theology books and realized that I had no idea how to pray. In retrospect, I realize now that I could exegete Scripture in the original languages, but I didn’t have words to pray. (Little did I know, I wouldn’t need many anyway.)
Then one day, a pastor I knew from one of my seminary classes invited me to his new prayer service. This was back when all the cutting-edge evangelicals were experimenting with liturgy, candles, prayer books, and in the extreme cases, art.
This pastor didn’t strike me as the type to jump on a trend. I think he genuinely wanted to figure out ways to make church meetings more meaningful and to provide a deeper connection with
God. Reluctantly, I agreed to show up.
Liturgy, chants, and candles were the last thing that I, as a former Catholic, wanted out of church. But I was desperate to prove to myself that I was still a Christian and to prove to myself that God is real.
If anything, attending the service felt like a huge step backward. Evangelicalism was supposed to be my savior, the thing that rescued me from the seemingly lifeless liturgy of my Catholic days.
The whole service was completely unlike anything I had experienced as either a Catholic or an evangelical.
We chanted about God’s love.
We spent time centering on the Jesus Prayer.
We meditated on Scripture using the slow reading practice known as lectio divina, which helped us pray the words of Scripture.
Throughout the service I kept worrying that I was doing it wrong and wondering why I wasn’t having an encounter with God. It didn’t seem to be working. Either I was hopelessly broken or God wasn’t real. I returned home defeated, and I plunged deeper into my spiritual despair.
Yet in the following days, months, even years, I found myself returning to those prayer practices. Perhaps the connection they provided with God was something other than the FLASH, BANG!!!! conversion experience I’d been taught to expect among evangelicals.
Little did I know, this pastor had sown the seeds for my spiritual liberation from the anxious,
hardworking evangelical tradition. The practices in this underwhelming service would transform my faith, help me learn how to pray again, and help me rediscover the love of God.
The answers to my spiritual formation questions and my desire to find the love of God could be found in the writings and practices of the Catholic contemplative teachers who had been preserving variations of these spiritual practices for generations since the days of the Desert Fathers and Mothers.
The walls I had built against Catholicism as a Bible major at a Christian university and as a seminary student came crashing down as I learned the freedom and quiet of contemplative prayer practices.
This post was adapted from Ed Cyzewski’s new book, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: Ancient Prayers for Anxious Christians.
Ed Cyzewski writes at www.edcyzewski.com and at the Patheos blog: This Kinda Contemplative Life. He is the author Flee, Be Silent, Pray, A Christian Survival Guide, and other books. Connect with him on Twitter @edcyzewski and Instagram @edcyzewski.
Today’s post is an updated list of resources for Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, which commemorates Jesus’ last Supper with the disciples and the institution of the Eucharist. Its name of “Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “command.” This stems from Christ’s words in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you. Love one another as I have loved you”. Many of us associate it with foot washing:
A rite performed by Christ upon his disciples to prepare them for the priesthood and the marriage banquet they will offer, and which is rooted in the Old Testament practice of foot-washing in preparation for the marital embrace (II Kings 11:8-11, Canticles 5:3) and in the ritual ablutions performed by the High Priest of the Old Covenant (contrast Leviticus 16:23-24 with John 13:3-5). The priest girds himself with a cloth and washes the feet of 12 men he’s chosen to represent the Apostles for the ceremony.
It is the oldest of the observances peculiar to Holy Week but seems to have attracted the least attention and I must confess creative suggestions were hard to come by. It has however become my favourite Holy Week observance.
For Celebrating At Home
- How to have a Maundy Thursday Liturgy at Home by MissioAlliance
- Maundy Thursday – 7 Churches at Home by Barefoot Abbey
- Stripping the Table by Building Faith
Free Maundy Thursday Resource
Our own church, Saint Andrews Episcopal Church in Seattle hosts an Agape feast and foot washing, one of the most beautiful celebrations I have been to. We re-enact the Last Supper with a wonderful lamb feast, beautiful litany that intertwines scripture and prayer, have the opportunity to wash each other’s feet and then process upstairs to the sanctuary to strip the altar for Good Friday. They have kindly made the liturgy for this celebration available for FREE DOWNLOAD from the Godspace resource centre.
Footwashing
Foot washing has also taken on new significance for me in recent years as I reread two posts that have been contributed to my blog. Some of you might like to revisit these too.
I also love this post Replacing Holy Week – Towards a Public + Local Liturgy by Brandon Rhodes. and suggest that you also watch this video Brandon put together that spells our some of what they have done since then the concretize their practices. Parish Practices: “Re-Placing Holy Week,” with Brandon Rhodes .
Parish Practices: “Re-Placing Holy Week,” with Brandon Rhodes from Parish Collective on Vimeo.
Consider a Tenebrae Service
- One form of service you might like to consider for either Maundy Thursday or Good Friday is a Tenebrae service. I like this resource from the Presbyterian church that helps explain this.
- And an “alternative service from UMC that has some creative ideas here.
- Another creative suggestion is what this Christian school in England did – not just washing feet but cleaning the neighbourhood.
- Or, check out the Maundy Thursday resources at re:Worship and those at Textweek.com
Other Observances For Maundy Thursday.
I have adapted other customs of Maundy Thursday here that you may like to consider for your own observances:
- Consider a Passover meal like the liturgy available for free above
- In Germany, Maundy Thursday is known as “Green Thursday” (Grundonnerstag), and the traditional foods are green vegetables and green salad, especially a spinach salad. Consider planning a vegetarian Last Supper banquet for your celebrations and highlight the environmental issues you are concerned about.
- Visit a local homeless camp or home for the elderly (make sure you get permission first) and do foot washing and pedicures for the inhabitants.
- This is the traditional night for an all night vigil of prayer and meditation. Give yours a new twist by holding an all night reading of Dante’s Inferno as St Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church has done for the last 5 years.
- This is a day to reach out and help someone in a special way: consider looking after a child so that the mother could have a free evening, undertaking some mending or darning, humble, unostentatious things like that.
- Visit 3 or 7 local churches or other places of worship after (or before) your own service.
- In Mark Pierson’s Lenten devotional for 2013, he comments: Jesus, a king who acted like a slave. Perhaps on Maundy Thursday you would like to consider a special way to reach out to those who are still in slavery.
- One symbol of Easter I grew up with that is not so common in the U.S. is hot cross buns which some think originated from a 12th-century English monk who placed the sign of the cross on the buns in honor of Good Friday. So if you want to have your hot crossed buns ready for Good Friday make them on Maundy Thursday, together with your family or community. Here is the recipe I use.
For those celebrating with kids I rather liked this Fill Your Seder Plate game.
So consider including this day in your Holy Week celebrations and if you do something creative let me know.
This is part of this series on Resources for Holy Week. Click here to view the others.
By Talitha Fraser —
I have been living in intentional community with refugees and asylum seekers since 2012. You know you’ll learn a lot from such an experience but what is more subtle is the unlearning… sometimes you need to deconstruct and reform your ideas of what hospitality is, what values are and how that can influence what you thought was black and white or ‘right’… like my ideal of recycling furniture secondhand next to the future you’ve dreamed of and risked so much for to having the first new furniture you’ve ever owned and chosen for yourself that comes from Kmart. The commitment isn’t to knowing one truest truth or having one answer but committing to a way of living lightly, into answers that might always change. This poem tries to capture some of how hard that work can be but affirm also how worthwhile it is to do. It is in our breaking we are Made. I wish that everyone could know that it’s those moments we feel most broken that most inform out Becoming.
Smooth whorls of wood
warm under my fingers.
It is in my making I am Made
but the first step is to become undone.
How then can I begrudge you
your moment of unravelling?
Natural and needed.
Evolution wasn’t a thing that happened once.
It’s happening now.
It’s happening.
Feel it.
Feel all of it. The fear, the wonder,
the breathless uncertainty.
Which way will it fall?
That’s a helpful trick… distancing.
The thing that’s falling is you
but free fall, is free form, is be born.
A labour and a life, hard won.
Not fun, but necessary, never done.
Take that step.
And the next.
And the one after that.
The steps, the text of your story, I want to read.
Bleed.
And walk.
by Christine Sine
With Palm Sunday just two weeks away I wanted to make sure that I got my resource list updated. I am reposting them this year so that it is easy for everyone to find them. Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–9), when palm branches were placed in his path, before his arrest on Holy Thursday and his crucifixion on Good Friday. It thus marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent.
Here is just a sample of what happens during Holy Week:
- Palm Sunday, Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem
- Monday of Holy Week, Jesus clears out the temple with a whip
- Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus is anointed with oil at Bethany and preaches on the Mount of Olives
- Spy Wednesday, Jesus is betrayed by Judas
- Holy Thursday, Jesus celebrates the Last Supper, prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, and is arrested
- Good Friday, Jesus is sentenced to death, scourged, beaten, crucified, and dies on the Cross
- Holy Saturday, Jesus is buried in the tomb and descends into hell
- Easter Sunday, Jesus rises from the dead
Holy Week Retreat
This is a great Holy Week retreat from Dynamic Catholic.
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–9), when palm branches were placed in his path, before his arrest on Holy Thursday and his crucifixion on Good Friday. It thus marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent.
Here is a simple introduction to Palm Sunday
For Palm Sunday at Home
- Palm Sunday at Home by Lilly Lewin – from 2020 applicable for 2022
- From Happy Event Day – Palm Sunday Resources, including printable coloring pages!
- Printable activities for kids and other resources from Sermons 4 Kids
- A Complete Guide to Celebrate Palm Sunday at Home by Aleteia
- 5 Ways to Celebrate by Crosswalk.com
- Powerline Productions offers some tips and ways to celebrate at home.
- Making Room for the Cross at Home by Down the Hobbit Hole blog
- Holy Week at Home by Benwellscottswood.com – from 2020, but still great resources to consider
- Interactive ideas for Holy Week at Home by the Trinity Mission
Taizé Style Services from St. Andrew’s Episcopal, Seattle
- A Contemplative Service in The Style of Taizé for Palm Sunday
- Palm Sunday Taizé Contemplative Service At St Andrews
Litanies for Palm Sunday
We are entering the most subversive week of Jesus life – it begins with shouts of Hosanna but ends with shouts of crucify him. Read more in my post Meditation Monday – The Subversive Walk of Holy Week.
In many churches, after a walk around the church waving palms, the litany actually focuses on the passion of Christ. This is because the following Sunday is Easter Sunday and though most churches hold services throughout Holy Week, some people will not come to church again until Easter Sunday.
- This Palm/Passion litany from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is an example of this.
- Fran Pratt has a beautiful Palm Sunday litany that you might like to look at too.
Use a Little Creativity
There are of course a huge number of resources available for this season but I particularly wanted to highlight some of the out of the box, creative ideas I have come across.
- I love these creative “out of the box” ideas from Steve Taylor (emergent kiwi) and his invitation to walk the streets and create outdoor spirit signs.
- Here is another very creative and interactive liturgy from Rowland Croucher at John Mark Ministries in Australia.
- Or you might like to download this Palm Sunday labyrinth. I think it would be a great focus for meditate on Palm Sunday.
- I have posted other creative suggestions on my Holy Week and Easter Pinterest board.
Here are some other suggestions you might like to get creative with.
- Palm Leaf Decorations: Use the blessed palm leaves to create decorations for your home or church, such as wreaths, crosses, or even palm leaf art. Here is one simple suggestion
- Weaving Palm Crosses: Learn to weave palm crosses, a traditional practice that symbolizes the cross of Jesus.
- DIY Palm Leaf Crafts: Engage in crafts like making paper palm leaves, origami palm leaves, or palm leaf art.
- Palm Sunday Coloring Pages: Use coloring pages to teach children about Palm Sunday and the events of Holy Week.
- Holy Week Wreath: Make a DIY holy week wreath using palm leaves and other materials.
- Cross Decorating Kit: Decorate a cross with palm leaves and other materials.
- Palm Leaf Art: Use palm leaves to create art projects, such as paintings, collages, or sculptures.
-
Palm Sunday Games:
Play Palm Sunday-themed games, such as a Bible word search or a “Hosanna” guessing game.
-
Pray for the World:
Pray for peace and justice in the world, as Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was a time of both celebration and tension.
-
Study a Country:
Study about a country in the world, make a meal or order from a restaurant that makes food from that country, play a game from that country, pray for that country, or “adopt” a family from that country and invite them over to tell you about their country.
-
Decorate the grave of a loved one:Place branches, flowers, and palms at their resting place, and take time to remember their life.
Palms for Crosses and Fronds
- If you are concerned about whether or not the palms you are using are eco friendly check out this site. Ecopalms are concerned about social justice and environmental concerns. Well worth a look.
- Or, if you don’t know how to make palm crosses, check this out. It’s not hard once you know what to do.
Traditional resources for Palm Sunday.
- And another great “global arts collection” for Palm Sunday that helps us appreciate the ways different cultures view this event.
- As usual Textweek.com has a very comprehensive and excellent list of resources from all over the world to help prepare for this celebration.
- Anglican Prayer updated this list for Palm Sunday in 2014. Most of the links still work.
- Work of the People also always has good video clips available
- Some great prayers from Carol Penner
- Some great downloadable resources from the Mennonite Church Canada.
- And from our friends at re:Worship.
- A powerful film clip Scattered Palms from The Work of the People.
Getting Creative with our Palms
I posted these suggestions on what to do with our palms after the Sunday service. I like to hang onto mine to burn on Ash Wednesday the following year but there are lots of other creative things to do with them.
Minas Thomas has created a whole series of videos on palm weaving from a Coptic Christian perspective that are well worth viewing. He instructs us on everything from a simple cross to braiding of palm fronds and, a more complex Coptic cross and a donkey. Here is the link to the first video:
Reach Out To the Neighborhood for Palm Sunday
I encourage you think about ways to make the Palm Sunday procession a way to reach out to your neighbourhood rather than a way for your church to just have fun walking around singing songs. Maybe an invitation to a Sunday Easter lunch or another church event. Some friends of ours, Hilary and Trevor Horn, went around the neighborhood near their church giving succulents to all the people who have moved in over the last year. I think this would be a great activity for Palm Sunday.
My Favourite Palm Sunday Songs.
Benedictines of Mary have beautiful music for all seasons of the liturgical calendar including their Easter at Ephesus recording. Here is a glimpse of their beautiful music:
This post is part of a series on resources for Holy Week. Check out other posts in the series:
- Resources for Palm Sunday
- Resources for Maundy Thursday
- Resources for Good Friday
- Stations of the Cross
- Resources for Celebrating Holy Week With Kids:
- Resources for Easter Sunday
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week
Today’s post is a repost from a few years ago, but as I looked at my garden with almost all the walls broken down this is what came to me. It is OK to break down walls, but it is easy for us then to run away from what the wall reveals, or we try to rebuild the walls so that they are even stronger, yet that is not what God asks of us.
Breaking down more walls
This post and the prayer that goes with it was inspired by Leonard Cohen’s powerful song “Anthem” which I link to at the bottom of the post. His prophetic voice and challenging words are very appropriate for our world today. He reminds us that there is indeed a crack in everything but this is not a reason for despair but rather for hope because this is indeed how the light gets in. I use this prayer at the beginning of the chapter on compassion in The Gift of Wonder.
In Eager to Love, Richard Rohr comments that St Francis of Assisi asked us to stay close to the cracks in the social fabric of our world. It is a thought worth reflecting on.
Everything in our lives and in our world has cracks, wounds and broken places that tell of pain and suffering. When we break down walls, cracks emerge. Sometimes we try to cover them over, attempting to seal them off from the light. But this only makes them fester and get worse.
Yet it is in the cracks, the broken places of our lives, where violence flares and pain cries out that healing also happens. When we acknowledge imperfections and the pain they cause, we take the first step towards wholeness. It is into the cracks that light can shine and water can seep. It is in the cracks in the concrete that seeds can lodge, germinate and take root. And as green shoots reach for the sky, the crack enlarges, the concrete crumbles and what was meant to live and breathe thrives once more.
What is your response?
Sit quietly in the presence of God, allowing the love of the holy and ever present One to wash over you. Read through the prayer above several times. What cracks in your world, what places of woundedness and vulnerability that give you ongoing pain come to mind? In what ways have you tried to cover these over, perhaps with a facade of laughter or with a semblance of respectability? Are there ways you respond, perhaps with fear, or anger or intolerance that show these are festering? Perhaps there are things you need to confess or seek forgiveness for. Offer these up to God in prayer.
Now think of the light that has shone into those cracks. Where have you seen glimmers of God’s wholeness? What has it begun to give life to? Are you aware of green shoots emerging towards the sun? How could you nurture their growth and make help them to thrive?
At our local mall recently I noticed that what was once a solid concrete slab of parking slots has now been transformed. The pavement (imagine wall) had been broken down. Deliberate “cracks” have been added between the rows of cars – small gardens that channel the water into the topsoil and down into the water table are thriving. The rain no longer creates a flood of water that overflows the drains and clogs the waterways.
Sometimes when we stay close to the cracks we realize that they need to be nurtured and strengthened to rebuild the fabric of our lives and our society. And as we nurture these it is not only the surface life that thrives but it is the deep wellsprings of the water table that flourishes too.
What is your response?
Read through the prayer above again. What slabs of pavement are you aware of in your life and society that need to be broken up with gardens? What walls have you broken down then reconstructed? Is there something the spirit of God is prompting you to do that could help accomplish this?
Now listen to the song below and allow the spirit of God to stir your imagination. Is there another response God is asking of you?
Photos by Christine Sine
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