This page is out of date. Please see our updated Celebrating Holy Week with Kids.
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?
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 too, 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.
Most of the ideas below are easy to do at home, great for celebrating in 20201!
Looking for Crafts?
- This LEGO resurrection garden is a creative approach to the Easter story.
- This article has some great ideas on how to create Prayer stations for Kids.
- One of the most creative ideas for Easter week is what South Wilford Church of England Primary School in Nottingham did for Maundy Thursday.
- 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. She also includes the Ultimate Guide for Celebrating with Kids!
- And The Catholic Kid 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.
Looking for Recipes?
- Think of making Crown of Thorn bread.
- Or, try 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.
Or if your kids are LEGO enthusiasts, this is the video for you;
Or this one:
This is part of this series on Resources for Holy Week. Here are all the posts:
- 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
by Christine Sine,
A couple of days ago, with the help of a couple of friends, I planted the early vegetable garden with cauliflowers, cabbages, broccoli, lettuce, Chinese greens, and carrots. I use the square foot method – lots of diversity close together for maximal yield and minimal pest control. I start with well composted soil and try to balance those crops that need lots of fertilizer and drain the soil with those that need little fertilizer and are a net gain to the soil. Then I throw a row cover over them.
Most prolific in the existing garden however and requiring no care at all, are the dandelions. They are probably the most nutritious plants in the garden. The roots can be used for tea, the leaves for salad and the flowers for jelly. It helps to hold the soil together and to bring nutrients up to the surface from deeper down within the soil.
In the garden variety is the spice of life and weeds are an important part of that variety. I think that it is meant to be the same in the body of Christ. We need variety of belief, doctrine and understanding of the truths of God, to build up the soil and reduce the pests so that we can get the best harvest. We need the death of our old understandings to create the most precious nutrient for our soil – compost. And often some of the most important plants (read people here) are those at the margins, the ones that we want to yank out and get rid of, the ones that disrupt our doctrinal certainty and make us uncomfortable – like the mentally ill, the gay and lesbians, the doubters, people of other religions and even the atheists in our midst.
It is no wonder Christ emphasized the need for love not doctrine to hold the body of Christ together. Part of my journey this Lent has been reconciling myself the rich variety of beliefs, attitudes and values that are acceptable to God without judging or condemning those who think and act differently.
Jesus knew that we were not all meant to think alike or look alike. Variety of doctrines are not only acceptable to God but necessary for God’s family to be healthy. The more alike we all look, the more we insist that there is only one Christian worldview that is acceptable, the less adaptable, the less health and the less productive the body of Christ becomes. The more alike we look, the more “fertilizer” we need and the more “pests” attack us. As Samir Selmanovic says in his fascinating book It’s Really All About God, we need atheist to ask the questions we are afraid to ask ourselves, and we need people of other Christian world views and of other faiths to broaden our understanding of God. We need those at the margins to pull us our of our self righteousness and remind us that we are all sinners, only acceptable because of the grace of God. Christ came to the unacceptable and those at the margins – the Samaritans, prostitutes and lepers – and did unacceptable things in the spirit of love and asks us to too.
Unbind us Lord that we might live,
Unbind us from our sins,
From our prejudices
And our lack of love.
Unbind us Lord that we might live,
Live in unity,
and in peace,
and in love.
This page is old. Please check out our updated resource list.
Jesus dies
Stations of the Cross are a Holy Week activity not just restricted to Good Friday so I wanted to get this list up early for those that are still looking for ideas. There are thousands out there but I have tried to put together a collection from around the world attempting to highlight some of the challenging issues of our turbulent world that are portrayed and have continued adding to that theme this year. You might like to check out the additional images I have posted on Pinterest too.
Most of the images I have collected are far from the traditional stations of the cross though I have ended the collection with a mimed rendition of Sandi Patty’s Via Dolorosa. If there are other international images you think should be a part of this collection, please add them in the comments. I would like to continue to enrich this list each year and there is still enough time before Good Friday for me to update this post. Enjoy!
Stations of the Cross Resources
- Godspace contributor Lilly Lewin made a Stations of the Cross kit that accompanies an online experience.
- J.R Woodward has an excellent post Stations of the Cross, on the V3 blog that gives both a good description and some great links to stations of the cross from different perspectives.
- A Stations of the Cross booklet is available as a free download from the Grotto Network.
- Catholic Agency for Overseas Development presents a Powerpoint and Leadership guide for Stations of the Cross for Lent 2021 – Free to download.
- Food for the Poor offers fourteen stations focused on the “suffering [of] Christ in the experience of every person who suffers from poverty or cries out for help”. Scroll to the end to download the pdf version.
- I have posted more images of stations of the Cross on Pinterest.
- Scott Erickson in Portland has also made a fantastic Stations in the Street kit for purchase.
Explanation of the stations of the Cross:
- From a Catholic perspective
- From a Protestant perspective
- Another good article on the development of the Stations of the Cross.
From Australia
Australian Stations of the Cross – Susan Purdie
- These stations are found in the Passion Community in Glen Osmond, Australia
- The Way of the Cross by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney
From New Zealand
- Stations of the Cross shown in the Chapel at the Home of Compassion, Island Bay. They are backlit and made of handmade coloured float glass.
- Stations of the Cross while we reflect on Pacific neighbours suffering from climate change brought to us by Caritas.
A excellent reflection on John Badcock’s Stations of the Cross by Dr Warren Feeney.
From Middle East and Sudan
- The Way of the Cross in Jerusalem
- I also came across this interesting set of Jordanian stamps which Mansour Mouasher has found depicting the Stations of the Cross.
- Rachel Gadsden is a British artist who is exhibited internationally and who works across the mainstream and disability art sectors, presenting cross-cultural visual dialogues that consider the most profound notions of what it is to be human. Her stations of the cross for St Joseph’s Cathedral Abu Dhabi are powerful.
From North America
- This series by Gwynth Leech sets the traditional imagery of the Stations of the Cross in the midst of contemporary conflicts. They were commissioned by Saint Paul’s on the Green in Norwalk Connecticut in 2004. It is a heartrending presentation of the stations of the Cross using images of refugees from Iraq and Sudan as spectators and participants.
- Im/migration Stations of the Cross by Nanette Sawyer. It’s a series of original art, looking through the lens of immigration/migration. How can the Jesus story teach us about immigration/migration issues, and how can the stories and experiences of immigrants and migrants increase our understanding of the Jesus story? Make sure you leave plenty of time for this one. Read the description and then click each station down the side – it is a very profound experience.
- This series by Minnesotan artist Anne Brink is fascinating.
- This Environmental Stations of the Cross is a free resource published by Green Church in Canada.
- A good virtual series from the Huffington Post with interesting reflections to meditate on.
From South America
- A very powerful presentation of the stations from the perspective of liberation theology by Adolfo Pérez Esquivel of Argentina.
- This video is one of the first I put together with photos my friend, Tom Balke, took on a trip to Ecuador of artwork from Oscar Guayasamin. There is no music but I think it provides a powerful silent meditation for this season.
From Asia
- I enjoyed meditating on this series by a nun in Bangalore India.
- And another very beautiful, Korean Stations of the Cross by Korean sculptor Choi Jong-tae from Myeong-dong Cathedral.
- This very powerful Stations of the Cross uses the story of Filipino indigenous people as the backdrop for the Stations of the Cross.https://youtu.be/a6xnReBmht8
From Africa
- I love this stations of the cross from Hekima College, Nairobi, Kenya. The designs were created by Father Angelbert M. Vang SJ from Yaoude, from the Cameroon who was a well-known historian, poet, musician and designer and executed by a Kenyan artist.
- From Nigeria: The Fourteen Stations of the Cross – “This rare set of linocuts was printed in 1969 in several editions of about fifty by Bruce Onobrakpeya, an Urhobo man who has become Nigeria’s mast famous – and arguably best – artist.”
From U.K.
- This Stations of the Cross series by Chris Gollon was commissioned by the Church of England for the Church of St. John on Bethnal Green, in East London. Gollon took the unusual step of using his own son as the model for Jesus, his daughter as Mary, and his wife as Veronica. Fr Alan Green is cast as Nicodemus, and David Tregunna (Gollon’s friend and agent) as Joseph of Arimathea. The juxtaposition of real figures with imagined ones creates a heightened sense of reality. I think that the images are both compelling and powerful.
- This series by David O’Connell hangs in St. Richards Chichester is another powerful series.
- Another series by Linda Sallnow in London.
From Europe
The Stations of the Cross by Karel Stadnik, 1973-5, Church of the Virgin Mary in Lhotka, Prague. This is a unique interpretation of the stations in which the a synthetic resin sculpter at each station depicts a different episode of human suffering. The traditional titles of the stations are what helps the observer to make the connection with the life of Christ. According to the web site, “The work was the idea of the local priest Vladimir Rudolf, during the difficult period after Soviet tanks had crushed the “Prague Spring”.”
For Kids:
- Catholic Mom has helpful books and Stations of the Cross for Kids.
- Check out this family Bible study for younger kids set up like stations of the cross.
- Multimedia Stations of the Cross from Loyola Press.
Virtual stations online:
- An excellent online video presentation from Jeruslaem.com I have not watched all of it yet but enjoyed what I watched.
- And from Jonny Baker in England a great idea – QR Stations of the Cross.
- And from Busted Halo as always, an excellent set of virtual stations of the cross. These stations relate to Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God and the reason his vision of this Kingdom led to his death. Find a quiet place to watch these stations, and as you do the devotions be open to how God is speaking to you through the Stations of the Cross.
Here is the first meditation:
This is part of this series on Resources for Holy Week. All the posts are available through our Church Calendar resource centre.
From http://pastordawn.com/2014/03/24/peace-oscar-romero/
Today is the anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero. His life and words are well worth reflecting on during this season of Lent.
The following prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw. The words of the prayer are attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken by him.
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an
opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master
builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw
Also take time to watch this important movie about his life:
This page is out of date. Please see our updated Palm Sunday Resources page.~
With Palm Sunday just a week away, I wanted to make sure that I got my resource list updated. This is the first of Holy week resource lists. I will post on Good Friday, Stations of the Cross, Easter Sunday and Resources for Holy Week with Kids as the week progresses.
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 also wanted to remind us that 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.
Use a Little Creativity
- 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.
- Rebecca Joy Sumner’s idea for creating a labyrinth listening walk through the neighbourhood is not specifically for Palm Sunday but I think would create a great Palm Sunday walk.
- 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.
Traditional Resources for Palm Sunday.
- I love the collection of Palm Sunday images at Ennis Blue.
- 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 of Canada.
- And from our friends at re:Worship.
- A powerful film clip called Scattered Palms from The Work of the People.
On Saturday, 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 to 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. Hilary and Trevor Horn, who live in our upstairs apartment, went around the neighborhood recently 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
So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against theLord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed! (Numbers 21:6-9 NLT)
The Israelites asked God to take away the serpents, but God said no. God wanted the Israelites to get their sin out in the open, lift it up on a pole, in the middle of the community, admit that it was killing them, and see in the exposure of their sin the pathway to healing. The snake that bit them became the instrument of healing.
Like the Israelites we would like sin to go away without facing up to its deadly consequences. And if we do face it, we would rather it happened in a private confessional rather than in a public space. Yet it is only when we lift up our sins, expose them to the community of God’s people and name them that we can find forgiveness and be drawn toward repentance and beyond that renewal and transformation.
What is your response?
What sins have you asked God to take away that God is prompting you to look at fairly and squarely, seek forgiveness for and find the pathway to healing?
As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. (John 3:14,15 NLT)
Here it is not the image of sin, but Jesus the sinless one who is lifted up, not so that we can gaze on his sins but so that we can gaze on him and see our own sin, expose it and find forgiveness.
Jesus did not want to face the consequences of our sins. In the garden of Gethsemane he prayed that God would take away the cup of suffering, the weight of our sin, but God did not. In accepting his purpose, in being willing to be lifted up on the cross, Jesus made it possible for us to face our sins and admit that they are killing us. Only then can we repent and look beyond the Cross to healing.
What is your response?
If we look through the eyes of faith everything changes. The serpent becomes a healing totem, the crucified One becomes salvation and healing. Think about the times in your life that you have gazed fully into the face of Christ, seen your own sinfulness and found forgiveness and transformation.
Give thanks to God for your healing, transformation and renewal. Now prayerfully listen to When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. What othr response might God ask of you?
Daffodil by Barb Laski
It is world poetry day and also the first official day of spring here in the U.S. The daffodils are magnificent here in the Pacific NW so this seemed appropriate. My favourite Wordsworth poem. Enjoy!
I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud
William Wordsworth.
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