church of ireland children’s ministry lent & easter ... of ireland children’s ministry lent...

Over the course of Lent we slow down, we clear out the cobwebs and we learn afresh that God’s name is LOVE.

What other names does God have in the Bible?

Do any of His names have a special meaning at Easter?

Church of Ireland Children’s MinistryLENT & EASTER NEWSLETTER



There are some fantastic resources for families to explore different ideas together throughout Lent. One resource that we love is a joint programme from GodVenture and 40Acts called ‘Exploring Generosity’. It’s a challenge to families to ‘do Lent Generously’ and it provides a Bible story on each page that families can explore together and lots of ideas for how they can respond practically and prayerfully.

Flame Creative Ministries has a printable Lenten booklet for families to use over the six weeks with creative ideas for reaching out to show love and for looking inwards to straighten our priorities out.

There’s a blessings jar, a prayer walk scavenger hunt and pretzel prayers to} name but a few of the ideas: http://www.cm.ireland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/40acts-for-Families.pdf

Get your pack here: http://www.cm.ireland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/40acts-for-Families.pdf

INCORPORATING SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETY FOR IRELAND & CHILDREN’S MINISTRY NETWORK

http://www.cm.ireland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/40acts-for-Families.pdf

http://www.cm.ireland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/40acts-for-Families.pdf


Church of Ireland Children’s Ministry | LENT & EASTER NEWSLETTER

Palm Sunday: DRAMA (Written by the Ripple Connor Team)

(A drama suitable for Good Friday)

Cast

Two news reporters

A donkey

[Reporter 1 sets up a phone or iPad to video him/herself]

Reporter 1: Good morning everyone. I’m Kevin/Karen [depending on gender] Clueless. Welcome to our Channel 6 news. Today we have a follow up feature from an exciting event which happened a few days ago. Apparently, there has been a big stir in Jerusalem about some important guy riding into the city. We’re not sure who he is or what it’s all about, but we have managed to secure an interview with the donkey that carried him. Ah here he comes now…Hello, hello excuse me can you tell us what has happened here.

Donkey: I feel SO special! I am the luckiest donkey in the whole world!

Reporter: Really that’s quite a statement. Can you tell me more?

Donkey: Well it all started when one of Jesus friends, came and took me to Jesus. He said I had a very important job to do.

Reporter 1: Jesus? Who is Jesus?

Donkey: You mean you don’t know who Jesus is? Jesus of Nazareth! They say he is going to be our King. He’s visited lots of local towns and villages and he speaks to all the people in a way they have never heard before. He speaks in parables and tells stories with special meanings.

Reporter 1: Well anyone can tell a story. Does he leave you on a cliff hanger, so you come back for more?

Donkey: No, No! It’s not just what he says. He amazes people by what he does. He performs miracles. He heals the sick, gives sight to the blind and …………wait for it……. he has even raised the dead!

Reporter 1: Emmm…… Interesting... Now tell me about the parade. It must have been so exciting for you.

Donkey: To be honest I was very nervous carrying Jesus into Jerusalem. You see I’d never carried anyone before. Well I couldn’t believe it. There were people everywhere. They were shouting Hosanna and waving palm branches. Palm Sunday people have started to call it. Some even threw their coats onto the road

for me to walk over. It was amazing!

Reporter 1: Wow amazing indeed… they must have thought he was coming as King of Israel or some sort of political leader.

Donkey: That’s right! And I got to carry Him. I was so proud and happy. All the disciples were thrilled to see the crowd recognise how special Jesus was.

The funny thing was…….. as we got closer to Jerusalem, Jesus started to look sad and then he started to cry. He said the people didn’t recognise that God had come to visit them. I couldn’t really understand that. What do you think?



Palm Sunday: DRAMA (Continued)

Reporter 1: [Pauses then ignores the question and turns towards camera] …. Well there you have it folks. A humble man who chose to be carried into Jerusalem by a humble little donkey. I think we’ll be hearing a lot more about this Jesus person in the future, don’t you? This is Kevin/Karen Clueless reporting for Channel 6 news.

AND CUT!

[goes to phone/ipad and switches off - talking to self]

I think I’ll delete the bit about Jesus crying, nobody wants to hear that. Sounds a bit strange, oh well, maybe he was a bit overwhelmed with all the attention. I on the other hand would love to be a celebrity. [sighs longingly then gives self a shake]

[to donkey] Eh… sorry, sorry, well thanks very much for your time. Now trot along. [waves donkey away]

[to self] Oh this is great! What a scoop! Can’t wait to get this interview to my editor; he bound to use it! This could be the story of the month….. maybe even the year….. My boss is really going to be impressed this time…..

Reporter 2: Oh, hi Kevin/Karen Clueless -how’s it going? Still looking for your big scoop?

Reporter 1: [sounding smug] Don’t

you worry Brainy Brian/Brenda [depending on gender], I think I might have already got it. Are you up to speed with this Jesus guy that everyone’s raving about? The one who’s the darling of the crowd, the man everyone loves to love….

Reporter 2: What? You mean Jesus of Nazareth?

Reporter 1: Of course! Who else! Jesus of Nazareth is the hottest talent around town, the crowds go wild for him.

Reporter 2: Well, they’ve just crucified him.

Reporter 1: NOOOO!

Reporter 2: Yep! Up at the place they call the skull; seems like the religious leaders had it in for him. And that crowd you’re talking about, you know the one who LOVED him so much? Well they could’ve saved him. Pilate gave them the chance, but they wouldn’t. They wanted him dead too.

Reporter 1: I can’t believe it!

Reporter 2: Yeah, I know! Aren’t humans so fickle.

Reporter: THERE GOES MY BIG SCOOP!

Reporter 2: Is that all you can think about? It seems to me that this Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong. He didn’t even defend himself he seemed go

willingly to hang on that cross. I can’t figure it out! There was something unusual about the whole thing.

And now the Romans have put a massive stone over his grave and they’ve soldiers stationed there to keep watch. It’s as if they think he’s going to escape or something.

Listen, between you and me, it might be worth hanging around near that grave for a few days, just to see what might happen, you never know, you might just get your big scoop after all!

Reporter 1: Are you mad! I’m not going to waste my time doing that. He’s dead and gone and that’s the end of him. Oh well back to the drawing board. [Exits]

Reporter 2: Hmmm! I might just head up to that grave myself! [Exits]

EASTER WEEK RESOURCES:Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education have compiled this fantastic resource Weekly @ Easter Sessions that includes 7 prayer station ideas for 5 – 11 year olds, crafts, games and a Messy Church style session on the topic of ‘Who is Jesus?’ an Under 5’s Easter Service and activity sheets for an Outdoor Easter event.

We highly recommend it: http://www.bdeducation.org.uk/children/childrens-resources/weekly



Last Supper: FriendshipJesus wanted to show his friends how much he loved them so he helped them by washing their feet. It was amazing that someone so important would do this but he really loved them!

The English word ‘companion’ which is another word for ‘friend’, comes from a Latin phrase ‘com panis’ which literally means ‘with bread’.

During the last supper, the night before Jesus was killed, Jesus broke bread with his companions, his disciples, his best friends!

• Who are your best friends?

• Who is really important to you?

• If you want to you can make a model of them out of pipe cleaners as a way of saying thank you to God for them.

• Otherwise decorate a person shape with their name etc.

EASY-TO-MAKE PIPE CLEANER PLAY FIGURES

Lynn Storey from the Sunday School Society for Ireland, put together prayer stations that focus on Easter Week. Here is one of her station ideas.

Creative Prayer Ideas:

Using 2 pipe cleaners follow the diagrams carefully to make a pipe-cleaner figure.



This is an interactive way of telling a story. Ask the children to stand in one large circle. Divide the group into four groups (or into two if numbers are smaller then give each group 2 parts). A leader reads the story and group one listens and responds by doing the actions. Everyone else watches. Then group 2 take over and so on. Ensure that your leaders join in and do the actions so that they encourage the children to participate. They can mime the actions sensitively in a way which will help the children explore how the women and the disciples of Jesus must have been feeling.

Group 1

It was very early on Sunday morning and Mary was in bed asleep. A cock crowed outside with a loud “Cock –doodle-doo” and Mary woke up. She gave a big yawn and stretched her arms above her head. Suddenly she remembered what had happened to Jesus and she felt really sad. Jesus was dead; they had killed him by nailing him to a cross. A few tears

trickled down Mary’s face and she wiped them away with her hand. She threw back the blankets and got out of bed.

She wanted to go to Jesus’ tomb this morning with the other women who were followers of Jesus. She quickly put on her clothes, washed her face and combed her hair. She brushed her teeth and then bent down to put her on her sandals. She lifted up the jar of myrrh that she was going to put on Jesus body. It was a special spice that people put on dead bodies to help keep them smelling nice. She lifted the jar to her nose to smell the perfume. It was very expensive but

nothing was too good for Jesus. She opened her door and shut it behind her and set off walking very quickly down the road.

Group 2

At the corner, she met the other women and they gave each other a big hug. “How will we move the big stone in front of the tomb Mary?” asked Joanna. Joanna’s face looked really worried.“Maybe if we all puusshhh really hard we can move it, let’s practice, arms out everyone 1,2,3 ppuuuuuusssh”. “Oh dear, I’m not very strong” said the other Mary, I hope there is a strong man around.

Story Circle Time: The Resurrection (Provided by Jill from Ripple Connor)



Story Circle Time (Continued)

Maybe one of the Roman guards will help us.” Mary Magdalene made a face “They will never help us, they despise us.”

The women kept walking until they reached the tomb, but when they got there, the huge big stone which was in front of the entrance had been rolled away. The women were very surprised. They ran into the tomb but all they found were Jesus’ grave clothes – his body wasn’t there! They lifted up the grave clothes and looked at each other feeling very shocked and surprised. “Oh no, someone must have stolen Jesus’ body. The women began to cry.

Group 3

Suddenly a bright light shone into the tomb. The women shielded their eyes from the light and tried to see where it was coming from. Two men in shining white clothes stood in front of them. The women were afraid and they bowed to the ground. The two angels said “Why are you looking in a

tomb for someone who is alive? Jesus isn’t here because he had risen!” Then the women remembered what Jesus had said before he was killed, that in 3 days he would rise again.

They went running back as fast as they could to tell the disciples the good news. When they got to the place where the disciples were staying they knocked loudly on the door. They were so excited that they jumped up and down for joy. “Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive.” They told the disciples everything they had seen and heard, but the disciples didn’t believe a word of it. They folded their arms and shook their heads. “No way, you’re imagining it, or else you are making it up.” they said.

Group 4

Later on as the disciples were sitting talking about what had happened, Jesus appeared to them. The disciples were frightened and terrified because they thought they were seeing a ghost.

Jesus stretched out his hands and pointed at his feet and said, “Look at my hands and my feet and see it’s me, Jesus! Touch me and find out for yourselves. Ghosts don’t have flesh and bones like I have.” The disciples were so glad and amazed that they could not believe it. They kept shaking their head and staring at Jesus. It was really Him!

Jesus was hungry so he asked the disciples for something to eat. They gave him a piece of fish. He took it and ate it as they watched.

All the disciples’ sadness had turned to joy because Jesus was alive. He had beaten death and because of what he did to rescue us, we can have eternal life with Jesus. All we have to do is ask Him to save us.

Ideas for Under 5’s Rhyme - In the garden In the garden was a dark, dark cave. (Cover eyes with hands.)In the front of the cave was a big, big stone. (Spread arms wide.)By the stone were strong, strong soldiers. (Clench fists and bend elbow - strongman pose.)Inside the cave was Jesus!

Earthquake! Earth shake! (Drum feet on floor.)Noise and light!Earthquake! Earth shake!

Angel bright! (Stop suddenly.)

In the garden was a dark, dark cave. (Cover eyes with hands.)Beside the cave was a big, big stone. (Spread arms wide.)Strong, strong soldiers ha run away. (Use fingers to show running.)

church of ireland children’s ministry lent & easter ... of ireland children’s ministry lent...

Documents