Saturday, March 27, 2010

Stories of Jesus for Children - A series written for the children in your life...

Easter is coming! But before we celebrate the fun of Easter, there are lots of stories about what happened to Jesus before Easter Day. All next week I’ll be telling the stories of what happened to Jesus as he got ready for the first Easter Day. Some of the stories might surprise you. Some of them might make you laugh. Some might make you feel sad. But they can all help you to get ready for the best Easter ever! You probably know all about baby Jesus at Christmas, and this is about what happened when Jesus grew up.
For a long time Jesus lived quietly and did his job. People liked him but he didn’t seem special. Then suddenly, when he was about 30, God told him to leave his work and start a new job – the job of showing people God’s love.

Jesus was the very best person for this job. When people were sick he made them better.
When people were sad and sorry he forgave them.
When people were confused he told them great stories to help them understand.
When children were told to ‘go away and be quiet’ he told everyone how important children were.
Most people thought Jesus was great, and they started to know how much God loved them because Jesus showed them love.
But there were some people who thought Jesus was scary – these were the important people in charge! Can you see how angry they are in the picture? Ordinary people liked Jesus more than they liked the important people. Ordinary people listened to Jesus more than they did to the important people! And Jesus said things that made the important people very angry. He kept calling himself ‘I Am…’ when he talked about himself, and that was God’s name!
The important people hoped he wasn’t really God, so they decided he was just a big liar who was going to get into big trouble one of these days. But the ordinary people wondered, perhaps he really IS God? Everyone kept on listening to Jesus, to find out what he was going to do next…

Notes for adults: Adapt this as you like! I will tell the stories of Holy Week, and include an activity and/or the development of an Easter Garden each day. There will also be some open-ended questions for younger and older readers – it’s important to let the children answer any way they like, as there are no right or wrong answers, just a chance to let children think about what the stories mean to them. Have fun!

You might like to get these props and craft materials ready as the week goes by:
Sunday - a toy donkey (ours comes from our farm set), some leaves or a coat!
Monday - a container and some soil, stones and moss to make a little garden
Tuesday -
Wednesday - a cup, plate and some bread and red juice
Thursday -
Friday - some small sticks and string
Saturday -
Easter Sunday - fresh flowers

13 comments:

Jen Walshaw said...

Thank you for this, as you know Angela's letter has been such a wonderful thing for me and the boys, I am looking forward to discussing more with them over the next week or so

Sarah said...

What a fantastic post. Looking forward to more next week! It doesn't hurt us adults either to refresh ourselves on the true meaning of Easter.

Angela said...

Lovely post Floss. The picture of the carpenter's workshop is fabulous!

harmony and rosie said...

Words from my 6 year old ... "I love it".

Praise indeed! Kate x

Carol said...

Thank you Floss.
Thinking now of "those in charge" who so want everyone to stop believing.

Sherri B. said...

I love your story, it reminds me of my beloved Sunday school teacher Mrs. Doll, who told the best bible stories just like yours. I am going to tell my daughter about your holy week plan. Thanks Floss.

Lalabibaby @ Dreaming of The Simple Life said...

A lovely post Floss .... the illustrations in those old Ladybird books are the best and it takes me back to Sunday school days. Have a great weekend x

Elderberry-Rob said...

This is lovely, perfect for small people. Shame I don't have any! I do like the pictures too, they are so traditional.

Elderberry-Rob said...

p.s. I would love to make the Easter garden, can't wait for that one, eagerly await teacher's instructions! thanks!

Anonymous said...

this is lovely Floss. i am going to follow your themes for easter week xxx thank you you so much for sharing this.

Luisa said...

a blog post for kids!
can't wait to show my seven year old tomorrow - thank you!
print out worthy!
x

Pom Pom said...

Beautiful! Jesus knew the deep secret of loving children and welcoming their thoughts, ideas, and feelings. I love following Him.

Unknown said...

This is wonderful, Floss, I went ahead and linked to this post instead of waiting for Sunday's. :) And since I went more serious and older this week, it's a great opposite complement to give choices for all different ages. Thank you :)