How Will You Tell The Story of Easter?

Easter is just a few weeks away, and with a house filled with one questioning 8 year-old, one know-it-all 11 year-old, and one clueless 16-year-old exchange student, I find myself wondering, "How am I to tell the story of Easter?"  Throughout the Old Testament we see God instructing His people during holy days to tell the next generation what God has done.

"And when you children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' then tell them,, "It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, you passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'"  ~Exodus 12: 26-27

We see the same theme of this message in Leviticus 23:42-43 and Joshua 4: 4-7.

God knows that our children will always be full of questions.  Our children want to know why we do what we do. Our children, with their preschool inquisitiveness, or their tween doubting want to know why we are doing this whole Easter thing.   Therefore, as we prepare to celebrate Easter  - the holiest and most important day of the Christian year, we should be asking ourselves,  "How am I going to tell my children the story of Easter?"

I offer of the following three suggestions as a starting place.

1. We can tell the story - by reading His story.
Set aside 10 minutes a day at breakfast, or dinner, and read the Gospels together.  Tell the story of the Son of God who came for the sick and the sinners.  Tell the stories of His miracles.  Tell the stories of His teachings.  Tell the story of His sacrificial death for all of us through reading His Holy Word.

2. We can tell the story by what we set before our eyes.  As we decorate our doorframes or dining room tables, we create an opportunity to set a story, or visual reminders of a story, before our children's eyes.  These two front doors are telling very different stories.  Use your holiday decorations to prompt the retelling for the story of Easter just like your Nativity scene does at Christmas.

3. We can tell the story by taking the time to tell our story.
We are a redeemed people of the Lord. If you have accepted the Lord as your Savior, you have a personal story of redemption to share with your children.  As we approach Easter,  set aside time to share your story with your children.  What has the Lord done in your life?  What does Easter mean to you?  Now, I am not talking nitty-gritty inappropriate confessionals here, but  instead, who is Jesus to you?  What does your personal relationship with Him look like?  It is through hearing our personal stories told that our children will begin to look for their own stories.  

I pray that the Holy Spirit will fill your hearts and minds with courage, insight, and a fresh desire to tell the story of our Savior to your children in the coming weeks.  I would love to hear how you tell the story of Easter in your household.  Please leave a comment and encourage others with what you are doing.  

  

Family Lent Challenge

Lent is the forty day period before Easter.  (Well, actually its 46 days - but you don't count Sundays.) It starts this Wednesday.   Lent is not something your church or denomination does, or doesn't do.  Lent is something we will do, or not do, as individuals and families.  Lent is a time to prepare our hearts for Easter... to disciple young believers... and to turn toward God.

Margaret Feinberg has issued the #Lent Challenge.  A challenge to read the entire New Testament in forty days.  This is a great challenge to adults.  Print out the reading guide and set aside 30 minutes a day.  Set your alarm clocks a little early and set your heart of Jesus this Lent.  But don't stop there... Lent was designed to be a time of discipleship when young believers (in age or faith) were trained in the faith...so ...

I'm issuing a #FamilyLentChallenge.  While a 30 minute reading may be too much for your kids to take in, you can read through the life of Christ through daily 5 minute readings which will take you from the birth of Christ to His glorious resurrection.  You can print out Prepare Our Hearts here.

Whether your family routinely does family devotions, or this is completely new to you, may you be blessed by reading the Gospels together this Lent season.  

Soccer is not for eating worms, and church is not for eating Cheerios

I have received several e-mails and calls from friends saying they liked my Why We Worship With Our Kids post, but they would prefer a “How” posting. Today I am sharing three "How To" tips for before you head to church,  next week I'll write about what to do when you get there.

#1: Come to Jesus, my friends.

Now friends, we’re going to have a little Come to Jesus moment here. What I am going to say may not be so popular, but it’s what I really believe … so here goes.

Church is not about you. It’s true. Going to church is not an hour off for you. It is not about your peace and quiet. I know you may really desperately want that. You may actually need that. But church would not be that hour. It is actually about God. I know it’s not a popular belief these days, but’s it’s true.

We don’t go to church to pamper ourselves, it is not our day spa with free childcare. We go to worship God community. 

Sometime in the last few decades church has become this place where people want to be entertained and amused. They want their children babysat every time they walk in the door. You hear people saying things like, “I just don’t like the music at that church.” “That church just doesn’t do anything for me.” There is a near riot if childcare is not offered. The pilgrims didn’t say that. Our grandmothers didn’t say that. We need to develop a deep love of worship and the object of that worship. If we want our kids to care about worship, we need to start by personally caring about it. For we can’t lead our kids somewhere we don’t actually go.

We need to come to Jesus my friends. It's a good place to start.

#2:  There is a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Those of us who have lived in or loved the” little latitudes”, appreciate a little wisdom from Jimmy Buffet now and then.  Jimmy’s right of course, what happens Saturday night effects Sunday morning.  If you want to make Sunday morning successful, you have to be intentional on Saturday night.  Most of us don’t put our little kids to sleep at 11 pm on Sunday night and expect them to be perky and happy to go to school at 7 am on Monday.   We don’t have sleepovers on Wednesday.  It works the same way on Saturday night. We should be as intentional on Saturday night as we are on school nights.  Here are five ways to prepare on Saturday night for Sunday morning.   

1.       Make sure everyone gets 8-10 hours of sleep.  (plan those sleepover on Friday night)

2.       Tell the kids what the Sunday morning plan is. “We are going to Sunday school at 9, then church, then lunch.”

3.       Lay out church outfits.  If you are raising girls, you know the church outfit selection process is monumental!

4.       Lay out what you need for church… bibles, journals, tithes. 

5.       Have a breakfast plan to make sure everyone gets something to eat before you head out the door. 

#3:  Soccer is not for eating worms and church is not for eating cheerios. 

On Emily’s first ever day of soccer practice.  Her coach sat all the little girls down at a table to talk about why they come to soccer practice.  He had a big bowl of gummy worms.  He asked the girls, “Do we come to soccer practice to eat worms?”  NO!  They screamed.  He spent time talking about other things we don’t come to soccer to do – gymnastics, laying on the grass, eating snacks.  It was brilliant.  The girls never forgot that we go to soccer practice to practice soccer.

Looking around in any church one has to wonder what elementary age children think they come to church for.

 They might just think church is…

·         for eating cheerios

·         for coloring pictures

·         for playing on mom’s phone

·         for reading random books

·         for laying across pews

·         for crawling around on the floor.  

You may desire to have your kids meaningfully participating in worship, but if you head out the door Sunday morning armed with snacks and a library book, you’re sending your kids a pretty strong message of what your expectations of what they’ll be doing in church are.   Instead why not take Saturday night dinner to follow Emily’s coach’s example and throw a handful of gummy worms on the table.  Ask your kids if you’ll need them for church on Sunday.  Start up a conversation about what they are supposed to be doing during church.  They might just surprise you with their wisdom.