What Comes Before Easter?
/Hello friends! You might have heard that next Sunday is Easter. Lots of people love Easter for lots of different reasons, but before Easter gets here, it can be special to look at what Jesus did in the days before he died. In this story, we get to see what happens before Easter.
Story: Jesus’ Last Passover
From that story, we learned that Jesus did lots of things in the days before he died. He rode into town on a donkey with people waving palm branches for him, he prayed, he had a special dinner with his close friends, he prayed some more. Today we are sharing some activities that you can do that can help you feel close to Jesus during this week before Easter.
Activity: Pysanky Prayers
Pysanky are Ukrainian Easter eggs, decorated with traditional folk designs and colors that represent the prayers and hopes of the people who make them. Traditionally, they were made in the last week of Lent, just before Easter. People would stay up late at night to decorate the eggs, and everyone in the house would receive a pysanka on Easter morning as a gift. After all the eggs were blessed on Easter morning, they would often be given away as gifts, to symbolize prayers of good wishes for others. Pysanky were kept in the home as a colorful display as well as a protection from dangers.
Would you like to decorate your own pysanky? It’s easy! Think about what you want to pray for, and then choose colors and symbols that show it. The following pictures show what each color means and different symbols you can draw to show your prayer. If you have a printer, you can print an egg template to color, or you can just draw an egg on a plain piece of paper.
Activity: Coloring Palm Branches
Do you remember the part of the story when people were waving palm branches as Jesus was coming into the city of Jerusalem? Palm branches were a symbol of kings or victory, and we can wave our own palm branches to celebrate Jesus. If you’d like to wave your own palm branch, you can either print this one out or draw your own and cut it out. Yay Jesus!
Palm Frond Coloring Page, from Illustrated Ministry: Palm Branch Printable
Spending Time With God: A Guided Examen for Families
Sometimes we want to spend time with God, but we don’t know how to do it. Other times, we feel like praying but aren’t sure what to say. There are lots of ways to be with God and talk to God, and a great thing to remember is that God is always with you. God is here with you right now! An Examen is a kind of prayer that can help you notice God in all the parts of your day. You can do this together with your family or by yourself. You can print it out and write it down, or just talk about it out loud.
As we wait for Easter to come, may we notice God present in all parts of our days. See you next week!