Using Easter to Tell His Story in Your Family
The more I understand our mission to make Christ known to others, the more important holidays become to me as a way to communicate our faith to our children, grandchildren, family, and friends. Through the years, our family has tried different activities to prepare for and celebrate Easter. I find that bunnies, chicks, and Easter eggs have taken a back seat, and the cross, a thorn crown, and a lamb are more prominent decorations at our house.
When you desire to make any change in your home, start with one thing and get support from your spouse – this can go a long way in making lasting change. Here are some activities that have been meaningful in our family. We don’t do all of them every year, but each of them prepares our hearts for remembering the importance of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and the victory He won on Resurrection Sunday.
Palm Sunday – Read the story of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:1-11 or Mark 11:1-11). Act out Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Someone can be the donkey. Another person portrays Jesus. The rest of the family acts as the crowd who cheered Jesus on, laying cloaks and blankets on the ground before Him and waving palm branches while singing, “Hosanna!”
Make a Resurrection Garden with a cross, tomb and fast-growing grass seed that will sprout within the week. Tell the story of Easter week, a little each day between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Directions for making your own Resurrection Garden can be found online.
Foot washing ceremony – In the same way that Jesus humbled Himself to wash the feet of His disciples at the Passover meal, my husband chose to wash the feet of every family member one year. We included a time of asking for forgiveness with each family member.
Attend or host a Passover Seder. The blood of the lamb over the doors of the Israelites so that the angel of death “passed over” their households is rich in symbolism for the Christian family. We stapled red ribbon around our front door to symbolize the blood. Simple versions of the Passover Seder can be found online.
Nail our sins to the cross – We used a large tree branch that broke off a tree in an ice storm to create a cross in our backyard. That year on Good Friday, we took time for each person to write their sins on a 3 x 5 card, fold it in half, and individually nail it to the cross. We talked about how our sins were the reason Jesus was nailed to the cross. After the children were in bed on Saturday night, we removed the cards and added a crown, purple scarf, and Easter lilies for Easter morning. We explained how Jesus’ death paid the price for our sins. Interestingly, a sweet autumn clematis vine sprouted naturally underneath the cross that year and by the end of the summer, the cross was hidden underneath the vine. Tiny, fragrant, white flowers and green leaves covered our ugly cross with new life. Another year we added our “sins” to helium filled balloons and released them.
Easter Tomb cookies – One of our most repeated traditions was using Scripture to tell the Easter story while making Tomb cookies the night before Easter. We then sealed the cookies in the oven (our “Tomb”). In the morning, the tomb cookies were empty! If you’d like to make these, check out this recipe which someone shared with me years ago.
Any one of these activities would be a fun memory with your family for Easter. Sharing His story is a way we fulfill Psalm 78: 5-7 where we are instructed to tell our children and the next generation so that they will put their trust in God and keep His commands. Choose one activity and gather the supplies now so that you are ready during the week before Easter. Share your own creative ideas below.
Beth Blunk, Contact Mom
Beth lives with her husband, Ed, in Raymore, MO. She has always enjoyed the holidays and more so when she could bring His story to light. Today she enjoys decorating for the holidays with her 5-year-old granddaughter who makes the extra work more fun. It’s a delight to watch her children make memories with the next generation. Ed and Beth have 6 adult children and 11 grandchildren from coast to coast. They teach GFI parenting classes online and enjoy encouraging the next generation of parents.