Week 3 –
Decorate your tree with eggs.
You can buy decorative ones to hang (spotlight), you can colour paper ones, or you can cut egg shapes out of old greeting cards and thread them with ribbon.
Explanation: Throughout history, eggs are special in Easter celebrations. The egg reminds us of new life and new beginnings just as a chick hatches from the egg. Jesus gives everyone a chance to start again like a chick coming out of an egg. Even if we have stuffed things up he can help us to live a life that is full of love and joy!
The tradition of giving eggs as Easter greetings continues all around the world today and there are many fun traditions involved with breaking the eggs, hunting for them, singing for them and eating them. The tradition of colouring eggs in bright colours – representing the sunlight of spring – goes back to the Middle Ages when easter began to be celebrated in spring – the season of change and new beginning.
You could read together the story of the prodigal son who gets a wonderful new start!
Here are some Easter Egg pictures for the kids to colour. http://www.coloringpages.net/easter5.html
On Sunday we spent some time allowing God to bring some pictures to our mind – images of renewal, life and warmth. We invited God to open our imaginations as we listened to the words of this old song and drew or wrote down any prayers that floated to our minds.
Easter Song
Come, sing of the springtime, God’s pledge of new birth.
The snows are all melted which shrouded the earth;
old root-ends, deep hidden, send shoots to the light;
and long-dormant insects burst out into flight.
Come, sing of Christ’s rising, the joyful surprise,
which lifted low spirits and opened blind eyes,
reviving numb hope with its heart-warming call:
‘My love is not dead; it is stronger than all.’
Come, sing of the son who struck out on his own,
but came to his senses when lost and alone;
and sing of the father’s delight to forgive,
for he who was dead is back home and alive.
Come, sing of the countless disciples today
who live in Christ’s spirit and walk in his way,
who sometimes laid low by life’s hardships and pains,
yet rise above self with its deadening chains.
DAVID TURNER
