Children's Liturgy Sunday April 8th 2007

Easter Sunday 2007

Easter Day

Stations of the Cross

Today, some of the older children wrote the story of Jesus's death and resurrection from the point of view of Saint John:
" I am Saint John. I saw Jesus die on the cross. I felt so sad and sorry. Jesus asked me to look after Mary, his mother. She was in shock, but kept praying to God.
We had to quickly put the body of Jesus into a tomb in the rock, because it would soon be the Sabbath.
On the evening of the Sabbath, I went with Mary, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to anoint the body of Jesus, to wrap him in bandages and to put a cloth round his head.
On the morning of the next day, I went to the tomb with Peter. Mary of Magdala said the tomb was open. We felt very scared.
Then we saw the stone at the door was rolled away. We were completely surprised. I ran forward fastest, but stopped at the door- Peter rushed in.
He called me in. The body was gone. The bandages were lying flat on the rock. The cloth for the head was separate.
I saw and I believed. Jesus had risen."

The younger children made Easter hats, decorating them with flowers and words telling of Easter and all they had learnt during Lent. A special hat was made for Mrs. Be-done-by-as-you-did, who has changed so much during Lent that she has now become Mrs. Do-as-you-would-be-done-by.

Jesus, you are risen from the dead.
That is amazing! Thank you for being amazing.
Thank you for rising from the dead.
Alleluia, Amen.

The children who serve on the altar have worked very hard all week. For each of the Holy Week services and for the Vigil mass for Easter itself, they practised with Stuart and Dean guiding them, to make sure all would go smoothly. We say thank you to them- well done! Here are pictures of one of their rehearsals. You can see them pretending to bring the new light into the church from the flame of the large, Pascal (Easter) candle, which stands for the new life brought to the world through the Resurrection of Jesus. Everybody at the Vigil service lights their own candle from this new fire, so that the darkened chuch gradually grows light as on the first Easter Day- Jesus is the Light of the World.