March 25th, 2012 by Kristi Stephens

Working together in the kitchen and eating together are prime teaching times with kids. The magic of mixing ingredients together to make something delicious and then enjoying the tasty result of our hard work ignites enthusiasm and anticipation like few things can!

We’ve made several batches of homemade pretzels this past week – the pretzels don’t stick around long but I think the symbolism is!

Did you know {from kitchenproject.com}:

As early as 610AD at a monastery somewhere in Southern France or Northern Italy, where monks used scraps of dough and formed them into strips to represent a child’s arms folded in prayer. The three empty holes represented the Christian Trinity.

The monks offered the warm, doughy bribe to children who had memorized their Bible verses and prayers. The monks called it a Pretiola, Latin for little reward. From there, the pretzel transformed into the Italian word, Brachiola, which means little arms.

…it was served on Easter with 2 hard boiled eggs and hidden around the farms, for the kids to find. This very likely was the forerunner of the Easter egg hunt.

We took our own “twist” on the pretzel’s history and focused on the imagery of arms crossed in prayer. The recipe we used happens to yield twelve pretzels… and twelve people praying brought to mind Jesus and the 11 remaining disciples praying in the Garden of Gethsemane!

Like we talked about last week, Easter can be a little more challenging to make fun an interactive with kids without losing the meaning and deep spiritual truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection. But with a little creativity and focus, it can be done!

If you missed it, check out Celebrating the Most Wonderful Time of the Year for more ideas and starters for your own meaningful traditions and celebrations!

March 20th, 2012 by Kristi Stephens

We all love Christmas. It is full of lights and wonder and surprises and cookies… it is often what we think of as “the most wonderful time of the year!”

Biblically speaking, however, we actually celebrate Christmas because of Easter! That manger in Bethlehem would just be a wooden feeding box without the agony of Calvary and the triumph of the empty tomb. Jesus’ death and resurrection changed everything – and that is why we joyfully celebrate His coming at Christmas.

The thing is… Christmas is easier to celebrate.

It is much easier to explain to my kids the story of a baby in a manger (although… is explaining the Creator of the universe wrapped in flesh and lying in a feed trough as a newborn baby really that easy to explain?) than it is to look at Judas’ betrayal, torturous beatings, the brutal process of Roman crucifixion, and the wonder of the empty tomb. We often find ourselves reverting back to hollow cultural symbols and celebrations which center on eggs and bunnies rather than carefully leading our children to the truth.

What’s a mama to do? Here are some resources to get you started.

To watch:

• The Story of Jesus for Children-“The Jesus Film” for kids. It is live-action so the crucifixion scene might still be a bit intense for little ones. Sometimes we just watch the first half – my kids love it!
  
• Read and Share DVD Bible: Easter – Accurate but animated, so it’s less intense, and easy for kids to follow.
  
• God’s Wonderful Surprise – YouTube video of the Easter story as found in The Jesus Storybook Bible. Short and sweet!

To read:

• Read through the book of Mark together over breakfast or lunch each day. Mark is the shortest Gospel, containing only 16 chapters. Take a chapter a day and you’ll be done in a little over two weeks!
• The First Easter: The Story of Why We Celebrate Easter by Carol Heyer – the illustrations in this book are beautiful and I really like Heyer’s approach to retelling the Biblical account.
• The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Hunt – This one has been around for a while, but I love it. Three trees dream of what they will one day become, and end up telling the story of Jesus’ life from the manger to the cross.
• The Lamb by John R. Cross – another beautifully illustrated book perfect for family devotions leading up to Easter. The book is broken into 10 sections and builds understanding of why Jesus came as “The Lamb” starting from creation and the fall, as well as child-appropriately explaining the Old Testament sacrificial system.

To do:

• Leading up to Easter I sometimes will purchase a box or two of matzoh crackers and use them as snack time replacements. We talk about the Matzoh’s symbolism discussed in the Messianic seder – the stripes and piercings remind us that He was pierced for our transgressions and by His stripes we are healed. LB is very fond of the “special Jesus crackers!”
• Teach your kids how yeast often symbolizes sin in Scripture. Bake bread together, discussing how a “little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” Then make homemade matzoh together, discussing how removing the leven from the bread (and from their homes in preparation for Passover) reminded the Israelites that their lives were to be pure and clean.  In the same way, because our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed on our behalf, the “yeast” of sin needs to be searched out and removed from our lives.  Use 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 as the basis of your discussion.
• Plant grass seeds in small pots together, discussing Jesus’ words in John 12:23-24- Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. His death opened the door for life!
• Resurrection rolls and Easter Story Cookies are fairly well known, but they’re great ideas!

Last year I worked really hard to make Good Friday meaningful with the kids – it was a powerful day and I’m hoping we can do something like this again!

Planning anything special to celebrate “the most wonderful time of the year” at your house this season?

{If you enjoyed this post and gleaned some new ideas, would you consider sharing it on facebook or twitter to help others do the same? Thank you so much!}

April 24th, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

Image via Wikipedia

Tuesday we began our Easter-week journey with Mary Magdalene asking, “what’s your story?”

Wednesday we asked, “what will you give him?”

Thursday I wondered, “would I have stayed?“

Today, on Resurrection Sunday, we finish our short reflections on Mary Magdalene’s relationship with Jesus with this question: Have you encountered Him?

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)  Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20:1-8

Just a few short thoughts to ponder today:

*Jesus knows your name. Friends, He knows you. He loves you. The Creator of the universe wrapped Himself in flesh, dwelt among us, took our weaknesses and frailties and failures and rebellion onto Himself and suffered the punishment we deserve – and He did it for you.

*Have you encountered Him? Have you ever had a moment in your life when you realized that He died for you, paid the penalty for your sin, and wants you to know real life in Him?

*He really is alive! If you’ve never begun a true relationship with Him… just turn around! He’s right behind you, calling your name, ready to forgive everything you’ve ever done or ever thought or ever said – remember, Mary was a girl with a past, and nothing is too much for Him to forgive. It’s not too late – but you don’t know how much time you have.

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April 22nd, 2011 by Kristi Stephens

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