St. Barnabas Family Faith Experience

April 12, 2020

Matthew 28:1-10 EASTER! Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

On the following pages, you will find a learning experience for your family. You are welcome to modify or adapt any of this to make it work best for your family! Don’t feel like you need to do everything either, work through what you can as long as your kids are engaged. Supplies needed are listed under each section and a complete supply list is provided at the end of the experience.

Opening Prayer: Loving God, You made each one of us. You filled each one of us with your love. Now fill our empty hands with good news, Good news to share with others As we go on our way today! Amen.

Introduction: Easter Day is the beginning of a whole season. The Easter season is 50 days long. It is a very important celebration in our faith. All four of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—have an Easter story. The Easter story we're going to look at today comes from Matthew!

I bet you have already celebrated Easter somehow in your home today. We would love to see how you are celebrating! Please text any fun photos to Sue at 612-387-1522. Photos will be shared with our church community through a private link on our website.

Let’s learn more about Easter! Since you probably are already doing fun things to celebrate Easter, we will just dive in and read the Easter story together today!

Experience Scripture Together

If you are looking for a fun way to tell the story today, the scripture reading is divided into 10 individual versus below. You can cut out each verse and put one in an empty Easter egg. Hide the eggs and let your kids find them. When you come back together, put the versus together and tell the story! The other option is to read the story together traditionally from the Bible.

There are two different scripture readings below, depending on the age of your kids and what you prefer to use. There is one that uses the Spark Story Bible for younger kids and one that uses the Spark Bible for older kids. You can choose which one you would like to use. If you do not have a Spark Bible at home to use, the complete NRSV scripture versus are after the discussion. The bold text is prompts for you as the leader.

Open your Spark Bibles! For Younger Kids Spark Story Bible; The Empty Tomb p. 482. For older kids: page 1097 in the Spark Bible. The complete scripture versus are after the discussion too.

Read the story or the scripture together and then discuss the following questions:

Let's talk about this story for a little bit—it is pretty amazing! Who went to see the tomb? (Mary Magdalene and the other Mary) What were they expecting to find? (Jesus' body, a sealed tomb) What did the angel say right away? (Do not be afraid!) What did the angel look like? (like lightning, clothes as white as snow) What did the angel tell the two women? (Jesus had been raised from the dead) Who did the two Marys go and tell the good news to? (the disciples) Who did they meet on the road when they were going to meet the disciples? (Jesus)

Scripture Reading Matthew 28:1-10 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Resurrection of Jesus

28After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Easter Egg Scripture Hunt-

Use these versus to cut into strips and hide each verse in an empty Easter egg. Then come together and piece them together to tell the story! (Candy is optional!)

Matthew 28:1-10 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

28After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.

5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”

8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Closing Prayer

Supplies • Rock

We're going to say a rock prayer. What was in front of the tomb where Jesus was buried? A big, big rock! It was rolled away and the tomb was empty. Gather in a circle. We are going to take turns holding the rock, and when our turn is over, we'll gently roll the rock across the floor to the next person or hand it to them.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for dying on the cross and rising again for us. We know you did that because you love us so much. You love [Name]. Say each person’s name while the rock rolls or is handed around the circle.

Amen.

Together as a family, have one person say:

Alleluia, Christ is risen! Then everyone else say: “Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Continue thinking about some of the older people in our church who will not be able to spend time with their families this Easter because they are in isolation. I included this activity again if you would like to continue sending letters and cards to them. Please contact Sue if you need names or addresses. ([email protected])

Family Activity Experience: Snail Mail Sunshine!

Supplies: • Pre-made cards or blank paper • Envelopes • Markers/Crayons/stickers • Church Directory or names from Sue

Instructions:

Write a card, a letter or color a picture and send it to someone in the church directory. There are people in need of your beautiful creations and in need of refrigerator decorations! Because of COVID-19, most of our older members have no place to go these days and are stuck in their homes. If they have grandkids, they can’t see theme either! A homemade card, and or a letter from you would mean so much! If you need some ideas of who to send the cards to, please email Sue and she will let you know. Otherwise, feel free to look through your St. Barnabas Directory and find someone you know or recognize! If you do not have a directory, you can contact Sue and she can send you a pdf directory. This is a great way to show you love and care for your friends at St. Barnabas! ([email protected])

Complete Supply List for this Family Experience

• Easter Eggs

• Scissors

• Bible • Rock • Pre-made cards or blank paper • Envelopes • Markers/Crayons/stickers Church Directory or names from Sue

Coloring and activity sheets below The Empty Tomb

“Don’t be afraid!” the angel said. “Jesus is alive!”

It was Jesus! Jesus was really alive!

The Empty Tomb Coloring Page B. Spark™ Sunday School © 2009 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. May be reproduced for local use only. Surprise on Easter The disciples went to the tomb where they laid Jesus’ body. They were very surprised at what they found when they got there! Connect the dots to show the place they visited.

6 G 5 G G 7

4 G

G 8

3 G G 9

G 10

28 G G 11 G 2 23 G G G 24 12 G G 18 G 21 G G 25 22 G G 17 14 G13 1 G G 19 20 G G 15 16

Grades 1-2, Empty Tomb Activity Page. Spark™ Sunday School © 2010 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. May be reproduced for local use only. Surprising Sunday Imagine how surprised Jesus’ followers must have been when they found Jesus’ tomb empty. Draw the surprised men and women outside the tomb.

Grades 3-4, The Empty Tomb Activity Page. Spark™ Sunday School © 2010 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. May be reproduced for local use only. Follow Me! Follow the women to the empty tomb as you track the verse from Matthew. Starting with “I Know,” follow the verse as the words go right, left, down, or diagonally. If you get stuck, turn to page 1097 in your Spark Bible for help.

Grades 5-6, The Empty Tomb Activity Page. Spark™ Sunday School © 2010 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. May be reproduced for local use only. Follow Me! Solution Follow the women to the empty tomb as you track the verse from Matthew. Starting with “I Know,” follow the verse as the words go right, left, down, or diagonally. If you get stuck, turn to page 1097 in your Spark Bible for help.