Holy Week and Easter for Kids…Part One
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Category Archives: Maundy Thursday
Gather in your home on Thursday night@ 7 and join us online for Maundy Thursday Worship and Holy Communion.
 We recorded worship from LIFEhouse sanctuary, and will release the video here at 7 p.m.
 A highlight of worship will be to join together in Holy Communion. Before worship begins, please have bread and wine or juice ready for the appropriate time during the service. Pastor Dana will instruct and preside.
Looking forward to worshiping with you and invite friends to join in their homes, as well.
Stay Tuned to Worship Here at 7 p.m. Thursday Evening…
Jesus shares his last supper with his friends…
“I thank God for all who made this Holy Week and Easter a tribute to our Lord, Jesus Christ. The thoughtfulness of using your gifts and generosity for preparation, cleaning, serving, assisting at worship, and being models of a joyful people is much appreciated. Be blessed as we continue to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord!”
With Joy,
Pastor Dana
Enjoy some photos from the week!
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What is Holy Communion and how did Jesus reboot the promises of God?
On Maundy Thursday evening Jesus continues the week of paradox. He tells his disciples to prepare a passover meal. They do this, but there is no host. So they have no servants there to wash their dirty feet. When you eat in Bible days you lay around on cushions on the floor. You are nose to toes, as it were. And since your feet are filthy from the dust, you don’t to be eating with someones feet in your face.
No on jumps up to volunteer to wash feet like a servant would do. Then Jesus, the King of the Universe gets up puts on his foot-washing uniform and washes everyone’s feet himself. The master takes on the role of the servant. And then he says,
“Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord. You speak accurately, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
So, Jesus turns the whole world upside down, again. There are to be no masters only those who serve each other.
ME
What does washing the feet of others tell you about Jesus?
Thursday March 10- Don’t Get Stuck
Gratitude
Spend five minutes focusing on a couple of things you appreciate and thank God for them.
Mark 14:46-49
Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.
Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there among you teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me.”
Swords and clubs and then, right in the middle of the mob, we see one of the disciples attacks the high priest’s body guard and cuts off his ear. We don’t know who he is. The Gospel of John gives it up close and personal. He says the sword fighter is Peter.
Everyone knows when you are going through awful times in life, you don’t want to be alone. But, sometimes even your best friend is going to mess up.
So, Peter tires to defend Jesus. But, it’s not necessary. The religious leaders didn’t need any weapons at all. Jesus wasn’t a revolutionary in a violent way. They know this already. They are looking for a reason to use them. And Jesus doesn’t need defending. That’s why Peter messes up once again. He could have started a slaughter. Mark won’t even name Peter because this action is completely out of bounds. Jesus has nothing to do with armed revolution.
Fortunately, the mob doesn’t turn against Jesus and the disciples. Probably because Caiaphas the high priest, is waiting at home to mess with Jesus. So, Jesus takes this time to teach, once again.Everything that is happening has already been predicted in our Bible. Let’s keep going here. There’s a world to save. I am not going to convince you of anything.
Someone said it this way.
Naïve realism is the intuitive sense that we see the world out there as it actually is, rather than as it appears from our own perspective. Actually, each of us views only a small slice of the world’s people, hears only haphazard bits of highly selected evidence from news outlets or other sources, and talks to only a narrow group of generally like-minded friends.
Me
When is the last time you had an argument with someone about some social issue or politics and someone said, “You’re right, I am changing my mind on that?” Like never? What can you learn from that?
What do we learn from Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane?
Even though it’s hard to trust…Trust
What if God says, “No?”
You can’t force faith
People get stuck
Jesus doesn’t run
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Wednesday March 9- Not by Force
Gratitude
Spend five minutes focusing on a couple of things you appreciate and thank God for them.
Mark 14:42-45
Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”
And immediately, even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders. The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.” As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss.
Everyone knows when you are going through awful times in life, you don’t want to be alone. But, what if awful times keep getting worse?
Everything changes. The mood shifts. We see the makings of a tragedy. Not just for Jesus. For Peter.
Jesus prays for rescue three times. Jesus puts himself in God’s hands.
OK, Abba, thy will be done.
Three times Peter, Jesus’ right-hand man, will deny that he even knows him.
Jesus hears, No, to his prayers. Shouldn’t surprise us if we sometimes hear that, too. But, Jesus goes on. He appears back in charge again.
Let’s go guys. It’s time for some betraying.
The high priest and the chief priests get someone else to do their dirty work. They aren’t in the garden with Judas, but, they send the brute squad. A mob. Swords and clubs.
Nice going, guys. It’s always great when you mix violence with faith. Works out really well doesn’t it? Whenever faith leaders get guys with swords and clubs, or guns and backpack bombs, for that matter, to do their dirty work, they have already lost. Not much of a God if that’s what it takes to get someone to trust in him. Sorry, we humans are not built that way.
Human beings are no longer human when they have no freedom. To trust in God is about the head and the heart. To be forced to say you trust through threat of violence is not trust at all. It is avoiding punishment.
Every one of us needs to figure this out. Avoiding punishment is not faith. The thing we do best to avoid punishment is tell lies. The opposite of trust.
OK Judas, time for the kiss.
Me
The next time you get perturbed about something, ask yourself, “Where is my feeling about this situation really about me?”
What do we learn from the Last Supper?
Who is Judas?
Attaching to the feeder not the food
Betrayal
Communion is more than words
Holy Communion is always a to-go meal
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