The Faces of Easter

Here are two Godly Play Stories for Easter - one that uses pictures, and one that uses a puzzle.  Do you have specific pictures or items of the crucifixion or parts of Easter that remind you of Jesus' sacrifice, service and love?

*Read along in pages 326-9 in Whirl Kids Story Bible, and you can also email tory@phumc.org if you need help following along in a different Story Bible.

Here is a post from "Manna and Mercy" on Holy Week:

Love Breaks Open. On Good Friday, we voted “no”. On Easter Sunday, God voted “yes”. Despite our no, Friday was a victory for Jesus in that he remained faithful in his loving. The “prize” of his victory was the resurrection. The resurrection shows that the world is really the way Jesus said it is: love, gentleness, justice are the most powerful forces – and that means evil has already been defeated. The world’s “no” has been overcome by God’s “yes”. We are to trust in the victory of God’s dream: shalom. Evil looks stronger (to us) than it really is. Resurrection reverses our understanding of idealism versus realism. People who thought apartheid, communism, … would last forever were the idealists; those who went against those systems of oppression were the realists. When we go up against what appears to be monolithic evil, we are called to trust that God in Jesus has already defeated it. Jesus’ opponents tried to break his love with the cross – but instead, love broke open and spread in such a way that it couldn’t be contained. When we live the manna and mercy life, we will (not if, but when) be crucified. God will take that crucifixion and resurrect us and our witness to new life.