Palm Sunday

I love holy week. Until yesterday, I had forgotten how much I love it.

At our Palm Sunday service, we began the service outdoors with the Gospel reading and then walked around the block singing worship songs. Where I live, that's just plain weird. It is more acceptable to be gay than to be Christian. I couldn't help but think that our procession was a proclamation of another reality that our culture treats as a myth.

When we returned to the steps of our church, we had a second reading outside the church. I knelt on the sidewalk next to Elisabeth as I heard these words:

'And when [Jesus] drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”' (Luke 19:41-44)

I couldn't help but shudder at the phrase "you and your children within you" as I held Elisabeth. These are solemn and terrible and fearful words of our Lord.

We entered the chapel together and continued in worship, which included a lengthy dramatic reading of the betrayal and denial in which we, the congregation were the voice of the throng asking for Barabbas. When offered Jesus, we said, "Let him be crucified!" and "His blood be on us and on our children!" More shudders.

This is the reality of the crucifixion. It is not simply a nice "Bible story." It is a gut-wrenching tale of betrayal, denial, and death of the One who is utterly faithful and kind, who went willingly to the cross.

I love holy week not because it is full of happy feelings, but because in it I see the invincible love of Jesus over our sin by the cross. The heights of resurrection morning are more pronounced for having seen during the week our sinfulness over which he triumphed.

Ash Wednesday

On Wednesday, when I picked Elisabeth up from school, she pointed at my forehead and asked, "What's that, Daddy?" I asked her to tell me what she saw, and what it looked like, and then we talked about the ashes and the cross. I told her that when our rector put the ashes on my forehead, he said, "Remember that you are dust and ashes; for you are dust and to dust you will return." And he prayed for me, that this would be a season of seeking, finding and resting in Jesus.

Elisabeth was intrigued, and I was delighted. It was a wonderful reminder to me of how vivid certain elements of worship can be to children. I remember her asking similar questions as we sat at the back of the Maundy Thursday service last year (at which there is a foot washing). All of the symbolic actions beg the question, "Why?!" When used purposefully and well, these actions tell the story of the Gospel, of our wickedness, and God's great love in Christ.

As we enter this season of Lent, I am deeply grateful for the symbols, and even more grateful for the Reality that they present. I'm excited to be attentive to what Elisabeth is seeing, hearing and experiencing so that I can impress this great good news through which the Holy Spirit gives new life.

The subversive act of prayer

We are blessed in this season of life, with many wonderful friends. For the first time in our lives, several of those close friends are not Christians. As we frequently invite friends to join us in our home for meals, I'm forced to cross a new bridge: how/if to give thanks to Christ for food before we eat. In general, I explain our practice of praying before meals to our guests, and ask if they would permit me to pray before we eat. So far we haven't met with refusal, but it has opened my eyes to how subversive that action is.

In praying to God through Christ before we eat, we are speaking with the living God in front of people who don't know Him, who are by nature (as we were) enemies of God. We are bowing before the One to whom we owe our very existence, when our guests may not acknowledge His existence. Furthermore, if I was invited into the home of a friend who invoked another god before sharing a meal with us, I could not, in good conscience, participate. But that is exactly what I am doing in inviting our guests to pray with us: to participate in speaking to God in Christ.

If I am not mistaken, that 'small' action is potentially very threatening (in both good and bad ways) to our guests. We are calling them to acknowledge a Reality that they deny, by humbly pausing before Him. Regardless of their religion, prayer challenges the most basic assumptions of what is, and what is real. And that can be very threatening - in a way that causes people to clam up in fear, or in a way that opens the door to authentic, transparent communication about the Gospel.

I am finding that in crossing that culture gap, particularly with friends who have young children, it is wise and helpful to invite them to join us, to explain what I'm about to do (so it doesn't seem hokey-pokey, or ritualistic), and to pray - and silently pray that the Spirit would awaken them to the glory of Christ.

Noel Calendar

Last year my sister-in-law told me about the Noel Calendar put out by Desiring God. It was too late in the Advent season to use it by the time I got it, but I packed it away for this year. I took it out tonight (thanks to my wife, who found where I had tucked it away) and Elisabeth and I did the first three days of the calendar together.

I was delighted to see how she engaged so readily with something that she could see and touch, which would help her connect with the story of the Invisible God, who became a baby to be seen and touched. I pray that this Advent she (and I) will be in awe of our God who was born among animals.

Traditions

Do you have family traditions that helped you as a child to set your eyes on Jesus through the time leading up to resurrection Sunday? Have you seen other families do things that help their kids understand the meaning of Christ's passion? Do you have creative ideas for how to walk through Lent with children in a way that is expectant and prayerful?

I'm not as interested in baptising pagan influences (i.e. how you can use easter bunnies to teach your kid about Jesus) as in traditions that connect the real historical events to our present experience.

Thanks in advance for your contributions!

Lent

Today marks the beginning of the season of Lent (which is reasonably well described historically here). Traditionally, Lent is a season to prayerfully prepare for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ. For me, one of the greatest distractions from that prayerfulness is the internet. So, for Lent I am going to use the internet only for email, news (since we don't have a TV), listening to the M'Cheyne's readings, and occasional blogging.

So if posts are few and far between, that's why.

If anyone has wisdom on how to help children to experience Lent prayerfully and expectantly, please share!

A creche

In Treasuring God in our Traditions Noel Piper suggests that using a creche [nativity scene] can be a very tangible, visible way of making Jesus the focal point of our celebration. For toddlers who are particularly visual and tactile, it is a constant reminder of what this season means.

The Pipers make the creche the focal point by arranging it on a table, and gathering the gifts underneath. Anyone who visits will notice that the center is not a tree with lights, and the very contrast will draw attention to what the creche represents.

Bethlehem Tree

I really like Noel Piper's idea of a Bethlehem Tree, rather than a Christmas tree. She describes it this way:

While the children are very young, one way to create visual reminders is by using a large bare branch as a Bethlehem Tree. It would be hung with ornaments and items that picture or symbolize the Bethlehem event. When children are older, the branch might become a Jesus Tree, reaching further for its symbolism to include:

• Ornaments and items that represent the nativity.
• Items that relate to Jesus' life.
• Symbols of who Jesus is, as found in Scripture's names for him, word pictures and parables.
• Reminders of Old Testament prophecy and history leading up to his birth.

Many of our Jesus Tree items are not 'ornaments.' They are made of cloth or sticks or clay, or we reinvented something as a symbol. For example, the lion is from an old zoo game; the hammer and saw were part of a toddler's tool set; the globe is a key ring. (Piper, Noel. Treasuring God in our Traditions. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2003. p83)

I love that the Bethlehem Tree intentionally points children, particularly young children, to the reality of Christ by involving them in its creation. The children become responsible for seeing and selecting objects that remind them of Jesus. Do children who set up Christmas trees think that way as they hang the lights?

Noel Calendar

I found another brilliant idea in Treasuring God in Our Traditions. In order to sense the value of the idea, I'll let Noel Piper share it in her own experience:

For our family a more permanent [Advent] calendar has become a tradition. When our first child was a toddler, I could hardly find any Christmas things that had to do with Jesus. So I created the Noel Calendar, a burlap banner with plastic and wood figures that by December 25 have been attached with Velcro across the top half of the banner to represent the Christmas story. Throughout the month, that story is told in increments, starting over at the beginning and adding a bit more each day.

The first year we used the calendar, I learned an important lesson: Repitition is an excellent way for a child to memorize. In mid-December, when Karsten was barely two, my mother-in-law died in a bus crash in Israel. With little time to plan, we were on our way from Minnesota to South Carolina to take care of my father-in-law, who had been injured. On an impulse I tossed the calendar into a suitcase. In the midst of so much confusion, shock and irregularity, Karsten forgot everything he'd learned about potty training and too much of what he knew about behaving. But even though he could hardly make a whole sentence on his own yet, he could pick up the Christmas story at any point and keep it going, word for word, as he'd heard it day after day when we did the calendar. (Piper, Noel. Treasuring God in our Traditions. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2003. pp78-79)

We tell our children stories; that is without exception. But what is the central story, the repeated and overriding one that we impress upon them?

What better way to repeat and reinforce the story for a toddler than through a lift-the-flap, sequenced panel that leads them through Advent to the birth of the Son of God?

Gifts to Jesus

It may be easy for us to forget that this is Jesus' birthday. That usually means gifts to the birthday person. Children especially will think it normal that Jesus should receive something for his birthday. We'll need to talk with them about what it means to give a gift to Jesus since we can't put it in his hand. One of the unusual things about Jesus is that when we give a gift to him, other people benefit. 'And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me"' (Matthew 25:40).

If you decide early in the Advent season where your gift is going, you can be praying for the recipient throughout the season. Your prayer becomes an added gift to the family with special needs, the Christian relief agency, the local ministry, the missionary, or whomever you have chosen. . . .

The children at our house have had a simple drawstring bag - a shepherd's pouch, we call it - in which to collect Jesus' gift throughout December. On Christmas Eve, during a special family worship time, the children lay their pouches beside the manger of our special nativity scene. We speak to them then of giving their gifts to Jesus, as the shepherds came, giving Jesus worship and wonder. (Piper, Noel. Treasuring God in our Traditions. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2003. p86)

I love this idea as a way to honor Jesus in a way that is practical and tangible for toddlers. The emphasis is not on the gift, or even on the recipient, but on the King.