Holy Week…Resurrection and Your Children

Easter is the most important celebration of our faith; it is the very essence of what makes us Christian. Therefore, it is important that we find meaningful ways to celebrate its significance with our children in order to build a deeper level of understanding as they grow and develop in the Lord.

Easter is the most important celebration of our faith; it is the very essence of what makes us Christian. Therefore, it is important that we find meaningful ways to celebrate its significance with our children in order to build a deeper level of understanding as they grow and develop in the Lord.

Nearly thirty years ago when my children were young, we began making “Holy Week Baskets” at home to celebrate Easter. I began to gather items that represented events from Holy Week. As we added an item, we would talk about it, look up the scriptures and weave them together into the rich timeline tapestry of Holy Week. I noticed how my children’s interest and knowledge grew and deepened as they became engaged in this interactive learning process.

As minister to children, we began to make them at church and as head of school we created them at school for children ages 4-10. Each year’s activities reflected more in-depth teaching.

For Easter Sunday, our Holy Week Baskets became RESURRECTION BASKETS. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?” (John 11:25-26)

After years of teaching others how to make them, I published the idea in one of my earlier books twenty two years ago. I share this background only to emphasize how important this teaching became to my ministry. Children’s ability to ‘get it’ never ceases to amaze me.  (Developmental ideas for children ages 4-12 are available on my website.)

Easter is the celebration of Christ’s victory over sin and His resurrection from the dead. Skeptics question, can we know that Christ arose from the dead?

Historic evidence for the resurrection abounds. Dallas Willard writes why he wrote Knowing Christ Today. “This is the point at issue in this book, where, we are dealing with the cultural calamity of displacing the central points of Christian knowledge into the domain of mere “faith”, sentiment, traditional ritual or power. If this displacement is correct, then it is, in some important sense, improper to believe that the central events of the Christian tradition actually happened.”

Children can learn the truths of God’s Word. Young people can be taught the historical evidence of the resurrection. The gospels and historical evidence bear out the claim that Jesus rose from the dead. Our responsibility is to show our children what to do with the evidence.

Let us not fall prey to the ‘watering down’ of teaching the truth of God’s Word to our children. Parents and teachers, I encourage you to take time to teach the profound message of Easter to your children. Take one gospel each year and go through the events of Holy Week. You will be amazed at much your children can spiritually discern. These times of sharing God’s transforming truth together will become beautiful threads in the tapestry of your children’s spiritual hearts. These windows of opportunities are worth the investment of your time and energy, as they reap rich dividends for eternity.