Easter Family Liturgy

Holy Week offers an astonishing array of human experience: celebration and shared meals, betrayal and loneliness, suffering and death, grief and guilt, sacred mystery, awe and wonder and joy beyond our capacity to explain. It’s the heart of our salvation history, the Christian journey through death to new life. I hope you and your children are able to take part in some of the services that follow Jesus through his Passion.

What I’ve chosen to offer here out of all this array are suggestions for sharing a simple celebratory “Festal Meal” for Easter, incorporating some of my earlier suggestions for the season.

First, prepare the table. An Easter table should have a profusion of flowers as a centerpiece. If you are lucky enough to have flowers already growing in your yard, invite the children to help pick some. Here in Maine, a recent snowstorm means we’ll be having a “white Easter” so no flowers of our own, but even the local grocery store offers rows and rows of colorful flowers, so you can take the children on a special trip to choose their favorites.

As a way of marking where everyone will sit at the table, use the decorated containers of wheat grass (from February16, 2013 post), topped with a colored egg (February 23). 

           

Put bells at each person’s place, and have a candle for an adult to light at the start of the meal.

If you have time to make hot cross buns (March 8), there’s a special time at the start of the meal to eat them, but any bread, rolls, biscuits, or other grain-based option would also be a fine accompaniment to singing “Now the Green Blade Rises” as part of the short family liturgy (see below).

Once you’ve prepared the table, it’s time to prepare the children by teaching them the appropriate responses and gestures that go with the prayers (see the meal itself);

·       Teach them when they respond, ”God was with them,” to stretch out their arms, palms up

·       Teach them when they respond, “God is with us,” to hug themselves by crossing their arms and putting their hands on opposite shoulders.

·       After each blessing, teach them to respond: “Amen.”

And if you haven’t yet taught them “Now the Green Blade Riseth” (February 16), consider doing so now, even if there’s only time to learn one verse. The children could then teach any grown-ups who haven’t yet learned it. If your children are old enough to read, you could even print out copies of the lyrics for everyone.

Feel free to simplify the liturgy as feels right for your family, even down to using just the blessings at the end. Any small good thing we do at home to nurture our children’s faith blesses them, and us.

Festal Meal Liturgy for Easter

An adult should light the candle and say: The Light of Christ.

Everyone:  Thanks be to God.

Adult:  Even when Jesus died on the cross and his disciples ran away because they were scared,

Children (with arms outstretched, palms up, demonstrated by an adult):  God was with them.

Adult:  Even when we are sad or scared,

Children (with arms crossed, hands on opposite shoulders as though hugging themselves, demonstrated by an adult): God is with us.

Adult:  When the women found the empty tomb on Easter morning and knew Jesus was alive,

Children (arms outstretched):  God was with them.

Adult: Whenever we are surprised by joy,

Children (arms crossed):  God is with us.

At this time, the adults should lead the children in ringing their bells to acknowledge and celebrate  Jesus’ Resurrection by making a joyful noise. Then all should join in singing “Now the Green Blade Riseth,” accompanied, if available, by tambourines and/or drum, or just the bellss. Afterwards would be an appropriate time to share the hot cross buns, reminding the children how the plain bread of sorrow became the sweet bread of Easter, or how grain is what’s used to make bread.  After a suitable amount of time for eating buns, an adult should ring a bell to recall the children to the liturgy.

Adult: As we share this Easter meal together,

Children (arms crossed):  God is with us.           

Adult:   And now may God the Creator bless us.

Children:  Amen.

Adult:  May God the Risen Son be our companion.

Children:  Amen.

Adult:  May God the Holy Spirit dwell within us.

Children:  Amen.

Everyone:  Thanks be to God!