Easter Explanations

This is another little mention of a "positive proclamation" - how do we take our "doctrine" and "what we believe" and "make it sing" for the generation and people we are seeking to reach.

Yesterday we had our annual "Good Friday for Kids" service. We find that providing a specific children-focussed event on Good Friday afternoon is worthwhile. There are a lot of people who are going away for the Easter break but who want to bring their kids to something "spiritual." There is teaching and interaction with the kids, and we top it off with a shared meal of fish and chips - and so it is a community-building and relationship-forming time as well.

Of course, the age-old problem is "how do you explain the cross to pre-schoolers"? There's a lot of ways that I find unsatisfactory: The "Jesus will get you into heaven" method - which explains the outcome of the cross but not it's reason. And there's the "Jesus rose again just like little lambs and so God loves you" method - which engenders, perhaps, the right feelings and thoughts of trusting in God because of Jesus - but doesn't really get to the facts of the cross - especially the fact that Jesus had to die.

So, for what it's worth, here is the text of my attempt that we used last night. It latches onto the truth of how the substitutionary nature of the cross can be accessed through an understanding of Christ "representing" us. A fuller study of this (another blog! [Now done and available]) would pick up on what it means for the act of atonement for us to be "in" Christ as opposed to being "in" Adam (Romans 5), and also the incarnational impetus of what it means for the act of atonement for Christ to count himself as one of us, a perfect person including himself in sinful humanity.

That's for another day - the text below used lots of pictures and animations on the screen (including the trike shown at top - named "bike man" by the children). For your thoughts and comments:

When I was little I used to have an old tricycle. It wasn't one of these teeny tiny ones. It was a big one with blow-up tyres and proper brakes.

And even though I was little, I was still old enough to ride my tricycle around the quiet streets near my house and up to my friend Marcus' house.

One day I was riding home after playing with Marcus and his slot-car tracks. I was looking down at the pedals and not watching where I was going.

What do you think happened? (Animation of crash on screen)

That's right! I crashed into the back of a parked car.

How do you think I felt?

I felt bad. I felt wrong. I felt guilty. I had done something wrong.

Has anyone felt like that?

I also felt scared – what would the owner of the car think?

What do you think I did?

I went and got my mummy.

And what did my mum do? She TOOK RESPONSIBILITY for me.

She found the owner of the car and she talked to him.

I don't know what she did – but I guess she might have paid for the damage. And I guess she said sorry – because I was her responsibility.

And then, when she had finished, she picked up my tricycle and we went home, and she said - “It's OK. I've paid for it. Everything is fine."

Now, we've already heard that Easter is all about Jesus. And we know that Jesus died on the cross and rose again – but why did he do that?

Well, the story about my tricycle and my mum, tell us something.

When I crashed my tricycle I felt bad. I knew I had done the wrong thing. And my mum took responsibility for me.

When we look at the cross, what Jesus is saying is “I'm taking responsibility for everybody who believes in me – and everything that they've done wrong.”

Because, we know that's not just about bike accidents. Everyone of us does things that we now are wrong. And we feel just as yucky on the inside.

And just like my mum didn't leave me on the road to try and pay for the damage to the car – Jesus doesn't leave us, feeling yucky, and knowing we've done the wrong thing but not being able to do anything about it.

When Jesus dies on the cross, Jesus is saying – I'm going to take responsibility for all the bad things in the world – and I'm going to the pay the price – even if it means having to die.

And so we know that Jesus died – to take our bad things and make them right.

Can you remember my story? What happened after my mum had paid for the damage – did it work, was it OK? Yes it was?

Well it's the same. After Jesus died, they put his body in a grave. And three days later, he rose again.

He was dead, and now he was alive.

And it's like God was saying “It's OK, the price has been paid. The bad things have been fixed. Everything will be OK.”