Palm Sunday: A Rehearsal for a future celebration!

 

    One of the reasons I love celebrating Palm Sunday with my children is that it is a picture to them (and to me) of Revelation 7:9-10. Today is just a small picture... a rehearsal where we will One day, we will raise palm branches and with full understanding praise God with loud voices!

      "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

  Here are the Psalm readings for this week. We are going to go through a group of Psalms which will lead to Psalm 119.  Keep Jesus and the cross in mind as you read this week.

• Sunday morning: Psalm 105 / Sunday evening: Psalm 106
• Monday morning: Psalm 107 / Monday Evening: Psalm 108
• Tuesday morning: Psalm 109 / Tuesday evening: Psalm 110
• Wednesday morning: Psalm 111 / Wednesday evening: Psalm 112
• Thursday morning: Psalm 113 / Thursday evening: Psalm 114
• Friday morning: Psalm 115 / Friday evening: Psalm 116
• Saturday morning: Psalm 117 / Saturday evening: Psalm 118

Resurrection Sunday: Psalm 119

Even if you have littles, God's Word is powerful and can work in their lives. I am an eyewitness to this in my own children's lives! Even if you have to break up the readings, let them hear and see these beautiful words. Maybe read during a meal or at bedtime. 

     Much of what can distract us has been taken away in the past year - good things - family, activities, food, parades, crafts, even preparing for church with rehearsals... No matter what you do or do not celebrate during this holy week, remember Jesus. Make Scripture a priority each day.  Help your children strengthen their faith this week.

     There are several activities you can do with your children this week. I will post some ideas for you. We will be using our felt banner from last year and will be making a symbol to remember the story for each day. Below are some ideas for reading.

The Biggest Story: Chapter 1 (17-29)

Memory passage: Matthew 28:1-10 - I am going to begin reviewing the Resurrection passage with my children. We learned the story from Matthew, but you could also work any of the other Gospels. 

Songs for meditation: So many to pick from today. We are going to sing many of these and focus on Jesus as our King. Hosanna, Loud Hosanna, All Glory Laud and Honor, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, Crown Him with many Crowns, and Rejoice the Lord is King (a different tune, but beautiful!)

Activity: Make a felt banner like this one, or just make a palm branch and donkey and put it up on the wall. This is a Catholic site (fyi) but for you who might want to do hand prints for each day, these are good. Coloring pages that might be good for your little ones. These are just a few things. There are many wonderful ideas out there! 

Meditation: Revelation 17:14

Another thing you could do this week is to go through the "I Am" statements in John with your children each day. This is what I plan on doing with my children this year. You can read the narrative surrounding each of the statements and tie in what each statement means for us now and for eternity. It is a great springboard to the Gospel for your children.

Monday - 1. I Am the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 48, 51)

Our "I Am" statement for today/Monday is found in John 6 - I am the bread of Life. Talk with your children about why you need to eat every day. Tell them how Jesus fulfills all of our needs by being the Bread of Life. Take them to the last supper where He states that His body will be broken for us and that we are to take and eat and remember His sacrifice. Take them to Revelation where we will one day have a FEAST with the Lamb of God. Our symbol for today is a loaf of bread. You could draw one and color it and tape it up on a wall or hang it on a tree as an ornament like we do at Christmas. Each day, take time to pray and thank God for sending Jesus, the Bread of Life to us.