Expecting Easter: Burying Sin

This past Sunday...

 ...I brought my

Hill of Calvary garden

to use during our

communion time at Children's Church.

(To learn how to make your own

Hill of Calvary garden,

just click HERE...)

***

At our church,

we participate in communion every week,

with homemade unleavened bread and grape juice.

Once a child makes the personal decision to 

follow Jesus,

and is baptized,

he/she may participate in communion

with all of the other disciples.

(If you are curious about what communion is,

just go HERE...)

***

Since we participate weekly in communion,

I try to give different object lessons

to ready the kiddos' hearts and minds

before taking the Lord's Supper.

 I showed the kiddos my garden

and discussed its elements:

the hill, the crosses, and the tomb.

Then I read the following passage of scripture:

The Burial of Jesus

(Matthew 27: 57-61)

57 As evening approached,

there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph,

who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.

58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body,

and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.

59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.

He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb

and went away.

61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary

were sitting there opposite the tomb.

I then talked about how when Jesus was buried,

so were our sins.

His sacrifice, and then his resurrection,

made our reconciliation with God possible.

I then passed out paper and markers...

...and gave the kiddos a personal opportunity

to bury their sin.

They were to either write down or draw a picture

of something they struggle with-

and to NOT place their name on it,

since I wanted this to be a 

personal experience between them and God.

Yesterday afternoon,

I went through their confessions,

and I must say,

I was deeply touched.

Some confessions were "common"-

apparently several of them struggle with

their sister relationships.

 Some of their confessions related to

their behavior at school...

...and personal habits.  

:0)

And then there were

the confessions that got me in the gut...

***

But this last one really hits it home

for all of us, I believe...

If we spend more time with our Savior,

surely we will become more like him.

And to be more like our Savior-

our Redeemer,

our Father,

our Friend-

isn't that what life is all about?

***

After the kiddos buried their sins in the tomb...

...and the "stone" sealed it shut,

they went to take the Lord's Supper.

And they could dwell on the lovely sacrifice Jesus

made for us all-

so our sins could be buried in the tomb.

Amen!!!