Easter Sunday Cycle A

Easter Sunday Cycle A

Welcome children to their worship space.

Ask them to get their carpet squares and sit down in a circle.

Introduce yourself and your helpers.

Introduce

              Say:  Happy Easter!  What did you notice different about the church this week?  <music, white and gold decorations and vestments, flowers>  Are you excited today?  <let the children share a little about their morning>

Ask:  Can anyone tell me what we talked about last week?  <show symbol of the cross with the palm>  We talked about all the events that led up to Jesus’ death.  And we also remembered how much God forgives us!

Introduce symbol

Say:   Today’s symbol is a sun.

Ask: What do you know about the sun?  <it gives warmth, it gives light, we need it to live>

Say:  The sun comes up in the morning and makes all the dark of night go away.  In the same way, Jesus rose from the dead.  He left his tomb and became better than new.

Say:  Let’s look at today’s poster.  What does it say? <This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.>  This is our Responsorial Psalm for today.  The Responsorial Psalms also come from Scripture, from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament.

Introduce readings

We have two readings today.

Say:  Let’s light the candle to show that we are ready to listen to the Word of God.

Say: Today’s first reading is from the New Testament book called the Acts of the Apostles. (Acts 10:34a, 37-43)  We start a season today where the sequence of the readings changes a little.  Instead of having an Old Testament reading and a Gospel reading, we will have all New Testament readings through the Feast of Pentecost.  Today begins a time when we remember how difficult it was for the Apostles right after Jesus’ death and resurrection, how hard it was to build a new church.  In this reading from Acts, we hear St. Peter telling a man named Cornelius all about Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Listen closely and see if you hear anything new today.

Have the reader read the first reading.

Ask: Did you hear anything you might not have heard before?  <let the children share>  Were you surprised when Peter told Cornelius that Jesus ate and drank with his friends after he died and rose again?

Say: Now it is time for the Responsorial Psalm.  Your part is to say:

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

Say:  Today’s Gospel reading comes from the book of John.  (John 20:1-9).  St. John tells us about when Mary Magdalene went down to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning.  Let’s hear what he has to tell us.

Say:  Now we will stand and get ready to hear the Gospel

(hold up card)  Alleluia, Alleluia

Have the reader begin: “a reading from the holy gospel.....”

Read:  Read the Gospel

Ask:  What happened? <let the children retell what they heard> How do you think that Simon Peter felt?

Explain:  Jesus’ friends were still very sad when they came to his tomb that morning.  They must have been even more confused when his body was missing.  In the weeks that follow this one, Jesus appeared in flesh and blood to his friends several times.  They spent the weeks following Easter morning trying to understand the message Jesus had for them (and for us!)

Hand out the poster cut-outs of a yellow circle so that the children can write their names on them for the poster.

Hand out the symbols to color. (The symbol is a sun).  Ask the older children to write one thing they can do this week to share the warmth of Christ’s love with others.

Explain: Color this symbol of the sun and bring it to the altar (don’t forget to put your name on the back!)  to show that we have learned about the dying and rising of Jesus Christ and the promise he fulfilled for us.

If there is time, ask questions and go over the lessons one more time to help the children remember.

Give out stickers and hand-outs as they leave.

Cut small circles from yellow paper for the poster

Use this graphic to create the banner symbol - Use metallic gold or yellow to create the sun; Enlarge it for the Offertory coloring page

Parent Letter

Easter Sunday  A

Dear Parents,

              Today is the Feast of Easter.  The children listened to two of the same readings you did: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; John 20:1-9.

Symbol: sun

To reinforce at home:

The readings today talk about Jesus’ rising!  In Acts, Peter begins to tell others all about how Jesus died and rose again and then instructed the Apostles to spread the news.  In the Gospel of John, we learn all about what happened on Easter morning when Jesus’ tomb was discovered to be empty!

Activities to do at home:

*Celebrate!  Have a family party to celebrate the great news of our salvation!

*Think of one area of your life where you need to start over and make a resolution to do that.

*This week, evaluate your Lenten experience.  Is there anything you did together that you would like to continue?

Thank you for sharing your children!