Easter Sunday B

Easter Sunday Cycle B

***before Easter, decorate the worship space with flowers to go with all the leaves we have been collecting.***

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 symbol

Say:   Today’s symbol is a flower & butterfly. Why do you think that these two things might be good symbols for today’s celebration?  <discuss>  Flowers come from dead-looking seeds and butterflies come from dead-looking cocoons -–both signs of the fulfillment of promises.  What promise do we celebrate today?  <the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation to us – Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Ask:  Does anyone remember what we have celebrated in the last few days?  <Holy Thursday – the last supper, the first shared communion, Good Friday – the death of Jesus, veneration of the Cross>  And what do we celebrate this morning?  <the discovery that the tomb was empty, Jesus’ rising from the dead>  How do you think that Jesus’ friends felt?  <confused, excited, scared>

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)  It is a story that the Apostle Peter wrote to tell about what happened to Jesus.  Do you remember who the Apostles were?  <special friends of Jesus>  Jesus trusted them to share his special message of love.

Have the reader read the first reading.

Ask: If you were a child listening to Peter tell this story, how do you think you might have felt? <let the children share their feelings>

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).  This reading tells us the story of how Jesus’ friends discover that his tomb was empty.  Pretend that we are back there in Jerusalem.  We know that our friend Jesus was killed a couple of days ago and we are very sad.  Let’s listen closely to try and understand what our friend Jesus was trying to show us.

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

(hold up card)  Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Read:  Read the Gospel

Ask:  What do you think?  What would you think if you were one of the friends who discovered that Jesus’ body was missing?

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 flower so that the children can write their names on them for the poster.

Hand out the symbols to color. (The symbol is a flower and butterfly).

Explain: Color this symbol of the flower and butterfly 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.

Use this graphic for the small poster symbol.  Cut out in a light color.

Use this graphic for the mid-sized brightly colored banner symbol - using construction paper and pipe cleaners for the antennae - and also for the full-sized Offertory coloring sheet

 

Parent Letter 

Easter Sunday  B

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: flower & butterfly

To reinforce at home:

The readings today tell us 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.  And in John, we learn all about what happened on Easter morning.

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 start over.

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

Thank you for sharing your children!