We could live our lives in gratitude for all that gives us life: rain, sun, earth, and every plant from moss to trees.

~ Donna Sinclair, The Spirituality of Gardening

Holy One,…
Awaken us to a wonder that issues in humility and drops us to our knees.
Transform our desire into a burning willingness to reconcile ourselves one with another,
to heal our relationship to other species, to see life as pure gift,
and to return with an offering of humility to your awaiting arms.

~ Bruce Sanguin, If Darwin Prayed

Recognize that the youngest children may not have heard the Easter story before, while older children, youth, and adults will probably know a composite version from the various gospel accounts. This year we focus on the story from John’s gospel and Mary of Magdala, as the first witness to the Jesus’ resurrection. Pray that the participants will experience the wonder and joy of this sacred story.

LEADERSHIP: The resources for this week are designed for all ages to come together to explore the story of Easter. Consider having a group of leaders (preferably a team other than those who offer weekly leadership) to plan and lead the sessions for this week.

• Invite one of the female youth or adult participants to be the storyteller for the engagement with the focus passage.
• Choose a variety of Respond activity zones (see “Responding” below) to meet the needs of the age range of the group. Detailed instructions are in your resources.
• Prepare a worship space with gold or white fabric.

• Access Spirit Sightings for connections between current events and the focus passage.

• Option: use the paraphrase “Mary of Magdala Sees Jesus” (p. 98) based on John 20:1-18 from the Lectionary Story Bible, Year A; or “Jesus Is Alive Again” (p. 100) based on Mark 16:1-8 from the Lectionary Story Bible, Year B; both available as mp3 and projectable art downloads)

Choose from the following activities:

• Art Zone: art mural paper, finger paints or tempera paints, paintbrushes, paint smocks
• Craft Zone: stones (some smooth), self-adhesive stickers (butterflies, chicks, flowers), fine-tipped permanent markers, acrylic paints and fine-tipped brushes, glitter
• Writing Zone: white paper cut into shapes (egg, butterfly, flower, see patterns in the Virtual Resource Booklet in the Library on the Seasons website), wide variety of coloured markers or pencil crayons
• Outreach Zone: copies of this week’s resource sheet “Butterfly Message,” construction paper, different colours of tissue paper (cut into small squares), clothespegs/pins, wooden chopsticks
• Bible Zone: make copies of the April 8 biblical background

• Poster “Person at the Window” (Salvador Dali): Look at the poster and imagine that this person is waiting for something. Invite participants to talk about what it is like to wait.
• Listen to the song “Alleluia, Praise to God/Aleluya Y’in Oluwa” (#20) on the Seasons Music CD, Volume 7 or available as an mp3 download.

April 15: 1st Sunday after Easter: Experience Resurrection

(Focus: John 20:19-31)

Faith in each of the readings for this week is always lived out in community. Our relationship with Christ cannot be separated from our relationship with each other. So this week as we explore what it means to experience the Resurrection as individuals we also explore what the Resurrection means for our lives together.

For SeasonsFUSION (which inspires worship in a setting for all ages) see the SeasonsFUSION blog and sign up to receive the SeasonsFUSION tip of the week.