Saturday, February 23, 2008

Sharing the Easter Faith with Children - Carolyn Brown


(pub by Abingdon Press - click photo for link)


Yes, I'm on a roll. This is another on my Ever-Changing 2008 Reading List.

Sharing the Easter Faith with Children is divided into 4 parts: Telling the Easter Story to Children, Keeping Lent and Easter with the Congregation and Family, Study Session for Parents, Teachers, and Worship Committees, and Easter Resources for Children and Their Adults.

This book is a treasure trove for ME - I think it may be for others, as well. I am excited about this book because it contains SERVICES for children - that can be used at home, in Sunday School, Children Worship or even at special celebrations. There are services for Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. These are services that I think would clearly communicate to CHILDREN. They are unique and fun from a Palm Sunday Parade (different stations and such) to several suggestions for a Tenebrae service. I plan to do several of these activities either at home or at the chapel.

The author began with explaining how Easter often is jumbled in a child's mind because parents aren't sure how to deal with topics such as betrayal, crucifixion, death and resurrection with their children. Many children hear the hoopla of Palm Sunday - and then Easter Sunday the excitement of Resurrection, but they know nothing of the Passion of Christ and are left wondering what all the excitement is about. This is just what I had been feeling was going on for our younger children.
A chart is presented that SHOWS which parts of the Easter story various ages can understand from Birth - 12. They idea is to share the Easter Season at each maturity level. For each age level, she suggests the heart of the Easter message for that age, the most significant Bible stories, themes and activities for that age, key Easter words to learn and meaningful activities for that age level. This will help parents who worry about over-exposing children to death at a young age. I found this chart to be helpful as I often tend to overwhelm our youngest two with info that our youth can understand. For instance at Stacia's age (18 - 36 months) the author suggests the heart of Easter would be "Jesus is Alive,"  most significant stories to focus on are Palm Sunday and Jesus is Alive, terms would be Easter, Hosanna, Alleluia, suggested activities are waving palm fronds, opening surprise eggs (Resurrection eggs), hearing Easter music and experiencing forgiveness. The authors' focus is in allowing our children to learn more each year - always keeping their age in mind as you share.
I'm also excited about the Devotional book that you can make for your children/students. Pages are included to copy along with items to purchase for the students to attach as the week goes by. We will do this at home and may do it at chapel too on Palm Sunday.
There are lessons to share with those who work with children - themes and suggestions on how to deal with difficult topics in a way that is age-appropriate.
There are also pages of book suggestions in the appendix. Some are from the early 90's, but I think most are available. I will take this list to the library with me next week.
At this point this is my favorite find.Photobucket

6 comments:

Jen said...

This sounds like a great resource to add to my library. Will look into it! Thanks for the review.

Jen said...

Oh, and stop saying "early 90's" like that is ancient history. I know it was a long time ago, but I hate being reminded that the 90's are long gone! It just doesn't seem right! LOL

Romany said...

Sounds like a useful resource for churches too!

Kristine said...

Great post, and it's easy to see how Easter can be jumbled. It's important for children to understand His crucifixion and resurrection in the context of history, to understand what was going on at the time.

Kristine

Anonymous said...

Sis:

Sounds like a super book.

l/p

Mom T

Cynthia said...

You sure have been busy writing book reviews. I've read the entire Firstborn series by Kinsbury since the last time I blogged. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that series! I have the 2nd book in the Sunrise series checked out and ready to take on vacation with me along with the 911 2 book series she wrote.