Just in case you forgot...

Today is Maundy Thursday.
Tomorrow is Good Friday.
Saturday is a day of silence as we reflect upon Christ being in the tomb.
Sunday is Easter or Resurrection Day.

Don't forget. Don't ignore. Prepare. Remember. Celebrate.

For many weeks our family has been reading through Amon's Adventure during our family worship time. This week (Holy Week) we added in the DVD our pastor made many years ago to help us prepare our hearts for Easter. (We watch it every year.) Holy Week is a precious week for our family and my favorite week of the year. What are you doing to prepare your heart and the hearts of your children for this most Holy of Days?

Here are a few ideas that we do at our home:

Go to church tonight (Maundy Thursday) and celebrate the Lord's Supper or have your own Passover meal.

Lenten Lights (Our candles are pictured above - we start with all the candles lit and then one candle is blown out each night of Holy Week. On Friday the final candle is extinguished and the candles remain unlit or dark - Christ in the tomb - until Sunday morning. On Easter morning all the candles are lit before the children awake and then the rejoicing begins. Easter baskets are reserved until after we have had our Bible reading, have read the final chapter of Amon's Adventure, and watched the last day of the DVD. I also usually have the children dress for church before they are allowed to dig into their baskets. All of this usually takes place before 8:30 am. This year the order might change a bit as we are considering - or rather I am considering, I haven't discussed this with Mark yet - attending the 8:00 am service. We usually have family over after church so all of these activities have to take place before we leave for church in the morning.)

Read Amon's Adventure by Arnold Ytreeide (Last night's reading was so exciting!)

Read the corresponding Scripture passages nightly to your children and/or yourself.

Make these Resurrection Rolls (we will make these on Saturday morning since Sunday is much too busy; this will be our first year to try this recipe).

Get Noel Piper's book Treasuring God in Our Traditions and use some of her wonderful ideas for how to prepare and celebrate Easter.

For the older folk in your home - watch The Passion of the Christ.

And this egg hunt is a neat idea that I just heard about this year and hope to somehow implement into our Easter day celebration (we already celebrate with a large family gathering and egg hunt).

Go to church Easter morning and celebrate the Risen LORD!

I pray these ideas will get you excited and spark some ideas of your own. Leave a comment and share what you do to celebrate and prepare for Easter.

I pray that you all have a blessed, peaceful, and restful Easter. Remember the point of these ideas is not to get stressed. Family worship is not about being stressed. It should be a joy and a delight.