The Black and White of Easter At Our Christian School

Grade 4/5 Easter Art

As a small child my father used to share Bible stories from a children’s Bible. I can still picture that Bible which held a prominent position at mealtimes and bed-time rituals for many years. Since I was too young to be able to understand the stories as they were written, by father allowed me to pick the story that I would like to hear based on the dramatic black and white sketches that were found throughout the two-volume set. With words and details suitable for my very young understanding, I heard my own version of the mighty acts of God that matched the drawings I paged through on my own before I could read.

I recall asking several times for the story that matched a full two-page spread of a dramatic scene of the anguish of the dark day at Golgotha that we mark during this Holy Week. In gentle ways, my father told me that story was so big and so immense that I was not old enough to understand it completely; what I needed to know was that God loved me immensely and that I would learn as I got older just how much more he loved me specifically.

How do you bring the harsh reality of Good Friday and the abundant joy of Easter Sunday to a young learner? We do so by making the journey back year after year to sustain and grow our faith. We tell the stories and sing of the love of Christ-crucified. We speak of why the sacrifice was necessary and what salvation achieved for us. Classroom teachers throughout LCES will be busy with that task this week in ways that are well-suited to the stage of faith formation their students are at. No matter if we are seven or seventy-seven, we circle back to the cross to reconnect anew to the “old, old story of Jesus and His love.”

We pray that the joy of Easter and the gift of true life before our resurrected Savior will be a blessing in your household. Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!                                                                       SJ