So last minute! But I came up with a great way to share Good Friday and a simple Seder with your kids!
If you don't know much about Seders, I think they were meant to pass down the story of the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt to the kids in the family. The kids would ask questions and the adults would tell the story. And Tenebrae services are often held by churches to mark the death of Christ and to emphasis darkness and light, despair and hope.
The questions are for the kid's to ask like in the traditional Seder. And the rest is the adults responses. I simplified everything by using the Message version of the Bible and some verses are really cut down for our little guys! You'll need a candle to represent Christ and juice and bread for the passover meal, too. So here you go! Hope someone else can use this, too!
Opening Question: How is this night different from every other?
Tonight we remember how Christ died on a cross to forgive us once and for all for our sins.
Why did Jesus come to earth?
God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to
the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!" – Luke 4
(Light Christ’s Candle. If you haven’t already have dinner as a family!)
How did Jesus spend his last meal on earth?
(Can take commune with the kids as you read.)
In the course of their meal, having taken and blessed the bread, he broke it and gave it to them. Then he said,
Take, this is my body.
Taking the chalice, he gave it to them, thanking God, and they all drank from it. He said,
This is my blood,
God's new covenant,
Poured out for many people. –Mark 14
Why did Jesus have to die?
It was our sins that did it to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him. – Isaiah 53
It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process.
Once sins are taken care of for good, there's no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them. –Hebrews 10
How did he die?
The soldiers brought Jesus to Golgotha, meaning "Skull Hill." They offered him a mild painkiller (wine mixed with myrrh), but he wouldn't take it. And they nailed him to the cross.
At noon the sky became extremely dark. The darkness lasted three hours. At three o'clock, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"
Then Jesus, with a loud cry, took his last breathe and died. –Mark 15
(Blow out the Christ candle)
What happened to his body?
A wealthy man from Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, arrived. His name was Joseph. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Pilate gave it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linens, put it in his own tomb, and rolled a large stone across the entrance. Then he went off.
--Matthew 27
(I think traditionally you end your Tenebrae service with silence and darkness.)
Love you friends!
Praying Christ comes into your lives and the lives of your kids in a real way!
