Ideas for Observing Holy Week at Home

 

Prepare for Palm Sunday:

• Go by the church to pick up palms for your family. 

• Take videos and pictures of family members or take a selfie waving a palm branch and shouting “Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest.” Children may enjoy having a little parade around the house or yard. Send your videos and pictures to Tara to post on our Facebook page. We may also use some pictures for the worship recording.

• Prepare a worship space or table centerpiece using purple cloth (or purple Easter basket grass), a cross, palm branches, and a battery-operated candle. 

• Watch “Chuck Knows Church Palm Sunday.”

 

 

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

• View with your children and other family members. Invite everyone to name why Palm Sunday is important to them. Make crosses and palm branches (see Craft and Activity Instructions below).

 

On Palm Sunday:

• Gather around your worship space. Light the candle and read the story of Jesus’ triumphant entry (John 12:12-19). For small children, read from a children’s Bible or storybook. 

• Join in worship at 11:00 am via Youtube or Facebook. Wave palms during the first hymn. 

 

Prepare for Maundy Thursday:

• Change your worship space/centerpiece by removing the palm branches and adding a cup and plate representing communion and/or a bowl and towel representing foot washing. 

• Prepare your Agape (Love) Feast, commemorating the meals that Jesus often shared with others (see https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/2217/lent-host-an-agape-feast).

• Watch“Chuck Knows Church Maundy Thursday” and preview the video. View with your children and other family members. Invite everyone to name why Maundy Thursday is important to them.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

• Find ways to serve each other in your home anytime this week, but especially on Thursday, and look for opportunities to serve in your community.

 

On Maundy Thursday

• Gather around your worship space. Light the candle and read the story of the last supper from John’s gospel, which includes Jesus washing Peter’s feet (John 13:1-14; 34-35).

• Before the meal, talk about the meals Jesus shared with his followers: On this day (Maundy Thursday), Jesus had a special meal with his disciples. He knew that he would be arrested and wanted to share this meal with them before that happened. He wanted them to know how special they were to God and how much Jesus loved them. The word “maundy” comes from the word “commandment.” Maundy Thursday is the day we remember that Jesus gave us a new commandment to love one another. After his resurrection, Jesus found Peter on the beach, and they ate fish together. Jesus said to Peter, “Feed my sheep.” He meant that he wanted Peter and the other disciples to spread God’s love to everyone and take care of them. 

• Read aloud Scripture passages about meals or banquets: Luke 9:12-17, Luke 14:16-24, and John 6:25-35. 

• Near the end of the meal, talk to the children about how Jesus took simple food like bread and juice and made them unique. This is why we observe communion in the church.

• Wrap a towel around your waist, as Jesus did, and wash your children’s feet.

• Join in worship at 7:00 pm via Youtube or Facebook. 

 

Prepare for Good Friday:

• Good Friday often includes a Tenebrae, or service of darkness, in which several candles are extinguished to represent the death and burial of Jesus. Add several candles to your worship space.

• Change the cloth or grass from purple to black.

• Watch “Chuck Knows Church Good Friday.”  View with your children and other family members. Invite everyone to name why Good Friday is important to them. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

• Make a tomb from clay to add to the worship space/centerpiece. Close it with a flat stone (see Craft and Activity Instructions below). 

 

On Good Friday:

• If you did not join worship on Maundy Thursday, view the recording anytime on Good Friday, or join Facebook Live midday service on the church’s page.

• Gather around your worship space. Light candles (including the one in your centerpiece) and read Jesus’ passion (John 18:1-19:42). Use a child’s version with young children. After the reading, extinguish all candles and observe a moment of silence.

• Plan a dimly lit Good Friday dinner and leave the lights low all evening in observance of the death of Christ. 

 

Prepare for Easter Sunday:

• Early Sunday morning, before the children awake, change the worship space/centerpiece: change from black to white and add flowers. If you made the tomb, remove the stone from the entrance. 

• Watch “Chuck Knows Church Resurrection.” View with your children and other family members. Invite everyone to name why Easter/Resurrection Sunday is important to them.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

• Make hot cross buns. Find a recipe video on YouTube, search for “Hot Cross Buns easy recipe.” 

 

On Easter Sunday:

• Get up early to watch the sunrise or attend a virtual sunrise worship service.

• Go by the church to place flowers on the cross in the church yard. Send us a picture to post on Facebook. If someone is there, observe physical distancing by staying in your car until they have left.

• Celebrate with a special breakfast of hot cross buns. 

• Join in worship at 11:00 am via Youtube or Facebook. 

• Gather around your worship space. Light your candle representing the light of Christ and read together the story of Jesus’ resurrection (John 20:1-18). Use a child’s version with young children. 

• Resurrection fun activity (see Craft and Activity Instructions below).

 

​

Craft and Activity Instructions

 

Make Your Own Cross

Materials: 2 popsicle sticks or sticks from your yard, Twine, Modeling clay/Playdoh

 

Lay one stick horizontally across the other. Use the twine to tie the two sticks together. Make a mound of the clay to act as a stand for the cross. 

 

 

Make Your Own Palm Branch 

Materials: Green construction paper, Scissors, Glue, Plastic straw or stick from yard

 

Fold the paper in half length-wise. Cut the paper in the shape of half a palm branch, then cut slits toward the fold being careful not to cut through the fold. Unfold the paper and glue the straw/stick into the fold to make a stem. 

 

 

Make Your Own Tomb

Materials: Modeling clay or Playdoh, Flat stone or shell 

 

Mold the clay or Playdoh into an igloo shape. Make sure the entrance matches the size of the stone or shell you will use as a door. 

 

 

Resurrection Fun Activity

Materials: Three clear cups, Food coloring 2 paper towels

 

Fill the first cup with blue water. When Jesus died, his followers were blue with sadness. (Blue symbolizes Jesus’ death.)  Fill the third cup with yellow water. Fold two absorbent paper towels into fourths and connect the cups with paper towels. But on Sunday morning, they found he was alive! (Yellow symbolizes Jesus’ resurrection.) The colored water travels through the paper towels, filling the center cup with green water. Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us life! (Green symbolizes life for us.)