Easter for dummies

I've been trying to work out how to explain Easter to my 2 year old. When we went on an Easter egg hunt the other day he insisted on calling it an Easter bear hunt (can you guess what his favourite book is?). So we need to start with the basics and keep it simple!

I tried talking to him about Jesus taking our punishment the other day and thought I was using terms he would understand but he got distracted and quickly stopped listening. It dawned on me that I was still trying to go too deep and explain the "why" and "how" behind Easter when really he just needs to know the basic "what". I sat down and started to try to write about the events of Easter in its most basic form. Here's what I've got so far:

1. Jesus is God's son - I figured telling him who this Jesus bloke is was a good place to start
2. Jesus came to tell people about God - I could give a list of all Jesus came to do (preaching, healing, miracles, to forgive and rescue us etc etc) but this seemed like a simple way of summing that up.
3. Some people didn't like Jesus and wanted him to go away - I was going to put "and they killed him" but didn't want little J to think that killing people if you don't like them is a legitimate option haha
4. Jesus died on a cross - at a later date I can add that he did it to rescue us
5. Jesus came back to life - at a later date I can add that it was part of God's rescue plan to fix everything.
6. Jesus is in heaven now with his daddy and he can live in our hearts too if we ask him

So there we go, that's my toddler friendly Easter story. If you're looking for ideas for activities to do with little ones at Easter take a look at this post

Happy Easter!!!

Where are all the real men?...

At work the other day we were talking about the guys we see when going out clubbing and how many of them are wearing make up and pluck their eyebrows better than us ladies. With male role models like the cast of 'The only way is Essex' is it any wonder though? Plus as women fight for equality I can't help thinking we're stepping on guys toes and further blurring the lines of what makes a man, well......a man.

A member of my family recently changed his name to something more gender neutral as he says he doesn't feel particularly masculine or feminine.  Looking at today's culture I can totally see why someone might feel that way and looking at what society portrays as manhood I'm kinda glad he doesn't fit that mould.

It seems to me that most men today fall in to one of these two categories:

- very well groomed, in touch with their 'feminine' side, big softies and as a result get called gay regardless of whether they are or not.
- guys who are so worried about being called gay that they go to the other extreme - acting like thugs and having questionable personal hygiene.

I don't think either of these are what "real" men are supposed to be.

The media seems to tell everyone that real men don't cry, don't care about personal hygiene, don't talk about their problems, treat women like garbage and always solve things with their fists. When I read the Bible I see a very different picture of manhood and surely the God who created man should be the one who we look to for our definition of what true manhood is, not Hollywood?!

The Bible shows us men who aren't afraid to cry (John 11:35, Matthew 26:75) and men who have very close friendships with other guys without fear of being called gay (1 Samuel 18:1-3). I could sit here and give you a whole list of what the Bible has to say about manhood but that would be too easy for you - go look for yourself!

While researching this topic I came across some interesting articles about the question of manhood. This video challenges us about the damage our wrong message of manhood is doing to our boys. This article raises the issue of the disservice we do to our children, both boys and girls, when we avoid the question of gender altogether and try to treat male and female as interchangeable. For a whole sermon series on the subject go on over to Desiring God.

This article about "Peter Pan Syndrome" addresses a slightly different element of how manhood has gone wrong in today's society but gets right to the heart of it all when it says...

In short, to “act like men”, means, to act like the Man. We must see that we are being transformed into the very image of the God-Man, of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29). 

Are you a guy trying to work out what it means to be a man? Or are you someone confused about your gender or identity? Let me assure you that the only label that really defines you is not male/female/gay/straight/geek/jock etc etc - you are quite simply a child of God. If we all let our Father in heaven define us instead of the media and those around us the world would be a much less confusing place for us all!

Six on Sunday - Celebrating Jesus at Easter

Now that little J is able to at least partially understand what Easter is about, I've been trying to think of ways to celebrate and teach him about the meaning of Easter. I spent the week leading up to Easter scouring Pinterest for ideas and have come up with some real gems that I thought I'd share with you....

1. Passover Seder

I love the heart behind the Jewish Passover Seder - to teach the stories of God's goodness to future generations in a fun, visual and interactive way. A full on Jewish Passover Seder is a pretty big undertaking and probably beyond us for a good few years yet. We did however have a candlelight lamb dinner, drink grape juice and talk about God rescuing his people from Egypt and sending Jesus to rescue us. We also let little J stay up late to watch Prince of Egypt with us too. I really want for Easter to be a time that our kids see as special and exciting and there's nothing like getting to stay up past bedtime to get kids excited!

2. Easter baskets with meaning

Easter has become all about the chocolate eggs and kids have little or no idea what the meaning behind the eggs are. How about giving the kids an Easter basket filled with a variety of sugary treats that each clearly relate to part of the Easter story.  Here is a great example of an Easter basket with meaning.

3. Easter walk

When we were kids we would often go for a walk on a Sunday afternoon or on a Bank holiday. Why not take the kids on a walk and give them a scavenger hunt to do along the way with scripture verses as clues. For an example check out this site here. 

4. Resurrection Eggs

We have advent calendars to count down to Christmas so why not have some kind of countdown during Holy week? Resurrection eggs are just that. The idea is to fill plastic eggs with symbols that relate to part of the Easter story and each day you open an egg and read that part of the story. There are loads of possible variations on how to do them and you can easily tailor it to your kids ages. Here is one example and here is another that includes additional extension activities.

This year I didn't get organised in time to do a countdown to Easter so instead we adapted the idea to use as an egg hunt on Sunday afternoon. I cut up this Easter puzzle and hid the pieces inside plastic eggs along with some chocolate buttons. Little J had great fun hunting for them and when he was done we used the pictures to briefly tell the Easter story.

5. Resurrection rolls

This is a great easy recipe that I hope to introduce as a tradition for breakfast on Easter morning.

6. Easter story biscuits

This idea is pure genius and I'm gutted I didn't find it in time to try it this year. Every step of this recipe tells part of the Easter story and I know little J is gonna totally love seeing the result the next morning.

Hope you've found these ideas helpful. Happy Easter to you all!!

A new take on the 10 commandments?

I always used to think of the 10 commandments as a bunch of rules - a list of "do not"s. But a friend pointed out the other day that when the Bible says "thou shalt not...." it is not saying "you shouldn't" or "don't" but simply "you will not".

What difference does that make? Well a pretty huge difference actually. It turns the 10 commandments from a list of rules to a description of how God designed the world to be and how God promises it will be one day in the future. If you read the 10 commandments in that light it soon becomes clear that our world is not as God intends for it to be - it is broken and needs fixing!

I've often heard people talk about the 10 commandments in relation to personal sin - i.e I broke one of the rules therefore I must do something to fix it or else I will go to hell. If you read the rest of the Bible you will soon see that's not what it's about at all. The problem is so much bigger than just you or I. The problem is the whole world is broken and no amount of good deeds or "hail marys" from you or I can fix it. We need a rescuer!

The Bible is the story of that rescue plan. Right from the start it shows us clues about the rescuer who is coming (Jesus - in case you hadn't guessed) and it gives us a message of hope about how life will be once the rescue plan is complete. Right now we're still part way through the rescue plan. Jesus has completed step 1 (come to earth as a man, die a brutal death, come back to life after defeating death and show the world a glimpse of what new life will look like) and he's getting everything ready for the final phase (see John 14:1-3).

I don't know about you but I find watching the news pretty depressing as I hear about all the insane and evil things that people do to each other. How great it is to know that this isn't how the world is supposed to be!? The Bible tells us that God has a plan to fix it all. One day Jesus will return to create a new heaven and a new earth (see 2 Peter 3:13) and the 10 commandments tell us how things will be in that new creation - no more death, no more jealousy, no more stealing, no more cheating, no more lying (see Revelation 21:3-5). I can't wait to live in a world like that. How about you? How do we get to be included in this new creation? Simple - the new creation will be full of all those people who have become friends of Jesus and put their trust in Him.

The best thing we could ever do...

As parents we all have our different styles of parenting and different ideas about what to allow our kids to eat/watch/play/wear etc. We try to do our best to protect our children from things that could be potentially harmful in some way. I think, particularly as first time parents, it's easy to get tied up in knots worrying about what is safe for our kids.

Do we have enough smoke detectors/stair gates/fire guards in the house? Will he become obese if I feed on demand/let him snack between meals? Will he get skin cancer because I only used SPF 30 on him that one time? Will he have a low IQ because he watches trashy TV/ I didn't make him listen to classical music/ I forgot to take my folic acid once or twice during pregnancy? Will standing near the microwave give him brain damage? Perhaps I should only let him wear velcro fastening shoes so he won't trip over his laces and hit his head and die........

Today, it suddenly occurred to me that no matter how hard I try to protect J, he will never be invincible. I can smother him in sun cream to prevent skin cancer, teach him to look before crossing the road to avoid getting hit by a bus and make him eat only organic food in the hope it will make him extra healthy and live longer but the simple fact is that death is a part of life.  There is nothing we as parents can do to change that. Well......maybe there is one thing I could do....

The best thing I can possibly do for J is to introduce him to Jesus and pray that he will come to love and trust Jesus for himself. The Bible promises that "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) will not die but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) What a great gift to give to my child - to live in a loving relationship with his Maker that will continue for his whole life and on into eternity! Death will still be a part of his life but, by trusting in Jesus, death will not be the end of the story.

Has anyone ever introduced you to Jesus? If not, why not try reading a biography about him? There are four to choose from in the Bible written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Don't worry if you don't own a Bible - you can read online here. Investigate for yourself and see if you think Jesus is worth introducing your kids to. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Hidden treasures in unexpected places - part 4

Now we come to one of my favourite bits of Leviticus – the festivals! Each festival is a foreshadow of something yet to come. Check these out…             

Leviticus chapter 16 and 23

The day of Atonement (at-one-ment) - God and man as one. On the day of atonement you weren’t allowed to do any work. This shows us that being at one with God is not something we work for – Jesus has done the work for us. On this day a sin offering was given in the form of two goats. One goat is to act out the part of God and the other acts as the scapegoat. One goat dies as a sacrifice and the other goes free.

Leviticus 24

The year of Jubilee– an end to all debt and slavery and working the land. Even the land gets rest!  This shows us about God’s promised rest when Jesus returns and all that we have to look forward to. During the festival the priest (representing Jesus) goes into the Most Holy Place (representing heaven) and takes blood with him to cleanse even heaven itself. Heaven and earth are not separate dimensions – they are linked and part of the same creation.

Leviticus 23

Passover (now Good Friday) – a reminder of how we are redeemed through trusting in Jesus sacrifice. The unleavened bread was a sign of urgency in wanting to leave Egypt and escape judgement instead of wanting to remain in sin.

First fruits (now Easter) – to be celebrated in the Promised Land. It was a celebration of being brought into the promised land and also of the promised harvest to come. It was celebrated on the Sunday after Passover – that’s resurrection day! Harvest is all about a dead seed in the ground producing new life. Jesus died, was raised again and gives us new life if we put our trust in Him.

Festival of weeks – celebrated 50 days after Easter. Now we have Pentecost.

Festival of trumpets – see Exodus 19:13-20 God invites the people to meet with Him. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 tells us a trumpet will announce Jesus return.

Festival of tabernacles – everyone went camping as a reminder of their journey through the wilderness and testimony to the fact that we’re still on a journey and not yet in our permanent home. This earth is just temporary and Jesus eternal Kingdom is still to come.

Hidden treasures in unexpected places - part 3

Leviticus chapter 8 and Exodus chapter 28 both contain a really in depth description of what the priests wore. Why do I care what they wore?! What is this supposed to teach us?

Why did they have priests anyway? Well think of it this way. The priests are like actors about to put on a gospel show. Aaron as the high priest is acting the part of Jesus.  The priesthood teaches us about having someone do something on our behalf. As we learn about the priests we learn about what Christ has done for us. Keep that in mind as you read through Exodus and see how your view of the text changes.

Have a read through Exodus 28 and keep your eye out for the following:

The ephod – we’re told it’s made of the same stuff as the curtain in the tabernacle. This shows us that Jesus ‘clothed’ himself with the same stuff as us; He took on humanity.

The onyx stones – had the names of the tribes of Israel engraved on and the priest carried them over his heart. This represents the church and the priest carrying them with him wherever he goes. Christ is clothed with the church and He carries us with Him into the Father’s presence. Carrying us isn’t easy – those stones were pretty heavy! The weight of the stones is to represent the weight of sin which Jesus carried for us.

The breastpiece – also made of the same material as the curtain and had 12 precious stones on it to represent the 12 tribes of Israel. It was tightly fastened to the priest and in the same way we are firmly fastened to Jesus. He promises He will not lose anyone that the Father has given to Him (John 6:39)

Anointing oil – Priests were anointed with oil as a reminder of their reliance on the Holy Spirit. Also Jesus is the “Anointed One” who fully relies on the Holy Spirit. Aaron is given a wash and then anointed with oil. Jesus was washed in baptism and then anointed with the Holy Spirit. Psalm 133 describes how the oil the priests were anointed with overflowed onto the stones on the breastplate. Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit which overflows to His church.

Hidden treasures in unexpected places - part 2

In part one we looked at the meaning behind the tabernacle and how the pattern of the tabernacle is a pattern for creation.  In this post let’s take a look at Leviticus. It’s a book full of instructions about offerings and sacrifices. We don’t have to do this anymore so what relevance does it have? Have a read of Leviticus 1-7 and look out for the following:

Christianart.com

Burnt Offering (chapter 1) - this is killed, skinned and burnt up totally. It goes through the fire; fire symbolising God’s judgement. It is offered daily as a reminder of sin. You couldn’t go into the tabernacle without this offering. This shows us that we can’t enter God’s presence without going through judgement. The animal offered is a substitute – it goes through the fire instead of the sinful person. (Sound familiar?) The burnt offering is also a daily reminder of what was prophesied through Abraham about God providing a lamb for the burnt offering one day in the future on Mount Moriah (Jerusalem). When giving the sacrifice they put their hand on the animal as a sign of giving over their sin. We should lean on Jesus and hand our sin over to him.

Grain offering (chapter 2) – yeast free symbolises sin free, holy. Oil symbolises the Holy Spirit. Fine flour is crushed grain/seed. Seed also means offspring. Jesus is God’s offspring who was crushed for our sake. Some of the offering was burnt and some was kept to feed on. This offering tells us our salvation comes through Jesus suffering and obedience and reminds us to feed on him and draw strength from him.

Sin offering (chapter 4) – Blood is thrown all over the place for cleansing. This tells us about how sin defiles us. It’s not just us as people who need cleansing, all of creation needs cleansing. That is why there will be a new heavens and a new earth when Jesus returns.

Guilt offering (chapter 5) – this was not just about removing the feeling of guilt. Money is involved to show that there is a debt that we have incurred by our sin that needs to be paid. Because of Jesus our debt is cancelled.

Fellowship offering (chapter 7) – this offering was optional and was an offering that you were allowed to eat some of. It was like an invite to eat with God whenever you wanted and acts as a reminder of our future hope to be able to eat the wedding feast with God. This offering was covered in oil as a sign that the Holy Spirit also allows us to have fellowship with God. All the other sacrifices were about removing barriers to enable us to enjoy this fellowship with God. Do you have a desire to choose to spend time with God?

If you had an open invite to share a meal with God every day, would you?

 

Hidden treasures in unexpected places - part 1

There are certain books in the Bible that just seem really dull and make you wonder "Why is this in here? What's it got to do with me?"  The books of Exodus and Leviticus certainly fell into that catergory for me but all that changed when I heard some really great teaching on them earlier this year. I found the notes I took the other day and just had to share this stuff with you all. This will BLOW YOUR MIND and I'm sure these will become your new favourite books.

John 5:39-45 - Jesus says the books of Moses (ie Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) are all about Him. Really? What does the stuff about pigeons and goats and tents and men wearing fancy dresses have to do with Jesus?!

Exodus 24:18 - Moses spends 40 days up the top of the mountain with the Lord. What were they doing up there? Jesus was showing Moses the reality of the whole of creation and giving him instructions for how to build the tabernacle as a picture of creation. So all that crazy detailed description in Exodus about how the tabernacle was built and what goes where is actually really important. The order of the tabernacle teaches us about the order of creation. Have a read through Exodus 25 and look out for:

The Holy Place – represents earth

The Most Holy Place – represents heaven. There is a curtain between the holy place and most holy place to represent the divide between heaven and earth.

The Ark of the Covenant – the place where God is enthroned between the cherubim and meets with us.  Represents God the Father enthroned in heaven.

The Table – The bread of the presence sits on here. Represents Jesus who is described elsewhere as the ‘bread of life’ (John 6:48) and who is present with us through all of history. He was around on earth from the beginning, not just from the incarnation!

The Lampstand - represents the Holy Spirit. The Spirit illuminates Jesus in an otherwise dark place.

The altar of incense - represents the prayers of the saints (that’s us followers of Jesus).  The altar is right in the middle of the whole tabernacle showing that we are at the centre of God’s creation.

Notice that the Ark, the Table and the Lampstand were all made before the tent itself was made. This shows us that the Trinity existed before the creation of the heavens and the earth.

Look at the description of the layers of the tent. The colours are not just random. White represents purity; blue represents God’s faithfulness; red represents sacrifice; and purple symbolises royalty. There is a curtain separating the Holy Place (earth) from the Most Holy Place (heaven) and on the curtain are two cherubim. Where else in the Bible do we read about two guardian cherubim? Check out Genesis 3:24. God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and placed cherubim there to keep them out. They were banished to the East. God’s presence is therefore in the West. In the tabernacle the Holy Place (earth) is in the East and the Most Holy Place (heaven) is in the West.

I think that’s enough insight for one day but more to follow shortly. Next blog post I’ll be looking at the hidden message behind the long boring descriptions of offerings and sacrifices.