We just entered the season of Lent this week, but it’s never too early to start thinking about Easter!

Kathy Foster and I will be using Easter curriculum created by Meredith Miller. She has developed lessons around 5 key questions that are hard concepts for kids to understand when it comes to Easter. Each week, we will tell the Easter story but also focus on these questions and allow kids to ask their own questions without pat (or downright scary) answers.

Meredith writes a Substack newsletter called Kids + Faith and I'm repurposing her recent post about the 5 questions. Here I'll share about two of the questions and next week, finish with the other three.

Read on...

Kids + Faith / Meredith Miller

Hello! I'm SO EXCITED about today's newsletter. While I'm not a kids pastor anymore, I still share a sentiment from that time: it’s never too early to start thinking about Easter!

Everyone is thrilled think about Christmas. Twinkle lights! Babies! It’s all good. Then Easter hits. Violence! Fancy theological jargon about what it means! Less good.

Add to that how many of us were given a heap of theological assertions that we were told are the way to understand Easter. Then we tell kids those answers.

Here are the 5 key questions and the answers I hear over and over and over, from Easter lessons to Kids Bible stories.

1: What is Easter?

Easter is when Jesus died for our sins.

2: Why did Jesus come?

Jesus came to die because people had sinned and were separated from God.

3: Why did Jesus die?

Jesus died for our sins.

4: What does Easter mean for me?

You can accept Jesus as your savior and invite him to live in your heart.

5: How did Jesus’ resurrection help?

Jesus took the punishment we deserved for our sins by suffering on the cross.

Look, I know it’s possible these are the only answers you’ve heard. And I’m not saying they’re wholly untrue or all bad (except #5—that’s both bad and untrue—we’ll get there).

But these answers often miss the point, they overlook something more important, or they give kids a conclusion instead of inviting them into a conversation.

Let's take each question one at a time, and I'll offer what I think is a better way to answer these questions with kids.

Sometimes it’s because of the substance of the answer. Sometimes it’s because of being as understandable to real human children as we can. Sometimes it’s both.

1: What is Easter?

TRY THIS: Easter is when we celebrate that Jesus is alive!

INSTEAD OF: Easter is when we celebrate that Jesus died for our sins.

BECAUSE:

Good Friday and Easter are two stories--tell them as such. And, Easter is the only one of the two that stands on its own. Good Friday only makes sense, and only means anything, in light of the Resurrection. Jesus being alive matters no matter what. So let’s start with the meaning of Jesus’ new life.
On a related note: Good Friday details are for older ages. The story of Jesus’ death is heavy, hard, confusing, disturbing. It requires understanding the evil that comes when people idolize power and violence. It’s steeped in injustice and fear. A kid needs to be older to understand what is going on in it, both because of their emotional maturity and because having a firm foundation in God’s goodness and life are necessary before Jesus’ death can make sense.
Jesus’ Resurrection is the most important part of the story. Good people and failed Messiahs were murdered by Rome all the time. The only reason the story of Jesus matters is that he is the only one God brought to life again. It’s the Resurrection, according to the whole New Testament, that changed everything. It’s the thing to celebrate. God’s dream is for life to explode throughout the whole earth; Jesus being alive is the key to it all.

2: Why did Jesus come?

TRY THIS: Jesus came to show us what God is like and say the time had come for God to make all things good. He called it a kingdom, like a place where God was the good king and everything is just as good and lovely as God is.
INSTEAD OF: Jesus came to die because people had sinned and were separated from God.

BECAUSE:

Sin doesn’t separate us from God. We know this because God: directly talks to Abraham, wrestles with Jacob, talks again to Moses, leads Israel in a column of fire and cloud, dwells with the people in the tabernacle and then the temple, and, oh yeah, becomes human and lives among humans for 30+ years. Sin affects us. Sin harms the good creation God created. Sin makes God sad and mad and heartbroken. And even so, God is like the father who watches for his lost son to come home every day, runs to him, and throws a party at his return without the son saying a word. God is like a shepherd who searches for the lost sheep and brings it home. I’m pretty sure the sheep didn’t “pray the prayer” before the shepherd loaded it on his shoulders for the return trip.
The phrase “came to die” often causes us to lose sight of Jesus’ life. Jesus didn’t just come to die. He came to live, and in his life he showed us the character of the God we trust and love and follow. A God who cares for the widow and the orphan, the sick and the marginalized, the broken hearted and the lonely. A God who heals us and gives us life. A God of joy and abundance. A God of justice. Jesus came so that we might see the heart of God in the way Jesus lived, not just how he died.

More next week...we will look at questions 3-5.

We hope Meredith's work will guide your family's journey through Lent to Easter this year. Let us know what you discover.