On Wednesday 3rd April all the Junior children enjoyed at ‘Easter experience’ at Dinton church, helped Rev. Phil and Rev. Richard and many kind people from the local churches. When we arrived at the church we visited seven stations, so we could experience the journey of Jesus from Palm Sunday, to Easter day.
Palm Sunday
Mrs Sampson helped us learn about when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. We took part in a play, with someone being Jesus riding on the donkey (rocking horse), we waved actual palm leaves in-front of the rocking horse and shouted ‘allijuha”, then we lay our coats down before the donkey so it wouldn’t get dirty feet. We thought about how Jesus might have felt receiving this praise. To finish we wrote our own personal hopes and dreams on large smooth stones. We took these home.
Foot washing
To show a sign of respect for our friends we washed their feet, and the next person in the circle dried their feet. This showed us that no matter how important people think they sometimes are, we are all equal before God. Jesus washed his disciples feet, a symbol of his humility and servanthood.
The Last Supper
This took place upstairs in the bell tower, which was quite exciting with mats on the floor and candles lit. Phil told the story of the last supper. He broke the bread, which represents Jesus’s body; next poured the wine, which represents Jesus’s blood. We swapped bread with friends, saying “eat bread”.
The Garden of Gethsemane
We sat in a sung garden with trees and wood. Mr Sampson told us the story of the garden and Jesus praying there. We handled small balls of clay, we felt the clay and described all our negative thoughts, we then squished the clay and all our negative thoughts away. The clay was modelled into a shape to make us happy, many children made animals.
The Crucifixion
Richard told us the sad story of Jesus’s death on the cross. We looked at different objects to represent the crucification: a crown of thorns, vinegar on a sponge, dice, a cloak, ropes and red ribbons to represent Jesus’s blood. We held the ribbons in a circle and prayed for people who are suffering currently.
The Resurrection
In front of the alter was Jesus’s tomb, with a large rock rolled away to the side. Peeping inside we saw candles and Jesus’s robes. Precious talked about the meaning of Easter Eggs and her own family traditions: Ripping off the wrapper symbolises getting rid of sins; cracking the egg is Jesus coming out of the tomb; tasting the sweetness of the chocolate represents Jesus bringing joy and being alive in us.
An Easter Garden
Creating an Easter garden helped us to understand the final part of the Easter story and celebrate new growth and hope in the Springtime. We were lucky to have a variety of different natural materials: moss, soil, foliage; personally I liked picking out the flowers to place in the garden and making the cross was fun, but quite fiddly!
