Jesus died for us
Mark 14:32-42 - Gethsemane
If you are meeting early in the day, ask everyone to look in their bag and find today’s activity. Today, they will make a shield, and decorate it using words from the Bible passage on the card, which is Psalm 30:20-22. Read the verses together.
If you are meeting at the start of the day, ask:
- What will your shield look like?
- What words will you choose from the Bible passage to put on it?
- How do you think God might be like a shield?
If you are meeting later in the day, ask:
- How did you get on making your shields?
- Does anyone have one finished that they can show everyone else?
- What words from the Bible passage did you choose to put on the shield?
Explain that while we are all together online today, we are going to think about a story from the Bible from the night before Jesus died. He is very sad and wants to be with his friends and his Father God.
Tell the story by sharing “A Tale of Two Gardens”. You can do this either with the PowerPoint slides or the video (that has narration). Both are available in the Downloads box below.
Put the image of the “cup of suffering” from the Powerpoint (slide 5).
Ask everybody to wonder about what the suffering was that Jesus wanted God to take away from him. Once people have chatted about this together, say how horrible it was for Jesus knowing that tomorrow he was going to die. But say that Jesus asked God to do what needed to be done.
Ask everyone to get a piece of A4 paper and go through following steps:
- Lay the paper flat in portrait layout
- Write 4 words that describe what you think is wrong with the world today, one in each corner of the paper
- Fold the top left hand corner of the paper into the middle
- Fold the top right hand corner of the paper into the middle
- Turn over the paper
- Fold the paper in half
- Fold the paper in half again
- Rip gently from the thinner end of the paper straight down to the bottom
- Open up the paper to reveal the cross, the things that you wrote are gone!
Ask:
- Does this help us understand why Jesus had to die on the cross?
- What does us this show us was going on?
Chat about how Jesus dying is the way that we can be forgiven for all the things we do and say that are wrong. It is the way that we can be friends with God and be with him forever. This is what needed to be done. It is why Jesus was so sad in our story.
Ask everybody to take the paper cross that they have made and to decorate it to make it look beautiful. They could add words, colours or pictures. Give plenty of time for this and then invite everyone to show what they have created.
Talk about how the cross is a horrible thing but when Jesus died on it he was showing us how much he loves us. Explain that this is why the cross become the symbol of Christianity. It is very important. Suggest that they could add a cross on to their shield they have, or will make, at home today. Say that because of the cross we can “put our hope in God!” (just like our reading from Psalm 33 today asks us to do)
Pray this prayer together:
Thank you, Lord Jesus that you died on the cross for us.
Help us to say thank you and to love you because you love us so much.
AMEN
Say goodbye to everyone and look forward to seeing them tomorrow.
