|
Countdown to Easter, strengthening family spirituality
2008-03-21 09:45:38
By Simbiso Machine
Easter is a special day whereby families get together to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some people are not aware of the religious connotations of the Easter Holiday.
To them it\'s a just a long holiday when they do not go to their offices and can stay at home to either drink themselves close to death or do all those nasty things that they never had time to do.
The truth of the matter is that it is a very important holiday to all Christians all over the world. It is this time that we remember the sacrifice that our Lord Jesus made by dying on the cross to redeem us from our sins.
Should we just go out and drink ourselves to stupidity instead of taking time to worship and thank our Lord for the precious gift of life? Maybe, we need to sit down with our children and teach them the meaning of Easter.
We should ensure that they grow up informed about the origins and significance of the Easter Holiday.
We should not leave our children to get all the religious education from school. There may be religion and moral lessons in school but the greatest school is at home.
It is important to engage our children in religious dialogue and ensure that they grow up complete in terms of their religion.
We should take time to pray with our children. I have realized that most families do not pray with their children and some even go to the extent of not taking their children to church with them saying they do not understand anything about prayers so they are better off at home.
In the Bible Jesus actually said let the young children come to me when he saw someone sending them out of the temple. That itself is a clear indication that Jesus loves children and we should teach them to love him from the very tender age.
Let them understand that Jesus died for our sins but the good thing is that he underwent resurrection and conquered death
Define resurrection for your kids. Have an older child undertake a ``Bible hunt`` to identify people who died and were raised to life. In every case, who did the resurrecting?
Read Matthew 26:1-16, 47-56. Talk about your child\'s experiences of betrayal or disappointment in friendships. Imagine Jesus\' personal hurt at Judas`s treachery and the subsequent desertion of Christ\'s closest allies.
Explain repentance in terms of understanding God`s holiness and seeing yourself through his eyes. Emphasize God`s loving desire to redeem sinners and that this should lead Christians to forgive those who might wrong them in any way.
The name Good Friday probably evolved from the phrase \"God\'s Friday.`` Talk about why the day Christ died is ultimately very good-the best-because we all need a Saviour.
He died but we still find reason to celebrate because his death brought about our salvation and redemption from sin.
In other words Jesus gave up his life so that mankind could be redeemed so we should also inculcate a culture of sacrifice in our children. You could think of something that you can give up as a family during Easter time in order to help the needy.
For instance, as a family, you could eat a late breakfast and skip lunch on Saturdays during Lent or the period before Easter in simple terms. Give the money you save to a local organization that helps the poor or to your church\'s benevolent fund.
Lent is traditionally a season for ``giving up`` as a symbolic, outward act of identifying with Christ`s suffering. Your child may want to choose something to ``sacrifice`` for the 40 days of Lent; this could be trips to Azam for ice cream, Steers, after-school TV, or chocolate.
Last but not least, practise the traditional Easter greeting: ``Christ is risen!`` and the reply: ``He is risen indeed!`` with your children. I tell you will find all this rewarding and it will help your children to grow up upholding those Christian values that you so much believe in.
You might find it helpful to ask your children to do Bible reading in turns and instead of you interpreting the verses and preaching for them on a daily basis, make it a habit to give the young hearts the chance to choose, read and interpret a verse or verses to the rest of the family before retiring to bed daily.
Teach your children to pray before going to bed as well as before rising every morning so that they do not live like animals.
I hope you will all have a wonderful Easter holiday and that you will take stock of some of the things that you had started taking for granted. Remember Easter is a family time and so be nice to your family whether they are with you or away.
A phone call to say happy Easter might mean losing out on one Kili or two but you will gain a lot in terms of blessings and you will have put back the smile on your mom or dad and it might help reduce a few wrinkles on his/her ageing face.
firstmachine@coolgoose.com
|
