EXPERIENCE EASTER. a time for reflection in a busy world

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1 EXPERIENCE EASTER a time for reflection in a busy world

2 Hundreds Experience Easter in Abingdon Nearly 300 children and 50 adults visited the Easter Experience in Trinity Church, Abingdon. The church was transformed into a new Jerusalem, with six tableaux surrounding a huge labyrinth. Storytellers from many Abingdon churches recounted excerpts from the Easter story to small groups of primary school children and their staff. Children and adults then joined in reflective activities that explored the relevance of Easter to their own lives. During the two days of Experience Easter, the tableaux settings themselves became metaphors of the Easter message. Gethsemane started out as a dark, bare corner, but slowly beautiful little creatures and plants crept into the garden. The children had been asked to imagine they could roll up nasty feelings they had felt into balls of modelling clay, then work them into something better. The Methodist Recorder April 15 th 2010

3 Since our first Experience Easter, the event has become an established part of the Primary-school calendar. Over 2000 children and 500 adults have travelled the journey with us.

4 e are going on a journey to a place far away & long ago. repare for your journey, shut your eyes listen to all the noises around you gine you are travelling far away, leaving all those noises behind sten to all the noises inside you breathing, your heart beating y take a deep breath out very slowly. let it out, imagine you re travelling on, leaving everything behind. arrived. Everything is new & exciting. uietly open your eyes.

5 Did the people get the sort of king they were expecting? Sometimes we have dreams that don t work out, but better things happen instead. Try & think of something you d like to happen Draw or write something on your cross that symbolises your hope. Take it with you, or leave it at the end of the road.

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7 Yours are the only hands with which he can do his work. Yours are the only feet with which he can go about the world Christ has no body now but yours.

8 Every Springtime, the Jews remember how they escaped from slavery by celebrating a special Passover meal like this. Jesus & his friends met for this meal just before he was arrested.

9 Gethsemane Jesus says Remember all the things I have told you. Don t be upset or afraid. My parting gift is a feeling of peace deep inside you. Jesus knew God was with him when He was frightened in the Garden. Now imagine you could roll up all your horrid feelings into the clay. If we work at it, the clay gets easier to manage and we can turn the horrible feelings into something better.

10 One of the most dreaded punishments that the Roman generals thought up was crucifixion, where people were hung up on a big wooden cross & left to die. That s how they dealt with Jesus.

11 See if you can think of anyone who is suffering. They may be ill, or lonely - perhaps getting bullied. Choose a bead to represent that person. As you slide the bead onto the cord, imagine you re giving them a hug. Jesus, you know what suffering is like. Show us how to help people & to let them know they are loved. Amen

12 At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn't find the body of their Master, Jesus.

13 There were some truly precious moments as the children thought about Jesus friends feelings. The best was God smackt which just sums it all up God hitting us with the truth!

14 I liked the labyrinth, because it got me thinking Jamie, Thomas Reade School

15 2016 will be our seventh year of Experience Easter. Over 2000 school children from 17 schools have visited the event since Our teaching pack has been downloaded over 2000 times from a teachers resource website. Our pool of volunteers comes from twelve churches and their fellowship is in itself a witness for Christianity in Abingdon.

16 Yr 6 pupil, Dunmore School 2014