Easter Eggs

From the several years I served on ministry staff after college and before L was born always encouraged me to present the Truths of the gospel in unique ways.  Our Christmas programs weren't descriptive of Santa Claus, and when it came to Easter, no bunny was ever the center of attention.  But somehow, we couldn't move away from the classic egg hunt (not to be confused with an "Easter Egg Hunt").  So, it was more about the Resurrection!!! Resurrection!!! Resurrection!!!! then, a few minutes to grab some eggs.
I lead 80+ sweet preschoolers (ages 2-5) every Monday in chapel, and the Easter story is one of my favorites to share every year! This year, I wanted to do something a little different to span over all of the ages of the children, so I decided to do a shortened version of the classic Resurrection eggs. And, behold, the "bunny" never showed up. This is a great, simple and easy way to remember the basics of the gospel-so adults will benefit too in hearing the message of HOPE. Share this message with as much gusto as you can and as often as you can!!

Gather 6 different colored plastic eggs.  Gather a heart, bandaid, cross, stone, and a butterfly (simple cutouts of the heart, cross and butterfly work well!).  Put one object in the 5 different eggs (the other egg will be empty).  Here is the explanation for each egg.

1. Put the heart in the first egg.
God's love is so big and wide.  He loves each us of us so much, that he created the world and all of the beauty around us for us to enjoy.  His love is for everyone!  (John 3:16)

2. Put the bandaid in the second egg.
Unfortunately, we do things that make God sad all of the time, every day.  It's like we are sad too, because we have boo boos (that's what we use bandaids for anyway, right?!).  God knew that we would need something to heal our boo boos and protects everyday. (Romans 3:23)

3. Put the cross in the third egg.
Because we do those bad things (what we call sins), God had a plan to help us - more than just a bandaid.  He would change the world forever by telling his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross, even those Jesus didn't deserve to die.  He was so perfect and never made God sad.  But, God loved the world so much that he sent Jesus to die for us. (John 3:16; 19:17-18)

4. Put the stone in the fourth egg.
After Jesus' death, the guards took him off the cross and wrapped him in white linens and laid him in a tomb.  Then they rolled a stone, so big and so heavy, at the entrance of the tomb and guards kept watch to make sure no one came near the tomb.  (Matthew 27:59-60)

5. Leave the 5th egg empty.
Three days after Jesus' death, some of his friends were on their way to the tomb to pray.  They were sad that their friend had died in such a horrible way.  But when they arrived, they saw that the stone in front of the tomb had been rolled away.  Concerned, they looked inside and only saw the white linens that wrapped Jesus' body.  Frightened, they heard a voice speak to them from behind "Don't be afraid! He is not here, for he has risen!"  They were so excited to know that Jesus was alive and wanted to tell everyone.  (Matthew 28:5-6)

6. Put the butterfly in the last egg.
It is so sweet that Jesus isn't dead, but now alive!  Because of Jesus' death and that he rose from the dead, we can have new life when we follow Jesus.  When we love Jesus, we become a "new creation", much like how the caterpillar turns into a "new life" as a butterfly.  The Bible tells us that anyone "if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.  The old has gone, the new is come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)  We can have new life in Christ, because he died for us.


Make this as exciting as you can-aren't you JOYFUL in your new life?!