24 March 2024

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Bible readings for today

• Mark 11:1-11
• John 12:12-16
• Psalms 118:1-2,19-29

Collect

God of the journey,
you travel with us along paths both rough and smooth;
as we celebrate your Son’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem
travel with us into Holy Week,
that through your Holy Spirit we may witness to
the depth of your passion
and be ready to rise into the fullness of Easter Day.
Through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. 
Amen

Jesus' triumphant entry (Mark 11:1-11)

Palm Sunday reminds us of the true story from the Bible, when Jesus arrives into Jerusalem. He didn't come in a flash car or with security guards - Jesus rode in on a donkey. The people knew that there was something special about him though, and they lined the streets, cheering and waving palm branches.

How many donkeys? 

While the Palm Sunday story is covered in other gospels, this Matthew reading has an interesting detail that is often missed. How many donkeys did Jesus ride into Jerusalem?

Jesus asks for a donkey and a colt (a young donkey, less than 4 years old) to be Brough to him. "They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on" - Jesus sat on them - two donkeys! 

Worship resources

Church of Scotland Worship ideas

Intergenerational ideas

• The Journeys of Easter (mainly Ministries)
• Easter Trail with QR codes (Together at Home)
• Journey to Easter (SUNZ)
• An Easter Trail from Bible Society, using resources from 'The Super Cool Story of Jesus'
• The Faithful Families website outlines a great way to get the whole family engaged in the journey of Easter week - includes daily stations/symbols, and questions to ask your kids each day. 

More ideas can be found on the Strandz website

Simple Palm Leaves

What you need:

• A trestle table where people can work
• Green paper
• Drinking straws
• Pencils or felts
• Cello tape
• Scissors

What you do:

1.  Have each person draw around their own hand and cut out the shape.  
2. Tape 3-4 handprints to a drinking straw to make a palm leaf.
3. You can pre cut a few small handprints to supplement those done by younger children.  Folding the paper in two will mean that you can cut 2 prints at a time. 
4. It might be helpful to have a few extra helpers on hand at the craft table.  
5. Use these palm leaves for the drama

Chalk Printed Palm Leaves

What you need:

• Paint -- a water based acrylic, or a chalk paint, in green. It depends on how long you want the leaves to last! Ensure that the paint is non-toxic and safe for children to use. There are several recipes online for making homemade chalk paint. Please choose your paint choice carefully, you might want to try it out in advance, and only use of pathways (not wood), and get permission from the church leader!! (OK, we've covered all bases...)
• A craft knife
• Plastic lid or chopping mat (cheap from Kmart) to act as a large stencil. 
• Pots for paint
• Paint brushes
• Masking tape if required, to keep the stencil in place. 

​What you do:
In advance, make a simple palm leave stencil by cutting out a leaf print out of a plastic lid or mat. You can use a craft knife for this, and care might be needed if the stencil lid is made of plastic.
 Get a few big brushes and pots for children to join in and paint some palm leaves along the pathway outside church. The leaves should fade gradually and will provide a great conversation starter for children and adults. You could also do templates of clothes if you wanted to take it one step further! 
Here are some photos of the amazing palm leaves from St Stephens Tamahere, Hamilton.

​Palm Sundaes

​What you need:

• Green jelly
• Ice cream (your favourite flavour)
• Malt biscuits
• Gummy bears or teddy biscuits 
• M & M’s or pebbles
• Bowl and spoon for each person

What you do:

1. Pre make the green jelly
2. Say, “Remember our story from church?”  Today we’re going to act out Palm Sunday together and make a yummy treat, too.  First we’re going to make a dusty road (put one or two malt biscuits in your bowl). Jesus and his friends were travelling on this dusty road towards Jerusalem.  When the disciples brought Jesus a donkey, Jesus rode on it.  We don’t have a donkey, but let’s put a scoop of ice cream in our bowl and pretend it’s the donkey. Here’s our Jesus, we’ll put him on top of our ice cream donkey (use teddy biscuit or gummy bear).  
3. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, do you remember what happened?  (give your children time to respond).  Yes, people started waving palm leaves and shouting.  Let’s put our green jelly around the donkey to help us remember what the people did.  They were so excited and happy to see Jesus.  What do you like to do when you’re happy and excited?  Well, these people- old people, children, mums and dads and babies- they were so happy that they were shouting that Jesus was king and waving palm leaves!
4. But some people weren’t happy. They didn’t like Jesus. They wanted the people to stop shouting. But Jesus said, “Even if the people stop shouting, even the rocks will be happy!”  We know rocks can’t really be happy and speak, but Jesus meant that no one could stop the crowds from being happy and excited about Jesus.  We can remember the rocks by putting some m&m’s or pebbles around the road.
5. Now, we can eat our Palm Sundae and be excited and happy because of Jesus, because he’s our king!

Harakeke Cross

Please adhere to Tikanga protocol when using flax (harakeke) in New Zealand, as it is considered a taonga. ​

Visio Lectio

A beautiful image from the Visio Lectio project, created by the Anglican Diocese of Auckland. © Sarah West. All Rights reserved, shared with permission. ​
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Gospel Conversations

Every year we read the story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and it is one of the few scenes we traditionally act out in our churches. What are we to do with the story, though? What do we do with the enthusiastic crowds and their expectations, given what we know comes next? Grace Morris joins us from her theological college in Chicago, together with Bishop Steve and Anne in her role as a last-minute fill-in! We thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, so hope you will too.

Pin Jesus on the donkey

What you need:

• A large (A2 size if possible) picture of a donkey to attach to the wall
• A blindfold
• Smaller pictures of Jesus in a seated position, if possible- one for each child
• Blue tac
• Small rewards for all participants and, if desired, something a little bigger for the winner/winners
  
  

What you do:

1. Blue tac the donkey to the wall at about chest height for the children
2. Ask if anyone's played pin the tail on the donkey.  Explain that today we're celebrating the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, so we're going to blue tac a picture of Jesus on the donkey.  The goal is to get our picture as close as possible to sitting on the donkey.
3. Give each child a picture of Jesus and let them write their name somewhere on the picture. One at a time, blindfold each child and allow them to walk forward and put their picture where they think it goes.  The person who gets closest wins.

Notes:
If you have very young children, make sure your donkey is low enough for them to reach easily. 
For older children, spin them around (slowly) 2-3x before aiming them in the right direction.

Donkey Mask

Print out the donkey mask template on card stock, and get the kids to colour and decorate it. 
Cut out the mask and attach to a stick to hold, or staple a length of elastic to either side so they can wear as a mask.

Pin the tail on the donkey

​Preparation
A picture of a donkey minus his tail, a tail with a bit of blue tack on the end, a pen for marking where people place the tail, and a blindfold

​What to do
Hang the picture of the donkey on a wall. Get all the children to line up at the other end of the room. One at a time, blind fold the child, spin them around three times, and then get them to try and pin the tail on the donkey without looking. After they have stuck it where they think it should go, take off the blindfold, mark the place with the pen and write the child’s name by it. Then let the next child have a go. Keep going until everyone has had a turn. The winner is the person who gets the closest to where the tail should be.

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