Friday

Easter Letters! Free Printable! - Easy to Organise Presentation by Kids


Need something last minute for your kids group to present the Easter Message to others?

If you have a printer and card you can do this.

Because there is a Free Printable available for you to download and print your own cards.
(See the link at the end of this post)






      

 EASTER   LETTERS

Materials:
Bible
Notes
Printed Letters for word Easter
(make sure that the letters are correctly printed on both sides of the cards so that the letters of Jesus LIVES are in the right order when cards are turned around)
Words of Songs (you can adapt with songs known by your group)
Handmade paper palm branches (can be made in a SS lesson)
Handmade paper crowns (can be made in a SS lesson)

Time Required:
Very little time needed to practice with the kids.

Participants:
Narrator with notes,
6 kids with letter cards,
oldest child with bible readings
If you have more children they can stand behind the row of 6 and join in with the songs




We begin by having the Narrator stand to one side facing congregation and the Oldest Child at the other side.
The 6 Children with Letter Cards sit on 6 chairs at centre front facing congregation.
The children do not hold up their cards until it is their individual turn to stand up and then keep holding their cards up when they sit down again.


Narrator

At Easter Time we learn exactly why we can have faith in God
&
Now the children are going to tell us what Easter stands for.



1st Child                    Stands & Holds up letter E.            

E is for Everyone

Oldest Child         Reads          

Romans 3 v 23
For everyone has sinned and come short of the glory of God

1st Child      Sits down again



Narrator

No-one has lived a perfect life except Jesus.
God hates sin and because we have all sinned God cannot have us in Heaven with Him.
No-one is good enough to be in the presence of God.
But God still loves everyone so much that He provided a way for us to be with Him.
He sent Jesus to die for our sin.

........................................


2nd Child                    Stands & Holds up letter A.            

A is for Anyone

Oldest Child         Reads          

John 3 v 16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that anyone who believes on His Name shall be Saved.

2nd Child      Sits down again



Narrator

Anyone is not the same as only one.
Anyone means You, personally You, no matter who You are or what You look like or where You live or what You have done.
Jesus died on the cross for You and He wants You to trust in Him and You will be saved.
This is a personal promise for You.
   
........................................

3rd Child                    Stands & Holds up letter S.            

S is for Salvation

Oldest Child         Reads   
       
Acts 16 v 31
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved


3rd Child      Sits down again


Narrator

The children would like you to join them in singing the SALVATION chorus.


(The children will stand up to sing & wave the palm branches

The Salvation chorus will be on the screen for the congregation

and also held up for the children  By The Leader)

........................................


4th Child                    Stands & Holds up letter T.  


T is for Today


Oldest Child         Reads            

Hebrews 13 v 8 
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today & forever

4th Child      Sits down again


Narrator

We know from the Old Testament that Abraham, Isaac & Jacob knew the promises of God, and trusted God to keep His promises.  But we don't have to just trust in something that was for many years ago.
God wants us to trust in Him today because has never changed and still keeps His promises today and He will forever keep His promises.
Our verse tells us that Jesus never changes, so we can be sure that today He is still the Saviour of the World but more importantly He wants to be your personal Saviour.


........................................


5th Child                    Stands & Holds up letter E.  
        

 E is for Everlasting life



Oldest Child       Reads          

John 6 v 47
Most assuredly I say to you He who believes in me has everlasting life

5th Child      Sits down again



Narrator

The children would like to sing a chorus for you.

The “He that Believeth” chorus will be held up for the children
By The Leader

The children will put down their palm branches and letters & lift up their crowns & stand up to sing.
The children will sit down again at the end of the chorus.

............................................................


6th Child                    Stands & Holds up letter R.           


 R is for Resurrection

Oldest Child       Reads         

John 11 v 25
Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection & the life


6th Child      Sits down again




Now everyone can see the word




Narrator

Today we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the day when Jesus rose from the dead.  This is so special to us because it means that our Saviour is no longer dead, He is Alive forevermore.
Jesus is a living Saviour and He wants us to trust Him and live for Him, praising Him forevermore.
So Easter is all about the fact that.......


The 6 children with letters turn their cards around


and all the children shout out 

 "JESUS  LIVES”

.............................................


Please click on the link at the bottom of this post to download your free printable


and you might enjoy the video below






Don't forget to download your free printable for the "EASTER LETTERS" Presentation HERE  if you have not already subscribed to Sandra's Ark


If you have previously subscribed to Sandra's Ark then you will find the link for all my Resources in any of the emails you have received from me.


Or pin this for later:








God bless you and your work with children this Easter Time.







Wednesday

The Greatest Photobomb! - A Dose of Encouragement


Why is it when we are watching the news on television on an outdoor broadcast and someone walks behind the presenter or runs up and waves or makes silly faces we think they are so rude but when someone photobombs a pic we enjoy a good laugh?


The answer - I have no idea except that I know I am exactly like that.


Yes I think one is rude and the other can be comic genius.





DEFINITION of PHOTOBOMB
A photograph that has been spoiled by the unexpected appearance of an unintended subject in the camera's field of view as the picture was taken


This was the original definition and remains the official definition but the way things are now means that the attitude towards these pictures are changing.


Well I was looking for the greatest photobomb but I did not have too many to look at.

A friend in England sent me one





Not bad and we wouldn't think he was rude would we?


The way I might look at it is


 He's just a friendly guy waving in the background.


But how would the girls view it?

To them the photo is more personal.
It would be fine if they discovered what had happened immediately and were able to take another one but what if they had only taken this one picture and then noticed him later?


I just hope that it was not the first and last time these girls will have a picture taken together or they may be annoyed at the photobomber.


So is it the intruder to the picture that makes it good or bad?

Or is it the attitude of the subjects of the picture or the viewers?


Then of course we have one from our son's wedding reception which I featured in an earlier blog post I Love My Family.   Daniel and his new wife Suzie were taking a selfie along with our daughter Linda and our oldest son Jonathan came along and threw himself into the photo behind them.





Did anyone get annoyed over this?
No way we all think it is one of the best photos of the day.

That's the view of everyone who sees it and in fact many would not even realise it was a photobomb.


Well I suppose some of you are saying what is wrong with her we all know what the greatest photobomb is, it's the one with the seal.


The one with the seal?


Yes the one with the seal who pops his head into the corner of a picture being taken of penguins.


You know the one that was all over the internet some time ago.


I just loved it, even though there is mass speculation that it is a photoshopped seal!!!


Taken from the internet where credit does not seem to have be given to anyone and if you do know who was responsible please let me know and I will credit it accordingly.

So is it the greatest?


Well it could be a tie between it and another photobomb that happened at that very same wedding.

Yes at the same wedding but this one was actually in the church!

Daniel and Suzie were posing for photos after signing the register and not one but two people decided to photobomb the picture.

Again it involved a family member.
Not Daniel's brother this time but his cousin Glen.

And the other one was Suzie's best friend Ashleigh.

Now to make matters worse Glen was the best man and the Ashley was the bridesmaid.




It was a spur of the moment thing but you would think it was planned because it was so good.

Just look at those faces.

Of course if you knew these two you would understand how something like that could happen because they know Daniel and Suzie so well and they are all full of fun.



How do we decide if the picture is ruined by that extra person popping up where they were not expected or if they have made it a great photobomb.


Who decides?

Who forgives the person for photobombing? 

  
Or who blames the person for ruining the photo?



We each have to make our own decision on it.
We each have to take responsibility for our own attitudes.

This is just the same as forgiveness in other matters.
We make the decision whether to forgive or to blame.

In some cases it is our perception or conclusion that the person is to blame for the outcome, we see the incident as something directed at us and focus on how it has hurt us.

In some cases it is really obvious that the person is definitely to blame for the outcome, they deliberately did the act that spoilt something of ours.


God's word does not have advice for different scenarios it only has advice 
on how we should forgive.


It is our attitude that God points us to.


It is up to us to make the decision to forgive.



Well now it just remains to make the decision here.

Which is the greatest photobomb?

Let's have a vote on it.

Make your decision and then leave me a comment to tell me your choice.





Which one is it?

The Penguins & the Seal 

or 

The Wedding



You can also tell me if you can make the decision to forgive.








Sunday

Songs for Worship #10


Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






I hope you will follow along with me.



                         Looking today at 



God is Just









Before the Throne of God Above


Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great high Priest whose name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me

My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart


When satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin

Because the sinless Saviour died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me


Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Praise the One, Risen Son of God!


Behold Him there the risen lamb
My perfect spotless righteousness
The great unchangeable I am
King of glory and of grace

One in Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Saviour and my God
With Christ my Saviour and my God


Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Praise the One Risen Son of God
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Praise the One Risen Son of God
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Praise the One Risen Son of God







If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below











Wednesday

Not the Rice instead of the Barley! - A Dose of Encouragement


Two things I love to eat are homemade vegetable soup and homemade rice pudding so I always have some barley in the house for the soup and some rice to make the pudding.






Often when I am making things my mind is elsewhere thinking of the next thing I need to do, or something I've forgotten to do or I am chatting to whoever is around at the time.


So inevitably, I admit I sometimes end up doing silly things like putting pudding rice into my soup instead of barley.  


Well they did sit side by side in matching containers on a shelf in one of my kitchen cupboards and when someone is not really paying enough attention they could easily mistake one for the other as the barley and rice grains are a bit similar in size.     Yes?


Note they do not sit side by side in matching containers any longer - I learnt my lesson.



Well I did this one day because I was chatting to my husband and one of the kids and I ended up with soup that no-one in the family (not even me) would eat.


A whole pot of soup had to be thrown out.


Why?


Because I had, without thinking carefully, added the wrong ingredient to the pot.


It caused a lot of laughter and teasing by the kids of course.






Later I thought about how a conversation can be like a recipe.


Often we probably add the wrong words in a conversation because we are not concentrating properly and can end up with something that is confusing, unintelligible, unhelpful and not edifying.


Do we just say certain phrases
     because we have heard others use them,
     because they seem like they might be the right thing to say,
     because we have misheard the person
or even
     because we have assumed what the other person means.


Then what about when we try to use verses from the Bible which are not right for the situation.


Maybe we just think of a verse 
     because of a certain word we pick up on in the conversation,
     because we have been reading it lately,
     because we have memorized it at some time,
or even 
     because we know the reference for it and that looks impressive to others.



We need to listen before we speak.

Have you heard that before?


Have we honed in on the real topic or just think we have?

Do we need to make sure, do we need to ask a few questions?




We need to think before we speak.

How often have we heard that before?


Are we taking a verse out of context?

Does it really have any bearing on the situation before us?




But we also need to pray before we speak.

Do we hear that as often?


Lord help us to play our proper part in conversations.

May we think and pray before we speak to add the right ingredients into the pot.



We need to listen, think and pray before we speak!


It is always better to listen carefully to the conversation and say little but make sure that what we do say is suitable, the God inspired words and not the rice instead of the barley.






Tuesday

St. Patrick's Day Parade in Northern Ireland - Xtra Special Day


Where is the most appropriate place to have a St. Patrick's Day Parade?

I bet your answer is Dublin because that's the capital city of Ireland.
Or perhaps you want to say New York because you have heard of the celebrations there.


I don't agree!!!!





Last year Fred & I went to the place which we believe is the most appropriate because it is the place St. Patrick is supposed to have landed nearby and also supposed to have been buried in.


The town of Downpatrick in County Down in Northern Ireland.






We had never been to any St. Patrick's Day Parade anywhere before so this was one of our Xtra Special Days


Having arrived there we got parked outside the town and followed the crowd of people until we got to a part of the town where others were already standing waiting.  We discovered this was the end of the parade route so decided to stay here also.

Soon along came the Street Performers to help to keep us entertained until the parade could make it's way through the town to our position.







Some of them threw sweets to the children

                              and one of them came right over to greet Fred.


Well because I already had the phone out to take pictures and we were getting a bit bored we resorted to one of the few selfies we have taken, some are mentioned previously in  Does My Nose Look Big in This?






Then along came the Parade.


No, correct that,  it was only the Pre-parade of Vintage Cars.





Not really a novelty around Northern Ireland as there are quite a few of these each year now.


Very shortly after that came the real thing.




The Parade



First of course we had St. Patrick and he was accompanied by two snakes.







Poor man had to walk the whole parade in his bare feet.





Then some Roman? soldiers.



Some other highlights of the parade were:



Colourful lady stilt walker.






Was this an Irish Wolfhound?






A Butterfly!


Never heard of a butterfly having anything to do with St. Patrick, but hey we like butterflies on this blog in fact  I Love Butterflies  and  I Was Going to Miss the Butterflies  and I have butterflies on mugs too 3 More Coffee Mugs  



then there was




A Pipe band.






A "Mash Direct" bus.
This is one of the good local food companies we have and I have to say their mashed turnip is great.






A DeLorean Car?

Yes a bit after the time of St. Patrick admittedly but Northern Ireland does have a link with DeLorean too.  You know a bit like our link with the Titanic.



What could you possibly have after a futuristic car?




Some Large headed characters.






A Christian Music Float.


We were delighted to see this - after all what are we celebrating St. Patrick for?


Not the shamrock,

           nor the snakes (or lack of them)

                        but for the Christianity he introduced to our island.




But then suddenly



2 Elvis impersonators??


No I know, we just could not see any connection here at all.
If you can think of one then please let me know.






And here come the Leprechauns - really?

This of course was clever and I hope not too heavy for the poor guy to carry along.






We also had two Mickey Mouse characters.

Okay we know they were there to amuse the children.






Another Pipe band.







And where else in the world would you get to see a POLICE TRACTOR  but in Northern Ireland?


Not even in the Republic of Ireland (Southern Ireland)  because it would be a Garda Tractor there.






A group of colourful children.






A Large Mushroom - presumably advertising the mushroom growing industry here.






Some more colourful children.





A Flower Giant.






A Blue stilt walker.






Another Pipe band.






A colourful dragon.

And no St. Patrick didn't slay the dragon - St. George the patron saint of England did that.

So a bit confused about the dragon but then realised he was followed by some dinosaurs and they didn't have anything to do with St. Patrick either so obviously we just enjoy colourful creatures.







Now we do have some folklore about a giant or two in Northern Ireland so to see a giant in this parade was not too unusual but riding a quad?

Although I must say I rather liked this guy.






Then we were coming near the end of the parade with another mini parade this time of Vintage Tractors  -  Fred quite enjoyed this bit as he was brought up on a farm and could remember some of them.

No I did not say my husband is vintage!






And some more very colourful people and children as the parade came to an end.


You could probably see from the pictures that it was a very cloudy, windy day and it was rather cold so Fred & I were all wrapped up in our heavy coats with gloves and scarves but regardless of the weather thousands of people came to Downpatrick to see the parade.


It was an afternoon out that was definitely not the usual for us and it was nice to walk back to the car with smiles on our faces even if they were getting red from the cold air.






Have you been to see a St. Patrick's Day Parade too?


Or are you planning to go see a St. Patrick's Day Parade in this year?


If so leave me a comment to say where you went or will be going, it will be interesting to see how many different places are covered.