A recipe for Holy Week

Today's blog is by Tara Eastman, Youth & Family Coordinator at First Lutheran Church in Jamestown.

Here are some family friendly devotional activities for Holy Week...

Make these cookies with your kids and use the cookies to help talk to them about the resurrection of Jesus:

OVERNIGHT COOKIES (from cooks.com)

2 egg whites, at room temperature
6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped pecans
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
2/3 c. sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed until peaks form. Slowly add sugar and continue beating until sugar is dissolved and mixture is very stiff. Fold in chocolate chips and pecans. Drop by small spoonfuls onto a foil-lined cookie sheet. Place cookies into preheated oven and close the door.


Immediately turn off the oven. Leave them in overnight. DO NOT open the door once the cookies are in the cover. The next morning, remove from oven and enjoy. Makes 2 1/2 to 3 dozen. The cookies are hollow when you take them out in the morning.

Talk about how they felt waiting for the cookies overnight. How would Jesus' friends felt waiting 3 days for Jesus?

Listed below are some additional Scripture references and activities to walk through Holy Week as a family. Some of these guides have been adapted from the book Sacred Space by Dan Kimball and Lilly Lewin and others are devotions I’ve used in the past with various groups.

Jesus anointed at Bethany:
Read John 12:1-11.
Take a baby wipe and wash each person’s hands. Dot some sweet perfume on each person’s hands. Talk about the way God makes our live good/sweet.

The Last Supper:
Read John 13: 1-17, Luke 22:7, Matthew 26: 27-30, Luke 22: 14-21.
Lay a tablecloth or scrap fabric out on a table. Read lessons and then write or draw something that you are thankful to God for.

The garden of Gethsemane:
Read Luke 22:39-46, Mark 14: 32-42, Matthew 25:34-40.
Look at the newspaper and pray for the needs you find in there.

Betrayal and Denial:
Read Luke 22:1-6, 47-53, 54-62.
Take a tube of toothpaste and place it on a plate. Squeeze out a line of toothpaste and ask if it can be put back into the tube. Talk about how Judas and Peter may have wanted to take back what they did. Talk about how you may have wanted to take back something that has hurt someone else.

Jesus before Pilate:
Read Matthew 25:39-41, 27:11-26, John 9:4-6, 14: 5-7.
Light a candle and pray about ways Jesus is the light in our lives and others lives.

Forgiveness:
Read 1 John 1:8-9.
Take two craft/popsicle sticks and write down the names of the people they need to forgive. Take yarn and tie the sticks together in the shape of the cross.

Words of the Cross:
Read Luke 23:34,43, John 19:26-27, Mark 15:34, John 19:28,30; Luke 23:46.
Read the words Jesus spoke from the cross and pray about what they need to say to Jesus today.

Tearing the Temple Curtain:
Read Mark 15: 37-38, Luke 23: 44-46; Matthew 27: 50-52.
Read lessons, give each person a piece of purple fabric, remind them that because of Jesus death on the cross that we are no longer separated from God.

Plant a seed: 
Read Matthew 20:18-20, John 12:23-25.
Plant some flower seeds in a planter, read lessons, and talk about Jesus promises.

Tara Eastman is the Youth & Family Coordinator at First Lutheran Church in Jamestown. She is a musician, painter, writer, and a student at the Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary. You can follow her blog at  Uphill Idealist.