Hello Barn Kids Families!

Easter Egg Hunt and Brunch

Please invite all your friends and join us to celebrate Palm Sunday on April 2! Worship Service and Sunday School, for children through fifth grade, will start at the usual time, 10:30 a.m. Brunch will be served immediately after the service in Celebration Hall and will include Swedish pancakes, egg casserole, fruit, and dessert. The Egg Hunt will start after Brunch, and the children will collect empty eggs that remind us of the empty tomb and will trade them in for prizes. There will be crafts, a bounce house, and a bounce slide. We hope to see you all there!

We also need your help to make this event possible! 

If you would be willing to help with set-up, take down, or supervising the bounce house or slide you can sign up here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4fa4ad2ea0fbc43-easter1#/

If you would be willing to bring something for the brunch you can sign up here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/904044cacaf2aaa8-palm/1313150#/

Thanks for helping to make this fun intergenerational event possible!

Starting this Sunday we are taking a five week break from our chronological journey through the Bible to focus on Easter. We will start by learning that the Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday—the day Jesus entered Jerusalem as the King of kings the week of Passover (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12.) I like to teach this lesson before Palm Sunday so that our children know why we are celebrating when it gets here. 

We will learn that many of God’s people traveled to Jerusalem for Passover. Jesus and His disciples traveled to Jerusalem as well. Near Bethphage (BETH fayj) and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples ahead into a village. Jesus told them, “You will find a young donkey tied there. No one has ever sat on it. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Jesus would fulfill Zechariah’s prophecy: “Look, your King is coming to you … humble and riding on a donkey” (Zech. 9:9).

Jesus made a spectacular entrance into the city. He rode a donkey, and people laid branches and their robes on the ground in front of Him. The people welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem believed He was the promised Messiah, but they expected Him to overthrow Roman oppression and set up an earthly throne. Jesus sent a different message.

The next day, Jesus entered the temple and turned over the tables of the money changers and those selling doves. Jesus referred to Isaiah 56:7, declaring that His kingship would not just be over the Jews but over all people. While Jesus was in the temple, He healed the blind and the lame. Jesus’ actions declared, “I am not just your King; I am also your God.” (See Isa. 35:4-6.)

Finally, the priests and the scribes heard the children in the temple worshiping Jesus as their King. “Do You hear what these children are saying?” they asked. Jesus replied, quoting Psalm 8:2. Jesus gladly received their praise because He was worthy of their praise. Jesus is the Son of God who came to overthrow sin and set up an eternal throne. 

As you prepare for and celebrate Easter, help your kids connect the dots between God’s promises of a Messiah and Jesus’ coming. During Jesus’ triumphal entry, the people welcomed Him as King. Jesus was the Messiah spoken about by the prophet Zechariah: “Look, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). One day, Jesus will return to earth on a white horse as King over everything. (Revelation 19:11)

I encourage you to read Matthew 21:1-11 with your children this week. Ask them:

- What kind of King did the people think Jesus was going to be?

- What kind of King is Jesus?

- How can we welcome Jesus into our own lives?

Read Romans 10:9-11 together. Use green construction paper to make palm branches or color them on white paper with green crayons or markers and cut them out. March around your house waving the branches and saying "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" Pray together thanking God for sending His Son to be the kind of King we really needed, thank Jesus for being willing to die to save us from our sins. 

This week:

- Nursery Seedlings will be taught by Jen Chung in Room 7

- Pre-K Sprouts will be taught by Meg and Mike Biggins in Room 4

- Grades K-1 will be taught by Erin and Damon Slechta in Room 2

- Grades 2- 5 will be taught by Katie Gritter in Room 3

Next Week - we will learn about The Last Supper (Matthew 26 and John 13)