31st March 2020
Welcome. It's Tuesday, 31st March 2020.
Good morning, everyone. May the Lord be with you.
Today we are going to think more about Easter - today we will think about a particular event which happened on Good Friday.
We'll start with a song, Today I have added a link to ‘The Lord of the Dance’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=214Vdyo6kSs
Our Bible passage for today is John 14v6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Our thought for the day
Who is your favourite superhero? Why do you like them? Is it because they battle to beat evil? Is it because they have an amazing super power? Maybe it’s because they have a secret identity which other people don’t know about.
When Superman transformed from Clark Kent, he ripped his normal everyday clothes to show his famous red and blue suit underneath. Ripping our clothes isn’t normally a good idea, but in our story today, a ripped piece of cloth had a lot of meaning.
In the Old Testament times, the people represented God’s presence in the ‘Holy of Holies’. This was a special place at the centre of the temple. It was divided off from the rest of the temple by a special curtain. The High Priest could only go in once a year, and only in the way God had said. The priest would go through the veil when a sacrifice had been made to say sorry and ask for forgiveness. The normal people who went to the temple were not allowed past the veil.
When Jesus died on the cross at Easter, the curtain was not just opened, but torn completely open. This meant that the normal people had nothing stopping them going to the ‘Holy of Holies’.
This represented that the Old Testament way of asking for forgiveness had changed. People didn’t need to bring sacrifices of animals. Christians believe that sins can be forgiven by praying to God and asking for forgiveness.
This term our Christian value is compassion. When people do things which upset us; when our friend says something unkind, or when someone fouls us in football, it is helpful to try and see what happened from their point of view. This can help our understanding – sometimes we need to say sorry and sometimes we can forgive other people for mistakes which they make.
If you are worried about something which someone has done to you, you can always talk to someone that you trust.
A prayer for today
Dear God,
Thank you for your wonderful creation. Thank you for our homes and our families; for food and for fresh water.
We pray for your forgiveness - help us to say sorry when we do things wrong.
Help us to show compassion for others and to forgive people when they do things which upset us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen