March 2008 

We move steadily forward on our Lenten journey to our celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord.  Continue as a family to practice the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and acts of love, but be ready to throw a big party for Easter!  Let Easter be a time of festivity and joy, of family gatherings and feasting on favorite foods.  Easter is another great time to establish important family traditions and rituals and to engage in meaningful conversation about the foundations of our faith – Christ’s death and resurrection for us.

·         Set aside time to go to worship on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Participate as a family in the full Passion of our Lord and experience the drama and power of these Three Days. 

·         During Holy Week, read the events of Jesus’ last week.  Use sidewalk chalk to draw pictures of each event on your driveway or sidewalk.

·         As a family, make Resurrection Cookies together (Google ‘Resurrection Cookies’ for the recipe).  Or, make Easter Bread for your Easter Dinner.  A great recipe can be found at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Braided-Easter-Egg-Bread/Detail.aspx

·         Create Easter decorations using the traditional Easter symbols of butterflies and crosses.  Color eggs and then decorate with Easter symbols.

·         Read together a story about St. Patrick.  On St. Patrick’s Day, wear green.  Eat green food (or a traditional St. Patty’s Day meal like corned beef and cabbage).  Make a mint green cake and eat mint green ice cream.  Make it a green day!  And kiss someone who’s Irish (or wishes they were Irish). 

·         Around the dinner table (or another time that the whole family is together), share one thing that you appreciate about the other members of your family.

·         Create a jar of questions (it could include anything from favorite colors to scary moments to impressions about God) to use as conversation starters during your meals together.

·         Read 2 Corinthians 5:17:  “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  Discuss:

      What signs in creation, with the coming of spring, do you see that point to all things becoming new?

      What does it mean to be a new creation?

      What is old in you that needs to pass away?  What in you is becoming new? 

      How is it that we become a new creation?

 ·         As a family, select an area of your community – a park, a roadside, an open field – where together you can pick up litter and clean up trash.

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