Author: The Purple Pastor

Maundy Thursday

lectionary, worship resources

Welcome to Thursday of Holy Week. The day we call Maundy Thursday. What on earth is that, you ask? Check it out here.

Today is the day Jesus eats with his disciples, teaches them about the nature of servanthood as he washes their feet and moves into the night where darkness takes hold.

Enter the Story
Read the Gospel account of John here.

View the story for younger people here from What’s In The Bible With Buck Denver. a Phil Vischer production (creator of Veggie Tales)

View the LUMO project story here.

Engage the Story
Let’s think about the story we have just encountered. Using the prompts below, reflect and write, draw or talk about your responses with someone special to you.

Do you have ticklish feet? Do you think any of the disciples laughed when Jesus washed their feet?
How smelly do you think all of the disciples feet were?
How do you feel when someone touches your feet? Does it tickle?

What did Jesus mean when he said to Peter” If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.”?
Think about Peter’s response “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”, what might this mean?

Embodying The Story
In our current society, with COVID-19, cleanliness is such a big deal. Take a moment, go to your sink and wash your hands using the music of the doxology as your guide for the length of time to wash your hands but also as a way of thanksgiving for all that we have in this current moment, and through the thanksgiving for the sacrifice of the Christ on the cross. Think about what it meant for Jesus to take the feet of EACH of the disciples in his hands, to wash and dry them. How are we able to find the blessings in the challenging moments.


Holy Wednesday

lectionary, News, worship resources

Welcome to Wednesday in Holy Week. This week as we explore the readings of Holy Week through our senses today’s reading for us is from John’s gospel (RCL yr A) and can be found here.

We join the story of Jesus and the disciples together, just after the Jesus serves them in the washing of their feet. Our focus today is in Jesus predicting Judas’s betrayal.

Thinking About This

Take a few moments to think about this story today using the prompts below. Write about it for yourself or share a conversation with someone you love.

Have you ever had someone special to you, betray you in someway?
How did feel for you?
Have you been able to repair the relationship? Or has it been left unresolved like Judas and Jesus?
Have you ever been the betrayer?

Think about Jesus in this story. How must he have felt knowing one of his dearest friends would betray him?
What about Judas? What about his motivation?
What is this story inviting us to know today?
How might this story be inviting us to think about our own behaviour? 

Embodying This Story

Watch the story here from LUMO Project
Holy Tales Bible Stories shares a kids telling here.

Today we are going on a treasure hunt, looking for Judas’s 30 pieces of silver.

Or let’s head to the kitchen to make up a silver feast (you may need the supermarket first for this one!)

Get your groove on with CJ & Friends here as they sing out loud!

Other great resources: Making Juda’s Pouch, colouring page,  word search, check out littlest disciples here for simple Holy Week activities for littlies.

Silver Coin Treasure Hunt

sensory faith

This is a treasure hunt for the hidden silver that Judas was given for betraying Jesus.

To play this game you will need 30 silver coins. You can use 30x 5cent or 10cent pieces or you might like to try out these variations below for making your own.

Make Your Own Coins
You can buy the silver wrapped chocolate coins usually in party stores ot make your own using 30 round sweets wrapped in aluminium foil. A freckle or large choc bud is sized about right for a coin!

Once you have your 30 coins, pick a room or a spot outside and hide them, and send someone off to go and find them.

optional
To add something a little extra tricky you could make this into a scavenger hunt, a treasure hunt with clues or even do it as a blindfolded walk with only the directions spoken to you to find them.

Remember the Light Lantern

sensory faith
Remembering the Light

You will need:
Empty, clean glass jar
PVA glue
Water
Paint brush
Tissue paper

How to Make It:
Cut some of your tissue paper into small squares. (A little goes a long way!)
In a glass add some PVA and a little water to thin it out.
Using the Brush, cover a section of the jar with the glue, then add pieces of tissue paper however you like!
Keep brushing a section and adding tissue paper until the jar is covered.
Once the jar is covered, brush a final layer of the PVA onto the jar ensuring that all edges of the tissue paper have been stuck down.
Place the jar somewhere to dry.
Once dry, add a tealight or battery operated tealight candle.
Now wait for it to get dark so you can see how beautiful the glow is!

If you don’t have a glass jar, check out this alternative from Flame Creative Children’s Ministry

Holy Tuesday

lectionary, worship resources

Welcome to Tuesday in Holy Week. This week as we explore the readings of Holy Week through our senses today’s reading for us is from John’s gospel (RCL yr A) and can be found here.

It is the story of Jesus talking about his impending death with the disciples and what it means to follow him.

In John 12:20-36, Jesus explains to the disciples the way in which he will be glorified. He talks about the way that his hour has now come, using metaphors of wheat and light to talk about himself. So today we are going to focus on thinking about Jesus as the light.

Thinking About This

Take a few moments to think about this story today using the prompts below. Write about it for yourself or share a conversation with someone you love.

Have you ever been somewhere so dark you couldn’t see your own hand in front of you?
How did feel for you?
What happened after you brought light into that space?

What do you think Jesus was trying to say to the disciples?
Do you think the disciples understood what he was saying?
Can you think of other places in the Bible where Jesus talks about light?

How might you share your light today? 

Embodying This Story

Watch the story here from LUMO Project
Or here for a great all age telling from Holy Tales Bible Stories

Today we are going to create some light to carry us into the week. Check out this creation!

Get your groove on with Hillsong Kids here as they sing about the Light of the World.

Other great resources: dough mat, colouring page, colourful prayer

Holy Monday

lectionary, sensory faith, worship resources

Welcome to Monday in Holy Week. This week as we explore the readings of Holy Week through our senses today’s reading for us is from John’s gospel (RCL yr A) and can be found here. It is the story of a woman’s extravagant love for Jesus in sharing something so precious and expensive with him. It is a reminder of the way in which we are invited to love God and others, with a generous and unbound love.

In John 12:1-7, at a meal given in Jesus’ honor, Mary expressed her devotion to the Lord by breaking open an expensive jar of fragrant oil, anointing Jesus’ feet with it, and wiping them with her hair. Some present objected, but Jesus defended Mary for her actions. Our sense of smell is a very powerful thing in helping us to feel comforted, disgusted or even a bit ill. Jesus accepts Mary’s offering as it fills his senses.

Thinking About This

Take a few moments to think about this story today using the prompts below. Write about it for yourself or share a conversation with someone you love.

What is your favourite smell in the whole wide world?
What is one thing you absolutely can’t stand the smell of?
What is a smell that brings to mind a special memory?

What is the most precious thing you own?
Have you ever love someone so much that you were willing to give up your previous item for them?

How do you think Mary was feeling? How about Jesus?
How about Judas? Have a think about the way he responded to Mary’s offering.
What about the others gathered there, have a think about how they might be feeling. Pretend you are one of them present and write, draw or talk about your response.

How can we be generous with our love towards others just like Mary was towards Jesus?

How might you show your love for God today?

Embodying This Story

Watch the story here from LifeKids.

Using your senses see if you can beat the challenge of What is that smell?

Other great resources: jigsaw puzzle, code words, spot the difference, word search, colouring pages

For something extra, you can look here for ideas on how we tell God how much we love God through prayers of praise and adoration.


What is that smell!

sensory faith


Our sense of smell is a very powerful thing. There is a story in the Bible which speaks of a woman’s devotion to Jesus by sharing a gift with him that had the most amazing smell. John 12: 1-7 tells the story of Mary of Bethany who anoints Jesus feet with some precious oil she had been keeping. You can read the story in full here.

Why not embody this story and test out your own sense of smell. Grab a friend or family member and have a go at the activity below. See how good your nose is.

You will need:
6 glasses
items from your pantry or fridge, you pick! Pick items that will have a strong smell
Cotton balls
A friend
A blind fold
A teatowel

How to play:
Pick your six smells from your pantry and place a small portion into each glass, so you have one smell in one cup. If you are using liquids you might like to put a cotton ball in the glass to soak up the smell and save on spilling chances!
Cover your glasses with a tea towel and go and grab your friend.
Once they are back at the smelling table, blindfold them. When the blindfold is secured well, offer them the glasses one at a time and ask them to take a good smell and see if they can figure out what they all are.

Have them swap so you can have a go, raid the pantry again and try with something different!