Preparing for Easter

So Easter is coming (yay Jesus!) and I try to make an extra effort to make sense of the whole Jesus-the-perfect-man-had-to-die-on-the-cross-for-us-sinners-even-though-we-totally-don't-deserve-it thing.  As you may have read last year, I usually 'celebrate' by a viewing of "The Passion".  This year, I decided to forego the usual torture (pun intended) and watch a live version.  That's right.....live.

For the second year, my church partnered with another nearby church to present a live presentation (more like a musical) of some of Jesus's important moments, including his death and resurrection, entitled "Bow the Knee".  I meant to go last year, but didn't.  This event is free of charge and I snagged 3 tickets for me and the boys.  Everyone had raved about it last year and I had some friends protraying the "singing crowd" so I didn't want to miss it again.  I hoped that the activity would keep the kids interested and was assured that it was age appropriate.  I was unprepared at how this performance would affect them.

We arrive 5 minutes before the show started and the parking lot was packed.  I was nervous about getting a decent seat, but we weren't too far back and on the aisle.  This would prove to be beneficial, because the aisles were used by the performers as well which means we got to see the real lambs that came by as well as had front row visual of Jesus walking by for the Palm Sunday reinactment.

Things turned sour following that scene and the boys started giving off pretty sad faces and Dylan was fighting back tears.  Although the scenes were hard to watch, I felt it was appropriate for the boys to see exactly what happened so they could understand the magnitude of what my faith is all about.  Dylan spent the 2nd half of the show on my lap silently wiping his tears away and Maddox cuddled in tight, lips trembling, fighting through his emotions as well.  It was awful and devastating and brilliant all at the same time. 

I let them know that this story has a happy ending and that Easter is much to be celebrated.  Yay Jesus!  Thank you Lord!  The performers were beyond fabulous and captivating and the entire stage was filled with sadness and joy for 2 1/2 hours.  It was so worth it!  Especially when both boys said they liked the show.

As we drove home Maddox asked if that was the real Jesus.  How precious.  I tried my best to explain acting and the difference between real life and TV.  The Jesus we saw is actually a drummer for the Worship Team and he did an amazing job.

What about you?  How are you honoring our Risen Lord this Easter?  If you are looking for suggestions, Mark Burnett has produced a mini-series running now on both The History Channel and Lifetime through Easter called "The Bible" which currently resides in my DVR.  Can't wait to start on that.

He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed :)