How can anybody describe God? It’s hard to do. The concept of the trinity tries to describe some aspects of God in a helpful manner. There is only one God. But we have three parts that merge together – and you have probably heard of them. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – three in one.

God the Father is the creator of the universe. This aspect of God is sometimes known as the law-giver, so the Father is the laws of nature and also the rules in the Bible such as the Ten Commandments. 

God the Son is very easy – that’s Jesus! He was fully human and fully divine. The Son is sometimes called the redeemer – this expresses the forgiveness of God, how God understands that we can’t follow the rules perfectly all the time, even if we are trying our best. He also represents the most noble and aspirational aspects of humanity.

God the Holy Spirit is the hardest one to describe. The Holy Spirit can be everywhere at once, perhaps every TIME at once. I think of this aspect as a connective force within the universe – like electricity, or light, or a cell phone signal, but it is also associated with divine female Wisdom. We sometimes say a person is “filled with the Holy Spirit” when they have a sudden feeling of purpose and a need to say or do something that benefits the community.

These three identities fit together and complement each other and help us understand. It’s like making a braid. Three separate things that only make sense together as a whole. So for today’s exercise, braid somebody’s hair – it could even be your own – or make a friendship bracelet. 

Suddenly there was a noise like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues of flame moving in all directions, and a tongue
    came and settled on each person there. (Acts 2:2-3) 

In the Pentecost moment each person’s head blazed with holy fire, and for that brief moment they could all understand each other, even though they all spoke different languages. They could see that they were stronger together than apart.

Do you know someone who inspires you? Somebody who has taught you wisdom, or self-discipline, or even self-defense. It’s a great feeling to be around somebody who is interested in you and helping you learn things. The time goes fast when you are together. It is said that mentors and teachers “pass the torch” to the next generation. They do so with God’s blessing and support.  Here is a way to pray for and honor those who have set our hearts on fire to do good things in this world:

•  First, think of a person who taught you something important or helped you do something for the first time.
• Get a plain votive candle and a scrap of paper.
• Write the person’s name on the paper and tape it around the side of the candle.
• As you begin, light the candle.
•  Take a couple of minutes to remember this person, and the connection they made with you.
• Thank God for this person, as you look into the flame. Remember and thank them for teaching you a new way of thinking.
• Bring your focus slowly to the present time, and include other memories of how this wisdom has affected your life since then.
• Open your heart, and ask how God may want you to pass it on. One day you will get a chance to pass the flames of understanding to somebody else. And with God’s help, you will be ready and you will know exactly what to say!
• Take as much time as you want. When you are finished, blow the candle out.

~ John 14:2

Jesus said there is room for a lot of people in God’s kingdom. 

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The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need. He lets me rest in meadow grass and leads me beside quiet streams. He gives me new strength. He guides me along the right paths, to bring honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid. For you are close beside me all the way. You provide delicious food for me while my enemies watch. You welcome me and anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Your goodness and everlasting love shall be with me all of my life, and I will live in your household forever.

Jesus is the good shepherd. He takes care of everybody. It’s not easy to keep a whole flock of sheep safe from wolves, or away from bramble bushes. Sheep can get lost, and ewes need help to give birth. It’s hard work, but very rich and satisfying. If you feel frustrated with somebody in your life this week, consider this: that person is also one of Jesus’ sheep. At the end of the day we are all very similar and we need each other too.

Two weeks ago, we pressed some flowers and blew the insides out of some eggs. You can review that here. Now we are going to make something really beautiful with them!

Thanks to Cathy Oberg for this suggestion, and a very nice website that is worth exploring!

There are so many nice things we can do with eggs, so let’s spend a couple of Sundays getting creative. This week we will prepare some materials for an art project that we’ll do next week.

Part 1 – Pressing flowers

There are so many beautiful flowers blooming right now! Here is a way to preserve their beauty so they will last a long time.

	The flowers will be dried out in a week or so We just have to wait.

Part 2 – Blowing out eggs

This website has wonderfully detailed instructions about how to remove the insides of an egg while keeping the shell intact. Blow a couple of eggs and save them for next week!

Can you find: 3 bunnies – 6 foil eggs – 18 plastic eggs?

Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s right in front of you. If you couldn’t find all the eggs, it’s not too surprising. If you found both bunnies, 14 plastic eggs and 3 foil eggs you are doing great. If you found more than that, you are very observant! (If you haven’t done this at all yet, that’s fine. You can do it later on today. If you want, email us a picture of YOUR Easter eggs, and tell us how many eggs there are. We will add them to this page.)

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After Jesus was crucified on Friday, they took his dead body and put it in a tomb, which was a small cave with just enough room to put his body inside. Then they rolled a large rock in front of the opening to seal it shut. Mary Magdalene was terribly sad. She couldn’t sleep, and she didn’t know what to do. On Sunday morning she left her house before the sun was up. She was crying so hard she thought her heart would break. She went to Jesus’ tomb – and noticed immediately something was wrong. The stone was rolled away, and she could clearly see the opening where Jesus’ body should have been. “I can’t believe it! Somebody has stolen his body!” she exclaimed. Mary went running to the other disciples and found John and Peter first. “Please help – you have to see this!” she said to them. All three of them ran back to the tomb, and John got there first. There was no question about it – Jesus’ body was gone! Peter and John were really tired. They had not slept in three days, so both of them left to go back home. Mary just wanted to be alone. She covered her head and sobbed. After a while, she looked inside the tomb. It wasn’t empty – now there were two angels inside! They saw Mary and how red her eyes were. “Why are you crying?” one of them said. Mary answered, “They have taken away my Lord’s body and I don’t know where it is.” She felt weird because they didn’t seem like normal people, even though they were friendly to her. So she started walking away. She saw a man she didn’t recognize. She thought he must be a gardener who worked there. “If you can tell me where Jesus’ body is, I would carry it back here. I don’t want to bother you, but it’s incredibly important.” She couldn’t see because the tears had come back, and she was sniffing loudly. The man called her name: “Mary!” She recognized the voice. It was Jesus, and he was clearly alive!  “Don’t hug me!!” he said. “I’m not ready for that. But please go and tell the others that you have seen me, and I am alive.”

Mary saw that Jesus’ body was missing, so she called two of her best friends to help. They couldn’t deal with it, so both of them decided they needed to leave. Even though Mary wanted to be alone, she must have felt like her supposed “friends” weren’t trying to make sure she was okay. All of them had just gone through the worst day of their lives. The only thing worse than being alone in such a situation might be noticing strangers looking at you as you are going through your feelings. She was so brave to speak to them, and tell them what she needed in that moment. Imagine how Mary might have felt to learn that these strangers were actually angels who were taking care of Jesus – and that Jesus was alive!

The Psalm for today has the line, “The LORD is God, and he has given us light.” Sunshine is white light which is the combination of all the colors in the rainbow. When the sun shines through stained glass, it becomes radiant, dazzling, and intense. Each color is different and beautiful. When God’s love shines through us, we also glow and feel stronger. It’s easier to get along with other people, and we want to help others without anybody telling us! If you can get another person to feel this way in their heart, there is more of God’s light in the human world, and we can shine in all of our different colors to make a beautiful picture together. 

Today we’re going to make stained glass windows – when you are done, you can tape them to your real windows for decoration! Please ask your parent to help you get set up. They might want to do the crayon shaving part, because you can cut your fingers if you aren’t careful.

Don’t forget to help clean up! I was able to wipe off all the melted crayon stuff pretty easily with a paper towel.