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Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022: Spread Joy

 

I am going to a garden where the roses never thorn.

I am going to a garden where my joy can be reborn.

There I’ll walk among the lilies with my Lord forevermore.

I am going to a garden where the roses never thorn.

 

[Invite kids to come up]

 

Do you think there is a garden, like that, where the roses never have thorns? Or there exists a place where our joy can get reborn, as the song says?   We all could use some joy these days. For this have been a heavy time for many of us . . . with the cold weather, the lingering weight of COVID and now that awful results of war.  

 

Well, Lent was supposed to prepare to be different, to awaken in us different attitudes, or different ways of looking at things.   That’s the reason many gave up something for Lent, that is to become different/better. What are some things that you gave up, or did differently for Lent? [Elicit responses from kids and invite all to share with someone]. Of course, many of those actions are things we should be doing all year around, but we don’t.  

 

Now that Easter is here, I’d like you to consider DOING something different for the Easter season. If you look at the bulletin cover, there are some ideas of what you can do [I read some of them . . . . e.g. laugh more, compliment, and fulfill a promise. Then I ask the kids what are some other things that they could do.]

 

We talk about joy during Easter. One way to prepare for joy is to remove some of the big stones in our lives. Think of what burdens you. And maybe those big stones have called:

  • CONTROL: needing to have things MY way
  • GREED: wanting more and more stuff
  • PERFECTION: desire to have everything go well.

 

Joy, doesn’t just come from removing those things. Joy is an attitude, a way of looking at life. There are three things we can do to create more joy in our lives

  • being THANKFUL  
  • knowing that JESUS is always with you
  • HELPING others.

Study and study, reveals that that the most joyful people are those who think about others and try to make others’ live better.

 

In Lent, you were trying to make your life better, now with Easter perhaps it’s time for to make others lives better. So I have a gift for you [Reveal flowers] Take one. Aren’t they pretty? Don’t these flower just make you happy? It’s like being in a garden . . . filled with great smells, surrounded by beauty. Now, what do you think you could do with that flower? [Ellicit: give to someone]. I invite you to go into the congregation and find someone that you don’t know and give them the flower.

 

You see, if you are in a funk and not quite yourself . . . perhaps it’s time you rolled away the stones (or barriers) or thinking of yourself only . . . and start thinking of others.

 

I am going to a garden where the stones are rolled away.

I am going to a garden in a land fairer than day.

There with Jesus, I will linger, in His love forever stay.

I am going to a garden where the stones are rolled away.

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