New experiences at the Rock House

Easter has come and gone! But it is impossible to let this holiday pass by without sharing about why we celebrate it! 

Easter is a very special time for all Christians, even in the face of the capitalist reality that has marketed this date. It is necessary to create strategies to think about the real meaning of this date and that is what we did in our kids and teenage groups at the Rock House.

Since Rachel’s parents are over spending some time here with us, we thought it was a good idea to put them to work! So Frank gave a word to our teenage boys morning group. Sharing his testimony with them and linking it with easter and the New Life that we can have through Jesus because of his death and resurrection on the cross. 

And Carol gave a word to the kids group about the differences between Northern Ireland and Brazil and sharing that although there are many differences Easter is the same and celebrated the same. Sharing with the kids the true meaning of this holiday through John 3:16 (video teaching them in english!!)

(The rest of this blog was written by one of our volunteers who took the initiative to share….) In the teenage boys afternoon group we remembered the Jewish Passover and the way it points towards Christ’s death and resurrection. This presentation involved Syrian (unleavened) bread and bitter herbs! Many don’t know that Easter was originally celebrated as a Jewish holiday to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. God instructed that a meal should be prepared annually to remember the way that He judged Egypt with the last plague (The death of the first born son) delivering the Israelites from this evil and bringing them freedom.

So, the bread without yeast indicated the pressure on the people, they had to eat quickly and be ready to leave. The bitter herbs were a remembrance of the bitterness of slavery to sin. And of course none of the teenage boys liked the taste of the bitter herbs but each were able to understand very well the meaning.

Another element that was present at the Jewish Passover was the lamb, its blood was painted on the doors which indicated where the people of God lived, making that house free from the judgement. We represented the lamb with some grape juice (because of course we couldn’t give the boys wine!!), Now, we celebrate Jesus as the true passover lamb whose blood has freed us from the slavery of sin, once and for all! Jesus is the true reason we celebrate easter because he delivered us from the worst kind of slavery: the slavery of ourselves!

A time of reflection

So this is a little about how we celebrated Easter with the teenagers and kids. Pray for each of them that they would understand that the blood of Jesus is the only thing that can change the meaning of life for them.