The Road To Emmaus
Hi Werb’s Kids and Werb’s Parents!
Hope you had a great Easter Weekend!
All of the resources are still available should you want to go on the Good Friday journey again or see me stuff my face with chocolate again or watch the amazing dramatised reading!
This is such a strange time for all of us as we work out our new normal and in today’s story there was a strange event that happened to Jesus’ friends too!
As well as these weekly posts don’t forget we have our playlists on Spotify (Adults and Kids) and the same on Youtube (Adults and Kids) that you can access during this time. Get dancing and bring a little sunshine and fun to wherever you may be!!
We also are regularly posting on our instagram! (@werbskids)
Keep your eyes peeled for challenges that Aredee has set us along with updates and all the information you need, week on week, in one place.
I’ve loved being seeing your videos and photos! Please remember to keep connected but also stay safe. We’re online more than ever so let’s just keep each other safe by what we post or share. Keep it positive and stay connected with us by using the hashtags ⧣werbsathome and ⧣werbskids on social media.
One of the challenges set this week was to write a prayer. I’d love to share with our church the prayers our children are writing.
If you have written a prayer, I’d love to add it to a recent post called Werb’s Kids’ Prayers. No names go up on here just the wonderful prayers! If you’d like yours to be added to it just message me or email amy.farrar@stwderby.org with the prayer!
Have an amazing week.
Stay safe and stay connected,
Love Amy
THE ROAD TO EMMAUS
We looked at the very special journey Jesus made on Good Friday and then we found out the incredible truth that he was alive on Easter Sunday! Today we look at another special journey that happened to some of Jesus’ friends shortly after these events took place.
We are still in this time of uncertainty and many of us might be struggling not knowing what is to come. But as we learnt from the Easter story ‘the best is yet to come’. On Friday they didn’t know that Sunday was coming, and that Sunday would bring victory and breakthrough!
Not all Jesus’ friends believed that he was alive. In the story today we see 2 of Jesus’ friends leaving the city with heavy hearts. They were so sad that they had lost their friend. Have a look at the story below to see what happens next!
BUT FIRST LET’S PLAY A GAME!
In our story the main characters are walking along a road to a place called Emmaus.
How do you think they were walking? Can you walk in a sad way? They did think their friend was gone forever.
Now, what is the most creative way you can walk across a room? What is the funniest way you can walk!? I’d love to know what you come up with!!
Here are some to get you started:
Walking
Skipping
Jumping like a frog
Bunny hopping
Tip-toeing
Rolling
Crawling
Sliding
I think God wants to talk to us about hope.
Our Hope is in God, in Jesus Christ.
Hope is commonly used to mean a wish: its strength is the strength of the person wanting something to happen.
But in the Bible, Hope is being 100% sure of what God has promised us and its strength is in God’s faithfulness. It’s being confident in who we know God is.
It’s knowing with all our hearts, souls and minds that God is faithful and good. And trusting in him completely for everything ESPECIALLY NOW!
When we are struggling and have our down days we are able to lean on God and talk to him. You might have some days like this at the moment . BUT we can depend on God and know that our hope for a better future will come because that is one of God’s promises to us.
We know that God promises us to have life at it’s absolute best and in all its fullness so this means we can know that we don’t have to fear. We might be scared or unsure about what is happening now or what might happen next but just like the Easter story, Jesus’ friends didn’t know the great ending to the story!
We might have to spend a long time inside right now but one day we will be able to meet as a church family again and see all our friends BUT at the moment we have to wait and MUST stay inside to keep each other safe. Unfortunately unlike the disciples we’ll probably have to wait a lot longer than 3 days but it is all for the greater good!
Watch what happens to some of Jesus’ friends:
For those aged 0-7:
I wonder how much you remember from the story? If you need to watch it again then go ahead!
Then see if you can recreate or retell the story!
You could use play dough or salt dough to make the characters OR print out THIS sheet and make your own puppets. You’ll notice these are similar to our Good Friday puppets so if you made those then why not use them for this!
When retelling the story you may want to put something over Jesus’ face just to hide him a little, remember his friends didn’t realise it was him at first. Also you’ll need some bread for the end of the story when he breaks it and his friends see Jesus and truly believe he’s alive!
Hope you have lots of fun remembering all that happens in this amazing story!
Now let’s do this…
Spend some time thanking God for who he is and that Jesus is alive, this is a great chance to use your prayer journal that we made in one of our first sessions (if you don’t have a prayer journal why not make one now. Find an old book to write your prayers in or just use paper and then bind it together with string).
Just like how the disciples had to listen to Jesus on the road to Emmaus spend some time now waiting for God to speak.
Write or draw anything you think he says.
Every member of the family should do this together, this is not just an activity for the children!
PARENTS: This may be out of the comfort zone for some of us but give your child the opportunity to pray in this way. Hearing from God is a skill that we need to grow and most of us aren’t used to it or we easily write it off believing that God won’t speak to us when He actually may have spoken to us but we’ve just ignored Him! The point of this is to remember that prayer is a conversation not a one way rant! Trust your children and write down whatever they say. Children are very open to the Spirit, often far more than we realise. Just as Jesus said “Let the little children come!”, have faith that something incredible can come from this time.
For those aged 8 and above:
How much do you remember from the video?
Below are some questions. You may want to talk about them together or maybe draw or write down your answers. If you’re struggling, you may want to watch the video again or read the passage for yourself in Luke 24v13-35. You can also read it HERE.
How do you think the disciples must have been feeling at the beginning of their journey?
Some of Jesus’ friends had lost hope. They were not certain about what they had been told by those who had visited Jesus’ tomb. They were sad and they missed their friend who they thought was gone forever.
Why do you think Jesus didn’t tell them who he was straight away?
What does Jesus tell them on the walk?
How do the two recognise him in the end?
I think there were so many questions going around their heads that they needed answering that by hiding who Jesus was at first, this helped them to really listen to what Jesus was explaining to them. They needed Jesus to appear to them for them to truly understand that Jesus was alive!
What do they do as soon as they recognise him?
How do they feel at the end?
Are they changed by meeting Jesus on the road? Why?
They were left amazed and end up running back to Jerusalem to tell all their friends what they had seen and heard. By finding out at the end that they were talking with Jesus they truly and completely believed that he was alive! They realised that they had loved talking to him on the road and that now they knew the truth, the incredible good news and they couldn’t hold it in! They had to run back and talk to everyone about it!!
Now let’s do this…
Every member of the family should do this together, this is not just an activity for the children!
Close your eyes. Imagine that you are in the house at Emmaus when Jesus breaks the bread.
All of a sudden you realise that Jesus really is alive and is in your house, sharing a meal with you!
What question would you like to ask Jesus?
You my need a few minutes to think and then share your questions with each other.
Because of who Jesus is and because He really did rise from the dead, you can ask Jesus any question.
Do you have any other questions you’d like to ask Jesus? Make a list.
PARENTS: this is a great opportunity to use the prayer journal we began together or to create a new one!
Once you have your questions spend some time giving these questions to God. God wants to talk to us so spend some time waiting for him to speak. You may wish to say the following prayer and then wait.
“Thank you Lord that you love talking to us. Thank you that we are able to ask questions when we don’t understand. You hear and see all the questions we have. Please send your Holy Spirit now and speak to us. Amen”
You may not hear an audible answer, but if your questions are genuine then you will get an answer one day. God might answer in different ways: you might see a picture, get a feeling or have a thought or think a word. Write down whatever you feel like God is saying.
Finish by saying this prayer.
“Thank you Father that you are a God that speaks. We thank you for the answers to the questions we have and we will wait patiently for those unanswered questions to be revealed to us one day. Thank you that you love us and help us to hear your voice more clearly each day. Amen”
CRAFT IDEAS!
Something to do during the talk
- Colouring Sheet
- Spot The Difference
- Word Search
- Draw part of the story
- Make your own map for the disciples to follow so they can get from Jerusalem to Emmaus and back againMake your own PUZZLE!!
Print out THIS sheet and colour it all in.
Next stick it firmly to a piece of cardboard.
Make sure all of the back of the paper is glued as this will make it easier later!
Next cut out each of the puzzle pieces. You may need an adult to help with this part.Once they are all cut out can you put the puzzle back together again?!
Cardboard Sandals
You will need: CARD, SCISSORS, GLUE, PAPER, PENS and DECORATIONS
HERE is a link to a website where you can follow a video step by step or below I’ve written out simple instructions.
First draw round your foot on a peice of card and cut it out.
Next cut strips of paper and stick them to your sandal. These will be your straps.
Next decorate! Get creative! You may want to add tassels or frills or even some beads.
Be aware that when I made mine I was no longer able to wear them once I had added the decorations! You may instead of wearing them display them somewhere special!!
Heart Biscuits
The two disciples on the road said that their hearts felt warmed when Jesus was speaking to them. What do you think this means? When the disciples’ hearts felt warm this was their hearts realising it was Jesus before their heads did! Make gingerbread hearts to remind you of this.
Ingredients:
125g unsalted butter
100g dark muscovado sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
325g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
Writing Icing (optional)Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C, gas mark 3. Line baking trays with baking parchment. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a medium saucepan, stirring occasionally, then remove from the heat.
Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a bowl and stir the melted ingredients into the dry ingredients to make a stiff dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to a thickness of about 5mm. Dip biscuit cutters into flour before cutting the dough. Place the heart shapes onto the lined baking trays and bake, in batches, for 9-10 minutes until light golden brown.
If you don’t have heart shapes you could make people instead. Just use what you have!!
Be careful removing them from the oven and finish them off by icing them once they are completely cool.
NEW SONG!
Listen to this song and read the lyrics below. Remind yourself not to give up and that God wants you to have fun at this time! Ask God to give you his joy and then just like the lyrics below say “dance like there’s no one watching, sing like your soul is bursting.” Why not create your own actions or dance to this song!?
“While my heart is beating
While my body’s breathing
My future’s there for you to write
Though today I’m hurting
There’s a new day coming
Bright and shining like your smile
I won’t give up, no, no
I won’t give in, no, no
You are the tide on which I rise
I won’t back up, no, no
I won’t back down, no, no
This is the time for me to rise
You are the fun in my life
You are the joy
You are the laughter inside
And I want more
No one could ever make me happier
No one could ever take me higher”
“Let’s have some fun, fun! Fun, fun!
Let’s have some fun, fun! Fun, fun, yeah!
This I know for sure now
Nothing’s keeping me down
Every fear is gonna go
Can’t stop the feet from dancing
Stop my spirit soaring
You’re the rhythm in my soul
Throw your hands in the air
like you just don’t care
Reach for the sky, let your heart run wild
Dance like there’s no one watching
Sing like your soul is bursting”
PUT SOMETHING INTO ACTION: Go on a prayer walk
On your daily walk why not pray for our world. You could pray for those in the houses you pass and the people who walk by.
Here is a prayer you can pray if you need.
Thank you Lord for this world and the beautiful outdoors.
- Name 3 things you can see to say thank you for.
Thank you that you love each and every person I see today and those in all the houses I pass.
Thank you that you sent Jesus to show us all just how much you love us!
Please protect and look after each and every person in my neighbourhood. Help them to have good happy days.
Please help those who are struggling or having a hard time right now.
- Name someone you know who might need God’s help today.
Thank you that we get to spend so much time with our families and help us to love each other and be the kindest we can be at this time.
- Name 2 things you love doing with your family
Please be with us now and show us your love.
Amen.
Edited and adapted by Amy Farrar from several sources including energize.com
