Lent Traditions and Resources: Preparing Little Hearts at Home forEaster

This year Easter comes on March 27 which means Ash Wednesday is next week, February 10, and the journey of Lent begins.


As Advent gave us a runway to prepare our hearts for celebrating Christ's birth at Christmas, Lent gives us 40 days to prepare our hearts through reflecting on Christ's death for the coming celebration of the resurrection, the great joy of Easter!

"Lent" is derived from the old English word that means lengthen because the days are lengthening as spring approaches. Taking cues from the spring equinox, Easter can fall anywhere from late March to late April. 

With Lent arriving on the earlier end of the spectrum, the experience of Advent and Christmas is still fresh which bodes well for helping our children connect Christ's birth with his death and resurrection. All our Christmas and Easter holiday traditions are wanting if we don't connect them in a way that ultimately point us to the gospel. It is because we celebrate a RISEN SAVIOR that we have reason to celebrate anything at all. 

"[We] cry together, 'The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!' This is the cry that resonate through all our celebrations and traditions through all the year. If it were not so, it wouldn't matter what our traditions were or even if we had any. If it were not so, we would have no eternal inheritance... - Treasuring God in Our Traditions, Noel Piper

When I read this several years ago, I set in my heart that Lent and Easter would be treasured in our home as much as Advent and Christmas, for together they point us toward the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In his birth, we experience the hope of a Savior.
In his death, we experience forgiveness of sins.
In his resurrection, we experience new life.

In the joy of Christmas Calvary is always on the horizon, for Christ was born to bear the cross. Lent now takes us from Bethlehem toward Golgotha. We go from the wonder of the incarnation to the hill on Calvary.  

Capturing the Season with Traditions

When thinking through what will fill our days during Lent and the celebration of Easter, I want to mark our home with experiences that are seen, touched, heard, tasted, and smelled. 

So that our whole person might meet the person of Jesus Christ in his sufferings and glory. 

Cultivating traditions is not about simply adding more to do. It starts with asking questions.

• What is currently filling our days? 
• What can we turn away from to make room for more of Him?
• What do we naturally and regularly do as a family that we can hang traditions upon?
• What traditions do we already have in place? How can they point toward Christ and the gospel?
• What stirs the affections of my children? Art? Music? Books?  How can I use the affections God has placed within them to point them to the cross?
• What talents, gifts, and personality has God wired within me that I can draw from in stirring the affections of my children for Him?

We want to intentionally cultivate traditions that teach and display the gospel as they leave sweet, special memories upon our children's hearts that ever after continue pointing them to Christ.

I'm a journaler, a collector of ideas. It's a joy to share how some of those ideas have taken root in our home all from a seed of inspiration God planted often through others. 


Join us in

OPENING ONE OF OUR HOLIDAY TRADITION BOXES... 

TO STIR AFFECTIONS IN OUR HOME FOR LENT AND EASTER WITH...

Lent Devotional for Children: 
Journey to the Cross by Helen Haidle

I adore this children's book and author. Check amazon, check eBay, check your local church library; it will be well worth it! It makes for almost exactly 40 Lent readings in engaging story form. We always miss some nights, but it's pretty easy to catch up. This book will take you through the events of the last week of Jesus' life and resurrection in chronological order. You'll also find fascinating sidebars giving insight to the Roman and Jewish culture of the day during the time period of the crucifixion. 

Lent Activity Book for Children: 
What We Do in Lent by Anne Kitch

We have used this book every Lent for the past four years. I copy the pages each year and in the mornings place one in front of each boy's chair for our breakfast and Bible time. It's aimed at ages 4-7 but can be adapted for younger and older ages. There is a page for each day of Lent, and several of the activities ask them draw prayer pictures. These have given me precious insights into their hearts that I save each year. 

Resurrection Eggs

Read Benjamin's Box, A Resurrection Story to give words to the true story of Easter. Then use the Resurrection Eggs as they draw from what they've just heard but now retell in their own language the story of Easter. Inside each egg is an object that guides their memory starting with a small donkey and ending with an empty tomb (egg). 

Lenten Candles:

Christ is the Light of the World. The first Sunday of Lent all seven candles are lit for before our Sunday devotional reading. Afterwards, one is blown out. And so it will go for the next five Sundays of Lent. Then on Good Friday at 3:00pm, the last candle will be blown out. It seems darkness has overcome the light. Until Easter morning, everyone comes down to an empty tomb and all the candles are shining bright and triumphant. 

For further insights read Lenten Lights at desiringgod.com.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:5

We've used a couple of different Lenten candle set ups over the years.

This year I created Scripture Cards for Lenten Lights based off the Lenten Lights guide at desiringgod.com to use weekly on Sundays during Lent or daily during Holy Week.

From the Tree to the Cross

I really wanted a tangible way to connect Christmas and Easter and bring the summation of the two together in a way that pointed brightly toward the gospel. This Christmas we saved our tree, and a woodworking friend cut and joined it into a cross. A visual reminder that

Christ was born to bear the cross for our sins and overcome the darkness that we might have life eternal in Him.

You can read more about Holy Week in our home, specifically our Easter Mountain (Golgotha) and Messianic Passover.