Lenten Promise Update #5

My Lenten study with the children ended last night as we do not have Church Family Night during Holy Week. We will be making a trip to ECHO on the Wednesday after Easter to present the donations we have collected during Lent as the service project part of our study, but the teaching/reflection station time ended last night. We discussed Jesus' last supper with his disciples. The focus word was 'remember'. We tried to focus on remembering Jesus' sacrifice and specifically the last week of his journey. I think the children have enjoyed this time together (even though they long for recreation time!) and have benefited from doing things that we normally don't do in our program. We have really stretched ourselves in doing this focused study on Lent, especially through the creative activities that have been involved in the learning process. I was hesitant at first about whether this would work, but I have come to realize that children will amaze you if you give them the chance to try different things! I feel blessed to have been able to share this Lenten experience with the children of our church. On a personal note, I have continued to keep my Lenten promise of not eating fast food and I believe I have grown spiritually during this process. (I'm still working on the shrinking physically part!) I look forward to this year's Holy Week with an anticipation I have not had before - an anticipation of remembrance that will be deeper because of the Lenten study and my experiences with the children. Here's a picture of the painting we used last night to help us remember:

Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper (1495-1498)