Monday, April 18, 2011

Ask Your Children: What Is Good Friday?

You may be shocked at the answer. You take your kids to Church; you teach them about Jesus, you tell them the stories from the Bible – including the story of Easter. And yet, most kids don’t know what Good Friday is!

I talked casually with a group of ten year old girls yesterday at church, and I asked them: What is Good Friday? The first thing I heard was “Earth Day!” Seriously, whose idea was it to set Earth Day this year on the same day as Good Friday!?!

It took a few prodding questions to finally get one of the girls to say “Oh, I know! It’s the day Jesus died!” Well, yeah, but it’s so much more than that. I asked her “Did He die? Or was He killed?” At that point, it became blatantly obvious to them that it was the day that Jesus was crucified. Once they realized that, they knew the rest of the story.

But, this was at church. What about kids who don’t go to church? I’m not judging you for whether you do or do not go to church. We are each free to worship how, where, and what we want. But, do our kids know why we have Good Friday off school? Do they know what happened that day, and why it’s significant?

Do me a favor; ask them? And tell me what they say! What’s your opinion? -Julie L. Spencer

I recently lost 42 pounds on the Take Shape for Life program! Want to check out my weight loss transition? Click here! -Julie L. Spencer

2 comments:

Party of Five said...

It's funny, Kenny asked me the other day. So, I countered (as I often do when he asks me questions) "what do YOU think it is?" and he thought for a minute... and said "Is it when Jesus died?" I then explained the crucifixion, and that he suffered for our sins. He asked why he had to rise again, and that led to a deeper discussion of the atonement. I think sometimes we take for granted that they know what it is and what it all means. Sometimes I think "he knows.." with out fully discussing things on his level. Gotta step back and slow down!

Lo / Jim Vail said...

Impressed that you are stepping away from your "everything about Twilight" postings. I think the atonement is something even adults grapple with and have trouble defining. One person from my past (cannot remember who) said to take the word apart. At One Ment. So, the meaning of the word; i.e., "ment" is that "one" person took on the whole world of sins or the current "at" for all of us, but also that belongs just to me. He died for all of us and rose from the dead, but he did it just for me and that, to me, is what is so amazing about my relationship with Jesus. Aunt Lois