Good Friday & Kids

It can be difficult to decide what to do on Good Friday as a family.  Some Good Friday services tend to be to intense and/or difficult for a child to sit through.  Since this is true for my family, I would like to share a couple ways that you can still worship together as a family.

 Canaan in the Desert:  

This is a wonderful prayer garden located off 40th Street, just south of Shea Blvd. in Phoenix.  I have been taking my daughter Sophia for the last couple of years.  She refers to it as the Jesus Park.  Here you can take your whole family through different stations starting with Jesus praying at Gethsemane all the way to His Resurrection.  As you walk into the garden there is a small box with a map for the garden, a guide you can read for each station and a card that your child can color later.

Each station has a beautiful wood carving depicting a scene.  Don't worry they are sturdy and your kids can touch them.  Also, depending on how much your kids can handle take as much or as little time as you need at each station and talk about what you see.  There is no rush.

When you are done, next to one of the buildings they have a box that you can use to leave a donation to assist with maintaining the garden, if you so desire.

Watch the "Gospel According To Matthew - Part 2" on Amazon Prime:

If you can't make it to the prayer garden, I would highly recommend watching sections of this movie.  This movie is the best attempt I've ever seen at bringing the word of God to the screen.  It's wonderful for kids for two reasons that the "Passion of the Christ" is not.  First, the movie is in English.  Secondly, it is nowhere near as violent when it comes to Jesus' flogging and crucifixion.  Moreover, it is word for word from the NIV with the chapter and verse always in the bottom right hand corner of your screen so you can follow along in your Bible.  If it is text not said by a person it is voiced by the narrator who is playing the part of Matthew as an older man dictating his account of Jesus' life.  I recommend watching the whole thing.  Also, the same people did the book of Acts which is also available to watch on Amazon Prime.

However, just like any movie, I strongly recommend that you preview it before allowing your kids to watch it with you.  Some kids are more sensative than others and each parent knows what their child(ren) can handle or not.

I hope these tools help to enrich Holy Week for you this year.

Happy Easter to you and your family!

HE IS RISEN!!!!!