Last year, Holy Week at home with the kids was such a special time. And we are largely planning on doing the same things (You can read here a full description of what we did here: Holy Week with Toddlers), but this year I did want to try and do some Easter Vigil Readings.
For many years at multiple churches, Evan and I coordinated the 9 Old Testament readings for the Easter Vigil, gathering volunteers and encouraging people to find some creative element to incorporate into their reading: candle, drums, fabric, movement, etc. I take a lot of inspiration from the church and theater class I took at Wheaton. It is so powerful to dwell in the big story of God’s redemption that culminates in celebrating the Resurrection.
I really wanted our kids to be able to have a taste of the vigil readings. So I worked to create a story where the disciples are retelling the Bible stories of the vigil readings as they wait for the dawn of Easter morning. It is still long for a 5 and 2 1/2 year old to listen to, so I’ll act out the stories with our peg people and play silks. Last year, we listened to taize music in the near darkness and for 20 minutes quietly made duplo lego tombs, and that was surprisingly beautiful. So I’m sure that quietly doing legos or drawing during the readings would work well if you didn’t want to act out the stories.
(Here is printable version of the story without images.)
Waiting for the Dawn: The Easter Vigil Readings Retold for Children
For thousands of years Christians have read, re-enacted, and imagined the story of Jesus dying on the cross for us at Easter. Tonight, Holy Saturday, we keep a vigil—we wait and pray and read some of the stories and poems from the Old Testament that tell of how from the very beginning God had a plan to rescue us.
I imagine that might have been a bit of what the first followers of Jesus did that first Holy Saturday, when they did not know that the next day would be the very best day of their lives. Instead, they were very sad and afraid because Jesus had just died.
For these stories, I imagined that Mary of Bethany was there, listening to the disciples tell those stories and poems and thinking about Jesus. Let’s imagine together that we are waiting with them, that we are part of the big story of God making and rescuing the world as we wait for Easter morning to come.
It was just past sunset. We were with the eleven disciplines in the upper room, the prayers to end the sabbath still echoed in the air. But no one moved. The doors were locked, the shutters were drawn. Jesus had died. What were we to do?
Then, into the darkness, the beloved disciple, John, spoke. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light.“
And my sister Martha, who has perfect timing, lit an oil lamp. John nodded at her and continued, “and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Then John told of the spaces God made. On the second day, the sky dome separated the waters; on the third day, a mountain of dry land appeared out of the water and God spoke his word, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.”
Then John told of how God gave each day’s creation its occupants: On the fourth day, God made lights in the heavens, stars and sun and moon, for signs and for seasons. On the fifth day, God made creatures for the waters and the sky. God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
On the sixth day, God made the land creatures, cattle and creeping things and wild animals. Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness. And God blessed them, and said, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day, God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.
And then Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who seemed to know we all needed a mother then, sang a psalm out into the room. “Give thanks to the Lord of lords,” And we answered back, “For his mercy endures for ever.”
Who only does great wonders? she sang. “For his mercy endures for ever,” we answered.
Who by wisdom made the heavens? she asked us. “For his mercy endures for ever,” we answered.
Who spread out the earth upon the waters? she sang. “For his mercy endures for ever,” we answered.
But of course, I thought, it did not stay so beautiful and restful in the garden. Everything went terribly wrong: first the tree, and then over and over sin entered the world and the hearts of people until God vowed to start again and let the chaos waters come back over his creation.
And Andrew must have been thinking similar things, for he began to tell us the story of Noah. The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you pairs of all animals and birds. For in seven days, I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. On that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. The rain fell.
The flood continued forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out a raven.
I always liked this part. The raven searching, searching for dry land. Then the dove searching week after week until it found the smallest sign of God’s remade creation dry land out of the waters putting forth vegetation.
The dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then … God said to Noah, “Go out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant: I have set my bow in the clouds.”
Andrew finished stretching his hand out and moving it in an arc, like the rainbow in the sky.
Then, Mary started us singing another psalm: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea.
But I wanted to point out that I felt afraid and alone. I supposed Martha felt this way too, for she got up and mumbled something about toasting bread for everyone to eat. I know this is her way, although none of us has eaten and I cannot imagine we will want to when she brings up the bread. But we say nothing and let her work out her grief in serving.
Then Matthew began a story that I have always found difficult. About Abraham and Isaac, after promises of God making a great nation and giving them a beautiful home, Abraham did not believe, and took things into his own hands. And then God, . . . well, Andrew told it better.
After these things, God tested Abraham: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.
Down below, I can hear Martha stacking wood, preparing to light a fire.
So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father, Abraham, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
I can smell the smoke of Martha’s cooking fire.
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him : “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
I am weeping. I am thinking of Jesus dying on Friday. I am thinking that there was not another ram, there was only Jesus. Son of God, Son of Man, Lamb of God, killed by man.
And Mary sang quietly, “Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.” Over and over, she sang that verse. I did not know for what we were waiting, but I did know we were waiting.
Then, into the silence Thomas began the great Passover story. Of course, we had just told it joyfully with Jesus days before. But Thomas seemed to think we needed to hear it again. Moses leading the people out of Egypt, God leading us out in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, only after ten plagues pried Pharaoh’s hand open, only to try and snatch us back again on the edge of the Red Sea.
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear, the Israelites cried out to the Lord .Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today.”
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them. At dawn, the sea returned to its normal depth. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained.
Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang, “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”
I wonder when will God come back to guide His people so closely, like a cloud by day and a tower of smoke by night as He did when He lead our people out of Egypt? We thought it was Jesus, Jesus who walked with us and talked with us and healed us and baptized us into a new way of being.
Then Mary sang to us from Isaiah, like Miriam singing over Israel:
On that day, the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst.
Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
Then James recited another poem from the prophet Isaiah:
Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
And just then Martha came up with a platter piled high with toasted bread and a pitcher of warmed wine. And everyone nearly laughed, but of course we could not actually laugh, but a shadow of a smile was on our lips at Martha’s timing. Like I said, my sister has perfect timing. And we gave thanks and broke the bread that, after all, we could eat, and listened to James continue.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Then Mary sang out another bit of Isaiah, “Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation. And on that day you shall say ‘Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name; Make his deeds known among the peoples; see that they remember that his Name is exalted.”
I ate my bread and thought about God feeding the Israelites manna, and Jesus feeding the five thousand.
Then Peter spoke. I had not, until then, realized that Peter had been quiet. But then I recognized that Peter, usually loud and joyful, jump-first, look-later Peter, had been nearly wordless. Even when he did speak, it was barely above a whisper.
Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Here, Peter’s voice cracked. And he wept and wept, and no one said a word. We did not know then about how Peter had followed Jesus, but in fear and panic denied him three times. We did not know the crushing shame that mingled with Peter’s grief. But then Peter, with great gasping breaths, finished the promise from the Prophet Ezekiel: and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
And Mary sang quietly, quietly the ancient words of the Psalm, “My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God; when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long they say to me, Where now is your God?”
Then Bartholomew told of Ezekiel the prophet when the Lord set him in a valley of dry bones and told him to prophesy to the bones, saying:
O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. Suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
Of course, now I am thinking of my brother, of Lazarus. Lazarus who died. Lazarus who we buried. Lazarus who for days we wept over. Lazarus who Jesus loved and raised from the dead. I know that dead men can live. I have seen it. I know that dry bones could at the word of the Lord be put back together. If only…
Then Bartholomew continued, Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.
And Mary sang, “Let me hear of your loving-kindness in the morning, for I put my trust in you; show me the road that I must walk, for I lift up my soul to you.”
Then I realized that it was nearly morning. Martha is gathering up empty cups and sweeping up crumbs. Somehow, we had survived another night. And the women had work to do: to go to the tomb and anoint the body of our Lord. There had not been enough time on Friday to do a proper job of it.
The week before, I had poured nard on Jesus’ feet, and the scent of the expensive perfume filled the whole house. He said I was anointing him for his burial. I loved to sit at Jesus feet, and I felt moved to wash them, extravagant and foolish at it seemed. Now it is all of his body that needs spices and oils.
I can hear Phillip begin a passage from Zephaniah as I stand and get ready to leave.
Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.
he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love;
And I will save the lame and gather the outcast,
At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you.
As we head out, I can hear Mary sing her Psalm, “Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.”
I am carrying spiced seeds, and I am weeping. How could I come back in joy? The spices and ointments are heavy, but we know the way to the tomb. And soon we are wondering, as the first tendrils of dawn begin to lighten the sky, who will roll away the heavy stone over the entrance of the tomb for us?
From The Great of Easter Vigil, Book of Common Prayer, page 285
Italicized Scripture Selections taken from the New Revised Standard Version & Book of Common Prayer Psalter. (Full Texts Available Here)
The story of Creation: Genesis 1:1–2:2 & Psalm 136 // Flood: Genesis 7-9:8 & Psalm 46 // Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac: Genesis 22:1-18 & Psalm 16 // Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea Exodus 14:10–15:1 & God’s Presence in a renewed Israel Isaiah 4:2-6 // Salvation offered freely to all: Isaiah 55:1-11 & Isaiah 12:2-6 // A new heart and a new spirit: Ezekiel 36:24-28 & Psalm 42 // The valley of dry bones: Ezekiel 37:1-14 & Psalm 143 // The gathering of God’s people: Zephaniah 3:12-20 & Psalm 126
Amazing, Amy! Really powerful
Thank you Dennyse! I really enjoyed working on it!!