Resurrection Eggs

I don't know about you, but during this Easter season I see a lot of items in the store geared towards the Easter Bunny, Easter Egg hunts, and all things commercial. I don't see much about Jesus and His sacrifice. This really bothers me. I have a friend in Tennessee, and her son, who is in kindergarten, was given an assignment to write a letter to the Easter Bunny. Now, I'm all for more literacy in the classroom and all, but having your students write a letter to the Easter Bunny?!?! Yeah, not a fan. In fact, I don't even talk to my children about Santa Claus, yet somehow they are still getting indoctrinated. Sadly, most of the indoctrination came from church. But, back to Easter...I want my children to know why we celebrate different holidays, and I really want them to know more about Christ and His life. I think the Catholics have it right with celebrating Lent. Why doesn't the rest of the Christian world celebrate Lent? Are we too selfish? Christ fasted for 40 days. 40 days, people. Now, I can't even fast for 24 hours, let alone 40 days, but why shouldn't I give something important up for 40 days to help me remember Christ? I didn't participate in Lent this year, but I'm thinking it might be a good thing to integrate into our family. We celebrated Advent to an extent this past Christmas season, and I think my children really liked it. Our Advent calendar was a puzzle of sorts, that became a picture of the Nativity scene when it was completed. The children really loved it!

Okay, back to Easter again. In an attempt to teach my children more about the importance of Easter, I had my mom help me come up with some Resurrection Eggs. I didn't pull all the scripture verses and egg ideas from one spot, because there were some things that I wanted to include that weren't in any one post/website/blog/whatever. So, here's what I came up with, that I love.

1. The Last Supper. Mark 14:22-24. A small cup, which my church uses to administer the water during the Sacrament. (besides, who wants to keep replacing bread every year?)
2. Judas gives up Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Matthew 26: 14-16. Three dimes.
3. Jesus is bound. Matthew 27:1-2. A piece of jute.
4. Pilate washes his hands. Matthew 27:24-25. A small baggie of soap.
5. Crown of thorns. Matthew 27:28-29. I was fortunate to find some sort of brown twist tie not made with paper, so I used that. Other ideas are brown florist wire, or brown craft wire, or some small brown sticks that you soak and then braid.
6. Jesus is nailed to the cross. John 19:17-18. A nail and a toothpick broken and wrapped back together using thread.

7. The sign above the cross. Matthew 27:37. A small piece of cardboard, card stock, or paperboard with "This is Jesus, The King of the Jews" written on it.
8. The soldiers cast lots for Jesus' garments. Matthew 27:35. Some dice (if you're anything like us, don't forget which game you borrow the dice from).
9. The earth trembles and quakes. Mark 15:33-34, 37-39. A small baggie of rocks and dirt.
10. Jesus' body prepared for burial. Matthew 27:59-60. A small piece of white cloth.
11. Pilate's men seal the tomb with a stone. Matthew 27:62-63, 66. A rock.
12. Jesus rises from the grave. Matthew 28:1-2, 5-6. Empty, for He is Risen! I've also seen ideas of putting a picture of the resurrected Lord in this egg, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time trying to find a picture that small to fit in a standard-sized Easter Egg.

Feel free to use my idea. If you do post it somewhere, I would appreciate a reference. Thanks! Have a Happy Easter, for Jesus is Risen, He is our Savior and King!

P.S. I used scrapbooking stickers for the numbers on my eggs. I know vinyl is all the rage right now, but I had the stickers lying around, so I used them.