Dear Thankful Thursday Gang and Jonah's crew parents - this is our Easter edition and we won't be back again now until the 16th April. So enjoy this with your little ones - if need be you can revisit the past few episodes over the holiday. I am sure your little ones will love the repetition. Nothing but an instrument is needed to join in - although there is a craft challenge described at the end to make your very own
Easter garden's and Easter angels - do send me picture of any creations -I would love to see them. This weeks thankful thought is below the video.
Thankful Thought : Easter – the angel at the tomb – Matthew 28
So here we are a little earlier than the rest of Church but at Thankful Thursdays we have reached Easter Day. I have focused on the account of Mary meeting the Angel at the empty tomb - read it with all it's earthquakes in Matthew chapter 28. I love the symmetry of the gospel – it began with an angel coming to tell Mary not to be afraid as he had good news and it comes full circle and here we have another angel and another Mary but the same message: DO NOT BE AFRAID – and some more amazing Good news – Jesus is alive!
It feels very much like a message we need to here right now. Many are afraid and it seems like the world is standing still and holding it’s breath – desperate for good news.
I was struck by fact that when the women left the angel and began to return to Jesus’s followers we read this in verse 8. "The women left the tomb quickly. They were afraid, but they were also very happy. They ran to tell Jesus’ followers what had happened."
Even having seen an angel first-hand the women were still afraid but were happy. Perhaps that is all we can hope for – it is ok to still be afraid but we should also have a great joy in our hearts because we know Jesus and we know he has the victory over the world and nothing can separate us from his love.
Jesus meets the women on their way back and they fall at his feet – he confirms the instruction of the angel : “Do not be afraid”. So I say to you – fall at Jesus’s feet if necessary in prayer – especially if you are still afraid but listen and take on board your saviours words – Do not be afraid – Jesus is Alive and in the words of Julian of Norwich – “All will be well” – because our God reigns.
Blessings, Love and Prayer Claire x