VE Day – Victory in Europe was proclaimed 75 years ago and is being celebrated tomorrow, so the theme this month is PEACE.

For some in the village they have experienced loved ones going to war more recently than 1945. But we are thankful that we have not been directly affected as people were in the First and second world wars.

We remember the horrific atrocities and the many millions of lives sacrificed so we can have our freedoms today.

ACTIVITY:

Another way to handle this through words would be to change the word s-l-i-n-g (as one example of an old-fashioned weapon) into the word p-e-a-c-e by changing only one letter at a time but always making each time a new word. Instead of slinging insults at each other how do we bring peace between people?
Answer further on………….

Poppies are often seen in pictures and painting remembering the wars. They are used as a symbol for different reasons:

• It is of course the symbol of a charity fund that still cares for those who were bereaved or injured in wars.
• It is also a way of remembering the sacrifice made by many who fought against those who would take away democratic freedoms from our world.
• It is a sign of hope, inspired as it is by the poppy fields in Belgium, where the flowers grew on the very land that had during the First World War been battlegrounds.
• It can also be seen as a ‘vote for peace’.

For Christians each Sunday is a Remembrance or victory day. It is the day when they remember the sacrifice of Jesus, who won for the entire world a different and deeper kind of peace. God’s peace gift to us is Jesus. He is God’s gift to all who will receive Him. Jesus makes peace with God for us and as we learn how to pass this gift on, we become peacemakers and peace-givers too. He empowers us to be peace-bringers.

From Matthew 5: 9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

From Micah 4: 1- 4
In days to come the mountain where the temple stands will be the highest one of all, towering above all the hills. Many nations will come streaming to it and their people will say, ‘Let us go up the Hill to the Lord, to the temple of Israel’s God. For he will teach us what he wants us to do; we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the Lord’s teaching comes from Jerusalem; from Zion he speaks to his people.

He will settle disputes among the nations, among the great powers near and far. They will hammer their swords into ploughs and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will never again go to war, never prepare for battle again. Everyone will live in peace among his own vineyards and fig trees, and no one will make him afraid. The Lord Almighty has promised this.

Some people have taken this prophecy from the Old Testament about swords being turned into ploughs very literally. The country of Mozambique was torn apart by war for many years but in recent times, following an initiative that came from the Christian Church, people have been encouraged to bring in their weapons and have them melted down and turned into useful tools and machines. Some of these weapons have even been turned into pieces of art, which have been displayed in exhibitions around the world.

To illustrate this, hand out some long pieces of fuse wire to the children. Ask them first to sculpt them into swords or guns. Some will need little encouragement! The challenge then is to unbend the wire and turn those swords and guns into something useful or beautiful. This exercise could be used alongside the reading from Micah above to explore the promise of peace that is given us.

When Jesus came to Jerusalem for the last time it says in Luke’s gospel (Chapters 19: 42) that he not only wept over the city but also sighed and said ‘ If only you knew the things that really make peace ‘.

What things do make for peace between people?

list the sort of things that make peace rather than war.

Draw / sketch a large world map and lay this out. Talk about what sort of wars are going on today around the world. Identify the parts of the world where there is fighting, perhaps using some newspaper pictures and headlines to put on or against the map.

Now invite the group either to place some poppies on those different parts of the world and turn this into a short time of prayer, or make your own poppies cut from card and stuck to short gardens sticks. On each of the three main petals you could emphasise the different sorts of peace that Jesus brings – peace inside ourselves, peace between each other and peace with God.

STORY

There is a story that comes from the Middle East that is a sort of parable such as the ones that Jesus told. In fact I think it is really about Jesus himself and how he makes peace as well as about ourselves and how he wants us to be peacemakers.

You could make this story visual by printing off a series of 18 clip-art camel pictures and mounting them (first only 17 and then later add the 18th) upright in a slit along a long cardboard tube. This will help make the mathematics of the story easier to grasp!

Once upon a time there was a rich man who lived in the deserts of the Middle East. You could tell how rich he was because of what he owned and especially how many camels belonged to him. In fact he was so rich that he owned not 2, not 4, not 8, not 16… but 17 camels.

He had led a peaceful and prosperous life and so when he was very old and near to death he wrote his will, explaining how he intended to leave his wealth to his only son, his grandson and to his one nephew. The terms of the will were these: one half of his riches should go to his own son; one third should go to his grandchild and one ninth of his wealth should go to his nephew.

This seemed fair. Soon after this the rich man died. Now when it came time to dividing up the camels according to the will, the three beneficiaries ran into a problem! (Demonstrate the following with your visual aid)

• If half the camels were given to the son, then he should get eight-and-a-half camels, which would mean killing a camel!
• If a third of the camels were given to the grandson, that would mean again killing a camel so he could get five and two thirds!
• And when it came to the nephew, there was no way he could get his share unless another camel was killed.

The three of them became frustrated and soon got very angry with each other. They shouted and quarrelled and argued and even threatened to go to war over the camels. Secretly they began stockpiling their weapons and plotting their battle campaigns.

Nearby there lived a very poor man. You could tell he was very poor because he only had one camel. Although he was so poor and seemed to have no influence, he still felt he should do something to help. He wanted to stop war breaking out. He wanted to be a peacemaker. But what could he do?

He decided to offer his one and only camel into the rich man’s inheritance to help sort out the problem. It was a huge sacrifice. The inheritance now consisted of 18 camels.
(demonstrate the following by adding a camel and then re-doing the maths as below!)

The three sat down and did the sums.

• Half of 18 would go to the son, so he took 9 camels.
• One third of 18 would go to the grandson so he took 6 camels.
• And one ninth of 18 would go to the nephew, so he took two camels. After each had taken his allotted number, to their great surprise there was one camel left over!
• The poor man received his camel back! He had made peace by his willingness to give up all he had and it had made all the difference and he had not lost out in the end!

I wonder what you think this story is saying to us about making peace? And about Jesus who is described as the Prince of Peace

ANSWER to the SLING to PEACE Word Challenge:
Here’s one solution – sling-slang-slant-plant-plane-place-peace

CRAFT ACTIVITY:

1. Enjoy making and decorating a cake or buns with a British flag on it!

2. Arrange a happy picnic in the garden ( or sitting room floor!). If not many people in the family invite teddies, or make a scarecrow or two to join in the FUN!

3. Listen to songs from the second world war. ( Don’t forget there’s national singing at 9pm on Friday 8th May)

4. Make a medal out of salt dough that could be awarded to either
a)  those who through their ‘giving up’ of something are helping to keep us all safe. e.g. going to school; work etc….
OR
b) those who are still working to enable us to be safe, feed and cared for.

Please send in photos of what you make or do – email to contacthub@petertavyparishcouncil.org

Keep safe and God bless.

On Good Friday Christians remember the day that Jesus was killed on the cross. He was nailed to a wooden cross by Roman soldiers. This is the reason why the cross is an important sign for Christians today. There are crosses in churches and many Christians wear a cross on a chain.

At Easter people eat hot cross buns which have a cross shape on the top.

Good Friday is a sad day and churches never have flowers or decorations on this day. The church is left dark and there is just a simple cross on the altar. It is known as Good Friday because Christians believe that Jesus gave up his life for the good of everyone.

Jesus Dies on the Cross

by Sharla Guenther

Very early in the morning, the soldiers brought Jesus to Pilate, the governor at the time. Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “Yes, I am.”

This upset the chief priests because they were jealous of him and the Jewish friends He had made.

Pilate listened to the complaints of the people that brought Jesus, but he couldn’t find any reason to punish Him. Pilate questioned Jesus, but Jesus didn’t stick up for himself (He knew that they wouldn’t listen anyway). He had done nothing wrong.

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people. He said to them, “I have talked to Jesus, and I find no reason to kill Him.”

After they heard that, all the people shouted, “We want Jesus! Release Barabbas instead!” Barabbas had been in jail because he had killed someone, and the people wanted him to be free, and Jesus to be punished. (It sounds strange but it was like peer pressure. The chief priests went around telling people lies about Jesus, so that they would be afraid of Him, and would want to kill Him).

Pilate didn’t like this one bit. He wanted to let Jesus go, so he tried to talk to the people but they didn’t let him. They just kept shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
Pilate tried again, yelling, “What has Jesus done wrong? I can punish Him but then I must let Him go, He doesn’t deserve to die!” But the people just shouted louder to crucify Jesus and Pilate wanted to please the crowd so he freed Barabbas and sent Jesus to die.

The soldiers led Jesus into the palace and made Him put on an old royal robe and they twisted together a crown of thorns to put on His head. Then they made fun of Him and said, “Hail, king of the Jews.” They didn’t understand that He was a king; that’s why they made fun of Him.

Next, the soldiers led Jesus toward a hill called Golgotha. They made Him carry the cross on His back, but because Jesus couldn’t carry it the whole way, He fell down. The soldiers had whipped His back and it hurt so much that Jesus couldn’t handle the weight of the cross on His shoulders.

A man named Simon happened to be near Jesus when He fell, and the soldiers grabbed him, and made him carry the cross the rest of the way. The soldiers offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh. This was supposed to help make it less painful, but Jesus refused to have any.

When they reached the top of the hill, they nailed Jesus to the cross. There were three crosses: Jesus was in the middle, there was a criminal on His right, and on His left. Pilate made a sign to be put on the cross. It read what He was being punished for: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

The soldiers watched Jesus and made fun of Him; they even divided up His clothes to be even more mean. Some people walked by and shouted, “You saved others, why can’t you save Yourself?” Jesus could have saved himself, but he chose not to. He wanted to save us instead.

Jesus ignored the people, but He did see His mother, His aunt, and some other women He knew. Jesus felt bad for His mother, she was so sad to see her son die (just like your parents feel when you get hurt).

Then Jesus saw one of His disciples close to His mother, and He said, “Mother here is your son, and friend here is your mother.” Jesus couldn’t say too much for he was very weak. But He wanted His friend, the disciple, to be like a son to His mother and take care of her. And from that day on, the disciple did.

Later, Jesus could not handle the pain any longer and He said, “It is finished.” That is when Jesus bowed His head and went to Heaven.
Suddenly, a huge curtain that hung at the temple was torn in half, from top to bottom. And a man that had wanted Jesus to die saw all of this and he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

He realized he had been wrong about Jesus.

It seems like a really sad story, but its one of the greatest stories of all! Jesus died knowing that you (–put in the children’s names) would do things wrong (that is what a sin is) — things that you’re not supposed to — not obeying your parents, saying something mean to your sister or brother, or not telling the truth. He knew what you would do when He died so many years ago. Jesus died for everybody’s sins, so now when we ask God to forgive us, and we are truly sorry for what we’ve done, He will act like it never happened. That’s right He forgets what we did! Now that doesn’t mean we should ever make the same mistake again, because by doing that it’s like we’re hurting Jesus all over again.

So, next time you do something you’re not supposed to, remember to say sorry to Jesus, and remember what He did for you!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV)

Today’s Craft -Make an Easter garden.

Using a tray or plate as a base, form a hill and a cave. Put into the garden the elements from the story. Please post pictures , as we do love to see your makes!

OR

Use  twigs and Ivy and other greenery to form a heart shape, to remember the love pour out for us on Good Friday.

The saying “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” goes on to say that defining beauty can be tough!

However, God’s words can lead us to discover what our individual meaning of beauty truly is, and should be: that is avoid just looking at physical appearance, because God looks at the heart in all people and things.

These Bible verses can help you  find the real beauty in yourself, in others, and in everything that surrounds us.

Genesis 1: 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them

Ephians 2: 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do

Psalm 139: 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

1Samual 16: 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Isaiah 40: 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

Today’s Craft… get ready to dye your eggs!

Dyeing and decorating eggs is a favourite Easter tradition and a fun activity to do with the children. You can use liquid food colouring but we love using natural options like vegetables because they create gorgeous, subtle natural colours. Using natural ingredients also provides a perfect opportunity for a science lesson for your children who will learn about the natural colours in foods.

Method:

If you have access to different types of eggs (quail, chicken, goose, duck) you can create a stunning table centrepiece by incorporating a range of sizes.

First make your dye. You can make separate batches of different colours or one large batch of a single colour. Follow the ratios above if making more or less dye.

I had seen this technique before but had never tried it. Today was the day! First we boiled chopped up red cabbage, onion skins and chopped beets each in their own pot (covered with enough water that when you add the eggs later they will be covered). Let them boil for aboiut 20 – 30min. and then let cool a bit. Add 4TBS. vinegar to each pot. While these pots are boiling up prep your eggs. note you can use brown or white eggs but be aware that brown eggs will change the end colour result

Take a pair of nylons and cut the toes out a few inches to make a pocket, then place pieces of any interesting herb or flower petal in the nylons around the egg and then tie off tightly with a twist tie.  I used dill, parsley, mint and strawberry leaves .

Here are the eggs getting kitted out in their herb and stocking outfits
This is a close up of the dill wrapped around the egg, try to get the leaves separated, it will give a better effect.

Once they are ready, place them in your dye of choice and bring back up to a slow boil for about twenty min.

You can let them sit in the dye bath longer if you want more vibrant colours.

Remove the nylons and herbs, pat dry and rub with oil.

The cabbage makes the blue colour. Try two-tone eggs by first putting in the onion skins – then I took them out, unwrapped them and put them in the cabbage pot.

Cabbage dye with dill fronds
Onion skin dye with parsley leaf.

TRY….

• Red or pink colouring – adding shredded beetroot or red onion skins to the water;
• Purple colouring –red cabbage
• Yellow – add two tablespoons of turmeric to the water to create yellow eggs;
• Blue colouring – add blueberries,
• Green colouring – add spinach to the water,
• Orange tinge – add brown onion skins