Easter and Holy Week - ideas
Engaging with the Passion
[This was originally written for 2020 and has been updated for 2022.]
Here is a digest of some of our Easter and Holy Week resources. We're particularly excited about the new Resurrection People material which runs from Easter Sunday to Ascension Sunday.
Gemma has posted a great idea for home family worship. Journey Through Easter With the Senses are six sessions in PDF format you can share with any families you know.
Sara has prepared a series of outdoor worship services for Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. These seek to worship inspired by the world God has made.
Below are some other resources we can recommend. If you get videos or resources directly from us (and from Resound Worship), you can be assured that you have permission to use them in online services and on social media (please report on your CCL streaming licence).
Palm Sunday
We have just made our Lent Family Creative Journal pages available for free download. There is a Palm Sunday page which would be great to email to friends and use as families.
"The Clip Clop Beat" is a joyful celebration song for Palm Sunday from the Rhyming Bible Songs album. Put it on loud and dance around the living room with whatever "palm branches" you can fashion!
We've got a bunch of Palm Sunday interactive readings, by Bob Hartman and Dave Hopwood, which would be fun to engage with at home or lead over a video.
Maundy Thursday
Joel Payne's song When My Flesh is Weak joins with Jesus and the disciples in Gethsemane. Watch or stream the video.
Richard Lyall has set the text of 1 Corinthians 11 in an attractive visual style.
The Lent Family Journal has pages for a Passover meal and a Footwashing activity, both tactile things you could engage with from home.
Good Friday
Sam's song Let Us Kneel has striking video you can watch and stream.
These all-age prayer stations are designed for Good Friday and easily adaptable to work with your situation and available resources.
Richard Lyall has created a set of striking Atonement images you could use in online services. His Psalm 22 video offers a stark, contemporary engagement with the Psalm spoken by Jesus on the cross. Ideal for streaming and sharing online.
Dave's Jesus Died For Them poem can be shared and used for reflection and prayer, as can Andy Stinson's Poem For Good Friday.
The Lent Family Journal has 5 pages devoted to Jesus' last words from the cross, instructions for creating Easter Gardens and a reflection on God's love shown on the cross.
Holy Saturday
This often-forgotten day gives us space to sit in the experience of Jesus having died, and resurrection not having yet come. Timo and Gemma's lament song "Saturday" expresses these difficult emotions in a beautiful way:
Sam's song The Stone was also written specifically into this space (although it is also usable on Good Friday). There is a video you can share or stream.
This could be a season where God is teaching his people to lament. Make use of Richard's Lamentations 3 video, with its edgy soundtrack and graphics.
Amy Robinson's Waiting on the Risen Jesus describes this experience in a poetic form. You could share the text over social media and reflect on it in your homes.
Easter Sunday
This is the day to begin using our Resurrection People resource. You can get hold of the whole Church Service Pack with access free downloads, or purchase videos for some of the individual songs like Draw Near the Tomb, Easter Doesn't Stop and Jesus Only You:
Bob Hartman serves us well today, with two funny Easter Poems, an interactive Resurrection Story, and a powerful Jesus Is Alive reading. These could all be used via video or read at home.
Our #EngageAtHome idea for Easter Day is a Pass the Parcel game - find resources for this via this page.
The combination of Amy's poems with Richard's visuals on the Recognising You resource is really impactful - which is now also available as a free video. Consider how you could make use of this.
Richard's Resurrection Images are also very strong visual material.
Sam's Christ Was Raised is a triumphant song celebrating the impact the resurrection has over every aspect of God's creation. Stream the video and share.
If you want a softer song with a message of peace from the risen Jesus, try Joel's Listen to the Words. We've recorded a Living Room version with led prayer here.
If you want some more liturgical words, here is an affirmation of faith in the resurrected Jesus. It has a sharable, streamable PowerPoint.
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This is not the limit of resources you could use - feel free to search around the site for more ideas. Do let us know what you use and how it goes in the comments below, via email or social media. You can also look at AREA 52 for lectionary-reading specific ideas. Bless you all.
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