Here's an idea that you can either use the week before Easter Sunday (Palm Sunday), on Good Friday or on Easter Sunday (or even during a regular communion service). It could just as easily be used by a small group as by a large congregation.

The idea is to show that it was our sin that covered the cross and our sin that kept Jesus up on the cross. He chose to endure the suffering because of his love for us. But, he victoriously tore the curtain that was separating us from God and made a way open for us.

The task is to take a piece of material that everyone has written their names on and then use that material to cover up a cross. Then to read a prayer which talks about what Jesus did. You can read the prayer and stop half way through where directed, leaving the ending for Easter Sunday. Or you can read the prayer all the way through revealing the end part where the material is taken off the cross and torn in two, symbolising where the curtain of the temple was torn in two in the Biblical account of the crucifixion (Matthew 27v 51).

The phrase 'It was my sin that held him there' is taken from the song "How deep the Father's love for us" by Stuart Townend.

Please, download the instructions, the prayer and the print-out sign above.