By: Clare Bruce
Above: (L) Kelly Wall in Landsborough, QLD, paints her wheelie bin ahead of Saturday (Photo: Facebook)
Australians in their thousands are preparing to mark Anzac Day from their driveways on Saturday, after the cancellation of all public Anzac gatherings due to coronavirus restrictions. Read more
By: Annie Hamilton
Main image: Australian bush poet A.B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson. Inset: Light Horseman Private Richard Harwell Bryant on his waler, the kind of horse broken in and trained by Banjo Paterson. Bryant died aged only 38 while serving in Beirut, Syria, 1918. Photo: Australian War Memorial. All photos: Public Domain
Those tough Aussie horses, broken in and trained for the exact task before them, struggled in the soft, burning Middle Eastern sand, their fetlocks sinking deep in the desert hills. Read more
By: Laura Bennett
Last year I returned from 18 days in Israel and Jordan. Together with my family we toured biblical sites, and immersed ourselves in the complicated history of the nations’ cultural significance.
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By: Christine Addis
My family and I have developed some traditions over the years that have become part of normal life in the Addis household and one of those traditions has been to organise a treasure hunt at Easter with the “treasure” being Easter eggs. Read more
By: Berni Dymet
Good Friday. Gee – you read the historical account – doesn’t seem that good. So – was there anything good about Good Friday? Read more
By: Clare Bruce
Churches will be allowed to conduct the Easter services they’re accustomed to next weekend, complete with musicians, worship teams and those in other ministry roles—but worshippers will still have to stay home and watch the services by live-streaming. Read more
The 20th of March is International Day of Happiness, which has been declared and celebrated by the United Nations since 2012. It’s the day that recognises that happiness is a fundamental human goal. Read more
By: Kim Wilkinson
Would you ever think of zombies and superheroes when describing the Easter story to a child?
It is an unusual story. A man nailed to a cross and left to die, stabbed in his side to check he is dead. A curtain ripping in two. And then this same man coming back to life, with the injuries still visible, but able to eat, drink, walk, talk….and vanish only to reappear a distance away.
When you think about it, you could understand why a modern day child might consider Jesus to be either a zombie or a superhero or both.
Bible Society Australia engaged renowned children’s author Susannah McFarlane to write an accompanying book to the Who, What, Why, How of Christmas, published for the first time last year. The same children who featured in that book are back this Easter. Once again the cynic Josh struggles with the story.
When Josh learns that Jesus died and came back to life, he immediately suggests that Jesus was a zombie. The narrator is quick to point out two distinct differences:
No, zombies are still dead. Jesus was dead but then was alive again. And, actually, zombies are made-up things, but Jesus is real.
Grace, Abby and Tom also ask questions and seek to understand why Jesus died on the cross, what it means to experience forgiveness and the love that Jesus offers the world. At the end of the story Josh is starting to come around to the power of the story.
We all know Josh’s in our lives. They might be ten or they might be fifty.
We can no longer assume that children understand the Easter story. Here in Australia Easter represents an extended holiday and chocolate eggs brought by an Easter bunny. The religious significance is increasingly lost as less people attend Church.
These books present the Gospel message through the profound questions that children bring and the Narrator’s ability to answer at a level that is age appropriate, without stripping the reconciling gift of God’s grace of its life-giving significance.
Bible Society Australia is giving up to three copies of Who What Why How of Easter away. A copy for you, and two others to give away to families who might not know Jesus or His gift of grace.
There is much to model in this story. The narrator treats each child with respect. No one is ridiculed or dismissed. They are heard.
About the author: Kim Wilkinson is a media and communications professional who specialises in building community and valuable relationships.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14, NIV).
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