The Road to Emmaus

Hello and welcome to Christchurch Kids. It's the week after Easter and we've got a story of what happened to two people walking down a road just after that incredible Sunday.

The people in this story had seen Jesus do amazing things and spent time with him but even they didn't understand what had happened. Jesus explained the Scriptures - that we now call the Old Testament - and all the writings that pointed to Jesus and how he would die and come back to life as part of God's plan. They still didn't realise who they were talking to until they sat down and started to eat with him.

This story tells us about an amazing meeting with Jesus after he had risen from the dead but it also tells us something about us. The Bible can be difficult to understand sometimes and that's OK. If we ask God to help us when we read the Bible or talk about it with our families or friends, we can learn more about what God is saying to us.

In the Bible, Deuteronomy 4:29 says "Seek the Lord your God with your whole heart and He will be found". If we truly want to hear what God is saying to us, we will find Him. Our colouring sheet today is this verse. You can download it here

Going on a journey

Just like the two people in the story, we can go on a journey today too. You could make your own map. What would be on your map? 

• A road for toy cars to drive along? 
• Lego houses for people to live in? 
• Train tracks? 
• An ocean? 

You could draw your map or you could make it using coloured fabrics. Can you find a bluish sheet for the sea? A yellow t-shirt for a beach? A green jumper for a field?

https://allysonadeney.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/idea-of-the-day-map-making/

You could go on a different journey by making an obstacle course. You can set yourself different challenges as you move around the space.

• Go under something
• Go around something a few times
• Throw something into a target (e.g. a small soft toy into a saucepan)
• Balance something on your head
• Hop from one place to another
• You could make up a points system or time yourself.

Prayer

We are going on a journey in our prayers today too with a labyrinth. What is the difference between a maze and a labyrinth? A maze has dead ends but a labyrinth has one single path. Labyrinths have been around for over 4,000 years and can be seen all over the world. Some are huge and take hours to walk around. They can be made from tiles, stone walls, flowers, hedges or patterns on the ground.

We are going to use a finger labyrinth. You can download this one to use or you could draw your own.

You can download it here

Using a finger labyrinth to help us pray will help us to be still and focus on one thing. We can think about being thankful or asking God about something or saying sorry. Use the hand you don't normally write with and slowly trace your finger around the path of the labyrinth as you pray.

We are going to finish with a song and it's a celebration about Jesus. When the two people in our story realised who they had been talking to, they were so excited about Jesus that they had to run back to Jerusalem to tell their friends. We can be excited about how amazing Jesus is too. 

We'd love to see any of your maps, obstacle courses or prayers. You can send us your pictures using the instructions in the right hand column. We hope you have a great week and you can join us for a dance on Wiggle Wednesday!