Good Morning
This week are are going to be looking at the events which took place on the day we now call Maundy Thursday. We will think about the Last Supper and also Jesus’ time in the garden of Gethsemane.
After the meal Jesus and the disciples left the upper room and went to the Mount of Olives to a favourite place of Jesus’ the garden of Gethsemane. There He left most of the disciples resting but took Peter, James and John with him as he went further into the garden, then He became very upset and shared with his friends how dreadful he felt saying “I feel bad enough right now to die”. Then he asked them to pray for Him while He went a little further on to pray, to talk to God, his father but the disciples were so tired they couldn’t pray and fell asleep!
Three times this happened.
Jesus, however, was wrestling with God and himself. He was praying to God as his father asking that the ordeal He knew was coming should not happen. Jesus knew He was going to be arrested and put to death on a cross, He knew He was going to feel separated from His father, God, and He was terrified BUT He also knew that this was all part of God’s plan and there was no other way of carrying out the plan. So He prayed that famous prayer “ not what I will, but what you will” and went with the disciples to meet Judas and the crowd sent to arrest Him.
Jesus was arrested and taken to the high priest, and all he chief priests and elders of the law. And the disciples, the men who had sworn they would never leave him , they were afraid and ran away.
You can read this story in Mark’s Gospel, chapter 14 verses 32 -52.
Or watch it on you tube:
Activities
- There is a playdough mat attached which you can use as a prayer activity. If you don’t have any playdough you could draw the leaves on the tree.
2. Another prayer activity is to collect some small stones and a bowl, use these as part of your prayer.
Jesus came to the garden to pray to God about the hard thing he was going to have to do.
What things do you find hard? Is there anything that scares you?
Tell God about the hard things in your life and put a stone into the bowl as a sign that you are giving that hard thing to God and would like Him to help you.
5. You might like to start making an Easter garden which can be added to over the next couple of weeks.There are lots of ideas for different gardens on the internet.