Believing When Others Doubt

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Light three candles.

Pray this prayer. Have your child repeat phrase by phrase.
Dear Jesus,
you are true and good.
Help us always believe.
When we are right, make us strong.
When we are wrong, help us change.

Read this Bible thought from Matthew 21:1-23 and Matthew 28.
Have your child repeat phrase by phrase.
Many people cheered
when Jesus rode a donkey into the city.
Some important people thought he was bad.
But, in the end, he rose from the dead.

Tell your child more of this story:
When Jesus was on earth, he did many good things...
Go on to tell them that Jesus helped many people, healing them, making them feel sorry for bad things they had done, forgiving them...

Then tell them about what happened in Jerusalem, using words like this. (I admit this is a very simplified version and misses a lot of the story... use your own version if you prefer).
Sometimes, to help people, he got mad...

He got mad at the devil and at people who were hurting others.

He never hurt them back, but he told the truth.

After he rode the donkey into the city,
he went to a place that was a like a big church called the "temple."

Some people there were trying to get rich by selling things.

Jesus said NO and made them stop.

Later those people got so angry that they had Jesus arrested and killed.

But, in the end, he rose from the dead!

One thing we can learn from this is that people don't always believe Jesus is good.

Another thing is that sometimes we do things that aren't good.

We might not always like to learn from Jesus, but, Jesus knows best!

It's always good to listen to what he says.

We learn that in the Bible.

But not everyone is going to believe.
Thoughts come to mind about confession and forgiveness, or about disagreements and differences, feel free to share in a spirit of love and humility, leading up to the prayer.
Let's pray that God will help us be strong and to love others, even when we disagree.

Pray this prayer. Have your child repeat phrase by phrase.
Dear Jesus,
you are true and good.
Help us always believe.
When we are right, make us strong.
When we are wrong, help us change.
Add especially prayers for those who are weak and need help.

Read this Bible thought from Matthew 21:1-23 and Matthew 28.
Have your child repeat phrase by phrase.
Many people cheered
when Jesus rode a donkey into the city.
But some important people
thought he was bad.
But, in the end, he rose from the dead.

Put out the candles.