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Easter Rocks !
This story can be told using a small rock with a big smile drawn on one side and a big sad face on the other (or you could use a larger circle of brown cardboard). As you tell the story show the appropriate "rock face" to the children. It was a chilly morning. Rocky rolled over and thought about all the events of the last few days. He'd never known such excitement. During the last day the garden which was his home had really been rocking. First Roman soldiers had chosen him for a special role. He had been handpicked from among his lifetime friends Pebble and Magma. He guessed he was the biggest (always had been overweight they said..) and the soldiers needed a big stone to cover the entrance of the burial cave. The soldiers had been talking about a special king named Jesus who would be brought to the tomb after he died. Sure enough, later that day the king's body was wrapped in cloth and burial spices and laid inside the tomb. Then it was time to seal the tomb. Two strong soldiers rolled Rocky on his side across the entrance. No one was going to get past him! He felt proud to be chosen for this job of a lifetime. Rocky then remembered how sad the friends of Jesus had looked as they walked away from the garden. Their friend had been killed and they wouldn't see him again. Rocky found it hard to work out just what had happened next. One minute he was sealed up and blocking the burial tomb, guarded by soldiers - the next, he was gently rolled back, there was this blinding light and what must have been an angel stood in the tomb entrance where he had been. Rocky could still feel how his cold heart had swelled with a warmth he had never known before. He didn't see where the soldiers had gone, but as dawn broke a lady friend of Jesus came to the garden. She looked so sad. Suddenly she saw that Rocky was rolled away and her face changed. She looked shocked and scared! Rocky could see her so clearly in the morning sunlight. As she turned from the tomb, a voice spoke from the garden. Rocky tried to hear, but all he could catch was the lady's name - 'Mary'. Then he saw Mary turn and her face filled with joy - as if she'd found something she thought she'd lost. The man moved out of the shadows into the light and all Rocky could see was that he shone like the morning sunlight. He had to be the King who was killed -the king - Jesus. That's why Mary looked so different! Strange...strange...strange, thought Rocky. The tomb was empty. The dead king Jesus was in the garden. It was enough to make an old rock cry out. He was alive! Jesus was alive! Don Stott, Eliab.com, 2003 
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Easter Day
Resurrection Mary Jesus is alive Luke 20:40 "I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting." |
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