Spotlighting Jesus: Easter Ideas Day 2

If you missed yesterday's post, we're spending this week finding ways to put the spotlight back on Jesus for Easter.

Here was yesterday's post:  Spotlighting Jesus: Easter Ideas Day 1.

Today's Idea: Memorize a passage of scripture as a family this month.

If you have young kids and haven't memorized anything together before, you can choose a fairly short verse. Or, for the entire month of April, you can choose to memorize a larger passage.

Tips for memorizing as a family:

1. Post the verses in common locations through out the house like the refrigerator or bathroom mirror. Before getting a snack or while brushing your teeth, encourage your family to read the verses.
2. Keep the verses displayed on the kitchen table. Hang them in a picture frame or stick them to the wall with tape. At mealtime, review the verses as a family. This year, I'm going to put ours in the middle of the dining room table, in one of those clear plastic stand-up frames.
3. Before bed, try to recite with the kids as much as you’ve learned.
4. Take the verses bit by bit, talking about it as you go. Don’t try to learn the whole thing at once.
5. Add motions! If you feel inadequate, have the kids come up with motions of their own. Use large gestures and let your silliness come out.
6. Act it out. If you choose a passage that has different people talking, assign roles for your family members with one or two narrators. Practicing your “skit” will help commit it to memory!

Here are some suggestions for applicable scripture memory passages during Easter:

I Corinthians 15:3-4

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Philippians 3:10-12
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." 

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

What other ideas do you have to keep Jesus in the Spotlight? I’ll share more thoughts tomorrow.