Some excellent options for sharing & showing…

1) The Seriously Surprising Story of Jesus

2) Divine Comedy – Glen Scrivener

To accompany his Easter book, Divine Comedy, Glen has produced three poems picking up on humour of Easter theme…

• Divine Comedy – An Easter Animated Poem

• A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Jerusalem…

• A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Execution…

• A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Tomb…

Glen has also filmed a twenty-two minute interview with comedy-writer James Cary. You can catch the highlights below:

• What’s So Funny About Good Friday?

• What’s So Funny About Easter?

3) Dr Max’s Easter Facts – Inspire London

I enjoyed this short promos for Inspire’s Easter services, which pick up on the claim that Jesus’ resurrection is fact.

4) The Super Cool Story of Jesus – Bible Society

Dai Woolridge and Emma Randall have teamed up for Bible Society again, producing a fun re-telling of the Easter video that complements their Christmas joint effort.

They also have more related resources here.

5) Capturing God – The Good Book Company

The Good Book Company have produced two short videos to go with Capturing God, a fantastic and short guest-friendly book from Rico Tice, ideal for giving away to adults at Easter services.

6) What is Love? – Go Chatter

Ok, so it’s not technically Easter, but this video considers the question of love, and points us to the greatest sacrifice.

7) The Garden, The Curtain & The Cross – Good Book Company & Trillia Newbell

Trillia reads this beautifully illustrated book, alongside the images, as it unpacks why the Easter story is at the heart of the Bible’s big story.

8) Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead? – Impact 360

An engaging piece looking at whether it’s all really true.

9) The Tomb Is Still Empty – Joel Mullen

In a word: cute.

10) If You Had Been Here – Glen Scrivener

Glen poetically explores the significance of Jesus’ resurrection from the perspective of the grieving brother of Lazarus: “Through you death is a gardener, we are the seed. And this is the path; resurrection decreed.”

11) He’s Still Risen – Igniter Media

I love this. Simple and powerful film to bring home the impact of resurrection.

12) Good Friday: Live! – Christians in Sport

Clever retelling of the events of Good Friday through imagined live scrolling web-based news reporting. I played this at a baptism service last week.

13) Arms Wide Open – Miriam Swaffield

Spoken-word piece underlining how the cross of Jesus reveals the rescue plan of God and calls us to respond.

14) Cannonball – Speak Life feat. Guvna B

A visual/lyrical/musical feast, from the team at Speak Life, including Guvna B on vocals. Writer Glen Scrivener has also put together a short explanation.

15) I’m Full Cos It Was Empty – Spoken Truth

Dai Woolridge doing what he does really well.

16) Egg – Dave Crofts

Clever spoken-word piece riffing off something familiar and casting our eyes to bigger things.

17) Dead Come Alive – Full of Eyes

Powerful visual story-telling.

18) Bread of Heaven – Glen Scrivener

Taking up the theme of Passover and Jesus’ body being broken for us, whilst using a child’s voice and drawings, this paints the Bible’s grand-narrative and re-sets Jesus’ death and resurrection within its bigger story.

19) What do you think Easter is all about? – UCCF

A simple two-minute video, using pictures to accompany someone probing the question as to what Easter is about, before putting forward some of the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection.

20) That’s Easter: Death to Life – St Helen’s

Short presentation featuring biblical scholars speaking on the reliability of the gospel accounts.

21) Lego Easter Story – Richard Case/BW Animations

Two takes on the same idea, one apparently a ten-year old’s school art homework project, and the other a more in-depth take.

22) How Deep The Father’s Love – Page CXVI

Page CXVI reworking a modern hymn that captures the heart of the Easter message.

23) Fix You Crucifixion

Coldplay’s well-loved track provides the soundtrack to these crucifixion scenes.

Know of any other videos? Share the love and drop them in the comments below.

And if you’re looking for other ideas for assemblies, lessons, & all-age slots, then read this short piece from Faith in Kids, which includes a link to their Easter material.

There’s been a bit of a media hoohah this week about the National Trust’s ‘Cadbury Egg Hunts’. Ian Paul’s written a very helpful summary of the situation, which is well worth a gander. It’s been a busy week and to be honest I haven’t really been able to give it much thought until today when a local journalist rang up. So what are we to think of this as Christians?

To unashamedly nick the British Humanist Association’s line, I think it’s a bit of a storm in an egg-cup to be honest. Actually, as you look at the publicity on the National Trust website, the word ‘Easter’ is still visibly present. I wonder if some of the frustration is more due to our unease with a national treasure like the NT ‘selling off’ sponsorship rights for something that’s traditionally been deemed to be a family-focused event.

But for me the most important thing has to be that we ensure everyone gets the chance to discover for themselves what they make of the empty tomb and explore the claim that Jesus rose from the dead.

The statistics show we do live in a post-Christian culture, which on one hand means it’s part of the job of the Church to share why we believe Easter is good news. And yet on the other hand it surely means we’re not to expect everyone to be using the ‘E word’ whenever they go hunting chocolate eggs and enjoying this holiday season.

Of course, as a Christian, Easter itself couldn’t be more significant. After all, we’re celebrating the fact that Jesus died for us, and that he also came back to life. We believe that whilst these events happened two thousand years ago, they’re just as relevant today. They demonstrate his lavish love.  They open the way for us to be back in relationship with God. They show that the brokenness of this world and the mess of our own hearts does not have the final word. And the empty tomb means quite categorically that death is not the end. So Easter itself is hugely significant.

But focusing our attention and public voice on whether or not Cadbury’s uses the word Easter on an egg can come across as quite petty. Particularly in a week when our TVs and newsfeeds tell us of horrific events in Syria and devastating famines in South Sudan. Maybe it’s a question of posture – and this is the question we’re going to have to keep navigating over the coming decades. The problem is that the Church can easily be perceived as quibbling about minor details, or as living in the past, like we’re still expecting the nation around us to keep in line with our Christian priorities.

That said, I think there’s certainly a place for publicly calling people to consider whether or not Easter means anything more to them than eggs & holidays. And perhaps showing how times have changed is one way of doing that, e.g. the point about how Cadbury’s founder was a Christian. But how we do that gently and winsomely is worth considering. Ultimately we want to show it’s our joy to proclaim the good news of Easter, rather being seen to have a grump on because the culture is not conforming to our priorities.

Following on from February’s collection, ‘bathroom liturgies’ is just a phrase I’ve ending up using to describe the tunes I listen to in my ‘morning routine’. Here are a handful that I’m enjoying listening to over the Easter period, helping to get my fickle heart rejoicing in the wonder of Jesus’ resurrection.

1. Jesus Lives (Sovereign Grace Music)

This song captures that sense of reality, clinging onto the triumph of Jesus’ resurrection, knowing it means so much, and yet knowing we still await our own resurrection.

2. Christ is Risen (Matt Maher)

A rousing anthem from Matt Maher, building up into the extremely catchy refrain taken from 1 Corinthians 15: “oh, death, where is your sting…”

3. The Same Power (Worship Central)

I remember when someone first showed me from Ephesians 1-3 that Jesus’ resurrection means that Christians are now raised too, as we’re ‘in Christ’ through faith. This song picks up the idea of that ‘same power’ being at work in us.

4. Christ the Lord is Risen Today (Page CXVI)

Pleasant contemporary reworking of the Charles Wesley hymn.

5. Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed (Keith & Kristyn Getty)

I love the way the Gettys capture the implications of the resurrection:

Once bound by fear now bold in faith, they preached the truth and power of grace. And pouring out their lives they gained life, life everlasting. 

What about you? What’s your favourite resurrection-focused track for singing its reality into your heart?