An Easter Message

I teach a group of three 11-year-old boys in my Sunday School class. There is another teacher who usually has three girls and one boy between the ages of 9 and 11. When the one boy is gone, I usually bring my three boys in with Derek's class and we take turns teaching. Our course of study this year is the Old Testament but we had both decided to do something different this week in recognition of Easter. It turned out to be a week that we combined our classes, and it was my turn to teach the whole group.

I started the lesson by sharing a video that showed some of the last moments of the Saviour's life. It was produced by my church and published on their BibleVideos.org site. This video is called "My Kingdom Is Not of This World."

I asked the children to think about why Jesus came to earth. They shared some of their thoughts: he came to teach us, to show us the way back to God, to atone for our sins, to die for us. Then I asked them to think about why they came to earth. Again, their thoughts: to learn how to become more like God, to gain a physical body, to learn through our experiences, to develop faith. Then we watched this video, also produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and posted on mormon.org as a special Easter message:

The next conversation was about what we do because of Jesus Christ. One boy said that he is kind to others. Another said that he prays and asks for forgiveness. One of the girls said that she reads her scriptures because of Jesus. Another said that she helps others. I talked about my own life and what I do because of Christ. Even though I don't always say it, everything I do is because of Christ. He is the Great Creator of Heaven and Earth. Without him, we would not be here. We have been told that the greatest of all the commandments is to love God and the second greatest is to love others like ourselves. This tells me that the greatest commandment, our true responsibility as disciples of Jesus Christ, is to love. All the rituals, all the commandments, all the practices, all the classes and meetings, should be focused on this simple call by him to love and serve others. Our words, our actions, and our thoughts should always be such that they reflect the teachings of our Saviour.

Then I shared one more video with the class. This was produced by a youth group in Ogden, Utah. Those who follow me on Facebook or read my teaching blog may already be familiar with it. I have shared it and am using it with my project to promote kindness in my fourth grade classroom. Before starting the video, I asked the boys and girls to think about how they speak to and treat others. Then we watched this:

One of the things I love dearly about my faith is that it is not enough to go to church on Sunday. We are expected to live our religion all day, every day. I challenged my students, and myself, to take the lessons from this experiment and make a personal commitment to God that we will always speak to others in a way that builds them up. No matter how upset, annoyed, or frustrated we are, we should stop and ask ourselves: "Is what I am about to say true? Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind?" If you can't answer yes to all five of those questions, then don't say it! Either say something else or don't say anything at all.

This Easter Sunday, it is my sincere prayer that we will all strive to be a little kinder, a little more understanding, a little more patient, a little more loving. Jesus Christ gave his life so that we can all live. It is up to us to make the best use of the life we are given!