Simbari children join the celebration
Every year the Simbari believers celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. They love to celebrate Easter by acting out a drama and this year was no different.
Except, that is, for one thing. This year for the first time, missionary Lori Morley writes, the Simbari believers included children in their singing and celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
She writes, “This morning as we entered the church, we were told that instead of calling out the numbers of the songs to sing like we usually do, we were to call out the names of the children who were standing at the front.” Lori says that as each name was called, the child would turn around to reveal a number on his or her back. This was the number of the next song to sing.
“All of the songs were about Jesus and what He has done for us, so in this way, the children ‘taught’ us about Jesus,” Lori shares.
The believers had also planned a drama about the Gospel to be acted out. The story began with Adam and Eve and at one point, the children entered the scene wearing bark capes and carrying digging sticks that are used to work in the gardens. These things represented the cares of this life and the weight of sin. Some children acted as if they were sick and dying. Adam and Eve lamented over the children and the sad weights that they carried.
Lori continues, “Then Jesus entered and said, ‘Here, I have come to take away your burdens.’ And He took the children’s burdens away.” After this, they depicted King Jesus (with a paper crown on his head), and the children threw flowers while they sang a welcome song to Him. This was to symbolize that they were accepting Jesus and what He had done for them.
Lori shares that after the drama, there was a time of Bible teaching and prayer, followed by communion, and that this Easter worship service was not only a time of blessing and encouragement to the Simbari believers and their children, but to Lori’s own heart, as she remembered powerfully “Jesus, Who is our life.”