Crayon resist art projects are always popular for young people to make. This one is based upon a Palm Sunday theme.
Start with a large white piece of construction paper. Trace around your hands or the hands of your neighbor or a little of both using a purple magic marker. I've limited the color choices in this craft to purple and green, the most common color selection for that part of the Liturgical calendar.
After tracing many hands over lapping and waving in the air to reference the waving of palm branches, use bright purple crayons to color in bits and pieces of hand tracings in your abstract drawing. You may also choose to color some of the branches a variety of green shades; just don't color in all of the hand tracings. Leave some of the "palms" blank.
Now, carefully crumple the paper. If a bit of it tears have some masking tape on hand to repair little tears on the backside of the drawings.
Place the pictures on plastic or newspaper lined tables and proceed to give your students bowls of very watery green paint and large brushes. Have them brush washes of green or maybe even purple paint across the crayon resist pictures. You will end up with some lovely abstract palm paintings by the time you finish.
This is a time consuming project that has wonderful results when completed. I recommend this craft for students in 3rd or 4th grade. It will take time for them to create their pictures and to also carefully follow instructions. Never avoid teaching art assignments to older children for any of these reasons. Perseverance is a rewording human attribute to develop and nurture in the young. They will make something they can be proud of and teachers will learn to adapt processes to challenge their aging protégé.
Far left: I cut a basket stencil to fit the largest piece of standard sized construction paper I could find. Working large for this art project makes it much easier for a small child to craft. Adults may scale the activity down and create interesting Easter cards using the same weaving process with ribbons if they'd like. Center: Here you can see; I've traced around my stencil and added long wavy lines down the front vessel part of my basket design. I then cut along these lines that imitate the 'warp' part of the woven design. Proceed then to use long strips of construction paper to mimic the 'weft' process by which the construction paper basket is woven. Far Right: After I have woven my basket, I will paste down and tuck in loose edges of the design on the front side of the basket to hide any imperfections.
Far Left: Turn the woven design over and mask the back side of your picture before cutting it out. Center: Cut out the basket carefully; remember to leave approximately 1/8 of an inch around the edges of your flat woven basket as you go. Far Right: The finished basket is now glued along the edges only and adhered to a bright white background. Only the edges of the basket and the handle of the basket are glued, so that additional paper elements may be added into the inside of the flat woven picture in the end.
Cut some grass to add to the bottom of your woven Easter picture. Measure from the bottom of your background paper up to the point where you would like the grass to cover the bottom of the basket. Double this measurement and cut a strip of green construction paper out that will run the length of the white construction paper. Fold the paper in have horizontally and cut narrow slashed along the folded edge only. Be careful not to cut all the way to the other edge of your folded paper; leave about 1/8 of an inch of an additional boarder. Unfold your grass border. It should look something like the one pictured above. The cuts do not need to be as regular as mine.
Now refold your green construction paper and staple it to the white construction paper along the bottom edge.
Left: Cut the loops in half. Right: Give your grass a bit of a fringe with the sharp edge of your scissors.
Now you can cut and color some bright eggs, peeps, and a chocolate bunny to add to your woven Easter picture. I also stuffed the basket with green, paper, Easter grass in order to enhance the three dimensional effect. Glue the paper embellishments on the complete picture.
The Bride of Christ or bride, the Lamb's wife is a term used in reference to a
group of related verses in the Bible—in the Gospels, Revelation, the Epistles
and related verses in the Old Testament. Sometimes the Bride is implied through
calling Jesus a Bridegroom. For over fifteen hundred years the Church was
identified as the bride betrothed to Christ.
Ephesians 5:22-33 compares the union of husband and wife to that of Christ
and the church. The central theme of the whole Ephesians letter is
reconciliation of the alienated within the unity of the church. Ephesians 5
begins by calling on Christians to imitate God and Christ, who gave himself up
for them with love. Ephesians 5:1-21 contains a rather strong warning
against foolishness and letting down one's guard against evil. Rather, the
author encourages the readers to constantly give thanks with song in their
hearts because of what God has done for all in Christ. That prelude to the
subject's text takes up again the theme of loving submission that began with
the example of Christ in 5:2 where all
are called upon to "Be submissive to one another out of reverence for
Christ." 5:21 It implies, but is not specific, that the "Bride"
is the body of believers that comprise the universal Christian Ekklēsia (Church) (lit. "called-out
ones")
Greg Denie is from Calgary, AB. Using his gift to shine light on the
The ekklēsia is never explicitly
called "the bride of Christ" in the New Testament. That is approached
in Ephesians 5:22-33. A major analogy is that of the body. Just as husband
and wife are to be "one flesh," this analogy for the writer describes
the relationship of Christ and ekklēsia.
Husbands were exhorted to love their wives "just as Christ loved the ekklēsia and gave himself for it. When
Christ nourishes and cherishes the ekklēsia,
he nourishes and cherishes his own flesh. Just as the husband, when he loves
his wife is loving his own flesh. Members of the ekklēsia are "members of his own body" because it is
written in Genesis 2:4 "and the two shall become one flesh". In
Jesus quotes the Genesis passage as what has been called a "divine
postscript.”
Kronheim's Baxter process illustration of Revelation 22:17 (King James' Version), from page 366 of the 1880 omnibus printing of The Sunday at Home. Scanned at 800 dpi. The greyish border around the flowers is a metallic silver ink, however, shininess cannot be reproduced in an electronic medium.
In writing to the Church of Corinth in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul writes to the
Corinthians warning them of false teachers who would teach of another Christ
and confessing his worry that they will believe someone who teaches a false
christ; other than Christ Jesus of Nazareth whom they preached; and referred to
the Church in Corinth as being espoused to Christ. "For I am jealous over
you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,
whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not
received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear
with him.
In the writing to the Church in Rome, Paul writes, "Wherefore, my
brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God" (emphasis
added). Here, Paul seems to suggest that the Church is to be married to
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom was raised from the dead.
Tenebrae (Latin for 'shadows' or 'darkness') is a Christian religious service celebrated by the Western Church on the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, which are the last three days of Holy Week. The distinctive ceremony of Tenebrae is the gradual extinguishing of candles while a series of readings and psalms is chanted or recited. In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church the Tenebrae readings and psalms are those of Matins and Lauds. The Polish National Catholic Church and some churches within the Anglican Communion also observe Tenebrae. The tenebrae service is also used in various Holy Week services among Protestant churches such as Lutheranism, as well as among some denominations of Orthodoxy.
"The Lamb" (John Tavener) Tenebrae Choir. Nigel Short, director. Supported by Swiss Global Artistic Foundation
In the Roman Catholic Church, Tenebrae is the name given to the celebration, with special ceremonies, of Matins and Lauds, the first two hours of the Divine Office, of the last three days of Holy Week.
Originally celebrated after midnight, by the late Middle Ages their
celebration was anticipated on the afternoon or evening of the preceding
day in most places.
Fifteen candles on tenebrae
"hearse". The candles are extin-
guished one by one during the
course of the service.
The structure of Tenebrae is the same for all three days. The first
part of the service is Matins, which in its pre-1970 form is composed of
three nocturns, each consisting of three psalms, a short versicle and response, a silent Pater Noster,
and three readings, each followed by a responsory. Pre-1970 Lauds
consists of five psalms, a short versicle and response, and the Benedictus Gospel canticle, followed by Christus factus est, a silent Pater Noster, a devotional recitation of Psalm 50 (51), Miserere, and the appointed collect.
The principal Tenebrae ceremony is the gradual extinguishing of candles upon a stand in the sanctuary called a hearse.
Eventually the Roman Rite settled on fifteen candles, one of which is
extinguished after each of the nine psalms of Matins and the five of
Lauds, gradually reducing the lighting throughout the service. The six
altar candles are put out during the Benedictus, and then any remaining
lights in the church. The last candle is hidden beneath the altar,
ending the service in total darkness. The strepitus (Latin for "great noise"), made by slamming a book shut, banging a hymnal or breviary
against the pew, or stomping on the floor, symbolizes the earthquake
that followed Christ's death, although it may have originated as a
simple signal to depart.
Following the great noise, the candle which had been hidden from view
is returned to the top of the hearse, signifying the return of Christ to
the world with the Resurrection, and all depart in silence.
Sir Colin Davis conducts the London Symphony Orchestra, Susan Gritton, Sara Mingardo, Mark Padmore, Alastair Miles and the Tenebrae choir
performing Handel's Messiah. Recorded in December 2006.
The lessons of the first nocturn at Matins are taken from the Book of Lamentations and are sung to a specific Gregorian reciting tone. They have also been set to music by many composers, of whom the most famous are Palestrina, Tallis, Lassus, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, François Couperin, Ernst Krenek (Lamentatio Jeremiae prophetae, op. 93) and Stravinsky (Threni). In addition, the responsories have been set by Lassus, Gesualdo, Victoria and Jan Dismas Zelenka.
The lessons of the second nocturn are taken from the writings of St. Augustine, and the lessons of the third nocturn from the epistles of Paul the Apostle. These are chanted to the ordinary lesson tone and have been relatively neglected by composers, though there are a few settings by Manuel Cardoso and sets of responsories by Orlando di Lasso and Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
The High-Renaissance polyphonic choral settings of Lamentations at
Tenebrae, culminating in those of Lassus (1584), share the same texts
with, but in musical idiom are to be distinguished from, the French
Baroque chamber-music genre of Leçons de ténèbres.
The celebration of Matins and Lauds of these days in the form
referred to as Tenebrae in churches with a sufficient number of clergy
was universal in the Roman Rite until the reform of the Holy Week ceremonies by Pope Pius XII in 1955. At that time, the Easter Vigil
was restored as a night office, moving that Easter liturgy from Holy
Saturday morning to the following night; the principal liturgies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday
were likewise moved from morning to afternoon or evening, and thus
Matins and Lauds were no longer allowed to be anticipated on the
preceding evening, except for the Matins and Lauds of Holy Thursday in
the case of cathedral churches in which the Mass of the Chrism was held
on Holy Thursday morning. The 1960 Code of Rubrics,
which is incorporated in the 1962 typical edition of the Roman
Breviary, did not allow any anticipation of Lauds, though Matins can
still be anticipated to the day before, later than the hour of Vespers. Even at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem, where the need to observe a timetable that did not
disturb the established rights of other churches forced the timetable of
Roman Catholic Holy Week services to remain unchanged, the Office of
Tenebrae was abandoned in 1977.
But the special rubrics of Tenebrae that once accompanied the
celebration of Matins and Lauds, including the ceremony of extinguishing
the candles on the hearse, are now sometimes applied to other
celebrations, even if these do not consist of a nine-psalm Matins and a
five-psalm Lauds.
The 1970 revision of the Roman Breviary, now called the Liturgy of the Hours,
recommends public celebration of the Office of Readings (Matins) and
Morning Prayer (Lauds) - what was formerly called "Tenebrae" - for Good Friday and Holy Saturday,
Unlike its older form in the Divine Office, the newer form of the
Office of Readings and Morning Prayer on these days has no distinctive
structure, and there is no extinguishing of candles or lights. The
Office of Readings and Morning Prayer is shorter than in the older form,
although there is provision for extending the Office of Readings for
more solemn occasions.
Nevertheless, when the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer is
celebrated on these days, some elements of the older form of these
offices are often used.
Summorum Pontificum
(2007) permits clerics bound to the recitation of the Divine Office to
use the 1962 Roman Breviary, a permission availed of by several
religious and secular institutes and societies of apostolic life; but
the 1955 and 1960 changes exclude the anticipation of Matins and Lauds
to the previous evening, whether celebrated with or without the Tenebrae
ceremonies. However, some places hold something similar to the original
Tenebrae celebration as an extra-liturgical, devotional service. The
content, ceremony, and time of this celebration vary widely.
The front cover of a Lutheran church
bulletin for Good Friday, describing the
significance, as well as the summary
of components, of a typical tenebrae
service.
The name Tenebrae is also given to various other Holy Week services held by some Protestant churches including the Lutheran, United Methodist, United Church of Christ and Presbyterian churches. Variations of Tenebrae are sometimes celebrated in less formal or non-denominational churches as well. Protestant versions of Tenebrae service, particularly on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, often contain readings from the gospels which describe the time between the Last Supper and the Passion of Christ.
Another frequent element in Protestant Tenebrae services is the
inclusion of the last seven sayings of Jesus, assembled from the various
gospel accounts.
Some churches have the people who read scripture snuff out candles
and/or drape black cloth over church furnishings and ornamentation when
they finish their passage to represent the flight of the disciples and the approach of the dark hate of Jesus' enemies and the Passion of Christ. When the last passage has been read the church or room is completely dark and recalls the days when Jesus was in the tomb.
When this is the case, someone such as an acolyte often comes forward
and relights a single candle to represent the hope of the prophecy of Easter.
Another alternative is the service above interwoven in a Last Supper with lamb meat, bitter herbs, and other elements of the Jewish Passover commemoration.
Sometimes Protestant Tenebrae services involve the participants receiving Communion.
When this is the case, some churches have the participants come up
front and sit at a table in groups of twelve to receive communion.
Some Churches of the Anglican communion celebrate Tenebrae with the same rite as Roman Catholics. Anglicans, including the Episcopal Church,
usually observe the service on Wednesday in Holy Week, thereby
preserving the importance of the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday
observances.
These little paper doily baskets are so adorable! They
are very light weight so you can hang them on an Easter tree. They would
also make cute party favors as well. I dressed mine up with stickers
and ribbon. I also hand-colored the paper doilies before gluing them
onto white typing paper; the possibilities here are endless. This is an
easy basket craft for small children to craft as well.
Paper doily basket instructions.
I purchased my doilies at a craft store but you could cut your own doilies. This would be a nice additional step for older children to do before constructing the basket. Remember crafts for older students need to be made a little more challenging in order to maintain their interest and teach them new methods.
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