Easter fish fingers!

To help children think about the meaning of Easter and reflect on an Easter story they may not have heard before.

by The Revd Manon Ceridwen Parry

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To help children think about the meaning of Easter and reflect on an Easter story they may not have heard before.

Preparation and materials

• This is suitable for before Easter, when an assembly is needed that covers the stories of both Good Friday and Easter Day.
• You will need some hot cross buns, a large Easter egg, and an empty packet of fish fingers.
• Bible reading: John 21.1–14. You could ask a child to read this.
• A candle for Time for reflection.

Assembly

1. Explain that this morning you have with you some different types of Easter food. Get the children to consider quietly what food they think you have brought.
2. Bring out the hot cross buns. Explain that buns like these have been eaten for hundreds of years, and were particularly popular during holidays like Christmas and Easter. The cross marked on them is a reminder of Jesus’ death on a cross, so eventually they became associated with Good Friday.
3. Bring out the big Easter egg. Talk about how much we all enjoy eating chocolate at Easter. Explain that in the past, eggs were considered a luxury food, so during Lent people used to give up eating them. (Remind the children, particularly if you have spoken to them about this during Lent, that on Shrove Tuesday eggs would have been used up in the pancakes.) Eggs also remind us of new life, and spring. Some people also say that the inside of a chocolate egg reminds us of Jesus’ empty tomb.
4. The last Easter food you have brought is … fish fingers! Bring out the empty fish finger packet. A strange choice – do we normally eat fish fingers on Easter Day?
   
   No, but we do hear a lot about fish in the stories about Jesus, and one famous story about fish tells of something that happened after Jesus came back to life.
5. Read, or paraphrase, John 21.1–14. Jesus appeared to his disciples and cooked them a breakfast of fish on a barbecue. This was the third time he appeared to his friends after he had died. They were so excited that he was alive again.
6. End by talking about how at Easter, Jesus died and came back to life. Christians believe that Jesus is with us now as our friend, even though we can’t see him.

Time for reflection

Light a candle, and let the children look at the different foods.

Prayer
God, we thank you for Jesus
and that he is our friend.
Help us to remember him
when we eat our hot cross buns, and our Easter eggs …
and even fish fingers!
Amen.

Song/music

‘Lord of the dance’ (Come and Praise, 22). Make sure you include the verse about the fishermen.