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Good Friday All-Age talk, with Facebook "Reactions"

Facebook has just introduced its new "reactions" - instead of just "like", you can "wow", "sad" and so on.

facebook reactions images - like, love, haha, wow, sad, angry

Turns out that some of these go perfectly with explaining Good Friday... and singing my "It was a .... Friday" Good Friday Song.

Bible Passage

Luke 23:32-49

Song

"It was a ... Friday" is the perfect accompaniment - Listen here, download here

Preparation

Make some big reactions - you need Love, Wow, Sad, and Angry from the pictures above. I used backing paper on large cardboard squares (from packaging boxes), and then large coloured circles of paper, and more cutout paper for the details.

The All-Age Talk

This is in note form, you need to elaborate and interact with the children and adults

Reactions

Facebook: used to be able to "like" things - now you can chose different "reactions".
[Show big reaction pictures that you've made]
Good Friday was the day when Jesus was crucified, it was a day for reactions.

1. Bad

1st reaction: [Show the 'Angry' reaction] [Get them to identify it, tell them we're going to make it stand for 'bad', get them to shout "BAD" (after 3 perhaps - 1,2,3 "BAD!")]
It was a Bad day – people were horrible to Jesus: 23:35-39

2. Mad

2nd reaction: ['Wow' reaction, do the same...] Mad

Mad day – because it shouldn't have happened
23:40-41; yes, criminals deserved it (in some way), but Jesus was an innocent man.... Mad

3. Sad

['Sad' reaction] Sad
Sad day – Jesus was killed. 23:48-49
Great friends, helped many people – couldn't believe what had happened.

Recap:

Bad, Mad, Sad
So how come: “Good” Friday?

4. Glad

['heart' reaction] Glad
Glad because Jesus' death happened s.t. We could be put right with God.
23:42-43
How can a thief be in paradise? Because he put his trust in Jesus, and Jesus death put him right with God.

Explain...

Not just for thief: = for you and me.
Bible tells us, apostle Paul: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) - we know that, if we're honest with ourselves. On our own, we're not right with God.
We may not be a thief – but we're not right with God. Sometimes we're bad [show 'angry'/bad reaction], sometimes we're mad and we don't do what God wants [show 'wow'/mad reaction]
We need help. [perhaps show 'sad' reaction - how God feels] The thief shows us what to do: we need to trust in Jesus.
Romans 3:23-24 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
In other words: we're declared right with God ("justified), as God's free gift (his "grace") – because of what Jesus did on the cross: [show 'love' reaction] he loved us so much that he redeemed us, he bought us back, by paying the price for our sins.
Death is what we deserve. Jesus died that death on the cross.

Conclude

So
[Recap Good Friday events and show reactions, and get them to shout] Bad, Mad, Sad
But we can be Glad
because: Jesus death can put us right with God, if, like thief, we put trust in Jesus.
Want to do that? [explain your follow-up plan]

Because: today might be Bad / Mad / Sad,
but it's a day when we can be: GLAD!

Sing the song... "It was a Bad Friday..."