This Is Good for All of Us

Henry, 4, sang this prayer at the Paschal Candle:

Mary had a baby, this is good for all of us.

And pray for Mary until the baby, until he dies in the ground, and then he rose on the cross.

He was alive a long, long time ago. I thought he would never die again.

But you can still go where he lived.

Someday at supper he said, "Here's my body and here's my blood. You should drink this until I die."

And if you wanted to go to the land of Israel, you'd have to go across the ocean, and over New York and over the salty sea, and the plane would drop you off where Jesus lived.

50,000 to 1

Yun, 6: See that candle? (the Paschal Candle) It's Jesus and God. There's at least 50,000 darkness out here and only one light. And that light challenged the darkness and won.

Sam: When Jesus was killed on the cross, his light got snuffed. But when he rose, it was like his light lit up a pile of firewood--and the light was MUCH stronger. Everyone was amazed!

Yun's response to Sam: It doesn't matter how big the darkness is, it can't put out the light. But even one little candle can light up this dark room.

Wow -- birth and death -- all at once in the same place

Walter, age seven, has been in the atrium for three years. When he received the City of Jerusalem presentation, we lit a small candle next to the empty tomb to symbolize the resurrection. Walter then went to do the baptism work for the umpteenth time. He was about halfway through lighting the small candles from the large paschal candle, when he paused, looked at the paschal candle and the smaller candles, and said, "Wow -- birth and death -- all at once in the same place."

Dorothea, age 5, drew a picture of the Paschal Candle and said, "Jesus is in the candle, he is getting born in the candle."

Mary Had a Baby

Hayden's (age 4) sung prayer at the Paschal Candle:
"Mary had a baby. This is good for all of us, and pray for Mary until the baby, until he dies in the ground, and then he rose on the cross. He was alive a long, long time ago. I thought he would never die again. But you can still go where he lived.
"Someday at supper he said, 'Here's my body' and 'Here's my blood. You should drink this until I die.' And if you wanted to go to the Land of Israel, you'd have to go across the ocean, and over New York and over the salty sea and the plane would drop you off where Jesus lived."