copyright © 2017...

© 2017 Illustrated Children's Ministry, LLC. All rights reserved. illustratedchildrensministry.com May be reproduced for family and local use only, provided each copy carries this notice.

Illustration & Editing: Adam Walker Cleaveland Illustration: Jason Fowler Writing: Erika Marksbury

illustratedchildrensministry.com Email: [email protected] Born in Evanston, Illinois.

Copyright © 2017 Illustrated Children’s Ministry, LLC. All rights reserved.

http://illustratedchildrensministry.com


WELCOME TO AN ILLUSTRATED LENT FOR FAMILIES

This is our second year of providing families with a resource for engaging their children in faith formation at home during Lent. Last year’s An Illustrated Lent: Engaging Practices for the Season was used by hundreds of churches and families, and we’re excited to share this new version with you for 2017.

It can be difficult to find meaningful ways to engage our families in faith formation. It can sometimes feel awkward, we don’t always know what to do, and sometimes we have a hard time talking about our own faith stories.

Certain seasons of the church year, like Lent, are great opportunities to say, “Hey kids – we’re going to try something new for the next few weeks.”

An Illustrated Lent for Families is a resource that we hope will help you try something new with your children for a few weeks. We encourage you to find ways to let these devotions and activities allow your family to slow down, ask questions, have fun, be intentional about how you spend your time, and try new things.

It is our hope that by providing you with these resources, you might be able to easily find ways to have opportunities for great conversations with your family, as you all prepare to enter into the Lenten journey together this year.

As you use these resources in your ministry or your home, we would love to hear what was helpful and meaningful and what suggestions or comments you have for us. It is our desire to create quality resources for children’s faith formation and we appreciate your comments and feedback.



You can always reach us at [email protected] or find us on the following social networks:

Facebook Page: facebook.com/IllustratedCM Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/Illustratedcm Pinterest: pinterest.com/IllustratedCM Twitter: twitter.com/IllustratedCM Instagram: instagram.com/IllustratedCM

We also love to see photos and hear stories about how you are using our materials. When you are posting photos or comments online, please use the hashtag #anillustratedlent or tag us in the photos so we can see them. That allows us to be part of the conversation and you to be part of our online community. Checking the hashtag on various social networks is also a great way to get see how other families and churches are creatively using our resources.

Blessings,

Adam Walker CleavelandFounder & Illustrator Illustrated Children's Ministry, LLC

mailto:[email protected]

http://facebook.com/IllustratedCM

http://facebook.com/groups/Illustratedcm

http://pinterest.com/IllustratedCM

http://twitter.com/IllustratedCM

http://instagram.com/IllustratedCM


mailto:[email protected]

http://facebook.com/IllustratedCM

http://facebook.com/groups/Illustratedcm

http://pinterest.com/IllustratedCM

http://twitter.com/IllustratedCM

http://instagram.com/IllustratedCM


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FAMILY DEVOTIONS

This year’s Lenten devotions are based on Gospel passages from the Revised Common Lectionary scripture readings. These devotionals are written so they can be used by children of all ages (adults as well), and we believe you’ll find questions and discussion topics in each of the devotionals that will work for your children, no matter the age. At the same time, we invite you to feel free to tweak the content and questions to work for your family.

Each devotion consists of the below elements. We invite you to take a look at the devotionals, and see what you think will work best for your family.

Scripture: As noted above, these gospel passages come from the Revised Common Lectionary scripture passages for Lent 2017.

Memory Verse: We have pulled out a key verse from each of the passages to be the week’s memory verse. As you spend time thinking about your devotion or completing your devotional activity with your children, we’d encourage you to see if you all can memorize the short verse.

Discussion: This is a chance for some discussion for your family. Since we love coloring here at Illustrated Children's Ministry, we find that often some of the best conversations happen while coloring and doing something creative together as a family. We suggest having a discussion while coloring the week’s coloring sheet, which you’ll find goes along with both the scripture and the weekly memory verse.

Activity: Based on the scripture and discussion, the weekly activity gives you a chance to actually put into practice what you are learning and talking about each week. You’ll find Activity Sheets for each week following the devotional.

Coloring Sheet: Each week also has a coloring sheet for the memory verse. This is a great way to practice learning the verse while you color the sheet with your children.

Prayer: Finally, each week’s devotion ends with a short prayer that you can say, or invite your children to repeat after you. This is a simple ritual that can end your family’s weekly devotional time.



SUGGESTED SCHEDULE

We encourage you to find a time each week that works with your family’s schedule that you can set aside to do your family devotional. Obviously, that will be different for each family, but if you are looking for a suggested schedule, here is one possibility:

Week 1: Sunday, March 5th




Week 5: Sunday, April 2nd

Week 6: Sunday, April 9th (Palm Sunday)

Week 7: Sunday, April 17 (Easter)

It is our hope and prayer that these devotionals might help your family spend some quality time together, coloring, creating art, listening to the story of Jesus, and journeying through Lent together.



Matthew 4:1-4

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

MEMORY VERSE: Matthew 4:4

‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

DISCUSSION

• Have you ever been asked to prove who you are? Why? What was that like?

• What words do you live by?

• What does it mean to be hungry for bread? What might it mean to be hungry for words? Are there ways we can offer both of those to each other?

ACTIVITY

On this week’s activity sheet, list words that are life-giving for you and your family: words that inspire you, or comfort you, or challenge you, or give you hope or direction, or remind you of what matters. Collect a few stones with smooth (enough) surfaces. Write one word on each stone (Sharpies work well for this.) Put these stones somewhere you’ll see them often during Lent, or choose a special one to carry in your pocket.

WEEK 1: WORDS to LIVE BY



PRAYER

God who gives us life, Thank you for all that sustains us:for bread and words and love and laughter and kindness.Thank you for naming us allyour beloved children.Help us to name each other that way,and to do what we can to help each other live.Amen.


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© 2017 Illustrated Children's Ministry, LLC. All rights reserved. illustratedchildrensministry.comMay be reproduced for family and local use only, provided each copy carries this notice.

On this week’s activity sheet, list words that are life-giving for you and your family: words

that inspire you, or comfort you, or challenge you, or give you hope or direction, or

remind you of what matters. Collect a few stones with smooth (enough) surfaces. Write

one word on each stone (Sharpies work well for this.) Put these stones somewhere you’ll

see them often during Lent, or choose a special one to carry in your pocket.

LIFE-GIVING WORDS


John 3:1-8

A Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

MEMORY VERSE: John 3:8

“The wind blows where it chooses, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.”

DISCUSSION

• Where were you born? What do you know about your birth? Share those stories with each other.

• Have you ever stayed up late at night talking with a friend, or a family member? What do you talk about during those late hours?

• How would you describe the ways that wind and water move? What happens, or what is made possible, when wind or water moves?

WEEK 2: The SPIRIT MOVES in MYSTERIOUS WAYS



ACTIVITY

Spend some time playing with a toy that the wind directs – a kite, or a pinwheel, or bubbles. Pay attention to its motion, and on this week’s activity sheet, try to draw its path. Then talk together as a family: When have you moved with that much freedom? What has it felt like?

PRAYER

God whose life is freedom, Thank you for wind and water,for the ways they remind us of newness and mystery.Help us to to celebrate that your Spirit moves all around us.Amen.



Spend some time playing with a toy that the wind directs – a kite, or a pinwheel,

or bubbles. Pay attention to its motion, and on this week’s activity sheet, try to

draw its path. Then talk together as a family: When have you moved with that much freedom? What has it felt like?


John 4:6-5:14

Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”


“Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.”

DISCUSSION

• When you feel tired and thirsty, how else do you feel?

• Are there people you feel divided from at your school, or at your church, or in your town? What do you think causes that division?

• The woman in this story asks a lot of questions of Jesus. If you met Jesus, what questions would you ask him?

WEEK 3: What CAN QUENCH your THIRST?



ACTIVITY

Matthew 10:42 tells us that something as simple as a cup of cold water can be enough to share love with another person; it’s refreshing, and thoughtful, and maybe a reminder of the kind of abundant life Jesus tells the woman about in this story. On this week’s activity sheet, list simple ways you can offer kindness to your family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. As you go throughout the week, check off the ones you do, and talk together about those experiences.

PRAYER

God who draws together all people, Thank you for the ways questions and kindness can overcome any division.Thank you that Jesus’ courage makes a new friendship possible. Help us to say what we need, and to help meet others’ needs, too.Amen.


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Matthew 10:42 tells us that something as simple as a cup of cold water can be

enough to share love with another person; it’s refreshing, and thoughtful, and

maybe a reminder of the kind of abundant life Jesus tells the woman about in this

story. On this week’s activity sheet, list simple ways you can offer kindness to your

family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. As you go throughout the week, check off

the ones you do, and talk together about those experiences.


John 9:1-5

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” Then he went and washed and came back able to see.


“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

DISCUSSION

• Have you ever been blamed for something that wasn’t your fault? Have you ever blamed something on someone else, when it wasn’t their fault? Why do we do that?

• What is something you want to be, or do, for as long as you can? How would you complete Jesus’ sentence, “As long as I am in the world, I am __________________” for yourself?

• What does it mean for God’s works to be revealed in someone? Are there ways that something of God (love, joy, hope) might be revealed in you?

WEEK 4: WHEN NORMAL STUFF becomes HOLY



ACTIVITY

In this story, regular mud becomes a healing balm when Jesus uses it for that reason. Is there something ordinary around your home or yard or neighborhood park that you could use in a special way, to bring hope or happiness to someone – a toy you could give away, a card you could make out of this week’s activity sheet and send, a flower you could pick and deliver, some sticks you could sculpt with? Talk as a family about what small thing you could use to make a big difference in someone’s day.

PRAYER

God whose glory shines everywhere,Thank you for sending Jesus to be the light of the worldand for inviting us to be the same.Help us to live so that people see your love and healing and hope through us.Amen.


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f o l d o n t h i s l i n e t o m a k e y o u r c a r d



John 11:32-40

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”


“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

DISCUSSION

• What’s the worst thing you’ve ever smelled? Did you smell it from far away, or up close? Was it a surprise, or did you put your nose right up to it?

• Some of the people gathered take Jesus’ tears as a sign that he loved Lazarus. Are there other clues in this story about Jesus’ love for his friends?

• How do you love your friends?

• Have you ever seen something that you would describe as “glorious,” or say that through it, you saw something of God? Tell stories together about those moments.

WEEK 5: LEARNING about LIFE



ACTIVITY

Take a walk around your neighborhood. During this season, you may find plants at different stages – maybe some still dead from winter, maybe some buds popping out, maybe some fully in bloom. On this week’s activity sheet, sketch the stages you see, and write a prayer of thanksgiving for what has lived, and for what is just beginning to live.

PRAYER

God who shares our sadness,Thank you for loving us deeplyand feeling our hurts. Help us to share one another’s pain, too,and to believe that you are with us in all things, and all seasons.Amen.


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Take a walk around your neighborhood. During this season, you may find plants at

different stages – maybe some still dead from winter, maybe some buds popping out,

maybe some fully in bloom. On this week’s activity sheet, sketch the stages you see, and

write a prayer of thanksgiving for what has lived, and for what is just beginning to live.

NATURE WALK


Matthew 21:6-11

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought a donkey and a colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

MEMORY VERSE: Matthew 21:9

“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna!”

DISCUSSION

• Have you ever been to a parade, or been part of one? What was that like?

• How do you welcome or honor people that you care about?

• When Jesus comes through town for this make-shift parade, there is another parade on the other side of town – a large, loud, fancy parade, with lots of strength and power on display. What’s on display in Jesus’ small parade, with cloaks on the road and a borrowed donkey and colt?

• Is it weird that “the whole city” was asking who Jesus was? Do you think Jesus – or somebody doing and saying the kinds of things he did and said – could be in your city, and you wouldn’t know about it?

WEEK 6: WELCOMING JESUS



ACTIVITY

Imagine you were in a crowd that knew Jesus was about to pass by. What would you call out? What would your cheer or cry be? What sort of message would you put on the sign you’d take to the parade? On this week’s activity sheets, invite each person to write and/or draw the message they’d want to share, and then talk about them together.

PRAYER

God who comes near to us,Thank you for our community – for people to sing and cheer with,people to ask questions of,people to tell stories with.Help us to pay attention to one anotherand to what’s happening all around us.Amen.


illustratedchildrensministry.com


Imagine you were in a crowd that knew Jesus was about to pass by. What

would you call out? What would your cheer or cry be? What sort of message

would you put on the sign you’d take to the parade? On this week’s activity

sheets, invite each person to write and/or draw the message they’d want to

share, and then talk about them together.

PARADE SIGNS!


John 20:1, 11-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. … As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. He said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.


“I have seen the Lord!”

WEEK 7: The POWER of our NAMES



DISCUSSION

• Have you ever been mistaken for someone else? Or have you ever mistaken a person for someone else? Why do you think that happens? What does it feel like?

• Before Mary knows who the gardener is, she says, “Tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Where do you think she would have taken Jesus’ body? Why would that have been important to her?

• When have you been as excited as Mary is here? Who did you tell? How did you tell them?

ACTIVITY

When Jesus calls Mary by name, she suddenly knows who he is – not (only) the gardener, but (also) her teacher, friend, and Lord. Hearing our names help us to know ourselves, too, as known, cared for, and loved. Use this week’s activity sheets to decorate nameplates for each member of your family. Fill them with the family member’s favorite colors or shapes, sketches of things they enjoy, words that celebrate who they are, reminders of how loved they are by you and by God.

PRAYER

God who cares for all of life,Thank you for tending to flowers and grasses and animals and each of us.Thank you for the ways you live as gardener, as teacher, as Jesus, as resurrected hope.Amen.


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ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

JASON FOWLER is a creative professional, graphic designer, web designer and follower of Jesus. He lives with his wife, Pam, and seven kids (ages 3 to 15) near the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. He is the co-founder, along with his wife, of the Sustainable Traditions project and the coordinator of the Land and Table local food network. The Fowlers are also a part of Ecclesia Communities, a growing simple church network with a focus on organic, missional and relational expressions of Gospel living. You can view Jason’s creative work at WiselyWoven.com, and he blogs at SustainableTraditions.com.

ERIKA MARKSBURY is Senior Pastor of the creative, welcoming First Baptist Church of McMinnville, Oregon, and mom to two exhausting, inspiring boys. She coordinates Practicing Families, a blog where parents share hilarious/poignant/cringe-worthy/helpful stories of what it’s like to explore faith with kids.

ABOUT THE EDITOR & ILLUSTRATOR

ADAM WALKER CLEAVELAND is an artist, entrepreneur, pastor, pastor’s spouse, and father of four (two-living). Adam graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Youth Ministry, and has served churches in Idaho, California, Oregon and Illinois. After doing youth ministry for over 15 years, Adam founded Illustrated Children’s Ministry, and loves providing the church and families with creative, illustrated resources.

http://www.WiselyWoven.com

http://www.SustainableTraditions.com

https://practicingfamilies.com/

http://www.WiselyWoven.com

http://www.SustainableTraditions.com

https://practicingfamilies.com/


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