Making Holy Week a Family Event

Let’s start with a scenario.

Your daughter’s softball team has a tournament this weekend, and her uniform is currently lying in a heap on her closet floor. It will have to stay there another day because a classmate is having a birthday party at the local indoor inflatable park, and all the guest of honor wants as a present is some weird toy from a show you’ve never heard of. You have just enough time to hit the local supercenter and drop your daughter off at the party, fully aware that the “good” parents stay with their children and chat with the other adults. However, you need this time to race across town to pick up cupcakes for the church Easter party tomorrow night. You’re still not entirely sure how the kids’ minister talked you into that job.

As you pull out of the parking lot, your phone rings with a number you don’t recognize. You answer it and hear your daughter’s panicked voice cry, “You were supposed to come inside and sign a waiver! I’m in the office, and everyone else is already playing!” Immediately, parental guilt settles heavily in your heart. You turn the car around and check the cupcake business website to see when it opens in the morning.

And … Oh! Yeah! There’s homework to do after the party.
And …. Oh! Yeah! It’s Holy Week.
Happy Easter.

A wise philosopher named Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I think we could all stop and look around a whole lot more, don’t you? Life moves at breakneck speed, filled with a flurry of activities that are … fine. A birthday party is fine. A softball tournament is fine. But it’s important to remember that there are things in life we can do, and things in life we have to do. Life runs us over when we confuse the two.

At the very top of our “have to” list is discipling our children. Holy Week is a powerful opportunity to connect with and engage our children at home for eternal purposes. Our entire Christian faith hinges on the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection. There is no event in human history more worthy of our reflection and celebration. Kids can develop a sense of belonging to Christ and to the broader faith community by participating in, celebrating, and reflecting upon meaningful traditions. They can also deepen their belief in Jesus and their confidence in the truth of God’s Word.
So where do children actually learn that kind of belonging? More often than not, it starts at home with family.

Belonging

Let’s face it — all the activities involving our kids can make our lives very child-centric. When life becomes all about getting them places, buying them things, and serving their interests, we silently teach the wrong message: Life is all about you. Holy Week gives us the opportunity to share a better, truer message. Kids can discover they are part of a grand story — one that stretches far beyond their own lives. Some of the ancient traditions of Holy Week, celebrated in age-appropriate ways, can help kids grasp that they are part of a transcendent community that has loved and followed Jesus for millennia. Yes, they have a place in the movement, but the movement is not about them.

That kind of belonging is usually first learned at home. Family is where kids experience what it means to be known, included, and connected to something bigger than themselves. When Holy Week is practiced together — not rushed through, but shared — relationships are strengthened, priorities become clearer, and children begin to understand their place in God’s story: they matter deeply, and the story itself is bigger than they are.

Belonging is built through the simple rhythms of rituals and family traditions. Shared experiences create space to slow down, interrupt the rush of everyday life, and elevate the meaning of the season. Holy Week already offers time-tested practices, rooted in the faith of generations, that are easily adapted for family life. Participating together in these longstanding traditions nurtures a secure belonging for children both in the family and in the wider church community.

Believing

At some point in their lives, someone will likely tell your kids that there’s not really an empty grave and that the resurrection story has no relevance for their lives. In that moment, our children must be ready to stand firm in their faith and hold fast to the truth. That requires a solid biblical foundation that cannot be shaken by difficult questions or worldly wisdom. The first step, which is often the most obvious and the most neglected in Christ-following families, is opening the Bible at home.

I know … revolutionary, right?

There is a wide gulf between telling a child something is true and showing a child the truth in the pages of Scripture. Through every stage of development, the parental voice remains influential, but there comes a point when every kid realizes that parents get things wrong sometimes. The Bible, however, is never wrong. God’s Word is utterly trustworthy … and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible must be the foundation of your family’s Holy Week observance.

I know some of you may feel intimidated by this — I promise you don’t have to be! The Bible does the heavy lifting; you simply have to open the Book. Here are four tips for using Scripture in the lead-up to Easter:

1. Break it up. Starting on Palm Sunday, divide the narrative into small, manageable sections. Your kids will drift if you read too much at once (let’s be honest … so will we). On Palm Sunday, you might just read Matthew 21:1-11. Another option is to use a devotional or guide to focus your reading — but remember, devotionals don’t replace Scripture itself.
2. Ask questions. Invite your kids into discussion with questions like, “What does this teach us about who God is?” Go beyond story facts to build a strong, resilient faith.
3. Make connections. Every encounter with Scripture is an opportunity for growth. Ask, “What does Jesus washing His disciples’ feet teach us about serving one another?”
4. Keep it practical. Relate lessons to everyday life. Scripture sticks when it meets lived experience.

Traditions to Start

As promised, here are some family-friendly ways to make Holy Week memorable. Someone else may have to grab the cupcakes, and your daughter’s classmate may have to settle for a gift card — but at least one of the following will be worth your time.

Bedtime Bible Reading.

Each day, read a small portion of the Holy Week narrative that matches the day of the week:

• Sunday: Matthew 21:1-11
• Monday: Matthew 21:12-17
• Tuesday: Matthew 22:34-40
• Wednesday: Matthew 26:14-16
• Thursday: Matthew 26:26-30
• Friday: Matthew 27:32-51
• Saturday: Matthew 27:57-61
• Sunday: Matthew 28:1-20

Seder Meal. This experiential, communal tradition uses bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and grape juice to walk through the events of Exodus and connect them to Jesus’ work of salvation.

Tenebrae. On Friday night, help your family feel the darkness of the cross by reading Scripture by candlelight and then extinguishing the flames. Sit in the quiet and reflect on the price Jesus paid. Remind everyone before bed that the light of Easter is coming!

Easter Celebration. Before diving into your usual Easter festivities, pray together as a family. Praise the One who defeated death and rose from the grave. Celebrate the victory Jesus won for all who believe, and remind children that they belong to a great mission that began with an empty tomb.

Join us this year as we journey through Holy Week.

Curt serves Awana as a curriculum writer and developer for Brite* curriculum with over twenty years of experience in family ministry. During that time, he has served in small, large, and multi-site churches in a variety of roles. He also serves a number of churches and camps across the country as a coach and consultant, providing services such as staff coaching and ministry evaluation. Curt loves resourcing families to grow spiritually and relationally at home.