The phrase 'the day God died' came to mind and wouldn't go away, so here is what I offered.
Amazingly a few hours later I had 20 minutes spare and was just settling down with the novel I'm reading, by Maggie Hamand, a wonderful writer who I met a funeral, and my eye immediately fell on these words: 'If he is both fully human and fully divine (...) how are these two opposites combined, and what happens where they seem to be contradictory? For example Christ died on the cross but God cannot die', (The Resurrection of the Body, 2008, p. 89-90).
So I'm hoping I might have been on the right track.
Please feel free to use it if it's helpful. Target age: 5-11 year olds.
The day God died.
The day God died, was a terrible day, but it didn’t end the way you might have thought.
The sun had come up, but didn’t know
whether or not to shine.
It hung in the air like a big question
mark.
They brought God out in the morning.
It had already been a long night in the
garden.
God was tired.
He was wondering where his friends had
got to.
No one was in the mood for God.
They were ready to make fun of him.
He needed to be taught a lesson.
Obey the rules and keep quiet.
Try not to be a troublemaker.
Don’t heal people on the holy day; don’t
bring someone back to life: it’s too difficult for us to cope with.
God was teased, he was pushed around; it
was frightening.
It got worse; it seemed like everyone
was against him and now was their chance.
God was led away, towards the hill.
Someone carried the cross of wood upon
which he was to die.
They arrived at the hill and God was
lifted up for all to see.
Underneath the cross, they played a
gambling game to see who would get his cloak.
There was more teasing: he saved other
people, can’t he save himself?
Can’t he come down from the cross?
That’s just pathetic.
What a big joke, to boss God around.
Three hours passed.
The sun was very confused.
At midday it gave up shining: it
couldn’t be a bright and happy day, the day God died.
It wouldn’t be right.
That made everyone even more grumpy.
The darkness lasted three hours.
People began to get nervous.
What had they done?
At 3 o’clock God cried out – he felt so
alone on the cross.
Someone tried to give him a drink, but
it was too late.
In the middle of the darkness and the
teasing
and the feeling so lonely,
God died.
But this is not the end of the story.
The next day was a holy day and no one
did anything.
The sun came up and it was quiet from
dawn till dusk.
People sat at home, eat their dinner and
went to bed.
The day after was the first day of the
week.
Time to get up and get on with things.
Mary and Mary got up bright and early.
They went to find where God was buried.
They wanted to be the first visitors.
However, they were not expecting an
earthquake.
Or an angel, bright as the morning
washing.
The whiteness was unbelievable.
The guards around the tomb passed out in
fear.
Mary and Mary carried on standing,
holding on to each other in amazement.
The angel spoke: God isn’t here – look!
He’s alive (of course!)
Go and tell everyone!
The women were filled with excitement.
God’s not dead!
They ran off, out of the garden, away
from the tomb.
They suddenly had good news to share and
they wouldn’t stop until everyone knew about it, even throughout the whole
world…
Until everyone knew about what happened
The day after
The day after
the day God died.
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