How do we know Jesus is Alive? People can’t just come back from the dead, right? Lots of people have different thoughts about this! One way we could think about Jesus being alive among us is through how people still practice Jesus’ teachings, the most important of which is to love one another! When we see people loving one another through taking care of each other, this can be one way to consider Jesus still being alive! Jesus lives through the ways he has rubbed off on others to live out God’s dream on earth.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Did you know that feeding each other is so important in our faith that it is a sacrament?!? Our religion, the United Church of Christ says this about this sacrament that we call Communion: “Sacraments are ritual actions in worship which, according to Scripture, were instituted by Jesus. In the sacraments of baptism and communion we ask the Holy Spirit to use water, bread, and wine to make visible the grace, forgiveness, and presence of God. . .”
What if every time we ate, we took a moment to give thanks? What if every time we ate, we took time to forgive? What if every time we ate, we took time to see God in our meal and in each other? Maybe when we take Communion every month at church, this can be our reminder to give thanks, be forgiving, and seeking God in everything all the time? I wonder if this would help us to be the most loving as we could be.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Do you know what the word “humble” means? The word humble can mean not being too proud or arrogant. Or, to not congratulate yourself for doing stuff or to tell everyone how excellent you are. Now, it’s really good to thinking you are good person, because you are!
It’s better to show how good of a person you are rather than to say it. Actions can go a lot further than words. And, this is one way we can look at the story we are reading today. When the disciples are arguing over who is better, Jesus starts washing their feet. And, feet back that were SUPER dirty because they wore sandals EVERYWHERE! Washing feet was one of the yuckiest jobs back then. Jesus didn’t ask for a thank you. He just wanted to serve his people.
Have you ever done a good deed secretly? Like, you did something knowing that you were not going to tell anyone about it? Some folks call this random acts of kindness. If you did, what was it that you did? (Don’t say it aloud! That would be telling!). How did you feel afterward? Were you tempted to tell someone? Did you end up telling someone?
If not, what do you think you could do today? What random act of kindness could you do today? Could you do some positive chalk art on the sidewalk? Do a chore around the house without prompting and in a way that no one would know? You are invited to try doing a random act of kindness today. And, you could do one tomorrow too!
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
We concentrate a lot on how we show our love for God. Today, our reading is about showing our love for Jesus. A woman (spoiler alert, it’s Mary), pours an expensive bottled of perfumed oil on Jesus’ feet. Mary is not a wealthy woman. She could have done a lot with the money it cost to buy that perfumed oil. But, she chose to wash Jesus’ feet with it. She is showing her love and appreciation for Jesus. She gave selflessly of herself, just like Jesus taught her to do through his own actions and his teachings.
What do you know about Jesus. Take a moment and think about it. If you are with someone else, maybe you can talk about it together. Now, how do you live out what you know about Jesus in your life. Or, do the Jesus stories that are about helping others help you to do the same thing? Or, maybe you just don’t know enough about Jesus yet. And, that is totally OK. All the blogs and videos in this blog can help you with you with that! Sunday school can help too when we are able to get back to Sunday school. I hope that someday, the Bible Stories inspire you to give your best to your neighbor, just like we learn Jesus does.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Using your words is really good when we are having feelings, even if we don’t know what we are feeling. I am feeling tired. Or, I am really hungry and it’s making me in a bad mood can be good things to say. It’s good to connect to what we are feeling. And, it’s OK to feel tired or angry or grumpy or sad. Those are great things to feel.
It’s always good to have people in your life you can share your feelings with. They can help with your feelings. And, you won’t feel so alone if you let other people in.
And, if you don’t know what to do with your feelings, doing a project can be helpful, like helping with a chore, getting a little exercise, or making art. I wonder how you use your words and use your feelings.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Have you ever had a really cool experience that you didn’t want it to end? Maybe you had a fun socially distanced picnic with friends and family you hadn’t seen for a while. And then, it was time for bed, but everyone was still over. And, I bet you may have been not happy to go to bed.
It can be good to be happy about the experience, and then leave that experience to get refreshed. And, when you are refreshed you can carry your happiness out into the world in other ways. Just because an experience that you really liked ended, doesn’t mean your joy and happiness has to. We can carry that joy with us into other parts of our days.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Our most important job is to love. That’s it! Seems simple right? It’s not always that simple. Sometimes, we are grumpy. Or, sometimes, we are not feeling well. Or, sometimes we are mad. And, when we are feeling these things (and more), we can sometime forget to love. And, that is OK. We aren’t going to be perfect. Just remember though, that love can be a powerful thing. Loving can even turn our mood around. So, next time you are feeling mad, sad, grumpy, or ill, try giving a little love. It many just turn you day around.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Sometimes when bad things happen, we might ask, “Why would God do that?” The easy answer to this question is that God doesn’t make bad things happen. It’s pretty common to think that because we are taught that God is in control of EVERYTHING! But, that’s not necessarily true. Humans have the freedom to follow their will or God’s will. In our story today, Jesus and the disciples get caught in a storm in the middle of the boat. Storms happen when they happen, regardless if we are out in a boat or not. We choose to go out in a boat, and sometimes there’s not great weather. God didn’t plan for there to be a storm at the exact moment the disciples were out in the middle of the sea.
Sometimes in life, we can experience “storms” too. Replace the word storm with something hard that happens in life. God doesn’t make that bad stuff happen like a sick pet or family member, or trouble with a friend, or if we fall and hurt ourselves. But God will be there with us in our hard times. God can be a good friend who keeps us calm and centered through the hard stuff.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Intersection. Do you know what that means? Do you know when you are driving in the car with adults, and your vehicle comes to a stop at a stop sign? And, there is a road that crosses the road you are on? That is a kind of intersection. It’s when two roads cross. Those two roads have a common crossing.
It’s kind of the same in the book for today. People’s lives can have intersections too. Where two lives can share a common crossing. For the young people in the book, their intersections have in common all the ways that make them special and different, but small important places they share a common bond. They are little spots where we can maybe understand each other a little bit.
Let’s think about this for a second. Let’s say you have to use a wheelchair to get around. You identify as a girl. And, you have a friend that also uses a wheelchair to get around. And, you friend is a boy. Well, you don’t know what it is like to be a boy. And, he doesn’t know what it’s like to be a girl. But, you both know what it is like to have to use a wheelchair to get around. That is an intersection. You are both different in your own ways. But, you share a common experience of both needing a wheelchair. And, you can bond, or get closer through having that experience.
It’s good to see how our lives intersect with others. It can bring us together and help us all understand one another just a little bit more. I wonder if you have friends that are different from you, but you share a common bond, or an intersection.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we might think we know what is best for us. But, our plans don’t turn out the way we think they would. And, usually what happens when we make mistakes is that we get in trouble! In our story today, the son who spent all of his inheritance and then came back home to his dad didn’t get in trouble. He was met with forgiveness and open arms. I wonder if that is something we could do if someone in our life makes a mistake. Like, when our siblings do something that makes us mad or sad. What would happen if we forgave them?
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Today we learn that Jesus doesn’t just care about those who never lie, who never treat others bad, and never do things just for themselves. Jesus cares about Zacchaeus, a tax collector, who was known to cheat people out of money. When the crowd called him out after Jesus said he was going to go to Zacchaeus’ house, Zacchaeus realized they were all right.
Community and the love of God and strength of Jesus can make a difference. It can be good to tell people what they think so that those people have an opportunity to change. And, Jesus will continue to love us all, no matter what.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
June 9, 2020 In our story today, a person’s sight is restored, and a little girl gets brought back to life. These are pretty awesome miracles! And, stuff like this doesn’t always happen. Today, we have doctors that can sometimes do these things. But it doesn’t always happen like this. Sometimes, we can’t see well. I wear glasses, and I have a pretty hard time seeing without them. I’m OK with that! And, sometimes when someone is ill, they die and nothing can be done to help that. We are human. And, part of being human means that sometimes we are sick and sometimes we can’t see well, or at all. Maybe it’s not about the challenges we have. Maybe it’s about how we deal with those challenges. Sometimes, we can change our situation and sometimes we have to adapt to it. In our reading, challenges are changed through crazy miracles! But, most times, we need to ask God to help us to adapt to our challenges. The real miracle is how we can adapt, and not so much about restoring sight or bringing someone back to life.
Daily PrayersIn the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
When we work together, miracles can happen. Today, we hear two stories about how Jesus heals folks. In the second story, we hear about a group of friends who doesn’t give up on their friend who can’t walk. The go to great lengths to help their friend heal. Some folks might say that it wasn’t Jesus who actually healed that man who couldn’t walk, but it was the man’s friends because the never gave up on helping him.
We really can make a difference if we work together, never give up, and don’t lose hope in change being possible. Keep positive! Believe that good stuff can happen if we work for it! And, it’s OK to be angry and sad along the way, too. It can be hard when we want to see something happen and it feels like it won’t. But, don’t lose hope!
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
In our story today, thousands of people are hungry, and Jesus and the disciples don’t have any food to give them! Jesus says, “somebody has something to share.” The miracle in this story isn’t so much Jesus feeding a crowd of thousands of people. The miracle is how people came together to share their resources and feed one another. There is so much available. So, much that there is enough for everyone. Jesus just helped make sure that people shared what they had. If your family has the blessing of having enough, I wonder how you share your resources. Sharing is really important to make sure we all have what we need.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
I wonder what it means to be lost from God. Have you ever thought about it? Do you think you’ve ever been lost from God? I know I have! And, that is totally ok! In fact, it’s part of our faith lives. We are not perfect. We might sometimes do or say things that are not loving and helpful to others, animals, and the environment. We may have times when we are grumpy and stuck. Or, we may have moments when our anger comes out wrong. (Anger can be good when it’s used in a way that is loving and helpful.) We are human and will always make mistakes. And, that is OK!
What is most important is when we can find our words for how we feel. “I am feeling grumpy today!” Or, “I am feeling like I don’t want to do anything that my parents tell me to do today!” When we can voice our feelings, it’s a good step toward doing things that will be helpful to get us back to being love in the world.
Sometimes when we are lost from God or feeling grumpy or angry or not like doing anything good and helpful, we need quiet time. Quiet time can be good! Adults would call this “self-care”. Self-care is really important. Self-care can look like quiet time. It can look like taking time to listening to our favorite song or reading a book that calms us or taking time to be out in nature. Self-care can look like lots of different things. I wonder what you do to come back to God. Or, I wonder what you do to help you when you are not feeling like being love in the world.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Help us open our hearts to you, God! When we do, cool stuff can happen. Sometimes when we pray, we might ask for God’s help in ways that we might not see our prayers answered. When we open our hearts to God, we also have to open our minds to how God may respond. And, I wonder how we use our prayers as ways to also get into action. Prayer works best when we act with love or pray with your feet. That’s a funny thought, huh? How do we pray with our feet?!?
When I pray, I rarely pray for myself. I ask God to help show me how I can be useful in the world. And then, I get into action. I may see something where there is a need, like cleaning up stuff in the neighborhood or writing a letter to someone who is lonely. Or maybe, I feel this overwhelming need to be kinder to those around me. When I feel this need, I take that as a sign that that is where I should be getting into action. I wonder if you’ve ever felt that feeling of needing to do something loving and helpful.
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
Can you imagine if we all put love first? What if, before everything we did we asked, “Is this the most loving thing I could be doing right now?” Our story today tells us that Jesus teaches us the love is the most important law. We should love God and love one another. I would say that if we love God first, loving others is easy! If we love God first, we know that we can see God in others and in creation! So, if we love God, we are kind of already loving everything else! Go and be love in the world today. Ask yourself if what you are about to do is the most loving thing you can do in that moment. Be love in the world!
Daily Prayers
In the morning when we wake up: May today bring joy in new ways. Amen.
At mealtimes: Dear God, thank you for health. Thank you for the earth. Thank you for the hands and hearts that made this food. May the earth and your people be healthy. Amen.
Bedtime: Dear God, thank you for resting from the top of my head down to my toes. Your love will be with me even in my sleep. Amen.
