Family Faith Seeds: We Are Children of God Through Faith, Week of August 23rd, 2020

 I hope you find this to be a great faith activity for the whole family of all ages. This week’s theme is based on Rev. Dr. Anita Bradshaw’s sermon and the scripture from the service. 

 

Scripture

 

Galatians 3: 26 and 28

 

·      (NRSV): ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.  ²⁸ There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

 

·      (Message): ^25-27 But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ’s life, the fulfillment of God’s original promise.

 

·      (CEB): ²⁶ You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

 

Family Wonderings Based on Above Scripture

 

• Who are children of God?
• What makes someone a child of God?
• Do you think that us all being one means that we are all the same?
• Or maybe it means we all have one goal?
• Or maybe we all have a similar outlook?
• Or maybe we share a similar path?
• Or maybe something else?
• We talk about faith a lot.  I wonder what that is.

 

Thoughts from the Director of Faith Formation

 

Our scripture today offers a lot of different things to think about!  Let’s focus on a couple of things for now.  First faith.  It’s a small word with lots of ways we can think about it.   One way to think about having faith in God is that we trust God with anything.  And, having faith in God doesn’t necessarily mean that when we trust God with all of our challenges, hopes, and dreams that God will make things turn out exactly like we want them to.  Sometimes having faith in God means that when bad things happen, we trust in God to help give us the strength to pull through that bad thing.  And, we know that God doesn’t cause bad things to happen right?  But, God can help us pull through the bad stuff, whether the outcome we were hoping for happens or not.

 

Another thing we can focus on in this scripture is the part about no longer being one thing or another, like male or female.  Let’s remember being different is good!  It’s beautiful!  And, it’s super-human!  This scripture doesn’t mean that once we have faith in God that all of our differences disappear.  It means that we have a big thing in common and a way to work together through our differences.  When we have faith in God, we can come together, despite our differences and work together to spread God’s love.

 

What Makes Us Different?  A Social Activity for Kids

This activity is from thatafterschoollife.com. It’s a great activity for children of all ages and provides a space for dialogue about what makes us different.

·      https://thatafterschoollife.com/what-makes-different.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes&utm_term=935302136_41224344_483284

 

Family Faith Seeds: Keeping the Faith During Tough Times-- 9/16/20

 I hope you find this to be a great faith activity for the whole family of all ages.

 

Scripture

 

Mark 4:35-38

 

·      (NRSV): Jesus Stills a Storm—On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. ³⁷ A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

·      (Message): The Wind Ran Out of Breath—^35-38 Late that day he said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?”

 

·      (CEB): Jesus stops a storm—³⁵ Later that day, when evening came, [he] said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” ³⁶ They left the crowd and took him in the boat just as he was. Other boats followed along. Gale-force winds arose, and waves crashed against the boat so that the boat was swamped. ³⁸ But [he] was in the rear of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. They woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?”

 

 

Family Wonderings Based on Above Scripture

 

·       Who is “he” in this story?

• What are some clues that tell us who “he” is?
• Where does this story take place?
• What is happening during this story?
• Why was “he” sleeping.
• How many boats are in this story?
• What happens next? (Try not to look at the rest of the scripture in your Bible.  Based on who “he” is, let’s wonder what might happen next before looking at our Bible.)

 

Thoughts from the Director of Faith Formation

 

On Friday, we had a quite a storm!  I was in my apartment, volunteering like I have been during the pandemic.  I moderate a chat room for teenagers that live all over the country.  They come to the chat because they have situations in their lives that cause them to feel alone.  And, going to the chat helps them feel a sense of community.

 

I was watching ESPN when I heard a big loud horn outside and thought, “Hmmmmm.  Maybe I should turn on the news!”  I did and found out that horn was telling everyone that there was weather warning.  Once I realized what was going on, I stayed calm, told the kids what was happening and that I may be a bit quiet, and then went out into the hallway to look outside.

 

I felt a little bit like the one in the story that was asleep at the stern of the boat during a storm in our Bible story.  Bible stories can be cool because we can use them to relate to our own lives, and teach us something about how we could imagine being in different life situations.

 

If you read what happens next in this story in your Bible, you may find out that “he” was calm and had faith.  Well, that kind of how I felt during the storm on Friday!  It’s OK to be calm and have faith during challenges.  It’s also OK to feel scared and confused.  And, we can be calm and have faith, while feeling scared and confused!

 

Art Projects

 

Faith Pie… YUM!

What you’ll need: Two paper circles that are the same size (could be paper plates if you have them), scissors, some sort of fastener, and crayons or markers.

 

·      Step One:  Take one paper circle and cut a “slice” out of it.

·      Step Two: On the same circle you just cut the “slice” out of it, write “Faith Pie” on it.  You can also decorate it to look like the top of a pie!

·      Step Three:  Take your other circle and mark out pieces that are the same “slice” as what you cut out on the other circle.

·      Step Four:  Let’s think about the ingredients of our faith.  What will go into your faith pie?  I’ll give you some examples of what would go into my faith pie.

o   Music can remind me of my faith, friends, listening to sermons at church, playing with my animals, eating something really delicious and good for me, like an apple, and more!  These are just a few example.  Now think of yours.

·      Step Five: Write the ingredients of your Faith Pie in the “slices” that you just made on your full paper circle.  You can also decorate those slices to look like the ingredient you are writing.  (for instance, if one of my slices was music, I might draw music notes.)

·      Step Six:  Find the center of both your circles, and use your fastener to put the circles on top of each other.  The circle with the “slice” taken out and you wrote “Faith Pie” on should be on top.  Make sure you are able to slide the bottom paper so that you can move different “ingredients” into the “slice” that you cut out. 

·      Step Seven:  Use your faith pie whenever you need a faith reminder!

 

I took this idea from a cool project I found on Pinterest.  Feel free to check it out to get a better idea where I was going with this!

·      https://www.pinterest.com/pin/284923113913732339/

 

A Game that Teaches us About Having Faith In Community

The disciples in the boat showed that they needed help during the storm, so they reached out to “him”.  This game can help us understand why.

·      Indoor Game 1: Together Again

o   Everyone takes off their shoes. create an outline of a box on the floor, using your shoes.

o   Say: Now all of you must stand in your shoe box for three minutes, but you can’t help one another. You’re on your own.

o   After three minutes, ask: How easy or difficult was that?

o   Say: Let’s try the challenge again for three minutes, but this time you can help one another stay in the box.

o   Ask: How did helping one another compare to not helping one another? Have you ever experienced a time you needed friends’ support? Tell your group about that time.