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