Sunday, December 11, 2011

Faithful Families Resources December 11 2011



Weekly Inspiration
We cannot fashion our children after our desires, we must have them and love them as God has given them to us.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Family Closeness
Game:
Wooden Spoon Guess Who
After being blindfolded, one player has to guess the identity of another by touching that person with the spoons only. Meanwhile, the "touchee" tries not to crack up while being poked and prodded.

Sharing:
  • When is the first time you remember winning something and how did it make you feel?
  • I am most like my mom or dad in that I....
  • Do you like your name? If you could choose another name what would it be? 

Story
 With your family read: Luke 1.26-38
Questions for Discussion:
  • What did the angel call Mary to begin with? Why do you think he called her this? What do you think it means?
  • What do you think surprised Mary the most, seeing an angel or the news he gave her?
  • What things did Gabriel tell Mary about who her baby was? 

Journey through the Bible
Journey through the Bible will provide five readings each week you can use in order to get a good overview of the full sweep of the story of God and His people. There are a variety of ways you might use these readings. As a parent you might read them to get a better understanding of how the divine drama unfolds. You could read them to your children and discuss them. Some are longer than others and might need to be broken up.

Exodus 12.29-42                     The tenth plague
Exodus 13.1-10                       The festival of unleavened bread       
Exodus 14.1-31                       Crossing the Red Sea
Exodus 20.1-21                       The Ten Commandments
Exodus 32.1-35                       The Golden Calf

Prayer and Celebration
12 Types of Prayer
In his book ‘The hour that changes the world’, Dick Eastman outlines twelve different types of prayer . In this miniseries on prayer we will explore how you might engage your family with the whole range of approaches to prayer.
Waiting on the Lord
One important approach to prayer is to be still and silent before God. Tell your family that you are going to have a time of silence to become aware of God’s presence. Let them know that doing this is a type of prayer. In this time think of nothing but God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Tell them to not worry about the time but to relax in God’s presence and love for them. Remind them of the words of the psalmist: "Be still, and know that I am God”  (Ps. 46:11.)
 Don’t make this time of silence too long for little ones in order that they may succeed in keeping still. You may need to help them be still and quite. This could be done by working your way up the body with words such as: “My feet are still and quite, my legs are still and quite etc.” When they are still begin a time of silence. This time of still can often be used at the start of a mealtime in order to stop to remember God before other prayers may be said.

Service
This blog has provided a whole range of ideas for service involving families over the last year but maybe you or your children are asking the question: Why should we serve? Why should we try to make a difference. Over the next few weeks I will provide some passages from scripture that will help us explore Jesus ideas in relation to these questions.

Read: Luke 4.16-21
Jesus said that the words he read from Isaiah were fulfilled as he read them out. In other words Jesus said he was the one the Jewish people had expected for a long time. Look at the things Jesus said were part of his mission: Good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, proclaim release for captives... If we want to be part of Jesus mission then these are the things we also must be doing. How are you and your family doing some of these things. How might you use your time, money and power to bring good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, proclaim release for captives? 

Family Time
Scavenger Hunt Night
Make up a list of things for your family to find around the house.  Alternatively make up a list of things that don't exist like a  flippleflanger or a hooming haha and get your family to
"find" it by making it. Another alternative is to race to find something beginning with every letter of the alphabet or things in different shades of the one colour.


(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning

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