Weekly Inspiration
Tell them of the duty and privilege of going to the house of
God, and joining in the prayers of the congregation. Tell them that wherever
the Lord's people are gathered together, there the Lord Jesus is present in an
especial manner, and that those who absent themselves must expect, like the
Apostle Thomas, to miss a blessing.
~J. C. Ryle
Family Closeness
Game:
Interlocking Interests
This works best with
three but can be done with four. If your family is bigger than this you can
create multiple diagrams. You will need a large piece of paper and some
different colour felt pens. Draw a Venn diagram with a circle for each family
member. If you aren’t sure what this is, look here. Each group of family members is to discuss their similarities and differences.
After the discussion, they fill in the diagram showing their similarities and
differences. When they agree they write their preferences in the overlapping
areas of the diagram. When their answers are different they write in the
outside area of the circles. If only two members of the group share
something in common there should be an area that they have in
Sharing:
Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.
- If you could have any question answered, what would it be?
- If you could do your dream job 10 years from now, what would it be?
- If you had to be allergic to something, what would it be?
- If you sat down next to Jesus on a bus, what would you talk about?
Story
With your family read: Luke 15.1-10
(for a way of explaining/talking about this
reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/lost_sheep.htm
Questions for
Discussion:
- Why do you think Jesus ate with sinners?
- Why were the Pharisees (religious people) upset by this?
- What do you think about the story of the lost sheep?
- Why do you think God is so happy about people turning back to him?
Prayer and Celebration
Intercessory Prayer.
A useful image used
for intercessory prayer is a stretcher.
From Mark 2.3-12, some people lowered their paralytic friend through the
roof into the presence of Jesus. This is
a good image of the work of intercessory prayer. That is, don’t labour too hard with the
words to use, simply do the hard work of
placing or ‘lowering’ the person into the presence of Jesus.
Place on the
stretcher, someone you know who needs help.
Silence
Lower on the
stretcher someone who you can love better this week.
Silence
Put onto the
stretcher a place that needs peace.
Silence
Put onto the
stretcher one who needs healing.
Silence
Put on the stretcher
a hope of yours for your life.
Silence
Lord in your mercy,
receive our prayer.
Family Activity
Masks
You will need paint or crayons, felt pens and
scissors and white card for this activity. Give each family members a piece of white
card. Get them to draw and cut out a
lifesized shape of a face. They can also cut out eyes and a mouth if they wish.
Everyone then has to decorate their card face. One side represents what they
think people believe about them i.e. on the outside. The other side represents
what they feel about themselves i.e. things going on the inside, what people do
not necessarily know or see.
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