Weekly Inspiration
No matter how many communes anybody
invents, the family always creeps back.
~Margaret Mead
Family Closeness
Game:
Thimble
Up
Select someone to be "it" . The "it"
person picks a category, such as animals, fruit or movies and tells it to everyone. Then the
"it" person picks an item from that category without telling anyone
and writes it on a piece of paper and puts it face down. "It" then
takes thimble full of water fills and
goes to the first family member who must say an item from the category. If the
item is not the hidden word written on the paper "it" goes to the
next person. When someone finally says the hidden word "it" splashes
that person with the thimble full of water and now that person is
"it".
Sharing:
Questions for
stimulating discussion in your family.
- My favourite thing about the world is….
- The most awesome moment I have had in nature was . . .
- If we don’t learn to care for the earth, our children might never be able to . . .
Story
With your family read: Luke 24.13-35
Questions for Discussion:
- What were the disciples discussing on the road?
- Why do you think the disciples were leaving Jerusalem even though people had begun to talk about Jesus resurrection?
- What made them recognise who Jesus was?
- Where might we recognise the presence of Jesus today?
Prayer and Celebration
Praying through the Lord’s Pray
The prayer Jesus taught is a great model for how we
might pray and how we might teach our children to do so. Each week we will look at a line of the Lord’s prayer
and discover what we can learn about prayer from it.
- Your kingdom come, your will be done
This is a prayer indicating that we want God’s
kingdom to come and we want his will to be done. We are praying that we want
things God’s way on earth.
Discuss with your family what they think God’s
kingdom on earth might look like, sound like and feel like. How would people
treat each other in God’s kingdom? How would God want some of the problems of
the world dealt with? Discuss how living by God’s will might change their own
way of living. Discuss how you might start living out God’s kingdom and will.
Pray with your children for some of the issues you
have discussed .
Service
(starting in your home)
Question: how can I give power to the
other? (What responses did you get from your family? Their answers will be your
best guide.)
Encourage. Use your voice and encourage.
To do this you have to pay attention. Your first work is to take notice and pay
attention to your family; their aspirations; their skills and struggles; you
have to pay attention to the way you interact, your voice and how you sound.
The equation: you must have more than 5
words of encouragement before 1 word of correction.
The tone: how we speak has as much or
more power than what we actually say. (For example, make a face happy face and
say “Hey Dave, that is the third time today I have picked up after you.” Make a
face of contempt and say the same words.” What do you notice?) More damaging
than anger is contempt and disgust. Remove all hint of contempt and disgust in
your voice. Both these emotions express superiority and are destructive put
downs. Recognise the micro-facial expressions of these and remove them from
interactions among your family. (Dr Eckman is the man behind the science of
this. Lots of sites to check out, try: http://readbodylanguage.wordpress.com/
)
Modelling: the adults in the house must
model the language of encouragement.
(Contributed by Rev. Richard Browning)
Family Time
Bonus Family
Activity
This is a
simple but fun activity. Pick a destination on a map and walk or drive there while your family uses a compass and map to
direct you to the chosen location. Have your family direct you where to turn by
telling you to head north, east, south, or west.
(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
