Sunday, April 8, 2012

Faithful Families Resources April 8 2012



Weekly Inspiration
Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable and safe in a confusing world.

~Susan Lieberman

Family Closeness
Game:
Snort
The aim of this game is not to laugh when someone is snorting in your face. The person going first, gets  in front of whoever is on their left and snorts trying to make them laugh. When the person laughs they are out. But you only have 30 seconds to try and get the other person to laugh! To make the game different each time you can have family members do something other than snort, such as squeak, meow, moo, bark.

Sharing:
Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.
Being left out makes me feel  . . .
The people who I see most often left out are . . . and this is because . . .
Helping people who are different be included is hard because . . .

Story
With your family read: John 20.19-31
Questions for Discussion:
Why do you think Jesus showed the disciples his hands and side?
Why do you think Thomas wouldn’t believe?
How do people come to believe in Jesus even if they haven’t “seen”?

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.

Our Father in Heaven,

When we begin to pray we address God. There are many different ways we can do this. Jesus used a very intimate word “abba” which means father or dad. What do you use when you pray?

Spend some time with your children thinking about the different ways we can name God in prayer. What difference does it make calling God, father or creator or almighty God. Look online at some of the names for God in the Bible. Discuss with your family which ones you like the most and why. Use a different title for God when you pray at the dinner table this week.

Service
How can I give power to the other? Let this question send you on your quest to serve – the imitation of Jesus through action. The link between question and quest is helpful. Let a question guide your action.
Start in the home. Ask your children, what do they need? How can I give them power? (Asking the question itself gives power. Listen to them carefully. Respond thoughtfully, faithfully.) Ask the same question of your partner. If someone was to ask you the question, how would you respond? Let your answers to your questions guide your actions.

Bonus Family Activity
Bubble Catching Contest
Get a small bottle of bubbles for each member of the family. Let everyone blow bubbles until they fill the sky. Now let everyone try to catch them with the round part of the bubble blowing sticks. 


(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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