Weekly
Inspiration
Some people are born into wonderful families.
Others have to find or create them.
Being a member of a family is a priceless membership
that we pay nothing for but love.
~ Jim Stovall
Family
Closeness
Game:
Impressions
A simple but fun game to play. Take turns doing
impressions of people off TV, cartoons and movies. Family members have to guess
who it is that you are impersonating.
Sharing:
Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.
- Why is it hard to tell the truth sometimes?
- Is there ever a time when it would be okay to tell a lie?
- Why is the truth so important?
Story
With
your family read Ephesians 6.10-20
Questions
for Discussion:
- What are the different bits of the armour of God?
- Can you tell what each bit is supposed to help us with?
- Why do you think we need these things?
Prayer
and Celebration
Prayers
of Confession
Prayers of confession are a normal part of a Christian’s
prayer life. All of us, including children do things we wish we hadn’t, or
don’t do the things we should. Confession, saying sorry and asking God for
forgiveness is something that parents should model to children. There are
various ways we might engage our children in prayers of confession.
Burning
Prayers
Your family might like to individually write down
things they would like to say sorry for. These prayers might then be placed in
a bowl and burnt as a symbol of God’s forgiveness.
The following words might be used to help children
have a language for this type of prayer:
I got really
angry today. I think I know why, and I
wish I wouldn’t. I feel so out of
control. I feel disappointed. Jesus, I am sorry for any hurt I have caused
today. Help me to be gentle. Help me to love more and more. Help me to love.
Help me to
put aside the things that hurt others, you, and me. I am sorry for . . . . Grant your grace to me, that I might grow
more into who I am, and who you call me to be.
Words from scripture might be used to help children see that God takes
away our sins from us and forgives us.
These could include:
“If you sin, Jesus Christ always does the right thing,
and he will speak to the Father for us. Christ is the sacrifice that takes away
our sins and the sins of all the world’s people.”
(1 John 2:1–2,
CEV)
“How far has the Lord
taken our sins from us? Farther than the distance from east to west!”
(Psalm 103:12,
CEV)
Service
The
World Vision Forty Hour Famine has been on this weekend. One of the great
things about the FHF is that it helps young people to get a sense of what life
would be like if they couldn’t eat whenever they felt like it, as many people
throughout the world do. As a family you don’t need to wait for charities to do
drives like these. You can choose your own charity and decide what activity you
might do as a family in order to get a sense for how difficult the lives of
others can be. This could be going without food for a period but it might also
include activities like carry water buckets (as many children need to do to get
fresh water) or going without electricity. When you have completed your project
make a donation to the charity you wish to support.
Family
Time
Bonus
Family Activity
Pasta Art
This is a fun and relatively inexpensive way of
having some fun art time together. Buy some different shaped dried pasta. These
can be either glued to paper to create a picture or they could be glued
together to make a sculpture. When the glue dries your creations can be painted
with craft paint. Have fun!
(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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