Faith To Go Podcast: Injustice and Inaction
Hosted each week by the Faith Formation team at St. Paul's Cathedral in San Diego, David Tremaine, Maya Little-Sana and Jackie Pippin, the Faith To Go Podcast highlight themes from the Sunday Gospel reading for you to take into your conversations throughout the week.
Activity Time: God's Family
Supplies: Magazine, scissors, glue sticks, construction paper
Get magazine’s and help children to cut out pictures of people that they think are in God’s family. Create a family collage on the construction paper of the family they’ve created.
Help students to understand that we are all part of God’s family. God has chosen all of us and that includes everyone in this Bible story, and everyone that we encounter in the world! That’s a big family.
Story Time: Gospel Reading and Reflection
Watch this video together and then use the discussion questions below to reflect as a family.
Discussion Questions:
1) What does the world need more of?
2) What is the best point on this list?
3) What are qualities that you like in your friends?
4) How can you treat your friends nice?
5) Who can you make friends with today?
Dinner Time: Taking Care of Friends
Below is a prayer with which to start your meal and then discussion questions to explore this week’s topic with your family while you eat.
Prayer- The days are getting longer.
Keep your Spirit in my heart and mind
during this growing season.
Be with me as I finish the school year,
participate in summer activities,
enjoy the gift of summer turning into fall.
Help me recognize your works in all that I do
at work,
at rest,
and at play,
So that I can give thanks for all you provide,
even without my even asking.
Amen.
Questions:
Who are your friends?
Do you tell your parents who your friends are?
Do you know of people that don’t have many friends?
How can you reach out to those people to befriend them?
In what ways do the disciples reach out to be good friends to John the Baptist after he dies
Bedtime: Reflections for Children at the End of the Day
During your bedtime routine, invite your children into a time of reflection about their day, maybe by saying, "Did you know that God really wants to know what happened in your day today, and that God is always listening whenever you need to tell God something?" Then continue with these questions:
1) What are some things that happened today that you want to tell God about?
2) What is one happy thing that happened today? What is one sad thing that happened today?
3) Did you see God or feel God with you when those things were happening? Where did you see or feel God when those things happened today?
4) Read to your children this week’s scripture selection, then ask the questions that follows.
Mark 6:14-29
Herod the king heard that Jesus was casting demons out of people and curing people who were sick. Some people, including Herod, thought Jesus was really John the Baptizer who’d come back from the dead. Others thought he was Elijah or some other prophet. Herod had John arrested because John told him it wasn’t right that he’d married his brother’s wife. Herod really wanted to kill him, but didn’t because John was known as a holy man. Herod actually liked a lot of what John had to say.
Then, at Herod’s birthday party, his daughter danced for the partygoers and they were all so happy with her. King Herod said to her, “Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you. I swear, ask me for anything up to half my kingdom.” She wasn’t sure what to ask, so she went to ask her mother. Her mother told her to ask for the head of John the Baptizer on a platter.
That really upset the king, but he had promised. He sent a soldier to go get John’s head. The soldier went to the prison, killed John, and brought his head on a platter and handed it to the girl who gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard about it, they came and put his body in a tomb.
Did the story remind you of anything that happened in your day today?
5) What are some things that you want to tell God that you are grateful for today?
Share some of your conversations in the comments below: