Set aside 5-10 minutes this week to read the gospel story aloud with your children. Take a moment to think about how you might like to respond to the gospel while you read it and immediately after. You could paint or draw, sculpt something out of clay or playdough, maybe even make up a dance or a song. Its completely up to you. Just see how the gospel moves you this week!
Luke 15:11-32
Sinners who wanted to hear what he had to say constantly surrounded Jesus. That made the authorities grumble and say, "Look at this guy - eating with sinners. It even looks as if he likes them!"
So Jesus told them this story: "Once there was a man who had two sons. The younger one asked his father for his inheritance early. So the father divided his property and gave it to his sons. The younger son packed up everything he had along with the money and hit the road. He wasted his money on things that don't last. When he'd spent everything, he found himself with no money, no food, no job, and no family. He found work slipping pigs. He'd have been happy to eat the food the pigs were eating. It hit him one day that his father's servants were a lot better off then he was. He decided to go back home, tell his father he was sorry, and ask to become his servant. So he went home. When he was still a ways from hoe, his father could see him in the distance and his heart was overjoyed. He ran to his son, hugged him tight, and kissed his face.
"Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have made a wreck of myself. I am no longer worthy to be called your son,' But the father said to his servants, 'Go get the best robe you can find for my son and put tings on his fingers and shoes on his sore feet. Let's have a feast and celebrate. Because I thought my son was dead, but he's alive. He was lost to me, and now he's been found.'
"The older son came back from the field, and heard music and dancing. A servant told him that his brother had come back so his father was throwing a big party to celebrate. That made the older son really angry and he refused to go see his brother. The gather tried to talk him into coming in to the party. The son said, 'I have been here working hard for you all these years, never giving you any trouble and you've never given me any party. Then this son who ran away from you, who has thrown away good money comes back, you go all out for him.' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'" (God's Word My Voice translation)