Hosted by the Faith To Go team in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, David Tremaine and Charlette Preslar, and joined the each week by a special guest, the Faith To Go Podcast highlights themes from the Sunday Gospel reading for you to take into your faith discussions and reflections throughout the week.
Activity Time: Food Pantry Bingo
Supplies: print this Bingo card or make your own
Food insecurity is a serious problem all over the world, including right in our own neighborhoods. Have a conversation with kids asking these questions:
What does it mean to be hungry? What do you do if you don’t have enough food? What do you do if you don’t have money to buy food? Who helps people who don’t have enough food?
Challenge your family to buy one or two items on the Food Pantry Bingo printable each time you go to the store. Cross off the items as you go. When you have purchased all of the items, have the children make a card to go with it and drop the bag of food off at your local food pantry.
Story Time: Feeding of the 5,000
Watch this video together and then use the discussion questions below to reflect as a family.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think the people were following Jesus?
2. Who is someone who teaches you things?
3. What is something that you learned from them?
4. What is something that you learned from Jesus?
5. Why do you think that Jesus fed the people instead of sending them home?
Dinner Time: How We Are Fed
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 -
Thank you for feeding us. Thank you for the people who grew our food and the people who cooked it. Help us to remember how food blesses us, it fills us up and gives us strength to do Your work in the world. Help us to use that strength and courage to make the world a more just and fair place for everyone. Amen.
Questions:
1. Where does our food come from?
2. Could we make a list of all of the people who help us get our food from the person who plants the first seed, to the person who checks us out at the grocery store?
3. Was that more people than you expected?
4. Had you thought of all of the hands that help us to have food to eat?
5. Do you think it is important where we get our food and what kind? Why?
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.
Matthew 14:13-21 (God’s Word, My Voice)
Jesus took a boat to his favorite place where he could be by himself for a while. When the crowds found out where he was, they ran from the towns to see him when he came ashore. When he got off the boat, and saw the huge crowds, his heart ached for them. So he stayed with them and cured the sick people in the crowd.
When it got to be evening, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “We’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s late. Send all those people away so they can go into town and buy themselves some supper.”
Jesus said, “We’re not going to send them away. Give them something to eat.”
“Something to eat? All we have is five loaves of bread and two little fish!”
Jesus said, “Bring me what you’ve got.” Jesus told the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, and blessed the bread as he looked up to heaven. Then he broke the loaves into little pieces, gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. Everybody ate their fill; they filled up twelve baskets full of the leftovers. There were about five thousand hungry men there that day, not counting the women and the children that were with them. And everyone of them had more than enough to eat.
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: