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: Lent Desert Box - Washed Clean (Week 4)
Supplies: small candle, bowl of soapy water and a small towel (This activity utilizes the desert box that we created in week one of Lent which you can find in the blog post for March 1, 2020)
Instructions: Take the candle and light it. Say, “This candle can help us to remember that even when things are hard, Jesus is with us. Let’s put it in the desert box.” Place candle in the box. Invite the family to go outside. Say, “In this week’s story we heard about a man that had been born blind being healed by Jesus. Jesus put mud on his eyes, and then told him to go wash them off. Jesus can help us with lots of things that are hard for us. What are some things that are hard for you?”
Give everyone a few minutes to answer. Then get out the bowl of soapy water. Say, “Let’s see if we can give some of the things that are hard for us to Jesus.” One at a time have each family member take a turn saying something that is hard for them, and then pretend to squish it up in their fist. They can kneel next to the bowl, put their squished up hand in the bowl, open it, and then wash their hands in the soapy water; giving it to Jesus.
Keep going until everyone has had a turn. At the end offer a short prayer, “Dear Jesus, thank you for helping us with all of the things that are hard for us. Remind us that you are always with us and love us so very much. Amen. “ As a family, go back inside and let one person blow out the candle. Leave the candle in the box, and light it each night at dinner.
Story Time: Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
Watch this video together and then use the discussion questions below to reflect as a family.
Discussion Questions:
1. How do you think the man felt before Jesus healed him?
2. How do you think he felt afterward?
3. Why do you think people were asking so many questions about what happened?
4. How would you have felt if you were there when this miracle happened?
5. Is there a question you would have asked?
Dinner Time: Wishes for the World
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 -
Dear God, Thank You for the many blessings in our lives. Write now a lot of things are changing, and sometimes it feels overwhelming and too hard. Please be with our family each day as we adjust to this new way of being together. Help us to be patient and kind. We pray for the world too, God. Please bless us with healing and help us to show Your love to the people who need it most. Amen.
Questions:
1. What is your favorite place to go in our town? Why?
2. If you could go somewhere else, where would it be? Why?
3. What is something that you wish for the world right now?
4. What is something that you wish for our family?
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.
John 9:1-41 (God’s Word, My Voice)
As Jesus was walking along on a Sabbath day, the day when you weren’t supposed to do any work, he saw a man who had been born blind. His disciples asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind?” Jesus said, “Nobody’s sin caused his blindness. But now God’s goodness can be revealed in him. You know, I am the light of the world.”
Just as Jesus said that, he spit on the ground, and made mud with his saliva, and spread it on the man’s eyes. Then he sent the man to wash his eyes in the pool of water. When the man came back to Jesus, he could see.
“Whoa!” said his neighbors. “Isn’t this the blind man who used to beg? It can’t be. It looks like him. But this man can see. What is going on?”
The man laughed and said, “Yup. It’s me. I can see alright.”
“Who opened your eyes for you?” they asked him.
“Jesus did,” the man said. “He put mud on my eyes, and when I washed it off, I could see for the first time in my life.”
“Where is Jesus? We want to talk to him.”
I have no idea where he went” said the man.
The neighbors took the man to the leaders of the church. They asked him a bunch of questions about how he’d been made to see again. So the man told them his story.
“Hmpf,” said the leaders. “Well, this can’t be God’s doing, because it’s the Sabbath. And nobody who believes in God works on the Sabbath.”
The other leaders said, “But how can anyone except God do such a miracle?”
So they asked the man formerly known as the blind man, “What do you think about this Jesus? It was your eyes that he opened.”
“Well, I think he’s a prophet,” said the man.
Some people refused to believe he’d ever been blind at all. So they called the man’s parents and asked them. “Is this your son and was he born blind? How is it that he can see again?”
The parents said, “Yes, this is our son who was born blind. We have no idea how he can see now or who opened his eyes. Ask him. He’s an adult. He’ll tell you.”
His parents were afraid of those people, because they had said they were going to kick anyone who believed Jesus was the Messiah out of the synagogue.
The church leaders found the man again. The man said, “You know what? All I know is that I have always been blind, and now I can see.”
“But how did he do it?”
The man said, “I already told you my story and you didn’t listen to me. Why do you need to hear it again? Is it because you want to be a follower of Jesus?”
“Ha! Not us. You may be a follower of Jesus, but we are followers of Moses. We know God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this Jesus comes from.”
“Here’s the thing,” the man said. “We may not know where he comes from, but he opened my eyes. God may not listen to people we think are sinners, but he listens to those who listen to him. I’ve never heard of anyone born blind being able to see. If Jesus weren’t from God, he wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
Then the church leaders ran him out of there. Jesus heard they’d chased him away, and found him. Jesus asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who would that be? Tell me who he is and I will believe in him,” said the man.
Jesus said to him, “You have seen him with your very own eyes. He’s the one speaking to you right now.”
The man said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Jesus.
Jesus said, “I came into this world so that people who had been blind could see. Those who are able to see might become blind though.”
Some of the leaders heard Jesus say this. And they said, “We’re not blind, are we?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, and you knew it, there wouldn’t be a barrier between you and God. It’s because you think you can see everything, that a barrier between you and God exists.”
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:
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