Hosted each week by the Faith To Go team in the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, David Tremaine and Charlette Preslar, the Faith To Go Podcast highlight themes from the Sunday Gospel reading for you to take into your faith discussions and reflections throughout the week.
Activity Time: This is not a…
Supplies: paper and pencil
Each night this week, take a half sheet of paper and draw half of a recognizable shape on it. (hearts, waves, clouds, triangles, castle, tree, etc.) Make enough copies of the same half-shape for every member of the family. Set them on the table either for after school or another time the family gathers together. Put a sign in front of them that says, “This is not a… followed by the name of the half shape.” Encourage family members to use their imaginations to think of what else that shape could be and draw it. Spend a few minutes sharing your drawings and enjoying how different everyone’s imaginations works! At the end of the week, talk about what it was like to use your brains in this different way.
Story Time: Think Outside the Box
Watch this video together and then use the discussion questions below to reflect as a family.
Discussion Questions:
1) The kids in this video used their imagination to make the box do different things.
2) What kinds of places and things did they see?
3) Was it fun to use their imaginations?
4) What kind of things have you imagined?
5) Have you ever used your imagination to figure something out?
Dinner Time: Using Our Imaginations
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 opportunity to use our imaginations. Sometimes what happens in life can be confusing and we need help to understand. Thank you for giving us people to help us understand, and minds that can think about problems in different ways. Help us to remember that even if we don’t understand something right now, that if we look at it differently or ask for help, we might understand better. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Questions:
1. Can you think of a problem you had this week?
2. How did you figure it out?
3. Did someone help you?
4. Who are some people you can ask for help?
5. How do you ask God for help?
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.
Luke 20:27-38 (God’s Word, My Voice)
Some people, who didn’t believe in life after death, found Jesus and asked him this trick question, “So, Jesus, you’re a teacher. Moses taught us if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, he should marry her and have some children with her. So, what if there are seven brothers in all, and each one dies after having married that woman and still there are no children. When the woman finally dies, whose wife is she anyway? Who is her husband in heaven, since she had been married to all seven of them?”
Jesus said, “You know what? People marry each other on earth, but after they die everything is different. They are children of a NEW life. People who die are raised, but God isn’t concerned about dead people but about living people. For to God all of them ARE alive.” What do you think about that?
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: