Samuel's Call- 1 Samuel 3. October 25 - November 8, 2023
Samuel was born to a barren mother in answer to her prayers. She dedicated his life and service to God. Samuel was a faithful servant of God for all of his life. We’ll hear the story of Samuel’s call from God as a young boy over the next few weeks
Hear the Story (October 25 – November 1)
We encourage you to share the story of Samuel with your child throughout the week. Read them the story from their Children's Story Bible. This video (3 minutes) tells the story in a simple way, suitable for younger children. This version (2.5 minutes) from Saddleback Kids covers the story in detail.
Engage/Live the Story (November 1 – November 8)
This week we encourage you to engage/live the story of Samuel’s call with your kids. We have several great examples here, but feel free to explore things with your children in a way that works for your family.
- Eli told Samuel to listen to God’s voice calling him. Play some listening games together as a family. Have your children sit with their heads down on the table and their eyes closed. Make different sounds and have them try to guess what the sound is. You can use a smart phone to do this by looking up sounds on YouTube or items around the house such as knocking on the door, a timer, or crinkling paper. Is it always easy to tell what something is by its sound? Sometimes, like Samuel, we need help figuring out what the sound is.
- You can find some fun activity sheets here. These include word search and crossword puzzles.
- Here are some coloring sheets for you to complete.
- Here is a fun Listening Ears craft you can do with your children. Talk about times that it is important to listen to others. Share any times you have felt like God is talking to you. What was that like? How did you know it was God talking? Have you told your children the story of how you and your spouse met?
Share the Story
We invite you to share with us how you have covered this as a family. Send us pics of what you and your children have created. Let us know if there was some big discovery you made. We’d love to share what you are doing with our larger church family. E-mail these things to pastorstjohnely@southslope.net You can also post to our Facebook page if you prefer.
A Faithful Daughter- Ruth 1-4. October 11- 25, 2023
The book of Ruth tells the story of a woman, not an Israelite, who trusted God. She did this even when bad things were happening to her. In the end, good things happened to her. And, she is one of the ancestors of Jesus! We are thankful for faithful people like Ruth.
Hear the Story (October 11 - October 18)
We encourage you to share the story of Ruth with your child throughout the week. Read them the story from their Children's Story Bible. This video (1.5 minutes) tells the story from the Beginners Bible. This longer version (3.5 minutes) from Saddleback Kids covers the story in more detail.
Engage/Live the Story (October 18- October 25)
This week we encourage you to engage/live the story of Ruth with your kids. We have several great examples here, but feel free to explore things with your children in a way that works for your family.
- Ruth followed Naomi back to Israel. Have family members take turns playing follow the leader. What different places in your house, yard, or neighborhood did you go because someone else was leading you? Why might that be a good thing for all of us.
- Here is an easy craft with a paper bag to make a basket. Like the one Ruth took to collect grain.
- You can find some fun activity sheets here.
- Here are some coloring sheets for you to complete.
- As a family, take some baskets and see what you can collect from your yard or neighborhood. It might not be wheat, like Ruth collected, but it tells you something about where you live. What did you learn from your collection?
- Have you told your children the story of how you and your spouse met? Maybe share that story with them to see how the Ruth and Boaz story works in real life.
Share the Story
We invite you to share with us how you have covered this as a family. Send us pics of what you and your children have created. Let us know if there was some big discovery you had. We’d love to share what you are doing with our larger church family. E-mail these things to pastorstjohnely@southslope.net You can also post to our Facebook page if you prefer.
A Flawed Judge- Samson- Judges 13-16. September 27 - October 11, 2023
Before Israel had a king, they had judges. These weren’t people in black robes sitting in court. Rather, they were spiritual and military leaders that they turned to for help in important circumstances. Some were really good people. Some were more a mix of bad and good. But all were those chosen by God. We’ll be learning about one of these judges, Samson.
Hear the Story (September 27- October 4)
We encourage you to share the story of Samson with your child throughout the week. Read them the story from their Children's Story Bible. This video (2 minutes) tells the story from the Beginners Bible. This longer version (5 minutes) from Saddleback Kids covers the story in more detail.
Music: This is a simple song that reminds us that God is strong and mighty- even mightier than Samson!
Engage/Live the Story (October 4- October 11)
This week we encourage you to engage/live the story of Samson with your kids. We have several great examples here, but feel free to explore things with your children in a way that works for your family.
- Are there times where you or your child have asked for help to be strong? Share those times with each other. It might be getting help to move something, or encouragement to keep running, or stick with something difficult. How is that like God giving Samson his strength back one more time?
- Here are some activity sheets for Samson’s story. They include a crossword puzzle and maze among other activities.
- Here are some coloring sheets for you to complete.
- As a family, take some hats and attach yarn to it to make it look like you have long hair when you wear it. While wearing the hat, see who can lift the heaviest object. Then go out for ice cream, because that’s a better ending to the story than Samson had!
Share the Story
We invite you to share with us how you have covered this as a family. Send us pics of what you and your children have created. Let us know if there was some big discovery you had. We’d love to share what you are doing with our larger church family. E-mail these things to pastorstjohnely@southslope.net You can also post to our Facebook page if you prefer.
Entering the Promised Land- The Walls of Jericho- Joshua 6- September 20-27, 2023
As the Israelites enter into the promised land the must get past the great city of Jericho. But with their great walls, how will the nomadic tribes of Israel do that? They must trust in God and an unlikely helper from within the city!
Hear the Story (September 13-20)-
We encourage you to share the story of the walls of Jericho with your child throughout the week. Read them the story from their Children's Story Bible. This video (26 minutes) tells the whole story from the Beginners Bible. This video (3 minutes) gives a bit of an overview of the larger story that this episode is part of. This longer version (3 minutes) from Saddleback Kids covers the story in more detail.
Music: This is a simple song that can help remember the story of Jericho. This song is to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down.
Engage/Live the Story (September 20-27)
This week we encourage you to engage/live the story of the walls of Jericho with your kids. We have several great examples here, but feel free to explore things with your children in a way that works for your family.
- The Israelites walked around the walls of Jericho quietly 1 time for 6 days. Try doing this with your house or property as a family. Take a slow walk around, being quiet and just listening and observing things about your property. Then sit down together and share what each of you saw and heard. Keep track of those things and see what changes over the 6 days. Make sure to say a prayer giving thanks to God for those things that you see and hear!
- The Israelites are successful because they listen to God, even when it doesn’t seem to make much sense. What are some of the other things God tells us to do which don’t seem to make much sense? (Love our enemies, pray for those who hurt us, etc.) Everyone try something this week that God calls us to which doesn’t make much sense to us. Then come together as a family and see how that went.
- This would be a perfect time to play Jenga, or build a big structure with your legos, or even take some common materials you can find around the house (cardboard, tape, paper, string) and have a competition to see who can build the tallest stable structure. What does it take to build something tall and stable? Can you imagine how big and solid those walls of Jericho must have been?
- You can make your own trumpet with this activity. You can also find some coloring and activity sheets here.
Share the Story
We invite you to share with us how you have covered this as a family. Send us pics of what you and your children have created. Let us know if there was some big discovery you had. We’d love to share what you are doing with our larger church family. E-mail these things to pastorstjohnely@southslope.net You can also post to our Facebook page if you prefer.
God's Rules- The Ten Commandments- Exodus 19-20- September 6-13, 2023
Every family has rules for how to live together. Your family has rules (no shoes in the house, make your bed every morning…) and so does God’s family. We’ll look at the 10 basic rules God set for the Israelites (and us!) to live by in the first part of this month.
Parents, as Christians who happen to be Lutheran, we tend to number our commandments differently from most other denominations in the US. So, finding songs and stories that fit our numbering can be a bit challenging.
Here is how we number them:
- I am the Lord your God, you shall worship no other gods before me.
- You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
- Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
- Honor your father and mother.
- You shall not kill
- You shall not commit adultery
- You shall not steal
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s spouse
- You shall not covet your neighbors goods
Other denominations have them this way:
- You shall have no other gods before me
- You shall not make any images of gods
- You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
- Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
- Honor your father and mother.
- You shall not kill
- You shall not commit adultery
- You shall not steal
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
- You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor
Hear the Story (August 30 – September 6)-
We encourage you to share the story of the Ten Commandments with your child throughout the week. Read them the story from their Children's Story Bible. This cartoon tells the whole story of Moses. This short video (1.5 minutes) is from the Beginners Bible. This longer version (4 minutes) covers more of the story from Saddleback Kids.
Music: This is a simple song that can help remember the Ten Commandments.
Engage/Live the Story (September 6-13)
This week we encourage you to engage/live the story of the Ten Commandments with your kids. We have several great examples here, but feel free to explore things with your kids how it works for your family.
- Talk about your house/family rules. How are they like the rules God has for how we live together? Do God’s rules match your house rules? If so, how? If not, could that suggest ways to change your house rules.
- Cut out two pieces of construction paper to look like tablets and have your child write their version of the Ten Commandments with the first three on one tablet (these are about our relationship with God) and the other seven on the other tablet (these are about our relationship with one another). Post them somewhere you see every day and walk through them once a day with your child.
- While it doesn’t follow our numbering, this web page has some very good suggestions for how to phrase the commandments based on a child’s age.
- You can go here for coloring sheets and activity sheets for your child. We also have some family activities here.
Share the Story
We invite you to share with us how you have covered this as a family. Send us pics of what you and your children have created. Let us know if there was some big discovery you had. We’d love to share what you are doing with our larger church family. E-mail these things to pastorstjohnely@southslope.net You can also post to our Facebook page if you prefer.
