God’s Whole Story
This year we are using Echo as our storytelling to help us relate to God’s story to discover meaning and develop fresh insights. It is our prayer that you can engage with your family using creative writing, drawing, and conversation.
Each student will need a journal to complete the weekly activities. If you need one at home, please contact Heather.
If your Club 56 student is joining us weekly – AWESOME! You can use the below to add to your family time at dinner or to ask them about their class time. If your family is staying home for the time being, please use the below to help your Club 56 student engage in their faith in new ways.
This year we are going to work our way through the New Testament. It may seem odd to talk about the birth of Jesus in September, but that is exactly where we will start 🙂 Each week we’ll provide an invocation, conversation starter, a way to prepare for the story, tools to help you imagine the story, more ways to engage learning and faith development, and a prayer to say together.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Invocation
Find a Candle that you can light, and keep it with your Club 56 gear 🙂
Invocation: the act of inviting or welcoming or acknowledging that God is present in our space.
As you light your candle, say this invocation out loud: “I light this candle in the name of God, our Creator; Jesus, our Savior; and the Holy Spirit, our Inspirer. The three in one!”
Opening Question
Describe a time that you were surprised by something or someone. How did that make you feel?
Prepare
As you prepare yourself for today’s story, Jesus’ Birth, think about what images come to mind. Take a few minutes in silence to draw, sketch, or list those images in your journal on page 8.
Parents and students, read together pages 10 and 11 from your journal. Talk through the questions that are listed and any that you might have. Feel free to talk about the questions, but no pressure to answer them!
Parents: It is OK not to know everything, even Pastors carry a lot of unanswered questions.
Read and Imagine
Students, open your journal to pages 12-13 (you might want to find some fun light-colored gel pens) and doodle or sketch while someone reads to you Matthew 1-2.
Parents, please read your student Matthew 1-2, while you’re reading, they will be sketching or drawing out the images that they are seeing. * Parent tip: If you want to paraphrase the long list of Jesus’ forefathers, go for it 🙂 And consider reading from different bibles than you usually do. The Message is written in contemporary language, hearing familiar stories in a new way might help us think of these stories in a new way.
Capture what you noticed
Use pages 14-15 in your journal. What stood out to you? What did you see or sense? What questions do you have about this story? ANYTHING (we mean anything) is okay to ask. A few that we had: Was Mary really a virgin? Did she NEED to be? When Jesus was a baby did he cry? How old was Jesus when the wise men showed up? Write your list out.
Keep these questions handy, every so often, we’re inviting a Pastor to discuss with us! Send your questions to Heather and she’ll get them on our list.
When you pray…
Maybe you’re inspired to write or speak your own, if so, please do so! If you’d rather, you can just read together the following:
Creator God, thank you for the story of Jesus’ Birth. A story that reminds us that he came as a baby to explore the world with us. Help us explore, ask, and wonder about your creation, your story, and help us find our story too. AMEN
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for joining us today! If you have a student in Grade 5 or 6, sign them up for Club 56 today! If you have questions about this resource or would like additional information, please contact Heather or Pastor Ben.