Here is the Weekly devotion for the 1st Sunday of Christmas – December 30, 2012
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Notice something different about on the back page? Dinner Devotions are now called “Faith on the Go!” It’s the same great household Bible study, but formatted to work with “Faith Five” from Faith Inkubators.
As I write this, my heart is breaking. My heart is breaking for parents who will not be tucking their child into bed tonight or any night. My heart is breaking for a school that should be a place of fun, learning, curiosity, love, friendship and safety but is now a sign of how fragile security can be as well as a sign of the reality of darkness in our lives. My heart is breaking for a community that is shattered and will need love and support to grieve and journey toward healing. My heart is breaking for our world: for people who live in their own hell and feel that taking another life, as well as their own, manifests itself as a viable option; for the deep brokenness of our own humanity that doesn’t reach out to those in need of help; for families that are now forever altered; and for the pervasive feeling of hopelessness and helplessness that permeates our souls.
These are feelings that have flooded me before. My own personal grief from the death of my youngest child almost eight years ago finds the crack in my armor on a day like today and invades my being. My child’s life was not taken by human violence but from the violence of disease. On a day like today, I am transported back to the moment when I was told my son was dead. The vivid memory of being cold, numb and wailing all at the same time flashes in me as if it happened yesterday. I am saddened that, while thousands of miles apart, I am now connected to those parents in Connecticut. Not that I know their specific loss but as parent, I am tethered to them by bonds of grief, loss of dreams of tomorrow and the shattering of our souls. To lose a child is to lose a piece of your own being.
But as I write this and my heart is breaking, my heart is also being pieced back together and swaddled. My heart, and all of our hearts, is in God’s loving and compassionate hands. God weeping with us, lamenting with us and railing with us gently uses clothes of love, peace and healing to swaddle us when we need it the most. Swaddling clothes of a friend’s hug and compassionate words, swaddling clothes of prayers lifted up, swaddling clothes of a friend who can hold our words of grief, brokenness and devastation, the swaddling of the interconnectedness of all of humanity as people of God.
God just doesn’t understand our grief, suffering and brokenness but fully experiences them with us . God’s own son, wrapped in swaddling clothes, was born into a world of brutality, poverty, suffering and death. In the manger we see don’t see a perfect world but a world that God is deeply concerned about, loves and wants to make new. In the swaddling of baby Jesus comes the swaddling of God’s unconditional and forever love and grace- no matter how bad it gets, no matter how we question our world, God’s presence or our own humanity-for all people and all of creation. Jesus lived in our suffering, diseases of the body and mind and died in the reality of brutality and violence. But God declares that death and sorrow are not the last words, neither for Jesus and the disciples nor for us. God had the last word on Easter morning in the exclamation point of the empty tomb. God offers this in our sorrow, God who raised Jesus and overcame suffering and death, that death, suffering and sorrow will not win. Dawn comes after a long, dark night, new life springs from a dead seed, and resurrection is the gift that God offers to all. This is God’s promise now and forever and this is my hope and help not just for me but for all people of God. Amen.
Here is a special Weekly Devotion page for December 24/25, 2012
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Notice something different about on the back page? Dinner Devotions are now called “Faith on the Go!” It’s the same great household Bible study, but formatted to work with “Faith Five” from Faith Inkubators.
Prepare: This series of children’s sermons in Advent will utilize your Advent wreath in your worship space. Each week the as the candle is lit you will explain what the candle means and then give them a take home. Please see the attached sheet. The sheet has an ornament to print and the devotion to print on the back of it. The devotion will change each week. Have a copy made on card stock for each child and household.
Gather the children to the Advent wreath. Say, Last week we talked about how much God loves us. God love us so much that God sent Jesus to show God’s love for the whole world. Who remembers why we light a candle each week? (Accept all answers) That’s right to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world and that Jesus will come again to us. Last week we lit the candle of Love, this week we light the candle of Joy. How many candles do we have left to light? (Have an acolyte, or an older child light the three candles.)
What is joy? What things do you do or say when you are so happy that you can’t contain it? Who show me how they act when they are joyful or really happy? Did you know that God loves being joyful with you and about you? God rejoices everyday for you and God showed that joy by sending Jesus to us. Do you think that God wants us to share joy with people around us like our friends, brothers or sisters, mom or dad, aunts or uncles, grandmas and grandpas etc.? How can we do that? (By helping to feed hungry people, hugs, helping a friend or sibling, singing songs together, etc.) Yes, there are so many ways to show God’s joy to other people.
Each of you will get this candle ornament that you can take home and color blue (or purple if you do purple in Advent). You can hang it on your Christmas tree and each week you will get another one to add to the tree. So now you will have three. On the back is a Bible passage from Isaiah 12 to read, a prayer and a blessing. Look for all the ways that you see God’s joy in the world and tell your mom, dad, sister or brother about how shared God’s joy that day. You can do this at dinner, in the car or before bed. Let’s practice it now.
God of Joy, we sing for joy that you love us. We will sing your love to the whole world, amen.
Have everyone in the congregation turn to one another and say this blessing while making the sign of the cross on their forehead or hand: “Child of God you are free in God’s love.”
Here is the Weekly devotion for the 4th Sunday in Advent – December 23, 2012
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Notice something different about on the back page? Dinner Devotions are now called “Faith on the Go!” It’s the same great household Bible study, but formatted to work with “Faith Five” from Faith Inkubators.
Welcome to the new Faith Formation Journeys website! We have already moved most of our information, but we still have a few things to set up. Take a look around – search for old Children’s Sermons, check out the Weekly Devotions, or look up a Faith+Home Connection. Then check back soon as we continue to set up and decorate our new home.
God’s Love,
Leta, Brigette and Gus
Here is the Weekly devotion for the 3rd Sunday in Advent – December 16, 2012
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Notice something different about on the back page? Dinner Devotions are now called “Faith on the Go!” It’s the same great household Bible study, but formatted to work with “Faith Five” from Faith Inkubators.
Here is the Weekly devotion for the 2nd Sunday in Advent – December 9, 2012
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Notice something different about on the back page? Dinner Devotions are now called “Faith on the Go!” It’s the same great household Bible study, but formatted to work with “Faith Five” from Faith Inkubators.
Scripture: Luke 1:68-79
Prepare: This series of children’s sermons in Advent will utilize your Advent wreath in your worship space. Each week the as the candle is lit you will explain what the candle means and then give them a take home. Please see the attached sheet. The sheet has an ornament to print and the devotion to print on the back of it. The devotion will change each week. Have a copy made on card stock for each child and household.
Faith +Open: Gather the children to the Advent wreath. Say, Last week we talked about the Advent wreath, the color, the number of candles, and what Advent means. Who remembers why we light a candle each week? (Accept all answers) That’s right to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world and that Jesus will come again to us. Last week we lit the candle of Hope, this week we light the candle of Love. (Have an acolyte, or an older child light both candles.)
Faith +Connect: What is love to you? This week in our Bible stories we hear about how much God has loved us-all people from the very beginning of time. When you love someone, some place or something you want to be with that person, that place or that thing (like a doll or blanket) all the time don’t you? Well God also wants to be with us and everyone all the time. And God wants us-all of God’s people whom God loves-love to be together too. We hear in Luke 1 a blessing from Zechariah-John the Baptist’s father-to his son John, and the blessing is that John will tell the world about God’s love and that God will make all of us peaceful with one another.
How can we show our family, brothers, sister, neighbors God’s love and peace?
Each of you will get this candle ornament that you can take home and color blue (or purple if you do purple in Advent). You can hang it on your Christmas tree and each week you will get another one to add to the tree. So now you will have two. On the back is a Bible passage from Luke 1 to read, a prayer and a blessing. You can do this at dinner, in the car or before bed. Let’s practice it now!
Faith +Pray: God of Hope, you free us from whatever keeps us from you. Thank you for being with us always, amen.
Faith+Bless: Have everyone in the congregation turn to one another and say this blessing while making the sign of the cross on their forehead or hand: “Child of God you are free in God’s love.”
~BW
Scripture: Psalm 25
Prepare: This series of children’s sermons in Advent will utilize your Advent wreath in your worship space. Each week the as the candle is lit (ask an older child to help with lighting the wreath) you will explain what the candle means and then give them a take home devotion. Download it here! The idea is for the devotion to be copied on the back of the candle ornament to be used as a family devotion. Have a copy made on card stock for each child and/or household.
Faith+Open: Gather the children to the Advent wreath. Say, “Does anyone know what day today is in the Church?” Accept all answers. Today is the first Sunday of Advent. We are gathered here at this wreath with candles on it, we call this an Advent Wreath, and we are going to light just one candle today. Each week of Advent we will light another candle until all of the candles are lit. How many candles do you see here? That’s right four! There are four weeks of Advent; four weeks until we celebrate Jesus’ birthday, Christmas. We light a candle to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world!
Faith+Share: Did you know that each candle has a name? This week’s candle’s name is the Hope candle. What is hope? Accept all answers. Hope is expecting something wonderful to happen. We know that something wonderful happened when Jesus was born and also when Jesus died and rose again. This wonderful thing is that God loves us so much and we expect God to be with us always because God promised this to us! Nothing keeps us from God and we are free to love God and everyone around us!
Each of you will get this candle ornament that you can take home and color blue (or purple if you do purple in Advent). You can hang it on your Christmas tree and each week you will get another one to add to the tree. On the back is a Bible passage to read, a prayer and a blessing. You can do this at dinner, in the car or before bed. Let’s practice it now!
Faith+Pray: God of Hope, you free us from whatever keeps us from you. Thank you for being with us always, amen.
Faith+Bless: Have everyone in the congregation turn to one another and say this blessing while making the sign of the cross on their forehead or hand: “You are free in God’s love.”
As you distribute the ornaments with the devotion on the back, have them sing “This Little Light of Mine” as they go back to their seats.
~BW