Ritual/Tradition

Begin your Prayer time together at your established Family Worship area.  Light your candle and have a family member open up this time of worship in prayer.  One way to think about your prayer time is to use the word as a guide. (P-is for Praise, praising God, R-is for repent, asking forgiveness, A-is for another, pray for another person, Y-yourself, pray for yourself). 

Share

After praying, you can begin to share your highs and lows for the week.  Allow each family member to share their thoughts, feelings or observations from the week.  Be mindful that sharing in a loving, safe and non-judgmental environment is important so that your child will feel comfortable opening up his/her thoughts and feelings.

Hopefully everyone has had a chance to share something during this time together.  Perhaps it was something as simple as your child shared their toys, or maybe you noticed how everyone was helping out at home with chores, maybe your child scored well on a test at school or you decided not to scream and yell at the driver who just cut you off and instead offered a prayer for that driver. 

Read/Reflection

John 6:28-35  (Bread of Life)

The foundation of the Christian life is faith.  How would you define faith?  The dictionary defines faith as the complete trust or confidence in someone or something.  It also defines faith as a strong belief in God, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.  The Bible tells us that, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  (Hebrews 11:1)

In our scripture reading this week,  we learned that the crowds of people who had been following Jesus were still not certain that he was who he said he was, so they asked him to give them a “miraculous sign” so that they might see it and believe him.  These people needed proof before they would be willing to trust in Jesus. They wanted a sign that proved that Jesus was sent from God. 

 In John 6:29, Jesus responds quite simply that the only thing that God wants from his followers is “to believe in the one he has sent.”  All we need to do is just believe in Jesus, he is the bread of life, he gives life to the world.  Jesus goes on to say that anyone that come to Him will never go hungry and will never be thirsty.  Jesus loved to teach in a way that would make people think beyond the obvious.  He isn’t saying that you will never be hunger or thirsty, what he was trying to say was that He is the word of God and once we allow the word to enter into our being, we are changed, our hearts, minds and spirits are now in a relationship with Jesus. 

Jesus said that, “I am the Bread of Life and anyone that believes in me will have everlasting life.”  Bread is an essential part of our daily diet, (unless you are on a no carb diet), and Jesus is the foundation of our spiritual diet.  “Those who come to Jesus will never be hungry or thirsty.”  It is through his death and resurrection that we live.  Believing that Jesus is the bread of life is what we are called to do, He gives us everlasting life.

Activity – Loaf of Blessing basket

What you will need:

• brown construction paper
• pens or makers
• small basket

Trace small oval or rectangle shapes onto the brown construction paper to look like a loaf of bread.  On each loaf, write the following:

• Pray the Lord’s Prayer
• Ask for forgiveness
• Share your faith with someone at school, or work
• Listen to Christian music
• Show love to one another
• Honor your father and mother
• Say something nice to a family member
• Bake something for a neighbor

These are just some ideas, perhaps your family can add some additional actions to a loaf.  Put the loaves in the basket and place them on your kitchen table.  Each night after dinner, have a family member pick a loaf.  It will be a wonderful reminder of Jesus being the bread of life.

Blessing

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever.  Amen