Ritual/Tradition

Begin your 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 PRAY 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 is important so that your child will feel comfortable opening up his/her thoughts and feelings.

This may also be the time that you will want to read the entries in your family’s 40 Day Lenten Journal.  Hopefully everyone has had a chance to write down something that can be shared 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.  Your family journal will be unique to your family.

Read/Reflection

Matthew 5:1-12

The reading this week comes from the book of Matthew 5:1-12, this lesson is known as the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes.  Jesus taught this lesson on the mountainside, which was the “steeply rising ground on the western side of the Sea of Galilee.”  Jesus began his lesson using the word, “Blessed”.  His desire was to teach people that they should put the will of God above everything else, and in doing so, they would be embraced in heaven, even if that meant suffering here on earth because of their faith in God.   He wanted to emphasize that their reward was great in heaven.  Many people came to listen to Jesus teach, he explained that he had not come to change the “law” but to show them how to live in accordance with the law of the land.  His desire was to help the people act in accordance with the divine or moral law, free from guilt or sin.  (2 Timothy 3:16)

When we desire to seek righteousness, we are longing to do what is morally right, or make justifiable a righteousness decision.  Jesus uses the word, “hunger”, as a way to emphasize the importance of doing what is right.  We want to do what is right so badly that we “hunger” for the truth.   In that same way, we “thirst” for decency, goodness and honesty. 

Have you ever been so hunger and or thirsty that you longed for just a sip or water or a piece of bread.  Jesus was teaching that we should have that same longing or desire for righteousness. 

It’s becoming harder and harder to seek the truth in a world that flees from righteousness.  Our job as parents is to establish a “moral” law if you will in our homes.  We want our families to be a community of believers that seek truth, justice and refrain from dishonesty and evil-mindedness.  (1 John 19-10)

Activity

Stop by the Dollar Tree or where ever you choose to shop and purchase a large poster board.  Write your family name on the top of the board and then write, “Our Family Code of Conduct”.  Have each family member contribute sometime to the code of conduct.  It could be:

• We always tell the truth even if it means getting into trouble (telling a lie only leads to more trouble)
• We do the right thing (for example, pushing the shopping card back into the cart carriage, picking up trash, holding the door for someone)
• We eat dinner together at least 3 times a week
• We put all electronic devices away during dinner time

Whatever you choose, it is your family’s code but it should be something that everyone can agree on and one that your family can live by.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together and we pray that we will seek righteousness for your sake.  We know that your ways are better than our ways and that your law will lead us in the right direction.  Help us to remember to seek excellence in our character and refrain from petty or mean thoughts.  We know that righteousness starts in our hearts.  We pray that you will help us to hunger and thirst for righteousness, keeping our hearts and minds focused on you.   Amen

Blessing

Be blessed to do the right thing, even when no one is looking.  Be God’s hands and feet in this world by doing the right thing.  A famous sports brand has a saying, “Just Do It”, let’s replace “It” with, “Just Do the Right Thing.”