The Parent Weekly for May 19th, The Big God Story
The Parent Weekly is designed for you to use during the week with your son or daughter. You’ll find out what they learned today at church and can help them prepare for next week by exploring the theme (or Big Idea) and spending time together in God’s Word.
What we learned today
Big Idea: The Big God Story
Genesis—Revelation
Where we’re headed next time
Big Idea: Remember & Celebrate
Feast of Trumpets: Remembering and Celebrating God’s Righteousness
Did you know?
Share these facts to get the conversation started:
The Israelites celebrated seven annual festivals: Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Festival of First Fruits, Feast
of Harvest, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths).During the festivals, the Israelites ate, danced, sang, played instruments, prayed, and offered sacrifices to God.
The Day of Atonement was a reflective and often solemn festival each year consisting of fasting, prayer, and repentance. During this festival, the Israelites rededicated the temple of the Lord and repented of their sins.
In the future, the Day of Atonement will usher in Christ’s judgment of the nations.
Connect as a family
One evening this week, at dinner, play a game of “Pass the Pepper.” Pass the pepper shaker around the table, and when each person takes it, she must share the best thing that happened in the past week. Celebrate these things together. Then, after taking time to remember and celebrate the great events of the week, talk with your children about the festivals God’s people celebrated, particularly the Day of Atonement, and how they spent time remembering His righteousness. One way the Israelites did this was by repenting of and confessing their sins. Read 1 John 1v5–10. Discuss as a family the forgiving love of Jesus and the importance of confession and repentance.
After reading the Scripture passage, discuss these questions together:
What does “God is light” mean?
What happens when we confess our sins?
What is one thing you would like to confess to Jesus and ask Him to forgive?
These questions can easily extend into the rest of the week. Look for opportunities to bring conversations about how God is righteous into your everyday life as a family.
Blessing
Blessings are often used in the Bible. A blessing can be a prayer of commission, a portion of Scripture, or words to encourage and guide.
A blessing to pray over your child: (Child’s name), may you grow to be more and more like Jesus. May the Holy Spirit enable you to live righteously. May you celebrate Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as the sacrifice for your sin.
