Giving What We've Been Given

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Note: This Sunday there will be a big event at our church. You can read about it on the front page of the Enterprise-Dispatch newspaper this week or on my blog for After this Sunday's children's Christmas program we will all line up, children, adults and youth, to pass food in a big line from the church to the food shelf. This will be a great way to teach your children about sharing.

Light one candle.

Pray this prayer. Have your child repeat phrase by phrase.
Dear Jesus,
you are full of kindness,
help us be kind too.

Read this Bible thought from Matthew 15:37. Have your child repeat phrase by phrase.
When Jesus fed the people,
everyone had enough.

Read this Bible story - based on Matthew 15:29-37
Many people came to see Jesus because he was making sick people feel better. They stayed with Jesus for three days. Jesus saw that they were hungry. He asked his helpers to share their food. They said they didn't have enough to share. But Jesus didn't want the crowd to go hungry. So he prayed and thanked God for the little bit of food that his helpers had. Then he divided it up and his helpers gave the food to the crowd. And all of the crowd, thousands of people, had enough to eat. There were even seven baskets of food left over.

Talk for awhile about the story.
It's amazing what Jesus does when the people shared!

Tell them we're going to do something like this on Sunday -- tell them about the food shelf.

It would be great if you could go to the store with your children and get a sack of food to bring to church that day. Maybe you could plan a time to do that with your child. You can learn more and get a list about what is needed at the Cokato Food Shelf by clicking here.

Finally, talk about the Christmas program on Sunday and what your son or daughter will be doing. Help them if they have lines to memorize or a song to practice.

Pray this prayer. Have your child repeat phrase by phrase.
Dear Jesus,
you are full of kindness,
help us be kind too.
Add your own thoughts and prayers.

Read this Bible thought from Matthew 15:37. Have your child repeat phrase by phrase.
When Jesus fed the people,
everyone had enough.

Put out the candle.