We're Moving!

We have a new website!  

www.faithformationjourneys.org

Come check it out, we will be posting all of our Children's Sermons, Weekly Devotions, Monthly Faith+Home connections and more on our new site from now on.  Thanks for all your support and encouragement, we look forward to continuing to provide tools and resources for our ministry together.

God's Love,

Leta, Brigette and Gus

Children’s Sermon Dec. 9th 2012, Second Sunday of Advent 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.” 

Weekly Devotions - December 16, 2012 - 3rd Sunday of Advent

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.

Faith + Home Connection December 2012

Faith + Home Connection December 2012

Faith + Open: Gather the household around your Advent wreath, Nativity display or Christmas tree. Light a candle on the Advent Wreath, light up your Christmas tree or just light a candle that is near by. Read Luke 1: 39-55. Have someone be the narrator, Elizabeth  and Mary. The words of Mary in Luke 1: 46-55 are often referred to as the “Magnificat” or “Mary’s Song.” These words have been set to music by composers for hundreds of years. Listen to a child sing Marty Haugen’s version from Holden Evening Prayer on www.youtube.com.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMQYIdfj3sk&feature=related

Faith + Share: for children: Was there ever a time when you were so happy that you started singing a song? What song do you like to sing when you are happy? What is your favorite song from church or Sunday school? Make up a song about how much God loves you!

For youth/adults: Music is very much a part of our lives and can help us to express emotions, both joy and sorrow, that just mere word cannot. What kinds of music do like to listen to when you are happy? Feeling sorrow or a bit melancholy? Mary’s song was just not about happy emotion but about what God is doing in the world. It was an expression of justice, hope and solidarity. These words in the Magnificat are not only what God has done but what God will do in the future. When have you witnessed these actions of God in your own life or in the world? How are we to be a part of God’s actions of justice, hope and solidarity?

Faith + Blessing: After each meal time, bed time or other prayer close with the words “May our spirit rejoice in the God our Savior, amen.” You can also exchange the sign of the cross as you say these words in your household.

Faith +Serve: One of the ways that we can participate in God’s actions of justice, hope and solidarity in our community is to partner with other community organizations. Write and/or create Christmas cards to take to an assisted living facility. Maybe even do a little Christmas caroling while you are there dropping off the cards!

Faith + Close: God our Savior, you care so deeply for all of the world. Help our spirits to sing a song of hope, mercy and love to a world that is straining to hear it. We give you thanks for the great things you do for all of your people and pray for the hungry to be full, the lowly lifted up, for all to be looked upon with favor. May our spirit rejoice in the God our Savior, amen.

May be used with permission for nonprofit use or distribution. Intellectual property rites apply.

Children’s Sermon Dec. 2nd 2012, First Sunday of Advent 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.

 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!

 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!

God of Hope, you free us from whatever keeps us from you. Thank you for being with us always, 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: “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. 

Weekly Devotions - December 9, 2012 - 2nd Sunday in Advent

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.

Blessing of the Christmas Tree

Blessing of the Christmas Tree

Gather either around or near your tree!

Share where you see God at Advent & Christmas and where you need God at Advent & Christmas.

Read Scripture—Psalm 96:11-13

¹¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

¹²let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy¹³before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

Talk: This tree is a blessing to our home. It reminds us of all that is beautiful, all that is filled with the gentleness and the promise of God. It stands in our midst as a tree of light that we might promise such beauty to one another and to our world. It stands like that tree of paradise that God made into the tree of life, the cross of Jesus. If you have young children or like good stories you may want to read “The Three Trees” by Angela Elwell Hunt

How can the Christmas tree remind you of the story of the birth of Jesus? How will it bless you in this Advent/Christmas season? How will you be a blessing to others?

Pray: Join in prayer together thanking God for where you see the Holy Spirit active and asking for help in where you need God this year.

Blessing: Loving God, we come with joy to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, whose path of justice and inclusivity lights a path for all who follow him. May this tree, arrayed in splendor, remind us of the life-giving cross of Christ, that we may always rejoice in the new life that shines in our hearts.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now make the sign of the cross on one another and say, “Child of God, remember that you are a light of God’s love. Amen”

~LB

May use with permission for non profit only. Intellectual property rites apply. "Faith 5" icons from faithink.com used with permission.