Sunday 6th September 2020 - Starting up, but slowing down
Holy Habits Extra - Starting up, but slowing down
Video message from Jodie:
Worship:
Let’s remember that God is with us at all times and we can seek to grow more like God as we remember the examples of others. ‘Giant of Faith’ Kid’s Praise Party from Spring Harvest:
Word:
September is always a time of new starts, especially when it comes to school. These couple of weeks have probably had an even greater sense of new beginnings after so long out of school due to Covid-19 and there will be lots of different rules and systems in place as part of keeping everyone safe. Over the Summer you have hopefully joined in with some of the Holy Habits and these can really help us to have confidence with new things, because they all encourage being close to God as really, really important and have hopefully helped you put this into practice; perhaps through reading your Bible more, praying, seeking to be generous or enjoying the simple life.
As school and other things start up again, it is really important to make sure that we do not get so busy that we squeeze God out of our lives! The Holy Habits are there to help us to do life with God. If you remember right at the beginning of July, we started a journey of trying to get into good habits and healthy rhythms to help us to spend quality time with God and to get to know God more. As things start up (especially school), we want you to remember to make time to slow down, to dig into quality time and fun with God, to practise those Holy habits that you particularly enjoy and to choose to spend time with God - not getting so busy doing, that you forget about the joy of being!
Read Psalm 62 together, focus particularly on verses 1-2 and then 5-8. Talk together about the imagery used; rock, fortress, salvation, refuge - it might be helpful to look these words up in a dictionary and then talk together about what they mean in relation to God. How do you think seeing God in these terms might help you as you start back up with school? How important is it to ‘wait quietly before God’? Have you ever ‘poured out your heart’ to God?
Activity Suggestions:
Paint a rock/pebble - find a reasonably large rock or pebble and give it a wash. Then paint a picture or decorate your rock. Every time you look at your rock remember that God is your rock - He is always there for you, at all times, and loves you to turn to Him and to spend time with Him.
Family Communion - one way of keeping God central and of helping us to slow down is to take Communion. Why not take some elements of bread and wine and take Communion together a family. Talk about how the symbol of bread shows the spiritual food that we are invited to share as we invite Jesus to be with us, to live in us as we ‘start up’ again at school and so on. Talk about how the wine helps us to remember all that Jesus has done for us on the cross and how much He loves us. Use it as a time to pray together for good rhythms as things start up again and that you will all help each other to slow down and include time with God each day.
Catch-up - if you missed any of the WellKids videos about the different Holy Habits, this week would be a good time to catch up. They can be found at https://www.wellsheffield.com/kids or www.youtube.com/c/TheWellSheffield/videos
Reflection:
Spend some time praying about the things that are ‘starting up’; school, sports, clubs etc. Pray that God will be with you in all these things, that God will keep you safe, that you will have opportunities to share Jesus with others, that you will remember to ask God to be with you in everything.
Pray for those children around the world who aren’t able to access school.