During the months of June and July, elementary kids are FOCUSING on FAITH. Paraphrasing the words of Paul in Hebrews 11:1, we define faith as trusting in what you can’t see because of what you can see. This is an abstract idea for our concrete thinkers. How can we help our kids have faith in God who can’t be seen by what can be seen?
In Romans 1:20, Paul tell us to look at what God has made to know His power.
So let’s FOCUS on a part of God’s creation. Can you guess what this picture is? It is magnified 300 times. Marvel at how each piece is unique. Different colors, shapes and textures. Do you think you know what it is? Or are you stumped like our kids were when we showed them this picture at one of our Sunday morning zoom calls? (Find out the answer at the end of this blog.)
Kids are also FOCUSING on the FAITH of the early Christians. Some like Peter and John were eye witnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. They believed in Jesus because of what they had seen with their own eyes. Because of their eye witness accounts, we, too, can have faith in God’s Son. We want kids to realize that you can know Jesus even though you’ve never seen Him.
Last week, kids met a man named Saul, also known as Paul. Saul was on his way to arrest and persecute followers of Jesus. But Jesus had other plans for Him. Jesus stopped Paul on his journey and told him about his new mission. In a moment, Paul went from believing that Jesus was a false-teacher to believing that Jesus was the Son of God and Savior of the world. We want kids to discover that knowing Jesus changes the way you see everything.
This coming Sunday, kids will hear the story of Peter and a Roman commander named Cornelius. Peter learns that the message of Jesus is for everyone. He discovers through a vision that God wants us to treat everyone the same. God wants us to show everyone the same amount of respect and kindness. We are called to show His love to the people around us, every single day.
In July, we will continue our FOCUS on FAITH as we take a closer look at the ministry of Paul.
In case you are still wondering, the magnified photo above is a picture of sand! Think about that the next time you head to the beach to build some sand castles!
See you soon on Zoom,
Darcy