How to find time to talk about faith?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

A dinner place setting

Talking about faith at home is important for your family, but how do you find the time to work this into your busy schedule?

Make family dinner a priority

Here’s a book to help achieve this goal: The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time by Laurie David.

The cover of the book: The Family Dinner

Ann Arbor District Library has this book.
See if it is available!

Paraphrased from the book, here are some “rules” (they call them “simple steps”) that you can implement:

  • Everyone comes to the table, even if they aren’t hungry.
  • No electronics: No TV. No phones. No texting. (This applies to adults as well!)
  • Everyone stays at the table until dinner is over.
  • Everyone tries one bite of each food.
  • Everyone helps clean up.

Another thing they suggest is to play games at the table! (Either while eating or afterwards.) Check out some suggested “dinner table games.” (Clicking on the underlined words takes you to the most recent post in the category “dinner games.” Scroll down to see other options.)

This all sounds hard! Something may have to give in order for this to happen. But it’s important, isn’t it?

How about making it a New Year’s an any time of year Resolution?

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Photo credits:
Table setting by Gisela Francisco on Flickr, who licensed this photo under: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.
Other photo – from my archives. (I took a picture of this book when I had it checked out from the library!)

Jesus’ Birth: Mary’s story

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

A banner for Christmas - Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus
Have you ever noticed how two people can both experience the same event and come away with different memories? It’s the same story, but different perspectives. It can actually enrich the story! Thus, every year our Advent Rotation for our Cool Disciples (our 1st – 6th graders at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI) takes a different focus.

Last year in December the story of Jesus’ birth was told through the eyes of Isaiah. (That’s right, Isaiah from the Old Testament; 700 years before Jesus was born!) There was the year when our story was from the perspective of the wise men. Previous to that it was the shepherds and angels. This year Mary, Jesus’ mother, takes center stage.

Who was Mary?

She was likely poor and lived in Galilee, a region of the Roman Empire, in a town called Nazareth. We are also told that Mary was “engaged to Joseph” which means she could have been a young teenager; as young as 12 years old, as this is the age at which young women were eligible for “betrothal.” God chose a poor, young girl for an important job! And what a rather unexpected job… to become the mother of Jesus!

Here are some questions to discuss…

+++++for the first part of our story (in Luke 1:26-38):

  • When Mary first saw the angel how do you suppose she felt? Was she scared, surprised or just nonchalant?
  • How did Mary react to the news that she would have a baby boy, name him Jesus, and that he would be our Savior?
  • I wonder why God would choose such a young woman to be Jesus’ mother?
  • If God asked you to do something that would be very challenging, do you suppose that you would say as Mary did, “I am the Lord’s servant; may it happen to me as you have said?” (Luke 1:38)
  • Tell about a time when you felt called by God to do something you weren’t sure about doing; were you afraid and had questions but then ready to accept God’s plan?

May you enjoy pondering these “talk time” questions as you nurture and support one another in your faith journeys!

Four Friends: Family Talk Time… and an activity!

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

Here’s an activity to do with your family, and questions to discuss, about our current Rotation on four friends who bring a lame man to Jesus.

Make cups of hot cocoa but leave out the sugar. Don’t say anything about your omission but allow everyone a chance to sample their cocoa.

Ask: What do you suppose is missing?
I am wondering if cocoa without sugar is sort of like our lives without Jesus?
I wonder what our lives would be like without Jesus’ love?

Pass around a sugar bowl and allow everyone to stir in to their cup, perhaps two tablespoons of sugar. After everyone has tasted their adjusted cocoa…
Ask: How does it taste now?

a boy shows his approval over hot cocoa

Ask: I wonder how adding sugar to your cocoa, is like adding Jesus’ love to your life?
How does having Jesus as your friend make life sweeter?
Say: Let’s read about a time when a man who was paralyzed (he couldn’t walk) had a sweetened life because he met Jesus.

Read Mark 2:1-12. Alternately, ask your kids to help you tell the story. Check the Bible for accuracy.

Ask: Would the man likely have been able to see Jesus without his friends help?
How has someone helped you recently and made your life sweeter?
What are ways that our helping other people is like bringing them to Jesus?
Are there other ways that we can “bring” people to Jesus by helping them?

Say: Those four friends had a lot of faith in Jesus. Jesus wants us to use our own faith to help spread Jesus’ sweet love.

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Photo credits:
Wonderful cocoa by woodleywonderworks on Flickr, licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Family Talk Time: Adam and Eve, part 2

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
Open quote marksThese commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

An ancient proclamation; still applicable to us today!

As our Cool Disciples learn about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, here are some points to ponder together with your children. Did you miss the first posts with questions to discuss with your family? View them here and here.

This is a story about hiding when you’ve done something wrong

A girl peeks out at the photographer

  • I wonder why Adam and Eve hid from God?
  • Which do you think is easier, “hiding” or admitting you are wrong?
  • Adults: tell stories from your childhood: an occasion when you did something wrong and tried to hide.
  • I wonder what would have happened if Adam and Eve had said something to God instead of hiding?
  • God would have known what they had done. Why do you suppose he asked them if they had eaten from the tree? (in Genesis 3:11)
  • How can something that is good (because God created everything and called it good) be wrong? What modern-day examples can you think of?
And it’s about consequences

a broken coffee mug on the floor

  • What were the consequences of Adam and Eve’s bad choice?
  • Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden; they were separated from God. How do you suppose they felt about this?
  • How would you feel if you had to move out of your bedroom and sleep in the garage?
  • What do you think, was God too hard on Adam and Eve?
And about second chances

Super glue rescues a broken object

  • Where is the good news in this story?
  • The good news is that even when we make mistakes, God still lovingly looks for us. “Where are you,” calls God? How does knowing this make you feel?
  • Adults: tell about a time when someone offered you animal skin clothing to replace your fig leaves.
  • Do you suppose that God may be calling out for you, but that you’ve missed his signals? What would help you listen for God?
  • How does his story add to your understanding of who God is and what God wants for us?
May your family “talk time” be fruitful as you nurture and support one another in your faith journeys!


Photo credits:
Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Hiding child by Ubo Pakes.
Broken mug by Antti T. Nissinen.
Super glue by David Goehring.
All licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic on Flickr.

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Family Talk Time: Adam and Eve

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

Teach them the story. Let it breathe with questions. Don’t smother it with pat answers. There’s more here than you can answer.

Those words were spoken by Rev. Neil MacQueen, on teaching kids the story of Adam and Eve. With Neil’s thought in mind, plan to spend some time together as a family, re-reading and pondering this story, knowing that your questions may not have definitive answers.
Did you miss the first questions post? View it here.

A woman points and makes a choice

Talk about choices:

  • Allow everyone to tell about what they’d pursue if they could do whatever they wanted, with no limits!
  • Kids: Why do adults sometimes say no to things that kids want?
  • Adults: Tell about choices that you face every day.
  • God specifically made that tree and then asked Adam and Eve not to eat its fruit. He knew they’d eat from it! Why do you suppose he even put that tree there?
  • What does this teach us about God?

We were created by God with the freedom to make choices. We have the option to thumb our noses at God; to decide for ourselves what’s right and wrong! God gave Adam and Eve a choice to obey or disobey. Note: Adam and Eve’s bad choice did not “infect” us with sin! Humans are not perfect; sometimes we are disobedient and choose the wrong thing to do.

Stay tuned for part 2 of Family Talk Time: about consequences and hiding.


Photo credits:
Banner photo (not visible in readers or email) – Pink Sherbert Photography on Flickr.
Other photo – from Jsome1 on Flickr.
Both licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic .

Adam & Eve: What is this story about?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
Two halves of two different type of apple are merged into one apple

What comes to mind when you hear the words “Adam and Eve?”

Is it…

  • The Garden of Eden?
  • The Tree of Life?
  • Forbidden Fruit?
  • The Fall?
  • Fig leaves?
  • Casting blame?
  • Being cast out?
  • Animal skins?

Or is it something else?

It would be easy to focus on the above list of images from Adam and Eve; to go into great detail, picking apart and analyzing the meaning of each component of this story.

But then we might miss the key points.

What core themes of this intriguing story are we trying to teach?

Here’s what our Cool Disciples (our 1st – 6th graders at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI) are learning as we tackle this Bible story…

Rotation Objectives — After completing this Rotation, students will be able to:

  • Name that the story is found in the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis.
  • Retell the story in his/her own words. (Build on their understanding of the story.)
  • Recognize that is a story about God and about each of us, and choices we make.
  • Identify temptations and wrong choices in their own lives, and ways to be obedient to God.
  • Discover that God forgives even when we do wrong; God is our guide to doing right.
  • For those in 4th grade and above: Recognize that this story is not historical.

That’s a lot to accomplish in three short weeks! (It would greatly benefit your children if you could continue talking about this story at home.) Here are a few questions to talk about… Start off with “fact” questions such as:

  • Who are the characters in the story?
  • What was the name of the beautiful place God made for them to live?
  • What did Adam and Eve do to disobey God?

Then progress to questions which dig a little deeper (and lead to more discussion!):

  • What ways do you notice people disobeying God today?
  • What tempted Eve? [Note: not who!]
  • What tempts you the most?

This would be a great spot for the adults to tell about a time when they’ve been tempted. Did you give in to the temptation? What were the consequences? It’s important for your kids to see that we all make bad choices sometimes.

Stay tuned for more questions!


Photo credits:
Banner photo (not visible in readers or email) – Pink Sherbert Photography on Flickr
Other photo: Capture Queen ™ on Flickr
Licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Communion Questions

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
This Sunday is the start of a new month! This means that Communion will be served at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI. The Cool Disciples worship with their families this Sunday.

Do you prepare your kids for a worship service that includes Communion?

What words do you use?

Try out some of these:

  • We celebrate Communion to remember Jesus. What do you suppose we should remember about Jesus?
  • I wonder how bread and juice help us remember Jesus?
  • Communion is based on the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples. I wonder what the disciples were thinking when Jesus said, “This is my body which is given for you?”
  • I wonder why Jesus used bread and wine for us to remember him, and not other food items from the Passover meal that they were sharing? (Like roasted lamb, bitter herbs, etc.)
  • I wonder what Jesus would like for us to think about when we take Communion?
  • At most meal times we eat food so that we can have strength. I wonder how receiving Communion gives us spiritual strength?

    • Note: Don’t worry about having definitive answers to your pondering!

    Even Charles Wesley acknowledged the mystery surrounding Holy Communion when he penned his hymn O the Depth of Love Divine…

    O the depth of love divine,
    the unfathomable grace!
    Who shall say how bread and wine
    God into us conveys!
    How the bread his flesh imparts,
    how the wine transmits his blood,
    fills his faithful people’s hearts
    with all the life of God!

    As you prepare for worship, what will you share with your kids about Communion?

Saul/Paul: noticed any changes lately?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
a spring flowering treeSpring is a great time of year to talk about change! Every day brings new changes in God’s creation. Have you noticed buds ready to burst forth into blossoms? How about trees; yesterday they were just branched silhouettes! And doesn’t it seem like if you stood still, the grass would grow greener beneath your feet?

It is thus appropriate that discussing change is a part of our April 2010 Rotation (for our 1st – 6th graders at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI). Our Bible story for this month comes from the New Testament book of Acts (in Acts 9:1-22).

We’ll be studying the revolutionary transformation that came about in a man known by two names: Saul and Paul. Saul’s life was turned around when he met Jesus.

stain glass windows depicting the conversion of Saul/Paul

Saul/Paul’s conversion is an event that is remarkable for its dramatic impact and profound results. Saul started off determined (and violent!) in his quest to squelch Christianity, which at the time, was beginning to spread. A meeting with the risen Messiah transformed him; he became a courageous, dogmatic advocate of Jesus as our Lord and Savior! (And a traveling missionary who braved ship wrecks, imprisonment, beatings, and death threats.)

Studying the change that occurred in Saul/Paul leads us to questions for ourselves:
  • What does the presence of Jesus in our lives look/feel like? Is it as obvious as a bright flash of light or subtler? What ways does God use to get your attention?
  • How does being in the presence of Christ change me?
  • Do we change just once, the initial time we meet Jesus or are we continually changed as our relationship with Jesus deepens?
  • How do we seek out this sort of change?
  • After Saul met the risen Jesus he was a changed man. His life was totally different. How do others know that I am a follower of Jesus? What in my life is evidence of it?

Just a few questions to get some discussion started in your family.

And be sure to catch church this weekend because… Rev. Gil Miller is set to preach on the story of Saul using Acts 9! His sermon is titled “Saintly Sinners.” I wonder what we'll learn?


Photo credits:
Flowering tree: Lightgate-Imagery.com
Stainglass:TheRevSteve’s
All licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Are you seeing ads? They are not from me! They are placed by WordPress, who otherwise offers a free platform from which to share lots of good-ness. If you see an inappropriate ad, please report it to support@wordpress.com. Include the URL, the date/time the ad appeared, and a screenshot of the ad.