Calendar – Page 13 – Family Faith Companion

An easy way to spend with God

Posted on November 22, 2011November 23, 2020 by Carol Hulbert

Thanksgiving is on the horizon; followed by Christmas… yikes! ’Tis the season for parents to be busier than ever, stressed out, worried, and cranky. Unfortunately, this rubs off on our kids. (Hopefully my kids won’t comment with too many past details!)

It is appropriate that this month the Cool Disciples are talking about ways to calm ourselves and balance our busy lives, so as to make time to be with God.

The kids are hearing that Jesus scheduled downtime into his life. He did lots of teaching and healing, but then he took time to pray to God. He also spent time with friends. Our Bible story for this Rotation is about Jesus’ visit to Mary and Martha’s house (Luke 10: 38-42) where he taught an important lesson about our priorities.

We’ve already talked about listening for God. But how do we make time to listen? How do we spend time with God?

Here’s an easy way: Start a gratitude journal.

Recording thankfuls opens the way to God.

Use this Thanksgiving holiday to start your list of thanks. Gather a notebook and a pen and set aside a time at least once a week (but why not every day?) to write at least five things the family is thankful for—gifts from God.

Might I suggest that you start off by setting a few family ground rules: Should the entries be numbered? Should the list be signed by whomever is making an entry? Are repeats okay?

Once your family practices daily gratitude, you’ll find that it brings benefits such as:

Better health,
Better sleep,
Less anxiety and less depression.

Read more about the research in The New York Times.

Best of all: Marking gratitude brings you closer to God.

Is your family keeping a gratitude list?

Here is a video of our story. (Created by the sixth graders in the Drama Workshop).

The story of Mary and Martha.

Photo credits…
Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary, by Harold Copping, via Wikimedia Commons in the Public Domain.

What’s happening in November? Here’s the schedule

Posted on November 4, 2011November 3, 2011 by Carol Hulbert

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On Saturday nights and on Sunday mornings at FUMC our Cool Disciples experience Rotation Model Christian education, as they learn about Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops.

November’s Rotation is about two sisters in the Bible, Mary and Martha. These two have different priorities about hospitality – how their house guests should be treated. Things quickly come to a head! Whose priority is a better choice? Read what Jesus has to say about this question in Luke 10:38-42.

Why is this story so important? We all lead busy lives. Boy, do our kids have full schedules! What is one to do when faced with a list of numerous “good” activities? Do we place certain pursuits higher on the to-do list, while others wait in the wings? It’s a tricky process often requiring last minute juggling. The story of Mary and Martha speaks to this balancing act and urges us to be sure to include one critical item: spending time with God. A great topic to discuss with your family! Ask your kids about it.

For Saturdays at the Green Wood location, here is the schedule for November…

Date	Workshop	Activity
11/5	Video Workshop	Watch a video called Martin the Cobbler to see a different sort of hospitality – welcoming God into our lives! Discuss how we invite God.
11/12	Cooking Workshop	Discuss hospitality and be hospitable! Make something yummy to give away.
11/19	Drama Workshop	Experience the story of Mary and Martha by acting out the story.
11/26	Games Workshop	Play a quiz game that has no right or wrong answers but demonstrates listening and choices.

And here is what is happening on Sundays at the downtown location…

Date	Cooking	Games	Games	Art	Drama	Video
	Social Hall	Room 204	Room 211	Room 212	Room 215	Pine Room
11/13	2nd grade	5th grade	3rd grade	6th grade	4th grade	1st grade
11/20	1st grade	4th grade	2nd grade	5th grade	6th grade	3rd grade
11/27	3rd grade	6th grade	1st grade	4th grade	5th grade	2nd grade

What’s happening in each workshop?

Art Workshop: Create a symbol from clay, using time-honored “rock art” techniques (carving rock) to remind us to balance our busy lives to include time with God. Display this creation where it will be noticed!
Cooking Workshop: Discuss hospitality and be hospitable! Make quick breads to give away to Alpha House and the Ronald McDonald House.
Drama Workshop: Experience the story of Mary and Martha by acting out the story.
Games Workshop: Play a quiz game that has no right or wrong answers but demonstrates listening and choices. (All groups of kids will be visiting Games this month, one room for 1st-3rd and one room for 4th-6th.)
Video Workshop: What would happen if someone famous were coming to your house for lunch? How would you prepare? Watch a Claymation video called Martin the Cobbler to see a different sort of hospitality – welcoming God into our lives! Discuss how we invite God.

If you are in the area please join us for the fun learning at First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor, MI

Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Painting by Johannes Vermeer entitled “Christ in the House of Martha and Mary” obtained via Wikimedia Commons [Public domain].

Cool Disciples Schedule: September 2011

Posted on September 15, 2011November 9, 2015 by Carol Hulbert

On Sunday mornings, our Cool Disciples (our 1st – 6th graders) experience Rotation Model Sunday’s school, as they learn about Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops. NOW our kids on Saturday nights at our Green Wood campus are also using Rotation!

At a prayer station

In both locations in September, we are studying the Lord’s Prayer. Prayer is talking and listening to God – any time, any place, and about any thing! God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. Prayer provides a means of fostering that relationship. As we study about the Lord’s Prayer, we’ll be talking about prayer in general. Be prepared for questions!

Read about Jesus teaching his followers how to pray in two of the four Gospels: Matthew 6:9-15 and Luke 11:1-4.

For Saturdays at the Green Wood location, here is the schedule for September…

Date	Workshop	Activity
9/10	Cooking Workshop	Find out about the connection of pretzels to prayer. Create some yummy pretzels and discuss the Lord’s Prayer.
9/17	Video Workshop	Watch portions of two videos to see different renditions of Jesus teaching his followers about prayer.
9/24	Drama Workshop	Discuss how to portray various parts of the Lord’s Prayer. Then put on your drama disposition! How would you act out “we’re sorry”?

For Sundays at the downtown location, here is the schedule of workshops for September…

Date	Cooking	Prayer Walk	Video	Art	Drama	Art
	Pine Room	Social Hall	Room 204	Room 211	Room 215	Room 212

9/11	2nd grade	5th grade	3rd grade	6th grade	4th grade	1st grade
9/18	3rd grade	4th grade	1st grade	5th grade	6th grade	2nd grade
9/25	1st grade	6th grade	2nd grade	4th grade	5th grade	3rd grade

What’s happening in each workshop?

In the Cooking Workshop students will be following the same lesson as the Green Wood kids: Making prayer pretzels! I am sure that some eating will ensue.
In the Prayer Walk Workshop students will be doing multiple activities including experiencing a personal prayer walk with various stations (such as giving God your worries, asking for forgiveness, thanking God for his love..) While waiting for a turn to go through the prayer walk, students will write prayers to be used in worship on 10/30 and work on creating a prayer “book.”
In the Video Workshop students will watch portions of the live-action video The Visual Bible: Matthew, and The Animated Stories from the New Testament: The Lord’s Prayer. Play a game to teach about the meanings of portions of the Lord’s Prayer.
In the Art Workshop for 4th-6th graders, students will create a braided prayer rope with “tails.” They will Write prayer “starters” on the tail ends of their rope, which allows the rope to serve to instigate prayer.
In the Drama Workshop students will use a form of readers theater to explore the Lord’s Prayer. As the meaning in the Lord’s Prayer is discussed, they will create a “layered lines” rendition of the Lord’s Prayer. Will it make an appearance on YouTube?
In the Art Workshop for 1st-3rd graders, students will personalize a prayer pillow rock. I wonder how a rock will prompt them to pray? (My son who created a prayer rock 9 years ago, still has his!)

If you are in the area please join us for the fun learning!

Photo credits:
Photo from my archives.

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Ordinary Time? Make it extraordinary!

Posted on August 29, 2011August 22, 2022 by Carol Hulbert

Did you know that we are in Ordinary Time?

It may still be summer and nights may be feeling like fall, but according to the church calendar, this is Ordinary Time. Admittedly, this time of year can feel ordinary—plain, average, lacking special distinction, rank, or status. The dog days of August?

In this case the “ordinary” in “Ordinary Time” comes from the word ordinal, meaning rank in a series. We can consider Ordinary Time as counted time. Have you ever noticed the “count up” happening on the worship bulletins, “ninth Sunday after Pentecost,” “tenth Sunday after Pentecost,” etc. Next Sunday ask your kids to notice what week we are on!

A chart showing the percentage of time for various sessions of the church year Ordinary Time occurs from the day after Pentecost until the first Sunday in Advent. That’s a long time! It takes up the biggest chunk of the annual pie shown on the right. Incidentally, Pentecost is the smallest slice of the pie – it lasts only one day! (Pentecost, celebrated 50 days after Easter Sunday, marks the day when the Holy Spirit came to Jesus’ disciples.)

It would be easy to consider the days of Ordinary Time not as ordinal time but as, well, ordinary!

Other occasions in the church calendar are marked by rich meaning: Christmas, Lent, and Easter—no question, something big is happening in those areas of the church calendar! But there’s nothing special happening in Ordinary Time.

Or is there?

Might I challenge you to change your perception of Ordinary Time by practicing one small, ah, ordinal thing?

Count the extraordinary in the everyday ordinary.

Seek God in the ordinary events of life. Whether it is in the natural world around you or the wonder of people interacting, or something as simple as laughter. Notice the presence of God in the commonplace. Keeping an ordinal list can help you obverse the extraordinary ordinary that is happening all around you!

Where did my list-making start? Read more by clicking on this button…

Puffy white clouds against a blue, blue sky

How will you note ordinary time as extraordinary?

Photo credits…
“Kids on a dock” by anolobb, originally licensed on flickr under Creative Commons (BY NC-SA 2.0); photo no longer available.
Rest of photos, from my archives.
View the chart I created here.

Cool Disciples Schedule: July 2011

Posted on July 8, 2011July 7, 2011 by Carol Hulbert

During the heat of summer our Cool Disciples continue to explore Bible stories on Sunday mornings! Our teaching tool is the fun (yet transformational) Workshop Rotation Model Sunday’s ~~School~~ Cool. Summer is a bit different in that we combine grade groups. This summer we’ve also got more changes – a different choice for older students. Read more about that choice here.

For three weeks of July, we are learning about a time when some children had an exclusive audience with Jesus! Read the story in Mark 10:13-16. This story entails Jesus allowing children to come to him for a blessing.

What is a blessing? Most of us when we hear the word “blessing” think of a table grace we say before we eat, as in “saying our blessings.” That is one use of the word blessing. A blessing also means a special prayer given to someone, which makes them feel good. We could say that it is a special prayer for the good of a person!

What is the blessing that Jesus desires for you?
How does it make you feel to know how much Jesus loves children and wants to bless them?

Here is the way we’ll be exploring this story for the next three weeks…

Date	Workshop	Activity
7/10	Art Workshop	Decorate a mirror picture frame as a reminder that God loves you.
7/17	Cooking Workshop	Being blessed also includes the empowerment of being a blessing to others. Make something to share at Lemonade on the Lawn.
7/24	Games Workshop	Set up and go through an obstacle course with a different-sort of name: the “Don’t Let Anything Keep You From Jesus” obstacle course.

If you are in the area please join us for the fun learning at First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor, MI

Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Stain glass by Janine and Jim Eden who licensed this photo under: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.

Let one thing lead to another?

Posted on July 1, 2011July 8, 2016 by Carol Hulbert

Do you have plans for the 4th of July – perhaps a picnic or watching a parade or some fireworks?

Doing these sorts of things is almost required! They are rituals!

Rituals and traditions are repeated activities that help family members develop a sense of belonging.

How about some traditions that help your kids realize they belong to God’s family? Try some of these:

How about attending Communion worship? (If you’re in the area, join us at FUMC. Communion is held on the first Sunday of every month). Being a part of God’s family involves worshipping God together.
Plan a time to gather together (frequently!) and read the Bible. Might I suggest looking here for our current study for kids? Being part of God’s family involves “knowing” God. We can know God by reading the Bible.
Choose a service project (perhaps once a month!) View a list of potential projects here. Being part of God’s family involves loving and serving God and others.
Once a week practice a time of Sabbath. (It doesn’t have to be on Sunday). Here’s a way to get started: Surrender one heavily used device and let it rest. (The TV? A cell phone? A computer?) Being part of God’s family involves listening for God.
Practice a time of thankful prayers. (For ideas see here.) Being part of God’s family involves talking to God.
Committ to learning a verse of scripture. How about John 3:16-17. Being part of God’s family involves living with God’s word in our hearts.

What rituals do you practice in your family?

Photo credits:
Fireworks by bayasaa who licensed this photo under: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.

Cool Disciples schedule: June 2011

Posted on June 10, 2011June 10, 2011 by Carol Hulbert

During the summer our “Cool Disciples” continue to explore Bible stories on Sunday mornings using Rotation Model Sunday’s school. What’s different about summer is that we combine grade groups. This summer we’ve also got more changes – a different choice for older students. Read more about that here.

In June, we are learning about the Widow’s Offering. Read our story in Mark 12:41-44. If you’d like to read a children’s Bible version of this story visit this site.

A Cool Disciples class from last summer.

Last summer’s Cool Disciples

Here is the schedule for the next three weeks…

Date	Workshop & Activity	Additional Notes
6/12	Missions Workshop: Make decorations for the church to use during Vacation Bible Camp.	Wear clothes you’d don’t mind getting sloppy!
6/19	Cooking Workshop: Make sugar cookie “coins” to share with Alpha House.	Click here for more info about this homeless shelter for families.
6/26	Art Workshop: Use an embossing technique – repoussé- to create an artistic coin.	Repoussé is a method of decorating metal in which the design is worked from the back of a thin piece of metal; in our case, copper.

If you are in the area please join us for the fun learning at First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor, MI

Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Other photo from the archives here.

Summer Sunday’s Cool – that’s different!

Posted on June 9, 2011June 23, 2011 by Carol Hulbert

It is summer – finally! School is almost out Updated: it’s out! Yeah! But that doesn’t mean Sunday morning educational programming quits at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI – It just looks a little different.

It involves a choice for parents and their children.

What is the choice?

For graduating 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders it’s easy: Just meet with the Cool Disciples in the Social Hall, after the Children’s Moment in the worship service.
For graduating Kindergardeners: they can either go to the B room (and continue with a similar Sunday morning experience that they have had this year) OR move up to join the Cool Disciples in the Social Hall. Typically, kids who have an older sibling or an older close friend, decide to meet with the Cool Disciples. Kids who like to spend more time “playing” should meet in the B room with the younger kids.
For graduating 5th and 6th graders: This summer, we are trying out some new curriculum called Grapple. Grapple is specifically designed to get preteens (ages 10-12) grappling with tough questions in meaningful ways. The first theme is: Why Can’t I Sleep In? (Grapple also comes with a safe, secure online community allowing kids to connect with each other during the week. Read more about Grapple here. This group will be meeting in the Asbury Room.
For graduating 4th graders: They can choose to join the Cool Disciples group or the Grapple group. (It would probably benefit if they choose the same option for the month of June. They can change their mind in July.)
For younger kids (babes and pre-schoolers) see here.
Of course kids of all ages are always welcome to stay in worship if they prefer!