Summer 2015

Another wonderful adventure in the Wonder-Blimp!

Our question for today was:

How do we show God respect through our actions?

Use the discussion questions below to encourage a dialog with the Bible! Start the conversation in the car on the way home from church, or around the family dinner table, or wherever your family is gathered together. Ask these questions even if you missed the video showing!

Have some family time discussion…

• Here’s a quiz. You see the following actions. What would you say is true about the person who is doing these actions?
  • Scowls at everyone.
  • Greets everyone with a smile.
  • Drops litter on the ground.
  • Holds the door for the person behind them.
• Why are our actions important to God?
• In our daily life, how we can show respect to the people around us? (Hint: Read the “Golden Rule” in Matthew 7:12.)
• What would that look like at the dinner table at home? At recess on the playground? In the classroom? In the car?
• How can we remember to act that way? Can we come up with a family code word that will mean: “change your behavior to be more loving”? How about “Matthew 7:12” or just “7-12?”
• We often mess up. (We are only human!) What can we do when we flub up? (Ask for forgiveness and for help in being more loving.)

Photo credits:
Photos from the producer of our video Clive & Ian’s Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge, under a fair use category.

You’ve heard the old rhyme about sticks and stones, and words not wounding?

So not true.

Our words do matter; to others, and to God!

God really cares about the words that we use and how we use them.

How do we know?

Join us for some discussion! Start the conversation in the car on the way home from church, or around the family dinner table, or wherever your family is gathered together. Spread the questions out over several sessions. Ask these questions even if you missed the video showing!

Have some family time discussion…

• Do you find it easy or hard, to use kind words with someone you know well? What about with someone you dislike? With someone who is giving you a hard time?
• Have you ever heard the expression: “Kill them with kindness” — what do you suppose it means?
• Do you feel that there is a difference between acting kindly and true kindness that comes from the heart? How would the two look different?
• The Bible has lots to say about how we should use our words. Take turns looking up a verse and talking about what it means to you: Luke 6:45, Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 15:4, Proverbs 16:24, Psalm 19:14, and Ephesians 4:29.
• Several of these verses were from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is a book full of short instructions on living wisely. Watch this short video about Proverbs. (If reading this in an email, you can watch this video on YouTube.)

The Bible tells us that our words are important to God. Why do you suppose God cares about what we say?
Jesus taught that “A person’s mouth says everything that is in their heart” (Luke 6:45). God listens to what we say; it tells him what is in our innermost selves. God loves us. So of course God would care about us. And, since God loves everyone, he’d care about the effect our words would have on other people.

In class on Sunday we played a version of Chutes and Ladders. If your child didn’t bring home a game board, get two here. (This will download a Word doc to your downloads folder.) Use some coins as game pieces and toss a dice to play a quick round.

Bonus question: Would you attend a dance party on the Wonder-Blimp?

This summer, we hope you’ll join us on our movie adventure and also, continue the learning at home.

Photo credits:
A created word cloud by moi. Shared at flickr under a Creative Commons license.

I have often wondered how God could possible love me. When it comes to handling my life – I flub up. Often. I’m flawed!

Yet God still loves me.

One of the greatest things we can teach each other is that God loves us no matter what we do. I need constant reminders. And you?

In our adventures with Clive and Ian’s Wonder-Blimp, today’s query was:

Does God Love Me When I Do Bad Things?

Use the questions below to continue the discussion. Start the conversation in the car on the way home from church, or around the family dinner table, or wherever your family is gathered together. Ask these questions even if you missed today’s video showing!

Have some family time discussion…

• Have everyone share one thing that they noticed that the person on their left, did “right” today. (Allow all replies!)
• Do we always do the right thing – all the time? What happens when we do something “bad”? (There are usually consequences!)
• Do you suppose that there is anything that you can do that will make God love you less?
• How can I be assured that God loves me?
• God can be pretty hard to understand! We can only say, “Thank You God” for what Jesus did for us – dying for our sins. Jesus’ death and resurrection has brought hope to everyone!
• Read in the Bible, the story of Peter disowning Jesus (Luke 22:54-62). Did Jesus stop loving Peter? (No!)
• Sometimes we are like Peter. When we do wrong things, it’s like we turn our backs on Jesus. But through Jesus we have been forgiven and brought into right relationship with God.
• Bonus Question: Why do you suppose we need speed bumps (AKA: commas) in our sentences? What if every time we saw a comma, we were reminded that God loves us?

This summer, we hope you’ll join us on our movie adventure and also, continue the learning at home.

Photo credits:
Photos from the producer of our video Clive & Ian’s Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge, under a fair use category.

Each week this summer we’ve been at the movies.We join Buck Denver as he asks Clive and Ian to investigate big questions about God and about our relationship with God.

The cool thing is… Clive and Ian find the answers using their Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge! Wouldn’t it be fun to have a Wonder-Blimp? Where would you fly your Airship of Intelligence?

You can explore past questions here.

Our question for today was:

How do we show respect to God by listening to him?

Use the questions below to continue the discussion. Start the conversation in the car on the way home from church, or around the family dinner table, or wherever your family is gathered together.

Ask these questions even if you missed the video showing!

Have some family time discussion…

• Would you say that you are good at listening? All the time? Sometimes? (Test everyone’s listening skills by playing a game of Telephone!)
• Sometimes listening is really hard! Why do you suppose it is important to listen?
• How does listening to someone show them respect – how does it say, “You’re important to me?”
• What about listening to God – how can we do that?
• What things could keep us from listening to God? (Lots of possible answers – getting busy with other activities, placing more emphasis on them than on our relationship to God…)
• Reading the Bible counts as “listening” to God. Do we read the Bible? How do you suppose we can make Bible-reading a regular activity? (When we make reading the Bible important to us, it shows our respect for God!)
• Do you suppose that listening stops as soon as the reading is finished? Or does listening in this case mean not just hearing, but putting what we’ve learned into action?
• We practiced putting a Bible verse “into our hearts.” Review what we did here.
• Bonus question: Should Clive and Ian install a tire swing or shag carpeting in the Wonder-Blimp?

This summer, we hope you’ll join us on our movie adventure and also, continue the learning at home.

Photo credits:
Photos from the producer of our video Clive & Ian’s Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge, under a fair use category.

Each week this summer we’ve joined Clive and Ian in their Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge (expertly piloted by Monkey).

We’ve been using the Wonder-Blimp to search for answers to big questions about God, and about our relationship with God.

 
Our question for today was:

What should I do when I’m afraid?

What a good question! (Surely you’ve experienced fear!) Use these thought-provoking questions to continue the discussion. Start the conversation in the car on the way home from church, or around the family dinner table, or wherever your family is gathered together.

Ask these questions even if you missed the video showing!

Have some family time discussion…

• Have everyone share about a time when you felt afraid. (Parents too! Share about something that you used to fear when you were a child.)
• What can you do when you are afraid?
• How can God help us with our fears?
• In a Bible, look up Philippians 4:6 in the New Testament. What does this verse tell us that we can do with our fears?
• Give everyone a blob of Play-Doh and have them form whatever they would like to pray about. Place everyone’s objects in the center of the table and use them to pray.
• Dr. Schniff reminded us that God is more powerful than whatever it is that you are afraid of, and God is always with us! Can you think of any Bible stories where God showed his power when people were afraid? (Try Mark 4:35-41 or Daniel 6:16-23.)
• Bonus question: Do you suppose Monkey ever gets tired of piloting the Wonder-Blimp?

This summer, we hope you’ll join us on our movie adventure and also, continue the learning at home.

Photo credits:
Photos from the producer of our video Clive & Ian’s Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge, under a fair use category.

Last week at Vacation Bible Camp we learned that God is powerful! He has the power to comfort, and to heal, and to forgive me! I don’t know about you but knowing that sometimes makes me want to shout for joy!

Did you know that when you praise God, you are showing him respect? This week at our summer video series we joined Clive and Ian in their Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge. We looked for the answer to a big question:

How Do We Show Respect to God Through Praise?

Use the following provocative questions to jumpstart discussion! Start the conversation in the car on the way home from church, or around the family dinner table, or wherever your family is gathered together.

Ask these questions even if you missed the video showing!

Have some family time discussion…

• What are some ways that God is amazing?
• When I think about all of those ways God is amazing, I feel like shouting for joy! Brainstorm together a cheer; something that you can spontaneously shout out that will have special meaning for your family. For our family I like: Hulbert’s hurrah El Haggadol !  (El Haggadol is the Hebrew name for God which means “The Great God.” Check out other names for God.)
• Sunday school lady helped us to see that when we don’t respect God, that’s like saying, “I don’t think you are important God. I don’t need you in my life.” How does praising God show respect for God?
• What is a novel way that I can praise God this coming week?
• We watched second video of a mime troupe showing us ways to praise God. Watch the video below. What do you think of their suggestions as ways to praise God? Which ones can you try out? The Bible tells us how to praise God! Look up each of the Bible references to see. (See the list below the video.)

(If reading this in an email, you may need to watch the video at this link.)

Hebrew word	Pronounced	Meaning	Bible reference
TOWDAH	to-DA	to sacrifice	Psalms 50:23
YADAH	yah-DA	to lift your hands	2 Chronicles 20:19-21
BAROUCH	BAR-ou	to bow	Psalms 95:6
SHABACH	Sha-BACH	to shout	Ezra 3:11
ZAMAR	ZAH-mar	to play an instrument	1 Chron. 15:16
HALAL	Ha-LELL	to rave and boast	Psalms 44:8
TEHILLAH	Te-HEAL-a	all of the above!	Psalm 22:3

This summer, we hope you’ll join us on our movie adventure at FUMC. In the meantime… continue the learning at home!

This summer we’re off to the movies, searching for answers to big questions about God. Buck Denver had his newscast interrupted today with an important question:

 

Is God as Powerful as a Superhero?

What a great question! But is God as powerful as a superhero? I don’t know, those Incredibles did some amazing stuff. And Superman, well he’s “more powerful than a locomotive.” Is God as powerful as those champions?

We turned once again to Clive and Ian’s Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge to help us with this query.

Now it’s your turn! Use the discussion questions below. Start the conversation in the car on the way home from church! Continue around the family dinner table, or wherever your family is gathered together.

You can ask these questions even if you missed the video showing on Sunday!
You can also access other sets of big questions.

Have some family time discussion…

• The famous Dr. Schniff was consulted. He told us about some strong creatures! A Rhinoceros Beetle can lift an object 850 times it’s own body weight! (Which is like the strongest person being able to lift the steel frame of the Statue of Liberty!) How much can you lift? Try it out at home and calculate the amount compared to your own body weight – practice some math
• How does God’s power compare to the Rhinoceros Beetle?
• What is different about God compared to say Superman or The Incredibles? (God is real! And he loves us.)
• What are some ways that we can know about God’s power? (We can read Bible stories where God’s power was exhibited. For example in this Moses story.)
• What are other ways we can experience God’s power? (By paying attention to God’s wonderful creation.)
• What evidence of God’s power have you seen recently? Start keeping a list!
• Question: Do you suppose ants ever go on vacation?

This summer, we hope you’ll join us on our movie adventure and also, continue the learning at home.

Photo credits:
Rhinoceros Beetle by Geoff Gallice via Flickr, who licensed this photo under a Creative Commons License. Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons; modified by cropping photo.
Other photos from the producer of our video Clive & Ian’s Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge, under a fair use category.

This summer we’re off to the movies, joining Clive and Ian’s Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge as we search for answers to big questions about God.

Last week we explored the big question of who created the universe. We learned that God did! We celebrated how amazing God is!

This week we added a twist to our series: we asked a question about ourselves and our relationship to God!

God desires a close, personal, connection with us. But to be near to God, who is after all pretty extraordinary, requires us to treat God with respect! Thus our question for today was:

How Do We Show Respect to God Through Our Prayer?

Use the discussion questions below to talk about what your kids learned. Start the conversation in the car on the way home from church. Continue around the family dinner table, or wherever your family is gathered together.

You can ask these questions even if you missed the video showing!

Have some family time discussion…

• What does it mean to respect someone? [An answer: Respecting someone means that you treat them as if they had great value. You look up to them!]
• Name some people whom you respect. Adults should answer as well!
• What are some ways that you show those people respect? [Possible answers: You spend time with them, give them gifts, do things for them, you listen to them, or you tell them you like (or love) them…]
• How do you get a close relationship with someone – like if you have a really good friend – how did you become close friends? [Answers: You spent time together, talking and listening.]
• Do you suppose these sound like good ways to get closer to God?
• Sunday school lady helped us to see that if we are not respecting God we ignore him or say, “I don’t need your help.” What are other ways to show respect to God through prayer? [Possible answers: when we treat our relationship to God seriously we don’t joke around when we talk to God; we listen when other people are praying aloud, we tell God all about our lives and our worries and our joys; we are honest with God about what is on our heart.]
• How can taking something seriously, be a way to show respect?
• What is a way to pray that uses the acronym: ACTS? [Answer: Each letter in ACTS stands for a type of prayer you lift up to God – Adoration, Confession, Thanks, and Supplication (or perhaps: “Send in help!”)]
• Bonus question: What do you think Clive and Ian should paint on the side of the blimp?

Adults: Here’s an important video from the creator of our series, Phil Vischer. Phil has a message about how we can show love and respect to God as a family. (If you are reading in an email you may need to click over to YouTube.)

This summer, we hope you’ll join us on our movie adventure and also, continue the learning at home.

Photo credits:
Photos from the producer of our video Clive & Ian’s Wonder-Blimp of Knowledge, under a fair use category.