Inscriptions

Read It: Isaiah 49:13-16a (NRSV)

    13      Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; 

    break forth, O mountains, into singing! 

    For the LORD has comforted his people, 

    and will have compassion on his suffering ones. 

    14      But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, 

    my Lord has forgotten me.” 

    15      Can a woman forget her nursing child, 

    or show no compassion for the child of her womb? 

    Even these may forget, 

    yet I will not forget you. 

    16      See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; 

Learn It: 

During this time Isaiah is writing while he and all of God's people are in exile from their homeland.  God's people feel not only exiled from their homeland but also exiled from God.  The land that had been given to them by God was now taken away by the Babylonians.  They felt that God had abandoned them.  These words from Isaiah must have felt like a joke or at least hollow.  It would have been a hard thing to hear when they felt abandoned, yet Isaiah reminds them that even though people forget and aren't perfect, God doesn't forget and loves them no matter what.  God loves them so much they are inscribed on God's hands and so are God's promises.

Share It:

When was a time when you wrote something down on your hand(s)?  Why did you need to write it down and what did you use to write it down with (sharpie, pen, marker...)?  Talk about this with your family.

Live It:

Try writing a reminder of how much God loves you or how much you have to give thanks to God for all that God does in your life for the next week.  Make an inscription about how much God does and how much you have to be thankful for God.  Try writing it on your hand as God inscribed God's hands.  Or write it down as a note and stick it in your pocket to keep it with you at all times.  God remembers you at every moment so this can be a way to keep focused on God more often.

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Foundations

Read It: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 (NRSV)

10 According to the grace of God given to me (Paul), like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 

(parentheses author's words)

Learn It:

Paul was a tent maker by trade.  This allowed him to travel many places so that he could build tents for other people.  Even though he built tents and not houses he must have had a good knowledge of what was important to build a strong house.  The first thing any house needs is a level and solid foundation.  Then you can move on from there.  Each step of the way is important but without that solid foundation laid down by any master builder, like Paul, the greatest care won't stand against a poorly laid foundation.  Paul is urging each of us to make the most important thing in our lives Jesus.  We can focus on other things later but, first things first, our solid and firm faith in Jesus Christ.

Share It:

Share with your family what each of you does for a living.  Parents talk about your jobs or roles you play.  Kids can talk about being students or playing sports or instruments.  What is the most important thing that you need to know or do in what you do?  What skills or talents do you need to complete them?  If you weren't able to use that skill or talent would you be able to still do those things?  The skills of a trade or sport or job are foundational to being successful at it, what are ways that  you can build a strong foundation for your faith? What do you do well as a family and what things can you work on?

Live It:

Think about one solid way as a family you will be able to strengthen your foundation of your faith.  Will it be to pray before every meal?  Will it be to read a Bible passage before bed time?  You could also take one night a week to talk about how God was active in that week or that day.  Try to pick something that your family can do to remind you of the foundation of your Faith and how active that foundation is in your life.  The foundation of your faith in Jesus Christ.

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Say It

Read It: Matthew 5:37 (NIV)

 37 Simply let your‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Learn It:

Luther says that we should not say anything more than what we mean.  The things that we say should  be based on what we feel God is telling us to do at that moment.  Some examples he gives us is when you get angry you should only get angry if it is justified and that if you feel a certain way about something that you should conduct the way you say it based on what example Jesus leaves us about such matters.  

Share It:

John Mayer has a song entitled Say.  Check out these lyrics and talk with your family about them.  Do you think it is better to say what you need to say than to not have said anything at all?  What might it be like if you were to say exactly what you were thinking without filtering it?  Do you think that it would be hard to stop and think about what you are going to say to say the right thing? Why or why not?  What makes it hard to say "no" to people when they ask you to do something?  Why do or don't you say "yes" to lots of things?   

Live It:

Jesus tells us to say exactly what we mean to say.  Don't say yes when you don't really want to do it or when you're heart isn't in it.  The next couple times someone asks you to do something whether it is a family member or a friend, stop and think for a moment about if you really want to do it.  Let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no".  See how freeing that might be and see if you are responding the way that God asks us to respond.  Share with your family what it was like. 

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Salt and Light

Read It: Matthew 5:13-16 (NRSV)

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. 

Learn It:

Salt was very important to people back when Jesus lived.  We have the modern day convenience of a refrigerator, but they didn't.  Salt not only added flavor to food, but it was mainly used to preserve meat so that it would last a long time.  You might think of it as making their meat into jerky instead of seeing it go bad. People also didn't have light bulbs to light up their whole house but had to use candles and lanterns with oil.  If they wanted to see at night they had to light a candle and they aren't as powerful as the lights we use nowadays.  No wonder Jesus talked about salt and light to the people.  If they didn't have any salt or any lights then they would have been in big trouble.  These were important things to the people Jesus was talking to, so this is a very profound statement that Jesus is making.  He is telling them, and us to take note!  Be salt and be light for God, be those important things that God is calling you to be!

Share It:

Have your family each grab a grain of salt and talk about its size, its shape, and what you use the salt for.  Try tasting that grain of salt and see how what it tastes like all by itself.  What did you like or dislike about the salt?  Since salt was so invaluable to the people of Jesus' time and even for people today, what kinds of things are very important in your lives?  What kinds of things do you think you couldn't live without?  Is light important?  How powerful is one light in a dark room?  What kind of light do you think Jesus is talking about in the passage above and how can your family make that light shine for others to see?

Live It:

Try turning off all the lights in your house and closing the curtains to hide the light from the street.  See how dark it is and then use a candle to light up your room.   Talk about how bright the light is and what it must have been like to live like that.  Think about that one thing you talked about in share it that was just as valuable as salt was to the Israelites, and for the next week try to see how hard it is to live without it.

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