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Preschool & Kindergarten kids & families Acts 1.8
Celebrate God all day, every day … revel in him! —Philippians 4:4 Msg Inspire
and on His loving actions towards us, we understand better who we are and how we fit in God’s story. And we begin to create a daily posture of celebration, just like Paul Every year as my family gathers for called us to in Philippians 4:4 “Celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas, my father has us take time to remember and cele- God all day, every day. I mean, revel in brate what God has done for us recently. him!” (The Message). We usually spend time as we eat going around the table, giving each individual At an orphanage in Uganda, I learned this opportunity to share. From the youngest saying: “God is good. When? All the time. to the eldest we are reflect on how good Why? Because it is His nature.” That’s what I want to remember. That’s how I want to our God is. Whether the months had been filled with difficulties or great joy celebrate God. we recognized God’s faithfulness. - Janet Lee These times of sharing are seared in my memory. Looking back at God’s work in my life and the life of my relatives brought great comfort and confidence. At the end of our time, dad would thank us for taking the time to share and remind us that he and my mom prayed for each one of us everyday. He urged us to pray for Scripture: Acts 2:1-12 Main Point: Remember & Celebrate one another. (for parents)
Getting Started
When God commanded the Israelites to regularly and spectacularly pause and celebrate their life in Him, He wasn’t doing it because He needed the affirmation. He did it because He knew it was good for us! As we pause and reflect on who God is
This resource is designed to allow your family to have time in God’s Word before your children attend church. Because God’s plan is for parents to be the spiritual nurturers of their children’s faith, we know that as you grow spiritually, your children will grow spiritually as well.
Equip (for parents) Seven times a year the Israelites gathered together for a festival. These seven festivals are: Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of First Fruits, Feast of Harvest, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths). In addition, the Israelites would gather weekly to celebrate the Sabbath. These were times to remember what God had done for His people and to celebrate His goodness. During the feasts, the Israelites ate, danced, sang, played instruments, prayed, and offered sacrifices to God. Why do we celebrate? We celebrate to be together as a community—to collectively look backward so that we can look forward. We celebrate to stop for a moment in time and remember what God has done. We celebrate to teach children what is important—to show what we value. And we celebrate because God commanded it. In Exodus 12:47 He said, “The whole community … must celebrate.” This Remember & Celebrate we focused on the feast of Pentecost. During Pentecost, the Israelites thanked God for His provision for their physical needs. But they also thanked Him for providing a way into relationship with Him. Pentecost was set in motion as a remembrance of when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in the upper room during Pentecost to symbolize that Christ fulfilled the law.
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Support (for parents & kids) Every six weeks, your kids spend time remembering and celebrating. While using the Israelites’ festivals as a model for celebration, they will remember what God did in their hearts during the last few weeks. This week, set aside an evening to remember and celebrate as a family. Hopefully this starts to become a fun tradition for your family. Just as the Israelite celebrations always revolved around a feast, create a feast for your family (e.g., eat ice cream, make milkshakes, get French fries, or build a fire and roast marshmallows in the backyard). Whatever you choose, just do something special and spend the time remembering what God has done in the life of your family and in each of you individually over the past few weeks. Some questions to get you started: • What has God done in our family recently? • What have you heard God say to our family recently? Spend the evening in celebration, enjoying each other, and remembering and celebrating how big and great our God is. End