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Plan a meal each week (breakfast, lunch, or dinner--whichever works best for that week) to all sit down together to eat, share the sacred story, wonder, and give thanks for one another. Suggested: place a candle in the middle of the table for this meal. Printable Version of the Prayers, Story, and Questions Found Here - or simply use the website on your phone!
Light the candle.
Light the candle.
Bless.
Bless.
Use this or create your own blessing.
Gracious God, bless this food, the gifts of your creation, and all the hands that played a part in bringing it to this table.
Bless this table, around which we gather, and bless all those we wish were with us today.
Help us to listen to your word and to each other so that we might hear the Good News in this story.
Read.
Read.
Readers in the household take turns reading.
February 21-27
February 21-27
Matthew 4:1-4 ┃ The Temptation of Jesus*
Matthew 4:1-4 ┃ The Temptation of Jesus*
*A note on this reading: This passage portrays the devil as an individual speaking directly to Jesus, similar to the snake speaking to Adam and Eve in the garden. When reading this passage, you might want to have a conversation with your children about ways we experience temptation. Does the devil come to us as an individual? Or does our experience of temptation feel more sneaky? Is this story depicting the ways that Jesus was wrestling in his heart, like we sometimes wrestle between good and bad ideas too?
Let us hear the Good News of God:
Let us hear the Good News of God:
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Thanks be to God!
Thanks be to God!
Think.
Think.
Use some or all of these questions as you wish. If you have younger children in your household, you might invite them to make up their own question to ask!
I wonder what it is like to be as hungry as Jesus was?
I wonder what Jesus was thinking about when he was tempted? I wonder why Jesus said no to temptation?
I wonder what I would have done?
I wonder what kind of things help me feel energized and alive? What do you wonder about this story?
We all need to learn to say no sometimes. There are times when we have too much to do and can’t add another thing to our day. There are times when we don’t want to play but would rather be quiet. There are times when we are being asked to do a thing that we don’t think is right. Knowing when to say no is important. Can you name some times that you have needed to say no? Are there times when you said yes but you wanted to say no? What might have helped you say no instead of yes?
It is hard to make wise choices when we are really hungry. Sometimes when I get hungry, I say things or do things that are not very kind. Have you ever said something you regretted when you were hungry?
Jesus had to make a difficult decision when he was in the desert and very hungry. Because Jesus is God, he could have turned the stones into bread to eat! Why would that have been an unwise decision?
Jesus says some funny things about bread and words in this story. He says that we don’t live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God’s mouth. Can we live very long without bread or food? How can we live off of the words that come from God’s mouth?
Did you know that Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life AND the Word of God? Jesus feeds our physical hunger by providing food for us to eat, which helps us to live and also to be kind people. But Jesus feeds our spiritual hunger too, giving us the strength to make wise choices even when it is hard.
Bless.
Bless.
Gracious God, we thank you for all we have been given, the blessings of this table, and the blessings of our daily lives.
Thank you for all we have heard, your voice in both scripture and in the words of those we love.
We pray for the courage to speak the Good News in the world around us either by word or action, that we may play our part in the sacred story.
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