For families with little ones (preschool age), this could be a 3-5 minute talk! It doesn’t have to be much. For older children, you can opt in for more of these options to extend your study time together. I recommend doing this with (especially little) children over a meal – whichever meal is the least chaotic in your home (for my family right now, that’s lunch), or saving the questions for while you’re on a walk or playing outside together. Have fun!
1. Read the scripture together: Matthew 14:13-21. The important thing is that you’re reading scripture together! If you’re looking for different ways to engage your children while reading, here are some fun ways to read scripture as a family
Every Reader takes a verse
Ask each child to pick two words they don’t understand to talk about after you read it. (For longer scriptures and younger children, you may need to split up the reading in order to do this.)
Draw a picture of what you read
Act it out as a family (And please send documentation of this to children.sjumc@gmail.com because we could all use a laugh right now!)
Sing it!
Use Legos or dolls to tell the story
2. Tell your kids that our scripture is sometimes called “the loaves and the fishes.” Jesus wanted to teach and feed a hungry, huge crowd, but only had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed them. Somehow, miraculously, he manages to feed every single person with such little food.
3. Discussion Questions (as always, pick and choose which questions you’d like to discuss!):
How do you think Jesus feed 5,000 people with very little food?
Think about a time you saw someone else be generous – generous with sharing their toys, donating their money, with volunteering their time.
How did you feel when you saw that person be generous? Did you feel inspired to be generous yourself?
Do you think God is capable of anything, even miracles like this?
Think of something sad or scary in your life right now, and then think of what Jesus did with the loaves and the fishes. Know that God is with you, and can make good out of bad. Ask for help – from your parents, from your church, from your friends – and know that God can perform miracles! Sometimes we get to help make those miracles happen when we are generous like Jesus, and follow Jesus.
4. Close in Prayer: Dear God, thank you for this beautiful story of Jesus’s love and generosity. This story reminds us that with You, miracles are possible! This story reminds us that when we see someone follow Jesus, we can be INSPIRED to follow Jesus, too! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
~ Erynne DeVore, director of Children's Ministry