Lent Family Discussion

Week 1: Genesis 9:8-17Common English Bible Translation

⁸ God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ “I am now setting up my covenant with you, with your descendants, ¹⁰ and with every living being with you—with the birds, with the large animals, and with all the animals of the earth, leaving the ark with you.^[a] 11 I will set up my covenant with you so that never again will all life be cut off by floodwaters. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² God said, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I am drawing up between me and you and every living thing with you, on behalf of every future generation. ¹³ I have placed my bow in the clouds; it will be the symbol of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember the covenant between me and you and every living being among all the creatures. Floodwaters will never again destroy all creatures. ¹⁶ The bow will be in the clouds, and upon seeing it I will remember the enduring covenant between God and every living being of all the earth’s creatures.” ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I have set up between me and all creatures on earth.”

Discussion Questions:

Under 7:

1. I wonder how you feel when you see a rainbow?

2. I wonder what things in the world and in your life make you feel God’s love?

3. A Covenant is a promise. Do you make promises? How does it feel when you or someone else breaks a promise?

Over 7:

1. I wonder why God uses the word covenant 7 times in this passage, why is God so emphatic that God won’t do this again?

2. I wonder why God puts a bow in the sky – a bow without arrows – as a sign that God is retiring from battle? What other ways besides destruction does God use to call us back to God?

3. I wonder why God needs a reminder of the Covenant God made with us?

Closing Prayer:

Our wonderful Creator God

We offer our thanksgivings to you

For your covenant not to hurt us

But to seek out ways to bring us close to you.

We thank you for the rainbow so that we all

may remember your love for us.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16 – Common English Bible Translation

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk with me and be trustworthy. ² I will make a covenant between us and I will give you many, many descendants.” ³ Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, ⁴ “But me, my covenant is with you; you will be the ancestor of many nations. ⁵ And because I have made you the ancestor of many nations, your name will no longer be Abram but Abraham. ⁶ I will make you very fertile. I will produce nations from you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will set up my covenant with you and your descendants after you in every generation as an enduring covenant. I will be your God and your descendants’ God after you.

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you will no longer call her Sarai. Her name will now be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and even give you a son from her. I will bless her so that she will become nations, and kings of peoples will come from her.”

Discussion Questions:

Under 7:

1. Here’s that word Covenant again! [Reminder A covenant is a promise.] Last week we learned that God made a covenant with Noah, and this week God makes a covenant with Abraham and Sarah.God likes making promises! What are some good things about making and keeping promises?
2. What are some of the promises we have in our house. [Suggestion – A family covenant, aka a family mission statement is a great idea! If ever you wanted to try writing one, this reading serves as an excellent jumping off point for your family to ponder what should be in your covenant.]
3. God promises Abraham and Sarah that they will have kids as a sign of God’s faithfulness.God uses this sign because kids are awesome, and God loves kids.What’s your favorite thing about being a kid/ having kids?

Over 7:

1. In this passage, God comes to an old man named Abram and makes a surprising covenant, or promise. What’s a time when you’ve been surprised by God, or by a promise that God makes in the Bible? Why were you surprised?
2. What do you think it means to make a covenant with God?
3. Why would God make a covenant with humans?
4. How does this passage speak to you today?
5. (See above to question 2 about a Family Covenant.)

Closing Prayer:

God of the Covenant

You breathe new life in the most unexpected places

Help us to accept your invitation to prayer and simplicity in this Lenten season

That we may come to know and love you more.

Amen.

Week 3: Exodus 20:1-17– The Common English Bible Translation

20 Then God spoke all these words:

² I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³ You must have no other gods before^[a] me.

⁴ Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. ⁵ Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the Lord your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. ⁶ But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ Do not use the Lord your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the Lord won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way.

⁸ Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. ⁹ Six days you may work and do all your tasks, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Do not do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you. ¹¹ Because the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ Do not kill.^[c]

¹⁴ Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵ Do not steal.

¹⁶ Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.

¹⁷ Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

Discussion Questions

Under 7:

1. I wonder if you like following rules?

2. I wonder if you like making rules?

3. I wonder why God gave us these rules?

4. I wonder which of God’s rules you think would be hardest to follow?

Over 7:

1. I wonder if we have other Gods or idols we worship in our modern life?

2. I wonder why God is jealous?

3. I wonder which of these rules is the hardest to follow and why?

4. How do you feel about the rules that you have in your own life?

5. Is there anything not on this list that you think should be included?

Closing Prayer

We acknowledge you, O God, as creator and as liberator.
You are the One who brought the captives out of Egypt
and delivered them from the oppression of slavery.
You gave laws which shaped how people were to relate to you,
to each other and to the whole environment.
You implored people to worship only you,
knowing that whatever was put in your place
would become the object of idolatry—
would become the priority of people’s lives.

In this time of togetherness, help us to focus on you, O God,
as the priority of our lives.
Remind us of your steadfast love
revealed so clearly in the new commandment of love
which Jesus disclosed when he walked this Earth.
Speak to us anew as we offer this prayer
in Jesus’ name and for his sake. Amen.

~ adapted from Moira Laidlaw http://www.liturgiesonline.com.au/

Numbers 21: 4-9 – The Common English Bible Translation

⁴ They marched from Mount Hor on the Reed Sea road around the land of Edom. The people became impatient on the road. ⁵ The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us in the desert, where there is no food or water. And we detest this miserable bread!” ⁶ So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people and they bit the people. [Many of the Israelites died. – feel free to omit this part for the youngest amongst us.]

⁷ The people went to Moses and said, “We’ve sinned, for we spoke against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord so that he will send the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and place it on a pole. Whoever is bitten can look at it and live.” ⁹ Moses made a bronze snake and placed it on a pole. If a snake bit someone, that person could look at the bronze snake and live.

Discussion Questions:

Under 7:

1. The Israelites were really mad at having to eat the same “miserable bread” every day, what’s something you don’t like to eat?
   1. IF you had to eat the same thing every day what would it be?
2. The people were mad at God and God got their feelings hurt and sent snakes to teach a lesson.Have there been times when your feelings were hurt?What did you do to try and feel better?
3. God told Moses to make a special pretend snake and the pretend snake on the pole helped the people feel better.Are there things in the home that help you feel better?

Over 7:

1. At the beginning of this passage, things are not going well. The Israelites have escaped from slavery in Egypt, but things are looking grim- supplies are running low, people are suffering. God feels far away. What’s a time when you have been struggling and felt like God was far away?
2. The Israelites face poisonous snakes, which they think are present because they complained about their situation. But God instructs Moses to use one of those snakes in the healing of the people. God delivers the people in a very unexpected way. Have you ever felt like help came from an unexpected place, or in an unexpected way?
3. When Moses prays to God about the situation, God gives Moses a surprising response. Instead of healing the people directly, God tells Moses how to save the people. Why do you think that is?
4. The passage says that the people can ‘look at the bronze serpent and live.’ Though our situation is different today, we too face fear and uncertainty, especially in the pandemic. What lesson can this passage provide? What thingshas God given us which provide strength through struggle?

Closing Prayer:

God of wilderness and water,

your Son was baptized, lived, and was tempted, as we are.

Guide us through this season of Lent,

that through faith and repentance

we may find peace amidst the struggles and hardships of life

Amen.

Lent 5

Jeremiah 31:31-34 – The Common English Bible Translation

³¹ The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. ³² It won’t be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant with me even though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³ No, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ They will no longer need to teach each other to say, “Know the Lord!” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord; for I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.

Under 7

1. Do you know what it means to know something by heart?[Grown-ups this is a great time to talk about things that they can trust and know by heart – their name, their address (useful!) but also things like trusting in the love of family members…]
2. God tries new ways to get close to people, that’s why God makes a new covenant again and again and again… If you were God what ways would you try to be friends with people?
3. God said long ago the prophet Jeremiah that from this time on all people will know God in their heart… What are some things you know about God?What are some things you still want to know about God?

Over 7

1. What do you think it means to be “God’s people?”What do you imagine that looks like?
2. After reading the Hebrew Testament for 5 weeks, what things stuck out to you? Were there any patterns or themes that you noticed repeating?
3. In all the Hebrew Testament readings we’ve read this Lent, The Covenant comes up all the time; God makes a Covenant with the people and the people break it time and again… What do you think about the fact that God doesn’t just try once to reach people but tries over and over again?What lessons do you think we can learn about God and humanity from God’s relentlessness?
4. What evidence can you see in yourself or in your family that God has made God’s self known in your heart just like they promised they would to the prophet Jeremiah.
5. How does this passage speak to you today?

Prayer

Almighty God, you are the great mover who can bring order to a chaotic and unruly world. Grant us grace to love what you love and to desire what you promise. Help our hearts to stay fixed on you that we may find true joy through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 – The Common English Bible Translation

³¹ The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. ³² It won’t be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant with me even though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³ No, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ They will no longer need to teach each other to say, “Know the Lord!” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord; for I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.

Discussion Questions

Under 7

1. Do you know what it means to know something by heart?[Grown-ups this is a great time to talk about things that they can trust and know by heart – their name, their address (useful!) but also things like trusting in the love of family members…]
2. God tries new ways to get close to people, that’s why God makes a new covenant again and again and again… If you were God what ways would you try to be friends with people?
3. God said long ago the prophet Jeremiah that from this time on all people will know God in their heart… What are some things you know about God?What are some things you still want to know about God?

Over 7

1. What do you think it means to be “God’s people?”What do you imagine that looks like?
2. After reading the Hebrew Testament for 5 weeks, what things stuck out to you? Were there any patterns or themes that you noticed repeating?
3. In all the Hebrew Testament readings we’ve read this Lent, The Covenant comes up all the time; God makes a Covenant with the people and the people break it time and again… What do you think about the fact that God doesn’t just try once to reach people but tries over and over again?What lessons do you think we can learn about God and humanity from God’s relentlessness?
4. What evidence can you see in yourself or in your family that God has made God’s self known in your heart just like they promised they would to the prophet Jeremiah.
5. How does this passage speak to you today?

Closing Prayer

Almighty God, you are the great mover who can bring order to a chaotic and unruly world. Grant us grace to love what you love and to desire what you promise. Help our hearts to stay fixed on you that we may find true joy through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.