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Happy New Year! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and holiday. 2019 is here and RiverKids/Youth are starting a new series this Sunday (1/13), called "Living & Loving Together". We will explore different stories from the Bible to discover the joy of connection and strengthening our capabilities for life giving relationships. We're really excited for the children to learn how to develop strong friendships and treasure their connections.
For the last 10 weeks the RiverKids (along with the River Youth and the larger church) have been enjoying an exciting series called "The Power of Holy Spirit in Ordinary Time". The goal of the series is to help the children explore and experience the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.
Here's a closer look at what we have been doing to help the children access and interact the quiet and constant presence of the Holy Spirit: 9/9: Jesus' Baptism The children experimented with ink and coffee filter to imagine how the Holy Spirit breaks out from the sky, comes through Jesus, to us, to others and into all the world. 9/16: Holy Spirit comes to everyone The children learned about the temple in Jesus' time and how the walls divide people into groups: gentiles, women, Israelite men, priests. We talked about how the temple's curtain tore apart, because the Spirit of God broke out of the holy of holiest, crossed all the walls of hostility, and came to everyone. 9/23: The Examen The children listened to the Examen audio and reflected on their week by drawing on a large piece of paper together. 9/30: Stronger than Darkness The children listened to the story about Jesus touched people who were sick/unclean. We discussed how instead of Jesus becoming unclean like them, the unclean people became clean. The Holy Spirit in Him has the power to touch the darkness, the sickness, and brokenness and bring light and life. 10/14: When Two Worlds Meet We listened to the story of the Samaritan woman, who brought many people to Jesus, because of what she told them. The children wrote words of affirmation for someone special on a postcard to be mailed. 10/21: Darkness to Light We listened to the story of Saul, how he was blind and now he saw. Using black paper and pastels, the children drew how the Holy Spirit is like a bright light that helps us see. 10/28: Holy Spirit Our Guide We listened to the Parable of the Good Shepherd, and discussed how we would like to spend time with Jesus. The children drew comic strips of their special time and conversation with Jesus. 11/4: Holy Spirit the Comforter We discussed about Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit, our comforter. Children expressed their feelings through color, drawing, and emoji stickers and reflected on what the Holy Spirit might speak or impress upon them. 11/11: Healing The children listened to the healing stories of Jesus. We acted out the story and learned how to pray for healing for others (watch their performance on The River NYC Families Facebook Group) Last Sunday 11/18, we wrapped our series with the story of the birth of Jesus. The children made an ornament or necklace out of wooden discs to remind them that God is with us, Emmanuel. The wooden discs were cut out from tree branches, possibly part of the same tree, or same branches even. This helps us to remember that we all came from the same tree, we are all connected too through the Holy Spirit, with each other, and with the whole world. For our current story of the week, please check out "Riverkids This Week" on the RiverApp. #riverkids #rivernyc #riverapp #storyoftheweek #holyspirit Last Sunday the RiverKids covered the same topic as the adults: The Holy Spirit & Healing. The children enjoyed hearing a couple great stories about Jesus healing people from Mark 1:18-25 (below) and then they had even more fun acting one out! (see the fun video on our River NYC Families Group on Facebook)
The Faith of the Centurion One day, a Roman army officer came to Jesus and begged, “Jesus, my young servant is sick. He can’t move and is in terrible pain.” Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” But the officer said, “Sir, you don’t need to come all the way to my house. Just say the word from here and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am an army officer and have soldiers under me. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. If I say to them to do something, they do it.” Jesus was amazed to hear the officer. He said, “I have not seen faith like this even in all Israel!” He said to the officer, “Go back home. It will be done as you believed.” And the officer’s young servant was healed that same hour. Jesus Heals Many Jesus and his friends, then, went to Peter’s house. That day, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. Jesus touched her hand and the fever left her. She got out of bed, cooked and served a meal for Jesus and his friends. That evening, people in the village brought their sick friends and families to Jesus. Jesus touched them and with a simple command, he healed them. It was just like what the prophet Isaiah said, “God’s chosen one, He took our sickness And removed our diseases.” Now it is time for us to leave”. Then they got up and went out together. Part of our approach at RiverKids ministry is to ask "WONDERING QUESTIONS" which are meant to engage the kids in an open-ended way with the themes of the day. Here are this week's questions: I wonder what’s your favorite part of the story? I wonder what the most surprising part of the story is to you? I wonder how the servant felt? I wonder if some people thought that his healing was just a coincidence? I wonder if any of you has stories like this where God heals? Do you know anyone who needs Jesus to heal them? Check out "Riverkids This Week" on your RiverApp for our current story of the week. #riverkids #rivernyc #riverapp #storyoftheweek #holyspirit Last Sunday, the children listened to Jesus' farewell speech and His promise that, after he left, the Holy Spirit would come to be our friend and comforter. The kids used colors, drawings and emoji stickers to express their feelings and their ideas about how the Holy Spirit might speak to them. A boy in our Elementary group was a little concerned when the storyteller referred to the Holy Spirit as "she". The storyteller explained that the Holy Spirit doesn't have a gender, so you can use "him" or " her". The boy thought for a moment and then said "Well, He's like a brother to me". A girl in the classroom who had been drawing the Holy Spirit as a girl, quickly interjected, "But can I still call her a 'She'?" to which the storyteller smiled and answered "Of course!" Check out "Riverkids This Week" on your RiverApp for our current story of the week. #riverkids #rivernyc #riverapp #storyoftheweek #holyspirit  Five families are dedicating their children this Sunday (Nov 11). They are making a commitment to move toward God in their journey of life and to encourage their children to come along as they do. This is a special time not only for these families, but also for us as a community to pray and bless these children in their path with God. -- We are honored and looking forward to celebrate with you all this Sunday!
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